Complacent Grampus Crash at Niigata (Again)

We may may broken our Kashima Satadium hoodoo, but Niigata Stadium till has us firmly in its grip it seems, A promising first half, that saw us have much the better if the game, ended with the home team go in 2-1 up after making the best of their few chances. The second half saw them extend their lead to 4-1 after Noashi Nakamura was dismissed early in the half for a second bookable offense.

Grampus Linup
                   Seigo Narazaki
Hayuma Tanaka, Tulio, Takahiro Masukawa, Shohei Abe
Naoshi Nakamura, Danilson, Magnum (Alex Santos 66'), Mu Kanazaki (Yoshizumi Ogawa 66')
     Josh Kennedy, Keiji Tamada (Igor Burzanovic 78')

Nagoya Ease into Emperors's Cup 4th Round

A significantly changed team proves too much for J2's Sapporo and eased into the next round of the Emperor's Cup on Saturday. Second half goals from Nakamura and Hanai in the 62st and 88th minutes, overturning Consadole's 51st minute strike. Although the defence and midfield was stacked with fairly familiar or experienced faces, the front three saw several youngsters given a chance to prove themselves.

THis game was most notable for us giving our players nursing injuries a game off. Neither Takahiro Masukawa or Danilson even made the bench, despite playing hurt against Vegalta in the previous game. Pxie's gamble on youth paying off when Sho Hanai fired home the winner a couple of minutes from time. With the demise of the Satellite League this year, the youngsters need to make the most of these few opportunities to impress the manager in a competitive game.

Next up? Go on, take a wild guess. Or look at who we are playing next in the league. :-)

Grampus Lineup

                        Yoshinari Takagi
Hayuma Tanaka, Mitsuru Chiyotanda, Akira Takeuchi, Alex Santos
   Yoshizumi Ogawa,  Naoshi Nakamurs,  Magnum (Taishi Taguchi 90')
   Keita Sugimoto, Keiji Tamada (Yuki Maki HT), Koji Hashimoto (Sho Hanai 68')

Zaccheroni Off to Flying Start

The Japan national team maintained the positive momentum they built up during the World Cup to record a win over traditional powerhouse Argentina. Whether this proves to be good for the Italian, remains to be seen. It is likely to lead to unrealistic expectations in some quarters.

Fielding a starting lineup that rested hurting Grampus stalwart Tulio, the team proved that it is still able to defend even without either Yuji Nakazawa or Tulio at the heart of the back line. An impressive team display saw them limit Messi, Tevez and Co., to a handful of half chances, with Kawashima only called into serious action to save a free kick.

Even the Argie highlights struggle to find clear chances for their team.

Japan Lineup

               Eiji Kwasahima (Shusaku Nishikawa 85')
Yuto Nagatomo, Yuzo Kurihara, Yasuyuki Konno, Atsuto Uchida
Shinji Kagawa (Kengo Nakamura 77'), Yasuhito Endo (Yuki Abe 71'), Makoto Hasegawa, Keisuke Honda
Shinji Okazaki (Kunimitsu Sekiguchi 71'), Takayuki Morimoto (Ryoichi Maeda 65')

Other Views
Japan Times: Zaccheroni records win in Japan debut
Asahi Shimbun: Zaccheroni Japan impressive

Grampus Ease Past Sendai 2-1

Well the The Rising Sun's pet theory of a J.League conspiracy to ensure tight finishes lasted for 45 minutes today. Then Pixy got to gee up the team at half time. Not quite the five goal mauling we gave Shimuzu, last week, but it's another game gone and we still have a seven point lead at the top. Can Gamba reduce that to five later today? Maybe not.

Grampus
               Seigo Narazaki
Hayuma Tanaka, Tulio, Takahiro Masukawa, Shohei Abe
Naoshi Nakamura, Danilson, Magnum (Yoshizumi Ogawa 76’), Mu Kanazaki (Alex Santos 87’)
        Josh Kennedy, Keiji Tamada (Mitsuru Chiyotanda 82’)
Scorers: Josh 57', Yoshizumi 88'

Grampus Regain 7 Point Lead

A crushing 5-1 away win at Shimizu sees us restore our seven point lead at the top of the league. A goalless first half in which the home team probably had the better of the game, was followed by their total collapse in the second.

I don't know what Pixie said to the lads at half time, but it clearly did the trick. A Tamada hat-trick and a brace from Josh Kennedy more than making up for their recent dry spell.

Grampus Extend Lead

With their challengers faltering at every turn, Nagoya extend their lead at the top to seven points. An early Tamada strike proving enough to earn three points in Yamagata. With our experience of a couple of years ago behind us, this may be an unassailable lead.


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