Bloggers Comment on Oka-chan's Squad

A few bloggers in Kansai were quizzed by the Japan Times about their views on Okada's pick fro the upcoming World Cup. Read all about it here.

Grampus Also Rans Still Struggling

Nagoya's second stringers struggle to a home draw against basement dwellers Cerezo in yesterday's Nabisco Cup qualifying game. This means the team is still winless, and looking increasingly aimless, since the departure of our four internationals. This lack of competitiveness by the reserves could be partly due to the league's decision to scrap the Satellite League, but also suggests that Stojkovic does not have his mentor's ability to deveop young players.

A first half goal by Maki was cancelled out by Komatsu, and the home team was indebted to a string of fine saves from Takagi to save it from dropping into the cellar themselves.

Grampus		1		1	Cerezo
Starters				Starters
P.	No.	Name		Name	No.	P.
GK	50	Yoshinari Takagi		Kim Jin Hyeon	21	GK
DF	32	Hayuma Tanaka		Daisuke Takahashi	20	DF
DF	3	Mitsuru Chiyotanda		Teruyuki Moniwa	3	DF
DF	5	Takahiro Masukawa		Taikai Uemoto	22	DF
DF	6	Shohei Abe		Naoya Ishigami	19	DF
MF	14	Keiji Yoshimura		Kota Fujimoto	4	MF
MF	9	Igor Burzanovic		Amaral	6	MF
MF	20	Danilson		Masato Kurogi	25	MF
MF	10	Yoshizumi Ogawa		Takashi Inui	7	MF
FW	17	Yuki Maki		Ryuji Bando	11	FW
FW	19	Keita Sugimoto		Akihiro Ienga	14	FW
Subs Bench				Subs Bench
GK	21	Koji Nishimura		Kenya Matsui	1	GK
DF	23	Genta Matsuo		Kenji Haneda	2	DF
MF	22	Koji Hashimoto		iroyuki Omata	16	DF
MF	27	Sho Hanai		Noriyuki Sakemoto	17	MF
MF	28	Taishi Taguchi		Hotaru Yamaguchi	26	MF
FW	25	Mu Kanazaki		Yusuke Maruhashi	28	MF
FW	29	Hikaru Kuba		Rui Komatsu	15	FW

The Missing Volante

We are now three months into the season and we are still awaiting a sight of our new defensive midfielder. Sapporo tried to fob us off with Danilson, but the Columbian forward has yet to settle into the team and clearly has no idea of how to play the anchor role. His height and strength looked as though they would be an asset, but the club has been proved right in rejecting the Hokkaido team's optimistic 500 million yen transfer fee. Stojkovic should cut his losses, and start using the 1.85 metre Dani in a more attacking role. Leave the defensive midfield duties to the twin terriers, Naoshi and Keiji.

Weakened Grampus Crash to Saitama Oranges

Missing its four internationals, an experimental lineup (with talented midfield youngster Sho Hanai thrown in at centre back) was no match for the Orange Squirrels. Three first half goals, by Kanazawa and a brace from Rafael, proved more then enough for the visitors to earn their first win of this year's Nabisco Cup.

Grampus		1		3	Ardija
Starters				Starters
P.	No.	Name		Name	No.	P.
GK	21	Koji Nishimura		Takashi Kitano	1	GK
DF	2	Akira Takeuchi		Daisuke Watabe	30	DF
DF	4	Mitsuru Chiyotanda		Shunsuke Fukuda	28	DF
DF	5	Sho Hanai		Shusuke Tsubouchi	14	DF
DF	6	Shohei Abe		Kazuhiro Murakami	26	DF
MF	7	Naoshi Nakamura		Takuya Aoki	6	MF
MF	20	Danilson		Shin Kanazawa	23	MF
MF	9	Igor Burzanovic		Naoki Ishihara	9	MF
FW	25	Mu Kanazaki		Jun Kanakubo	22	MF
FW	17	Yuki Maki		Dudu	18	FW
FW	22	Koji Hashimoto		Rafael	10	FW
Subs Bench				Subs Bench
GK	50	Yoshinari Takagi		Koji Ezumi	21	GK
DF	5	Takahiro Masukawa		Mato	3	DF
MF	10	Yoshizumi Ogawa		Arata Sugiyama	32	DF
MF	14	Keiji Yoshimura		Takuya Uchida	7	DF
MF	28	Taishi Taguchi		Hayato Hashimoto	17	MF
FW	19	Keita Sugimoto		Yoshihito Fujita	13	MF
FW	29	Hikaru Kuba		Masahiko Ichikawa	19	FW

Predictable Nagoya Crash Again

Nagoya Grampus 1-4 Kashima Antlers

The home team crashed to its fourth loss in a row to a likely title contender. Clearly, our simple tactics are posing no problem for the better teams, and manager Stojkovic will have to come up with some new ideas if the team is to finish above them.

Despite dominating possession 61% to 29%, we went in at half time trailing 0-1 and had seen Alex forced to retire after only 17 minutes in. Although Josh bagged his eighth goal of the season at the start of the second, with a left foot strike from 10 yards, Koroki restored the visitors lead almost immediately. Marguinhos and Motoyama then added to the misery, with goals against the run of play as we chased the game.

Grampus		1		4	Antlers
Starters				Starters
P.	No.	Name		Name	No.	P.
GK	1	Seigo Narazaki		Hitoshi Sogahata	21	GK
DF	32	Hayuma Tanaka		Toru Araiba	7	DF
DF	4	Tulio		Daiki Iwamasa	3	DF
DF	5	Takahiro Masukawa		Lee Jung Soo	14	DF
DF	6	Shohei Abe		Gilton	5	DF
MF	7	Naoshi Nakamura		Koji Nakata	6	MF
MF	38	Alex Santos		Mitsuo Ogasawara	40	MF
MF	9	Igor Burzanovic		Takuya Nozawa	8	MF
FW	25	Mu Kanazaki		Fellype Gabriel	11	MF
FW	16	Josh Kennedy		Shinzo Koroki	13	FW
FW	10	Yoshizumi Ogawa		Marquinhos	18	FW
Subs Bench				Subs Bench
GK	21	Koji Nishimura		Tetsu Sugiyama	1	GK
DF	2	Akira Takeuchi		Atsuto Uchida	2	DF
DF	3	Mitsuru Chiyotanda		Masahiro Inoha	19	DF
MF	14	Keiji Yoshimura		Masashi Motoyama	10	MF
MF	20	Danilson		Takeshi Aoki	15	MF
FW	17	Yuki Maki		Yasushi Endo	25	MF
FW	19	Keita Sugimoto		Yuya Osako	9	FW

Kennedy 7'	Scorers	Nozawa 49', Koroki 53, Marquinhos 69', Motoyama 90+1'
Grampus	Timeline	Antlers
Kennedy 9'	Card
	Card	Gabriel 13'
Santos > Yoshimura 17'	Substitution
	Goal	Nozawa 44'
Nakamura 45+1'	Card
Burzanovic > Sugimoto HT'	Substitution
Kennedy 46'	GOAL
	Goal	Koroki 53'
	Substitution	Fellype Gabriel > Motoyama 67'
	Goal	Marquinhos 69'
Ogawa > Maki 72'	Substitution
	Substitution	Araiba > Inoha 80'
	Substitution	Nozawa > Aoki 87'
Tulio 87'	Card
	Goal	Motoyama 90+1'

Cerezo 2-1 Vissel

Peter reports in on Shinji Kagawa's farewell game at Nagai Stadium. A vital win for the home team since they will not have their leading scorer when the league resumes in July.

The better side won, but Cerezo were far from their best--Kim had his worst game this season and there were more misplaced passes than usual. Vissel were up for this derby game, and there was never any danger that last week's record of a yellow cardless game would be repeated. Vissel must take some credit for Cerezo's misplaced passes as they pressured Cerezo pretty well, but Cerezo stood up well to their bullying tactics and survived Okubo's diving. In all there were nine yellow cards: Moniwa, Uemoto, Omata and Kagawa (Cerezo) and Popo, Tokura, Botti, Miyamoto and Okubo (Vissel) (Okubo got his card after the final whistle for dissent, presumably for protesting that some Cerezo player wasn't sent off -- he's now really in for trying to get opponents sent off). Uemoto's card was also for dissent, protesting Moniwa's card--both of those in just the 8th minute. Botti's card was for standing in front of the ball at a Cerezo free-kick.

Formations:

Cerezo (4-4-2)
		Kim
Takahashi, Moniwa, Uemoto, Omata (Ishigami 89');
Inui, Haneda (Fujimoto 90'+2), Amaral, Kagawa (Kiyotake 88');
	Bando, Ienaga

Vissel (4-4-2)
		Kishi
Kitamoto, Komoto (Tanaka 72), Miyamoto, Mogi;
Popo, Edmilson, Matsuoka, Botti;
	Tokura (Yoshida 61), Okubo

The first half was a bit strange: Cerezo dominated the possession, but Vissel scored with one of only two almost simultaneous attempts on target in the first half. In an unlucky 13th minute for Cerezo, a lovely long ball from Mogi in the centre just to the Cerezo side of the centre circle found Botti running into position in front of Kim's left-hand post to get in a well-placed header from about seven meters, Kim parried it at full stretch (he might have done better) but Botti, following through, gently volleyed the ball behind Kim into the far corner from about three metres and a metre wide of the post--a very accurate well-taken goal. And that was it--that header and that volley were Vissel's only two attempts on target in the first half. You do have to ask, "How did Uemoto let Botti get behind him?" Official time of the goal: 14'

After that, although Inui (twice) and Amaral shot wide, Cerezo had no shots on target in regular time in the first half, despite playing quite a lot of their hallmark possession football. But the six minutes of injury time were a different kettle of fish. In the 47th minute, Takahashi did a good bit of work out wide right to gain possession, slipped the ball inside to Ienaga, went off on a run, took a smart pass back from Ienaga, and got in a fast low centre across goal; Kishi failed to come out and Bando's diving header at the bouncing ball saw it nestle in the corner of the net to Kishi's right. Official time 45'+3.

In the 49th minute Tokura brought Amaral down from behind about five metres outside the Vissel penalty area in the centre slightly to Cerezo's right. By the time the free-kick was taken it was the sixth minute of four minutes added time. Kagawa lifted the ball up over the wall and down under the bar right into the far corner; the ball was not just inside the far post, and you couldn't help wondering whether Vissel goalie Kishi shouldn't have got to it; but a beautiful free-kick for Kagawa to say a nice sayonara to Nagai. Official time: 45'+6. The half-time whistle followed immediately. 2-1.

Half-time stats:

	Cerezo > Vissel
Shots:       2 > 2
GKs:         3 > 4
CKs:         0 > 3
FKs:         9 > 8
Poss.:     61% > 39%

As you can see by comparing the Match stats below with the half-time stats above, the second-half was feisty. Vissel went for the equaliser and Cerezo went for a third goal to put the game to bed. Vissel managed to end Cerezo's dominance of the possession, but in the second half Cerezo outshot Vissel 15-3; there's a symbiotic relationship between those two stats--instead of playing possession football, in the second half Cerezo were shooting for that vital third goal, and thus often returning possession to Vissel: in this half Vissel had 13 goal-kicks to Cerezo's 3. Cerezo's propensity, not only in this game, to play possession football or shoot, one or the other, can be seen from the fact that they had only two corner-kicks in the whole game.

But the vital statistics in this half were the 29 fouls--18 by Vissel and 11 by Cerezo--and the six yellow cards (including Okubo's post-final whistle rant). In contrast to the pallyness in the tunnel before the game, the second-half was a scrappy, bad-tempered affair. There were several near misses but no goals.

For Vissel, in general I thought Kishi looked a reasonably useful goalie for his age, and Tokura too seems a promising player and has a very positive approach. Okubo has become a poor man's Totti--bags of talent, but too much gamesmanship.

Since Martinez was injured, there has been a tendency for all Cerezo's moves to flow through Kagawa. Now he is off to Dortmund, it is very much to be hoped by Cerezo supporters that Martinez is fit for July 14. Of course, there may be new signings but, if not, the prospect of Cerezo taking the field with neither Martinez nor Kagawa is worrying. Amaral has improved steadily and is now a strong player, but he is nowhere near as cultured as Martinez. One thing is for sure, Ienaga will be an important player--let's hope he can keep his vision and technical skill and get rid of his selfishness in front of goal; if he does, he can become a key player and a star.

      Cerezo > Vissel
Shots:    17 > 5
GKs:       6 > 17
CKs:       2 > 6
FKs:      27 > 19
Poss.:   56% > 44%