Arema 0-4 Cerezo

On a horrible pitch Cerezo looked really good in Indonesia, Inui got a couple following goals from Kiyotake and Pimpao. All of the goals featured some pretty slick passing and build up play. I don't know what happened to Arema, the team just didn't turn up and there was a huge gulf in class between the teams this time around.

We now have two home games in four days. Vegalta Sendai in the J-League will be a good test to see if we keep our confidence (Inui in particular) after an impressive performance. Vegalta of course is the team worst affected by the earthquake and there will a show of support from our fans with banners and memorial scarves.

Vegalta have started strongly this year and sit top of the table after four matches. Star player? Osaka-born captain Yong-Gi Ryang who plays for North Korea can provide and score goals if given the chance. It's a little worrying as our last performance at home (especially the first half) was awful against Albirex Niigata before Inui earned us point. It could be another frustrating night at Kincho Stadium. Midweek we have the crucial game against Shandong in the ACL where a win or draw will see us through to the next round.

C'mon linesman!

Insert Brazilian goalkeeper joke here.

On to Spurs, well on our way to blowing our chances of Champions League football next season. Although two non-goals by Chelsea weren't helpful we shouldn't be in the position of now worrying whether Liverpool can grab 5th and the Europa League spot by the end of the season. We play Blackpool at the Lane which will be on J-Sports Plus for viewers in Japan.

Weekend roundup and Tuesday's Champions League double!

Spurs ruthlessly drew 0-0 at Wigan to remain in 5th and out of contention for a Champions League spot for now. Lots of live Premier League games this weekend on J-Sports, here's hoping Man City slip up tonight. Here's an interesting interview with Sandro one of our star Champions League performers. Spurs play Real Madrid away on Tuesday with Bale likely to be fit but our usual injury problems at centre back.. Real lost at the Bernabeu this weekend which was, amazingly, Jose Mourinho's first home loss for 9 years! Higuain also returned after a four month absence in this game. Elsewhere in Europe an important result in Italy's Serie A with the Milan derby finishing 3-0 in AC Milan's favour.

Our Korean opponents

Japan were scheduled to make their second appearance since 1999 in the Copa America this July but the JFA are now considering what do after the disaster. Cerezo take on Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in Nagai Stadium this Tuesday. Jeonbuk are previous winners of the ACL in 2006 and scored four without reply in their last ACL game in Indonesia against Arema. They look like the toughest team we will face in this group. In world football news the Asian football boss Bin Hammam will challenge Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency.

Cerezo and Rodrigo Pimpao's first goal in the ACL

Inui with the cross and Pimpao with the finish, Kagawa celebrates!

Cerezo 2 - 1 Arema - Pimpao bags a brace on his debut!

Pimpao celebrates his second 

The I4 section of Nagai Stadium

Special guest appearance

We didn't play well. Inui set up Pimpao's header for the first goal and Pimpao also finished well from a fortunate free kick. We conceded a penalty for handball but Arema didn't play well either. Bo-Kyung Kim showed some nice touches and hit the crossbar. Perhaps I've been watching too much Premier League recently but I think we'll struggle against Gamba this Saturday if we don't improve our performance. I'm a little scared to be honest. Inui did little to remind people why he is capped at full international level despite his assist. At least Pimpao couldn't have done more, he only had two good chances and he finished them. Limping ex-Cerezo star Kagawa Shinji, now of Borussia Dortmund, gave an interview at half-time which was a nice distraction from a pretty poor game attended by just over 10000 people which was a disappointing number for our first game of the season.

Arema fans adding to the numbers while the stewards make sure there's no trouble

Two huge games - Arema is our first ACL game and the Osaka derby is our opening game in the J-League!

The tickets sold out fast for the Osaka derby (as they always do) on the opening day of the J-League season and the game before that will be the visit of Arema FC from Indonesia next month. The away game in Indonesia is during Golden Week which should see a decent number of our supporters making the trip despite the price hikes during that period. So here is some information from, wikipedia of course, about Arema and the only recent news I could find in English about them here which looks impressive. Finally please note this is the emblem of our Asian rivals. Anyone that can help with more information and/or links would be helpful!

Welcome to the jungle

Furthermore in case there are any fans coming over from Indonesia that can't read one of the three Japanese alphabets perhaps this could be useful:

This is where to find us

Cerezo Asian Champions League Group G Fixtures

Here are all of the fixtures for our group known by me as 'the group of the unknown.'

	02 March 2011 19:00	JEONBUK HYUNDAI MOTORS (KOR)-SHANDONG LUNENG FC (CHN)	Jeonju World Cup Stadium
	02 March 2011 19:00	CEREZO OSAKA (JPN)-AREMA INDONESIA (IDN)	Osaka Nagai Stadium
	16 March 2011 15:30	SHANDONG LUNENG FC (CHN)-CEREZO OSAKA (JPN)	Shandong Luneng Stadium
	16 March 2011 15:30	AREMA INDONESIA (IDN)-JEONBUK HYUNDAI MOTORS (KOR)	Kanjuruhan Stadium
	05 April 2011 15:30	AREMA INDONESIA (IDN)-SHANDONG LUNENG FC (CHN)	Kanjuruhan Stadium
	05 April 2011 19:00	CEREZO OSAKA (JPN)-JEONBUK HYUNDAI MOTORS (KOR)	Osaka Nagai Stadium
	20 April 2011 15:30	SHANDONG LUNENG FC (CHN)-AREMA INDONESIA (IDN)	Shandong Luneng Stadium
	20 April 2011 19:00	JEONBUK HYUNDAI MOTORS (KOR)-CEREZO OSAKA (JPN)	Jeonju World Cup Stadium
	03 May 2011 15:30	AREMA INDONESIA (IDN)-CEREZO OSAKA (JPN)	Kanjuruhan Stadium
	03 May 2011 19:30	SHANDONG LUNENG FC (CHN)-JEONBUK HYUNDAI MOTORS (KOR)	Shandong Luneng Stadium
	10 May 2011 15:00	JEONBUK HYUNDAI MOTORS (KOR)-AREMA INDONESIA (IDN)	Jeonju World Cup Stadium
	10 May 2011 19:00	CEREZO OSAKA (JPN)-SHANDONG LUNENG FC (CHN)	Osaka Nagai Stadium

 

Stadium choices for Cerezo, Spurs and West Ham!

Tickets went on sale yesterday for our first home Asian Champions League game against Arema from Indonesia. This game will be played in Nagai Stadium, the one with a running track. The choice is most likely down to the fact you can fit a lot more people in this stadium but the fans are pretty far from the action, West Ham take note. Our first home game in the J-League will be in Kincho stadium which has a reduced capacity but the fans are much closer to the action, possibly the closest you can get in Japan. It's a difficult one, since I've been watching we rarely get huge crowds at the former World Cup venue, with the athletics track. Look at the layout of the two stadiums below. The prices are the same for both stadiums with the pink being sections being the cheapest! It seems odd that Cerezo can choose between 2, or indeed 3, grounds all in the same park while Spurs and West Ham have both been encouraged to go for gold, in the Olympic sense so to speak in East London.

Kincho Stadium

Nagai Stadium ( Complete with athletics facilities! )

So West Ham won the bid to take over the Olympic Stadium. It is going to be in East London but there are so many question marks about the future under the Hammers. Can they fill the stadium (heading into the Championship as they are) ? Will the Boleyn faithfull be happy with having the track between them and the players? So it's back to the drawing board for Spurs and the new stadium but here's a quick reminder of what the club had on the drawing board for the Olympic site ( no athletics stuff here! ).

London - look at what we could have had...