It's a blog (in English mostly) all about football...in Japan with the J-League and Cerezo Osaka, in the English Premier League with Spurs and anywhere else the football takes us.
An entertaining
game, bad defending meant we had lots of chances. Kempes missed after a defensive
error in the first minute and hit the post twice but did get on the
score sheet using his head which was his seventh goal in the league. Kakitani continues to add to his goal
tally this season with his eighth in the J-League. Star signing Simplicio made
up for giving away a penalty with his first goal since his move from
Serie A, he had an almost identical effort ruled out for offside
minutes earlier. A great result against a S-Pulse team in transition.
We're not out of danger yet but it's nice to write about a match and
not say "we were poor" for once. Kansai derby up next and
it's a big one with Vissel Kobe needing points to avoid being dragged
into the relegation dogfight. Genki Omae with a penalty and Alex Brosque form a free kick scored for S-Pulse. Brosque has just signed for Al Ain FC in the UAE where he joins Asamoah Gyan. Shinji Ono also left S-Pulse to join the Western Sydney Wanderers as their marquee signing.
Fans behind the goal did a great job of trying to put Omae off his penalty
Culpi a lot less animated than usual after his return from retirement
Zaccheroni's JFA (Samurai Blue) beat Stojkovic's J-League (Team as One) 2-1 last night. A free kick from Endo and a calm finish from Okazaki in the first half followed by a crowd pleasing wonderfully taken goal by the Japanese (44 year old) legend Kazuyoshi 'King Kazu' Miura. All the proceeds from this match go towards helping those affected by the earthquake/tsunami on March 11th.
A moment's silence
A sold out Nagai Stadium
In other news England drew with a vibrant Ghana side 1-1, the 8th most expensive player ever, Andy Carroll, scoring for England before Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan scored an injury time equaliser. But of course the main story is about Japan with many supporters at Nagai Stadium donating plus the magic of seeing a Japanese superstar footballer scoring in front of an adoring crowd. Gambare Nippon indeed. Anyone watching Football Italia many years ago might remember this from Kazu while he was playing for Genoa in Serie A.
