More transfers!

Well we sold Kiyotake to Nuremberg for a pittance considering his status but we got a fair price for Bo Kyung from cash rich Cardiff City and their rebranding Malaysian owners. Branqhuino who has been average at best has gone on loan to Montedio Yamagata in J2. Also this week we signed Brazilian midfeilder Heberty on loan from Thespa Kusatsu in J2. He joins fellow newbies Yokoyama, Edamura and Simplicio. Here are a few of Heberty's goals in J2, don't get too excited, remember anyone can look good on a Youtube highlights compilation but here's hoping he can be good enough to help us avoid relegation.

3-2 again but this time Cerezo win!

Extended higlights taken from the mainstand at Kincho

Jubilo pulled back two goals in the last 5 minutes but the game should have been over as a contest with Kempes missing two easy chances in either half and Kakitani also being wasteful on one occasion. Kiyotake scored a lucky first with a mis-hit shot then another Olympic bound Cerezo midfielder, Ogihara, added the second as the Jubilo defence looked shaky. Bo-Kyung (heading to London 2012 with Korea) continues to play out of his skin though which is nice as he got our 3^rd of the night. Some news from our last away game against Kashima Antlers. The plastic bottle throwing fans have been banned for life while the Cerezo team bus kicking supporters have been banned for five games. Next game is in Sapporo on Thursday as it's Golden Week followed by a Kansai Derby vs Kobe in Osaka on Sunday.


Jubilo fans in the tiny away section



Just over 12,000 for this game



Detective Conan's half-time appearance



Kiyotake with Kakitani, as Kiyotake goes to Nuremburg
this summer Kakitani will be looking to take his place.

Kashima Antlers 3 - 2 Cerezo Osaka: Kashima comeback Cerezo capitulate

2 up at half time but we left the Kashima Soccer Stadium with no points

Kim Bo-Kyung continued his stunning form this season by adding his fourth and fifth league goals this campaign with two first half strikes. The first coming from a Kiyotake pass and the second from a Kempes miss Bo-Kyung himself helped set up. We didn't look too solid at the back as both teams had a number of decent chances in the first half. The game continued to be open and Dutra pulled one back after a poor punch from Jin-Hyeon in the second half. Cerezo then entered a phase of forgetting how to do the basics such as defending and passing which so often leads to plenty of goals. Kuroki levelled for the home team in the 62^nd minute. A few minutes later Bo-Kyung's reaction to Dutra kicking out earned him a yellow and incensed many of the Antlers players as they rushed to confront him in scenes rarely seen in the J-League. Endo finally secured Kashima 3 points for their manager, Brazlian legend Jorginho (world cup winning right-back), in the 85^th minute after both teams spurned a few more chances. Great comeback and the Kashima fans should have been delighted...

This incident led to some unsavoury scenes and actions from players and supporters

...however at some point two Antlers fans threw plastic bottles from the stands. One was caught and the other escaped for now. The club will decide on the punishment later. After the game some Kashima fans were hitting the Cerezo team bus as it left the stadium, they may have been provoked by something Bo-Kyung did from on the bus but that can't be confirmed yet. These incidents are very unusual in Japan so we can expect some severe punishments for those involved and even some who weren't but are seen as responsible. There could also be some repercussions for Bo-Kyung too following his actions.

The team bus leaving



Spurs in action and a J1 update, COYS!

Spurs fans were in good voice but much like the last game I went to the away fans were significantly more vociferous. Van Der Vaart scored the first and set up the second from a corner. Swansea did well at the lane and danger man Gylfi Sigurdsson was...dangerous and scored for the visitors as well as forcing an exceptional save from Brad Friedel. Gareth Bale had another sublime game and when Aaron Lennon returned from injury in the second half and we immediately looked a lot more balanced so things are looking up for our last few games. Lennon crossed superbly for Adebayor's second.  My hope for this year is that Spurs can finish above Arsenal and Cerezo above Gamba and a cup win would be nice too! Back in Japan Cerezo picked up three points against Frontale thanks to a Kim Bo-Kyung goal in Kawasaki. We lost our first home game in Kincho Stadium 1-2 as Vegalta Sendai look like having consecutive flying starts in J1, Bando scoring our only goal. Gamba sacked their manager after a poor start to the season. Next up for Spurs is a trip to Sunderland while Cerezo travel to Omiya Ardija.
                                                                                        

The High Road but it could be spring in Japan!

The White Hart Lane cockerel 

Swansea fans celebrate Sigurdsson's goal

Adebayor scores his first from a Van Der Vaart corner

                                                                                      

Victory in the Osaka Derby!

Our first home gome this season in Nagai Stadium brought our rivals from Suita into Osaka. Until Saturday we hadn't recorded a victory against them in the league for a good number of years. Although the winner came in the 94th minute we never looked like losing which was an unusual feeling! Branquinho scored the opener slotting home past the keeper after a clever sidestep past the last defender. Gamba's equaliser was fortunate as it came from a free kick that was dubious to say the least. Jin Hyeon positioned himself for an effort from Endo but Paulinho exploited the space by delivering a well placed left-footed drive to the keeper's left. Throughout the game we had the better of the chances. Ogihara in particular knocking a golden chance over the bar from a few yards out. Kempes headed home in injury time from Sakemoto's cross. Until his winner Kempes was spectacularly poor but he got the MOTM interview because of his winner. Kim Bo-Kyung was the real star performer for us this weekend always looking dangerous on the attack and dedicated when defending. Our Olympic bound defensive midfield duo tired somewhat in the 2nd half but stil put in another good shift. Kiyotake sporting his newly inherited No.8 (following Morishima and Kagawa) will be looking to do much better in the next game although he did little wrong. The new Gamba manager had to answer questions about his job security after the game as Gamba prepare for what could be one of their toughest campaigns. Cerezo fans on the other hand look to have another season of unpredictable ups and downs ahead. Vive le difference.

This flag had another huge one underneath
and two smaller ones underneath that
as a beer girl dutifully pours in the
foreground.

Gamba fans reminding us of a day back in 2005
 I can't recall exactly what happened...

Celebrating the last minute winner

A victorious post-match bow from the derby winners

Asian Champions League Quarterfinal

We can't defend and three away goals wasn't ideal against a strong Jeonbuk side from Korea. But in another ridiculously open game we came out on top. Kiyotake scored the winner and his second, both from Sakemoto corners to make it 4-3 and adding goals from Bando and Bo-Kyung. Next we face a trip to Korea on the 27th, good luck chaps.





Incredible stuff as Hiroshima visit Osaka!

The first half ended with boos from the home fans. Things started badly when we lost our captian and most experienced defender Moniwa early on. Sanfrecce then knocked three past us before half time. There wasn't much choice for Culpi, only a Bando hat-trick could salvage anything so he came on along with Kim Bo-Kyung for the second half. Then all kinds of craziness after the restart. Kiyotake got things going with a great strike Bando got a couple to square the game then Bo-Kyung scored with another fine effort. Bando wrapped up his hat-trick, another riciculously clinical displat from him. Also worth noting was new forward Fabio Lopes who was a great creative force today with some incisive set-up play. Sanfrecce grabbed the last goal in what proved to be one of the craziest games of football you will ever witness.

3-0 up? Don't celebrate yet

Captain stretchered off

Bando reminding the ref he wants the match ball

The highs of being a Cerezo fan

No more boos

Kashima Antlers 2 - 1 Cerezo Osaka

On Wednesday in Kashima Soccer Stadium (named to let people now there is no running track here, it's just for football!) the Antlers completed their league double over us. Cerezo captain Teruyuki Moniwa got himself sent off. He got caught out for pace badly (but unusually) and decided to sacrifice himself when it would have been better to let Jin-Hyeon at least attempt a save in the 38^th minute. After that we managed to score first through Jin-Kyung after some lucky set up play Komatsu. As happens too often this season we conceded within 5 minutes of scoring at which point heads started to drop. Yuya Osako got that goal. It was just a matter of time before Kashima scored their winner through Chikashi Masuda in the 74^th minute. Culpi threw on Fabio Lopes and youngster Kenyu Sugimoto who both would have fared better having a full compliment of outfield players to help them get an equaliser. With or without ten men Kashima were the better team overall, some of their attacking play was class. Jin-Hyeon again made some good saves but his distribution was poor. Next up is Shimizu S-Pulse away.

Moniwa gets his marching orders

No protests from anyone

Kashima fans behind the goal

Bo-Kyung thanks Komatsu for his lucky assist

The stadium was affected by the earthquake
hence the position of the floodlights

Applause and bows but no boos after the final whistle

Osaka derby

They had all the possession. Bo-Kyung scored a sweet goal off the inside of his left boot (don't go to Stoke!). Jin-Hyeon made a number of fine saves followed by a disappearing act for their equaliser from Sota Nakazawa within the space of a few minutes after we scored. Some of our fans were booing at the end, why? Fair enough it's a derby but the team from Suita are a level above us this season, challenging for the title for example, so I was well pleased with a draw, could've won it in fact, some of the extra thousands that turned up didn't quite get it, even though they got the uniforms and scarves etc. Anyway we're not going down. Fabio Lopes made his debut but couldn't really do much, and, I almost forgot, Gamba had a penalty shout (it was really blatant but the ref was behind the action) denied, oh well. Next stop Kashima Antlers away, three points above us, Wednesday.

The Suita team brought a big kit to a big stadium

Why don't you come to more games? And don't boo afterwards.... unless we actually deserve it.

Kawasaki Frontale 1 - 2 Cerezo Osaka

Kawasaki had some good chances and Jin-Hyeon recovered well after he's become something of a youtube sensation due to his error last week. But he produced a solid display including a couple of quality saves from stinging shots, one of which ended with him hitting the post, dedication. In the end that was enough to see us take the three points. We scored another goal from a very similar corner to our last game where Kiyotake was able to head in from the 6-yard box. Our second came from a nice build up and Kurata finished the move well. Also well done to whoever works on set-pieces in training, we saw some threatening and carefully though out free-kicks the kind of which I have never seen before. Perhaps they do this stuff in Brazil all the time but I haven't seen it. But the three points takes us further away from the bottom which is important for Cerezo fans after we finished 3^rd last season, it's always a worry we might get relegated! Our first half display was too god for Frontale who picked things up in the second half but couldn't get nything out of the game. A good turnout and atmosphere for the game which included a minute silence for the recently deceased Naoki Matsuda. Terrible news. Our fans chanted his name after the silence was over and had a banner to pay our respects. Kiyotake's good form continiued against Korea on Wednesday in Sapporo's full international between the two neighbouring countries. He got a couple of assists while Kagawa got two goals. Kim Bo-Kyung also came off the bench for Korea who were surprisingly poor. Next up it's Osaka derby time!

Kawasaki's stadium, in the middle of nowhere

Cerezo fans' message to Naoki Matsuda

Another innovative free kick

Kim Bo-Kyung delivers a corner

Our away support bring the noise and colour

Inui's last game: Cerezo 1 - 3 Kashima Antlers

A battle between Brazilian managers and finally my prediction comes true. Today was Inui's last home game and he scored one of his best goals. He picked up the ball near the halfway line before jinking between a few Kashima players and netting our only goal of the game. By this time Kim Jin-Hyeon had already made a couple of decent saves so it wasn't looking easy but then Jin-Hyeon completely lost it. Two goals from Yuzo Tashiro followed before the break. For the first he caught Jin-Hyeon trying to pass the ball out from the back and I guess nobody warned him so Tashiro simply nicked the ball and slotted into an empty net. For Antlers' second Jin-Hyeon went to collect a cross he had no chance of getting and Tashiro nodded home another easy chance. In the second half we won a penalty from a push during a corner. Inui wanted to take it but Bo-Kyung stepped up and had his awful effort easily saved. The final embarressment for Jin-Hyeon was getting lobbed from the halfway line by Mitsuo Ogasawara just before the final whistle. Great goal but suspect postitioning from our young Korean keeper. Jin-Hyeon is his own harshest critic so it'll be interesting to see how he recovers from this. Inui said his farewell and will fly to Germany tomorrow to join Vfl Bochum 1848. In other transfer news Stoke and other teams in England are sniffing around Kim Bo-Kyung who has been described as the next Park Ji-Sung by...Park Ji-Sung. We had a crowd of just over 28,000 last night thanks in part to lots of free ticket offers, the effect of the Japan ladies team winning the World Cup and possibly for people to say goodbye to Inui. The atmosphere was one of the best in a long time. Credit to the Antlers fans for adding to a great night. They came, they sang, they won.

Kashima fans were well rewarded for their sterling effort

A heaving I4

The rare sight of a packed stadium

Jin-Hyeon distraught after he conceded the second

Inui tries his best for his last game, from the resulting corner we win a penalty...

...taken poorly by Kim Bo-Kyung.

What happened to S-Pulse? Cerezo 4 - 0 Shimizu

Our first game since Pimpao returned to Brazil after an inconsistent few games in J1 but pretty solid performances in the ACL. He won't be missed too badly (if at all) after this result. Martinez returned and Komatsu took up the front man position. The first half was pretty evenly matched and I was pretty worried coming into this game. But the second half belonged to our Korean midfielder Kim Bo-Kyung. Some pretty poor marking from a corner let Bo-Kyung score the first from in the six yard box. He then won a penalty, a decision which could have gone either way, leaving Kurata to convert. So we got a couple of fortunate goals. A few minutes later and Shinji Ono got subbed due to an injury and that seemed to destroy any hope for Shimizu as they never looked like getting back into things. This left Kim Bo-Kyung to grab his well deserved second and Inui to wrap things up with our fourth goal. Deja vu perhaps I've written this before but that could be Inui's last for us, this was played in Nagai Stadium before heading of to VFL Bochum for a bargain price (or his true worth?) of around 300,000 Euros.

Shimizu away fans full of hope

Bo-Kyung (next to the keeper) waits for the delivery to score his first

Kurata prepares to tuck this one away

Shinji Ono's game is over and with it any sign of hope for Shimizu. Oh no indeed.

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