J2 Away day finishes Kamatamare Sanuki 1 - 3 Cerezo Osaka

This game was over after 15 minutes. I spent the rest of the match swatting away some silly insects which reminded me that this is J2. As did the local flavour of things and the need to get a bus to the stadium. Anyway I remembered the last time we were in J2. So good to see Kusukami doing what he can surely do very well (in J2) after seeing flashes of his skill for the last two seasons. Will he keep his place though? Kazuki Ganaha scored the goal of the game for Sanuki after being teed up beautifully by Hotaru Yamaguchi (he played in the last World Cup for Japan). I was one of the few from Osaka not to sample the famous udon of which the "Kamatama" version appears on the club crest.

How far away is that? A short but steep walk to get to Marugame Castle which looks like it has a mustache, and glasses. 

Close to the Boy's Festival so the carp streamers were out on display

A Cerezo fan scratches his head as he realises it wasn't that far away, just very a small castle surrounded by some impressive stone walls.

Not a bad view from the castle although one of our group commented that the area on the right out of picture looks like Sakai City which if you know of it is no compliment. 

Marugame Mascots, this is Japan (in J2)

Ikkaku was the top ranked restaurant on Tripadvisor in this area. Marugame is also famous for chicken as well as Sanuki Udon. I found out on my 5 hour train journey that this place is a chain and has a shop in Shinsaibashi, the heart of Osaka. 

The Udon didn't make the cut for this poster of famous things in Marugame.

This mascot is working hard judging by the sweat/grease/oil dripping from his (bone-in) chicken leg head. The other more important banner behind and to the left could well be advertising a game between the New Zealand and Japan women's teams but I got distracted by the chicken bone header.   

Marugame Stadium

A nice stand there but...

...the grassy knolls behind the goals served to remind us all it was in J2

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We are in the draw for the next round of the Emperor's Cup! Cerezo 2 - 0 Jubilo Iwata

New manager Yuji Okuma started with a win against Jubilo Iwata who are 3rd in J2 and as we are currently 3rd from bottom in J1 that should make us pretty evenly matched right? Just over 4000 people turned up for this in a stadium that was used in a World Cup so you can imagine it looked a bit odd. Kusukami started and showed what he can bring to the team by setting up Minamino who finished well for the first. Ryo Nagai worked tirelessly all night and was rewarded with a goal he took thanks to his speedy footwork and thinking. Our injured captain Yamaguchi wasn't missed as we got our first meaningful win in a long time. Everyone put a decent shift in tonight compared to our performances in the league. I'm hoping Okuma doesn't feel pressured to bring back any big names, match-fit or not, for the next game on Saturday against 6th place Kashiwa Reysol. Kagawa has returned to Dortmund recently but in bigger news Mitch Nichols quietly joined Perth Glory on loan after a ridiculously wasted (first?) spell in Osaka. 

The unusually sparsely populated I4

This is what a world cup stadium looks like for a dry Wednesday night Emperor's Cup game in Osaka

Someone's sitting there mate

The acoustics are great in Yanmar Stadium so their efforts were heard

Lonely jobs, all of them, cameraman (or woman?), manager and linesman (or woman or assistant referee?) 

New gaffer Yuji Okuma gets nervous as he is surrounded...by drink bottles lined up and ready to spring the offside trap

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Cerezo Osaka 1 - 3 Shandong Luneng

How annoying was that game? We were outplayed at home, had no cohesion and couldn't cope with Shandong at all. First goal was offside but if we want to prove we belong in competitions like this, or are title contenders, some days you have to beat the opposition and the ref. Vagner Love cost Shandong 12 million Euros and he scored two on the night. The Shandong players were on a 3 million yen win bonus for this match too. Playing two up top leaves us vulnerable and requires both Yamaguchi and Ogihara to be on the top of their game but they were overrun on Tuesday. Aria again looked like he hasn't added much to our squad but hopefully just needs more time. At least Popovic seems to recognise the quality of Kusukami whose stepover was as important to assist Kakitani's strike as Nicols's pass. Oh the timewasting. I haven't felt so annoyed at a team in such a long time purely because that level of timewasting, by their keeper in particular, is an anachronism in today's game but the ref couldn't assert any kind authority. Another worrying performance, going to Shandong will be tough if play like this again. We can still get out the group so the booing from our fans was unwarranted, the team need to get used to playing the way Popovic wants and that will take some time, more patience is needed.

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Tut-tut, a bit of booing at the end of our loss to Ventforet Kofu

A game were expecting to win but after a couple of poor results hopefully Kakitani's goals will stop us from freefalling but we are in danger of missing one of our best chances in recent seasons to finish with a spot in the ACL. Kusakami started his first league game since joining us and was our most impressive player. We tried or were instructed to intricately pass our way directly through the Kofu team whilst on numerous occasions while our full-backs waved their arms in despair. One of the key successes of our way if playing is the width provided by our full-backs, which does leave us vulnerable with four at the back, but we didn't use them enough today. Culpi took off Kakitani and Kusukami a few minutes after Ventforet's Akito Kawamoto put the away side a goal up with what proved to be the winner. An odd change as Kusakami was looking dangerous throughout. A change of tactics would have been better especially after the nth attempt of playing through the middle was dealt with by Ventforet. A few fans in Kincho Stadium were booing at the end despite this being a young team needing support and, be fair to them, they aren't flirting with relegation like last season.

New uniform, 2013 fixtures and a reminder of why the number 8 is so important!

First match of the season in Nagai Stadium

New kit revealed

"Adventure" (Dancing Heart) Our slogan for this season

Here are the first set of fixtures in J1 with the kick off times available. The rest can be found here in Japanese. There's a pleasing number of Saturday afternoon games before summer and we start the season in Nagai Stadium. Golden week fixtures this year feature an away trip to Shonan Bellmare and Nagoya Grampus at home. Strange not seeing another Kansai team here as we keep our fingers crossed that Gamba can make it to the JFL this year. The new kits are looking good. New signing Kusukami has the number 10 while Kakitani inherits the number 8 once worn by club legend Hiroaki Morishima. No number 9 yet as the club have yet to finalise the Edno Cunha signing. Pre-season we're heading to Thailand to face our partner club Bangkok Glass on the 7th this month. Click here for more information on the partnership.

1 2/3 Sat 14：00  Albirex Niigata 大阪長居スタジアム 2 9/3 Sat 14：00  Ventforet Kofu (A) 山梨中銀スタジアム 3 16/3 Sat 15：00  ＦＣ Tokyo 大阪長居スタジアム 4 30/3 Sat 13：00  Vegalta Sendai 大阪長居スタジアム 5 6/4 Sat 15：00  Kashima Antlers (A) 県立カシマサッカースタジアム 6 13/4 Sat 19：00  Omiya Ardija 大阪長居スタジアム 7 20/4 Sat 13：00  Shimizu S-Pulse (A) 日本平スタジアム 8 27/4 Sat 14：00  Oita Trinita キンチョウスタジアム 9 3/5 Fri 16：00  Shonan Bellmare (A) Shonan BMWスタジアム平塚 10    6/5 Mon 16：00  Urawa Reds 大阪長居スタジアム 11 11/5 Sat 15：00  Kawasaki Frontale (A) 等々力陸上競技場 12 18/5 Sat 15：00  Kashiwa Reysol (A) 日立柏サッカー場 13 25/5 Sat 19：00  Nagoya Grampus キンチョウスタジアム 14 6/7 Sat 19：00  Jubilo Iwata (A) ヤマハスタジアム（磐田） 15 10/7 Sat 19：00  Yokohama F. Marinos キンチョウスタジアム 16 13/7 Sat 19：00  Sanfrecce Hiroshima (A) エディオンスタジアム広島 17 17/7 Wed 19：00  Sagan Tosu キンチョウスタジアム 18 31/7 Wed 19：00  Albirex Niigata (A) 東北電力ビッグスワンスタジアム 19 3/8 Sat 19：00  Venforet Kofu キンチョウスタジアム 20 10/8 Sat 19：00  Omiya Ardija (A) NACK５スタジアム大宮 21 17/8 Sat 19：00  Shimizu S-Pulse キンチョウスタジアム 22 24/8 Sat 19：00  Nagoya Grampus (A) 名古屋市瑞穂陸上競技場 23 28/8 Wed 19：00  Vegalta Sendai (A) ユアテックスタジアム仙台 24 31/8 Sat 19：00  Kawasaki Frontale 大阪長居スタジアム