Omiya sack their manager after losing 0-3 to Cerezo

Omiya are still 4^th while we should take no small amount of confidence into the next few games with this performance. This was Omiya's fifth straight defeat and signalled the end of manager Zdenko Verdenik's time in charge after leaving Omiya in 4^th place (they have never finished above 12^th in the top flight) and going on a J.League record unbeaten run of 21 games. What's the big idea? Omiya were league leaders back in April but apparently there will be an announcement from the club later which will do well to justify such a move. Moving swiftly on to more positive things and the second goal is becoming Kakitani's trademark, assured first touch and a calm finish. Simplicio put in a good shift today too. After this game Cupli challenged Kakitani to stay near or on top of the goalscoring charts and disappear in games less often while Kakitani himself said he wants to win J1 with Cerezo. Home supporter tickets are in very short supply for the next game against Shimizu S-Pulse on the 17^th. Enjoy the highlights below and for all who come on Saturday, bring the noise!

7 game unbeaten run in J1! Cerezo 2 - 1 Nagoya Grampus

Edno scored his first goal in the J-League as we rode our luck a tad on our way to getting 3 points. Another entertaining game and I'm glad the Grampus fans got to see a Kennedy consolidation goal as they really added to a fantastic atmosphere. Kakitani got our second after a sublime first touch from Edamura's through ball. He's now joint top of the J1 goalscorers charts with two other players. Grampus hit the woodwork twice during the course of the game but it's now becoming clear that Culpi may be close to replicating his ACL qualifying formula before his first retirement a couple of seasons back. There's now a one month break in J1 but we face Urawa Reds on the 23^rd and 30^th this month in the quarter finals of the Nabisco cup. This match was sold out possibly thanks to a half-time appearance from FC Nuremberg and former Cerezo midfielder Kiyotake.

Brilliant support from Nagoya

Kincho Stadium sold out

Where does one buy a Cerezo microphone?



Notching up 2 wins in 2

A great start from us led to a Kakitani goal after some fine work from Sugimoto early on. Leaving Hugo unmarked in the 6 yard box after a corner could only mean a Kofu equaliser later in the 1^st half. Culpi might have been annoyed with the two Brazilians Edno and Simplicio who both picked up yellow cards just before half time and were taken off at the interval with Edamura and Minamino replacing them. The promising teenager hit the post in the 79^th minute and Yamaguchi was well placed to slam home the rebound. This was a vast improvement on what we saw last week. Not a great performance though but we have a 100% record so no complaints! Next up is another team with two wins in two, FC Tokyo. They travel down from the vast overcrowded soulless metropolis that is Tokyo to the vibrant, friendly, foodie Osaka.

Cerezo Osaka 1 - 2 Omiya Ardija

The squirrels showed more urgency in their fight to stay in J1 and deservedly came away with 3 points. Jin-Hyeon's positioning invited the first goal from a free kick as our players seemed happy enough to know that although mathematically we could still go down it's pretty unlikely. The good thing is the result leaves Gamba in the relegation zone. Today we are away to league leaders Hiroshima Sanfrecce so I'm not expecting us to come back with anything from the game but it's the J-League and Cerezo so anything is possible.

Novakovic takes advatage of Jin-Hyeon's positioning

Our recent form has earned Levir Culpi  a contract extension for next season, who will look after his Japanese restaurant in Brazil?

It wasn't raining

Emperor's Cup 2nd Round vs Montedio Yamagata

Branquinho looked up for it last night with a point to prove as he's currently on loan from us. His corner was nodded in by Montedio's Maeda as our 2^nd choice keeper Matsui came of his line and achieved nothing but helping to give away a soft goal. After a dreadfully flat first half where if you didn't know beforehand you would be hard pressed to figure out which team was in J1 or J2 Culpi threw on Sugimoto and Edamura for Kempes who was awful today and the lively but ineffectual Heberty. I was expecting these two to start today as it would've given them a chance to prove themselves. As it is despite Sugimoto's goal sadly I don't expect he will get a decent run in the team while Kempes is about. It's a shameful waste of talent especially seens as in the league we have nothing much to play for, start with them Culpi! Captain Kota Fujimoto's belter sees us in the hat for the next round, a goal from an unexpected source and likely to be the best he'll ever score, fabulous winning goal but overall a poor performance. 

 

Scary stuff, weather and Cerezo's Performance

Cerezo Osaka 0-2 Nagoya Grampus

The kick off was delayed as once again Nagai park was hit by a thunderstorm. We were poor despite the return of fan favourite and supposedly retired manager Levir Culpi. Ryo Nagai who I though could do well for us coming off the bench is on trial with Perth Glory in Australia with a view to a possible loan move. Nagoya showed why they feel they have a shot at the title this year while we showed our usual inconsistency. Highlights don't show the second goal by Kennedy but clearly show our terrible set piece defending for Nagoya's first. Some fans booed the team off at the final whistle which is not a good sign at this stage of the season. 


The light show before the game, the video below shows the Grampus fans
at the peak of the storm keeping dry and preparing for some happy
times for their team on the pitch later.

 

 

 

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

Bando hat-trick in Shimizu but only a point for Cerezo vs S-Pulse

Ryuji Bando came off the bench to secure a point away from home at the Outsourcing Stadium Nihondaira. Since Bando joined us he hasn't actually started under Culpi as far as I can remember. We started with Kenyu Sugimoto up top as Komatsu was injured and Fabio Lopes was given a first start too. Sugimoto missed a good headed chance whilst Lopes didn't do much to suggest he's significantly better than any other average Brazilian import in J1. But anyway the day belonged to Bando who got his first from the penalty spot and finished well for the other two goals in a crazy last 15 minutes which left both sets of supporters with sore throats after the match. As usual Cerezo tend to lose concentration just after scoring and frustration crept in as Bando's double was swiftly cancelled out within minutes, the same happened minutes after his hat-trick goal leaving us with a point from the game. Shimizu's goals came from Ono, Takagi and Takahara who looked like they had the game wrapped up until those unforgettable last few minutes.

Cheerleaders at football?

The screen was broken but the big
kit is always a crowd pleaser

The pink and navy army

Culpi: Right, Bando's coming on,
that'll show you!

Bando awaits his game-changing appearance

Prepares to score his first...

...does so with no problem, two more followed

Still no home win, Inui scores but will it be his last for Cerezo?

An entertaining 2-3 loss to a strong Nagoya team. Inui came off the bench to score our second after Pimpao got the first for Cerezo. Jin-Hyeon had to face another Kennedy penalty straight after saving the first when the referee deemed a retake was needed. This was Nagoya's third of the night. Not for the first time this season the home fans (and Culpi) got peeved with the officiating.

Kennedy gets another penalty chance

Culpi was restrained then stormed off

How many games does Inui have left for Cerezo? Will he be a great loss?

Inui started away to Albirex Niigata but it took an effort from sub Sakemoto in injury time to salvage a point for us in Niigata, 1-1. Still finding it hard to believe the scouts think he's that good but it looks like Inui (4 goals in J1 last season) will be heading to Europe and the Bundelsiga looks the most likely destination. Supposedly his contract has a similar 350k Euro release clause that saw the now highly valued Shinji Kagawa leave for Dortmund. Surely the outcome won't be the same, I expect to see a fair number of bemused Bundesliga fans when they see him in action, even if he is cheap as. Not sure if he'll be starting, on the bench, or left out of the matchday squad (hot inside gossip ahoy!) for Kashiwa Reysol's visit to Osaka which will also see a return to Nagai Stadium this Saturday.

Two wins in the J-League so far!

We played Ventforet Kofu without Kiyotake who was on Olympic qualifying duty (see you in London!) with Japan U22s and Inui becuase of his possible move to the Bundesliga. Read Culpi's thoughts about an Inui move here. Is Inui that good? He's been great in the ACL this year and previously in J2 but he must have a good agent I guess, he managed 4 goals in 33 matches in J1 last season. Despite that it only took a goal each from our subs Komatsu and Bando in the 85min and in injury time respectively to get us our second win this season. Tomorrow Nagoya visit Kincho with their legendary manager Dragan Stojkovic, Japanese international defender Tulio and the J-League's joint top goalscorer last season (they were champions by the way) Australian Joshua Kennedy.

Kiyotake scores the first against the mighty Kuwait 3-1 to Nippon 

ACL Osaka Derby did it really happen? Here's the evidence!!! Woohoo!!!

Gamba Suita 0-1 Cerezo Osaka. It was our first win for years against Gamba and perhaps (I was told) ever at Bampaku. Glorious, absolutely glorious. One of the happiest 90+ minutes I've ever had. Please enjoy the pictures from 24/5, an amazing day for everyone involved. We're in the draw for the quarter finals! Actually we're the only team from Japan left. Credit goes to Culpi for this win, his tactics and substitutions were spot on. For one day only the usually inconspicuos Daisuke Takahashi became a pink and navy god and the over confident Gamba players, fans, mascot etc. were so distraught after the defender's 90th minute strike it was truly as special as football gets if you support the only team from Osaka City. Woohoo!!!

We came, we saw, we won. 

   Winners                                               Losers    

Unforgettable!

Spurs into the Quarter Finals, Cerezo face Kashiwa Reysol on Saturday

Not our usual type of performance in Europe but that's all we needed to beat AC Milan, the current league leaders in Serie A! Great stuff, COYS! Because AC Milan are my team in Italy and as a reminder of just some of their past glories here's Capello's Milan vs Cruyff's Barcelona back in the 1994 Final. Great game, legendary team. Better than the current Barcelona team? We will never know.

Cerezo's next opponents are newly promoted Kashiwa Reysol who won their first game back in J1 3-0 last week so will be on a high. It will be interesting to see if Culpi tinkers with the starting 11 for this game. The game will be played in Kincho Stadium. A bit of nostalgic trivia, Reysol can boast having once fielded Brazilian star striker Careca and later Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov. Of their current crop of imports Brazilian midfielder Leandro Domingues is a key player and he got on the scoresheet last week. Come on Cerezo!

A match made in Osaka

Something old...

Before we became Cerezo Osaka we were Yanmar Diesel and this was our kit

 Something new...

The J-League kicks off today!

Something borrowed...

Most of our new players this season are on loan. I was going to do a preview but instead here's a link to Ryuji Bando's thoughts on the new season from www.goal.com in English, great interview. Also 'borrowed' from the same site, here is an interesting atricle by Cesare Polenghi about the transer system in Japanese football and why it's bad for Japanese clubs. Will anything change in the near future? Finally some comments from Levir Culpi in the Japan Times following our ACL debut.

Something blue...

The Gamba kit, Endo really needs a haircut