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.
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
It's the hope isn't it? For so so long we looked comfortable especially after Minamino's deflected effort gave us the lead. Then Jin-Hyeon was called upon a couple of times to keep us in it. But eventually new boy Cacau, who had shown some nice touches, lost the ball for the move that led to old boy Simplicio (why did we let him go?) equalizing before we were finished off in injury time with Morioka slotting home despite an army of pink shirts around him. Changes in the management structure loom while I have to put up with Gamba fans remembering my insults as they slipped down to J2 and fellow Cerezo fans just worried, furrowed brows everywhere.
They left happy but they would have been disappointed not to leave without 3 points against relegation candidates
The scoreboard indicates why the Kobe fans were happy leaving behind so many disappointed fans in Osaka
Jun Ando started in defense today, another of our new signings this season from Kyoto Purple Sanga. We had a couple of half chances before disarray at the back let Pohang Steelers take the lead. Forlan got booked before Minamino got a straight red for a dangerous tackle whether or not it was intentional. Popovic soon lost it berating the fourth official and then the ref which led to his ejection. Forlan looked miffed on the bench after being taken off for the second half as Someya stepped in to shield the back four. The energetic Nagai was also brought on to replace Kakitani and Kusukami made his regular sub appearance coming on for Hasegawa who didn't cope well against Pohang. We didn't do too badly with 10 men but inevitably Pohang finished the game with a goal on the counter. No boos at the end, perhaps the red helped in this aspect, our fans were in good voice throughout. It didn't turn out to be a must win game either as Buriram's surprise win over Shandong has all 3 teams below Pohang level on 5 points. One game in China is left that could still see us progress to the knockout stages.
Surprisingly Popovic made only one change yesterday with Yuta Someya, signed this season from Kyoto Purple Sanga where he was captain, making his first start at centre back. This showed how much we needed to win this game but Buriram United proved to be less of a test than Shandong on the day. Fairplay to them, the Cerezo players didn't look tired despite playing a higher tempo passing and pressing game than we are used to. The hard work paid off and we made it look easy in the end as Diego Forlan got his first goal for us with the last kick of the game. Kakitani scored the first and was named man of the match but 19 year old Minamino put in the most eye-catching display with 2 goals and a stunning all-round performance. I'm not used to posting about Cerezo without saying something negative so...it rained yesterday, that's it. You can see the full 90mins with English commentary by clicking here!
Zaccheroni was at
Kincho for this one as he saw Kakitani put us ahead with a typically
cool finish after he was put through superbly by Minamino who did
enough to ensure he'll be starting a few more games this season. We
looked fairly comfortable despite Yokohama hitting the woodwork on a
couple of occasions. Yokoyama came in to fill Ogihara's defensive
midfield position and did really well alongside Yamaguchi. Yamashita
worked hard in a defence that looked happy to tackle for once.
Jin-Hyeon was taken off just after the hour mark after a clash of
heads, something similar happened to him a couple of seasons back and he was
ruled out for a few weeks, but he should be back for our next game
this time. Simplicio picked his spot from outside the box to wrap up
the win despite Marquinhos's late header. Looking good in J1 then
although we limped out of the Nabisco Cup Quarter finals that hasn't
affected our run in the league. Next up is Hiroshima away.
No, no, no! No nicknames on kits please "Bomber"
Yokohama fans brought the noise and someone had a cymbal to accompany the drums
13272 in attendance as a few sections were sold out
A
poorly attended Wednesday week night cup match despite the promise of
a place in the quarter finals after this victory. Sagan Tosu scored
in the first minute but this actually gave us something to chase and
play for from the start so we did well. Maruhashi equalised with a
great free-kick and teenage sensation Minamio grabbed the winner to
leave us second in our group.
Nicest fans in Japan, the poor attendance revealed that away fans in Kincho now have seats instead of a grassy knoll
Our view of the Maruhashi free-kick, he's the one just under the beer person's nose
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 1st
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 79th
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.
Gamba
squeezed through past Ossie Ardiles' Machida Zelvia who were rooted
to the bottom of J2 for most of the season and find themselves in the
JFL (Japan Football League) next season. Shame for Ossie, I was
hoping to catch a game to see the Spurs legend but it looks like the
Ardiles experiment has backfired for Machida. We knocked four past
Shimizu to progress. Special mention goes to “one for the future”
(ie. expect him to leave for Germany if he fulfils his potential) 17
year old Takumi Minamino with a great finish for our first and his
first senior goal. In the second half Hotaru Yamaguchi made it two
connecting with a nice cross from Sakemoto. Kenyu Sugimoto settled
the nerves further in an open game with a good finish in off the
post. Speed demon Kurata finished things off calmly when he found
himself through with only the keeper to beat. The score flattered to
deceive but let's see if we can knock out Gamba Suita in the next
round. Exciting stuff awaits this Sunday in Nagai Stadium!
Worth watching to see a 17 year old kid's first senior goal. The Cerezo youth system continues to produce gifted players.
