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.
World Cup returnees Yamaguchi, Kakitani, Forlan and Okubo were presented with flowers before the game at which point I realised that Kakitani wouldn't be starting his last game before joining FC Basel and Forlan would be a spectator. This game was sold out and fans got to see the new gaffer play a 4-1-4-1 formation and give Minamino the responsibility of starting in central midfield. Never one to shy away from a scrap Takumi was shown a straight red. It wouldn't be a red in most other leagues but the ref could argue he kicked Oshima's arse then got up and shoved him after a bit of a tussle. A well worked goal with a tidy finish from the otherwise ineffectual Ando saw us take the lead before a soft penalty conceded by Fujimoto let Okubo equalise and sub Kanakubo ensured Frontale left with 3 points with an opportunistic shot. Kakitani came on for a cameo and there was the standard ceremony Cerezo fans are used to as he now leaves for FC Basel. He has promised to return as a better player but I don't want to think about that. He's gone now so until he comes back I don't care. The club stuck by Kakitani when we loaned him out instead of getting rid of him and he then promised to stay with Cerezo and win a title here. Perhaps I'm a tad jaded after seeing us turn into a feeder club with no trophies to show for all our young talent. Still, as always, things will be interesting here as Pezzaiuoli looks to reshape our team for the future.
The fans behind the goal were in amazing form that the team couldn't quite match
Standard German manager's fashion style overshadowed by a banner about Kakitani and a coach with a schoolboy approach to bench use. The first kanji character means to charm or bewitch.
Do I not like that red card, although there is yet another impressive banner in the background.
Yamashita got sent off but with both Forlan and Kakitani now looking increasingly dangerous in the J. League we left Nagoya with three points, excellent result. Later that day Spurs would lose to West Ham after Kaboul got sent off in an eerily similar fashion to Yamashita but Spurs showed no fight or confidence at all. I want the Premier League season to finish soon, which it will on Sunday, West Ham have beaten us three times this season.
A proper footballing lesson here. Everything Guangzhou Evergrande did was so much better than us. Amazing to see Marcelo Lippi in Yanmar Stadium but that was pretty depressing to watch. Particularly as I realised one of their best players on the night, Alessandro Diamanti, is ex-West Ham.
This is the AFC Champions League!
Incredible number of away fans
A big flag for a big occasion
Elkeson's penalty
Popovic and Lippi
Final Score
We should have known we were in trouble when a World Cup winning manager looks on!
Love didn't conquer all, although he did score the first after a ridiculous penalty decision. So, however unlikely it seems, we made it through!Sakemoto was dropped and our formation was altered but ultimately I don't think that made a huge difference as two nice finishes from two players we expect to produce the goods got us the points we needed to squeeze through to the knockout stage. Jin-Hyeon gave us a scare as he fell very awkwardly but played on and he and the rest of the defense proved too strong for Shandong to get back in the game. Enjoy the video and happy days! Marcelo Lippi's Guangzhou Evergrande awaits us in early May. A Kansai Derby awaits us tomorrow back in J1.
This was sold out as I believe was last season's fixture at Ajinomoto Stadium. Last time we came away with three points, despite a goal from Hasegawa (now of Cerezo), Minamino and Kakitani scored in November last year. Sadly it was not to be today as our defence was easily breached. I feel Sakemoto will bear the brunt of Popovic's (who brought Hasegawa with him from FC Tokyo this year) wrath again after a poor defensive display. Both FC Tokyo goals came from his side of the defense as well another great chance to score sandwiched in between the two goals. We had chances but nothing is going consistently well for Kakitani or Forlan so far this season as they don't look like a strike partnership capable of rescuing us from our defensive frailties. Time will tell, there are glimpses of a footballing understanding between them interspersed with shrugs and complaints. If we can't defend we need to score more, pretty simple. We can't even use the excuse of being in the ACL as we have a pretty big squad compared to previous years with lots of opportunity for rotation of which we have seen very little. Two massive games coming up (with us in poor form) in China against Shandong Luneng to determine who will qualify from our ACL group followed by a trip to current league leaders Vissel Kobe for Kansai bragging rights.
Kakitani couldn't convert our best chances as we went back to looking like a team that needs more time to gel. Forlan dropped back into midfield too much for my liking where he couldn't really do any damage with his long passing. His best work comes from being closer to the last defenders and finding space which he isn't doing often enough at the moment. We have always needed an old head to calm and inspire our young team as Simplicio did last season. Forlan however just got angry on a couple of occasions instead of leading when our heads were down. His quote later to the AFP that "They don't have to listen if they don't want to be part of it" seems like an odd way to express leadership though. Ogihara has gone backwards, much like his passing in this game, in terms of his development which is highlighted by Hasegawa making it to the Japan team training session while he has been left behind. I don't think Popovic likes how Ogihara plays and on this form he doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the first team. This was not the best preparation for the next game which happens to be the Osaka Derby in Yanmar stadium on Saturday. Kashiwa Reysol's goals came from Tanaka early on and ex-Gamba forward Leandro later in the 2nd half. Maruhashi got our consolation goal in the dying minutes of the game.
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!
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.
A crowd of 37079 were in the renamed Yanmar Stadium yesterday to watch the J1 season opener against reigning champions Hiroshima. Our fans were a bit impatient throughout perhaps expecting immediate results despite a new manager and a few new signings. Ogihara was disappointing but having more competition for places this season means he will be forced to perform with greater consistency. Hasegawa didn't contribute much either hopefully he just needs a few games to settle in. Forlan wasn't fully match fit but showed glimpses of how his link up play with Kakitani could lead to a fair few goals. Ultimately this was the kind of performance and result you would expect against Sanfrecce. Our defending, as ever, never looked solid enough to inspire confidence while we were having one of those days when our attacking play wasn't clicking either. Shiotani scored an unchallenged volley from Chiba's pass who despite being surrounded by pink kits was allowed to find his man. Sugimoto was brought on for Forlan but it would have been nice to see Ryo Nagai who is more direct and arguably more of a goal threat. Interesting to see his development after being loaned out to Perth Glory. Ogihara was eventually subbed for Serbian loanee Kacar. Hasegawa came off for Kusukami and he immediately injected some urgency into our attacking play. Notsuda missed a great opportunity to make it two for the visitors but one goal was enough to bring us back to reality. I fear that a lot of our support were expecting too much too soon especially considering this was our first game in the league and it was against the defending champions. Although there wasn't a huge difference in terms of quality with Cerezo and J1 all predictions for this season are out of the window although considering Yanmar's considerable investment this season it would be nice to improve upon our 4th place last year. New manager Popovic will be looking to introduce some of our new signings for a full 90 minutes especially as we have a busy few weeks ahead with our Asian Champions League group matches. It will be interesting to see how Popovic utilises the likes of Mitch Nichols and Gojko Kacar. We have to get used to not having Simplicio's midfield presence too. Last week we did well to get a point away in an ill-tempered game in Korea against Pohang Steelers with Kakitani scoring another beauty (video below).
The pink ponchos were out in force on a rainy day
Bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do? Leave with 3 points thank you
Omiya
are still 4th 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 4th place
(they have never finished above 12th 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 17th. Enjoy the highlights below and for all who come
on Saturday, bring the noise!
Interesting, more so if you can understand the Japanese, sorry no plans to add English subtitles. But you get see how the hype started with a teenage Kakitani impressing at the U17 World Cup a few years back and the ups and downs of his career since then. This was shown before another great tournament performance from him in South Korea in the East Asian Cup.
This
was a game we were expecting to at least come away from with a point
but after Edno spurned our best chance created by Kakitani we were
left with nothing as another bit of dodgy goalkeeping from Jin-Hyeon
presented the ball to a grateful Kentaro Ohi who wrapped up the 3
points for Albirex. This video shows highlights of the all the recent
J.League games with a focus on the returning heroes from the East
Asian Cup in South Korea where Zaccheroni was successful with an
experimental squad. Kakitani scored 3 goals in the two games he
started including a brace that sealed victory for Japan. Yamaguchi
was named player of the tournament while Ogihara also made his debut
for the national team. From a Cerezo point of view this has raised
the profile of the young players making it tougher to hold on to them
when foreign clubs start their approaches. But another way of looking
at it is that now they are under pressure to be consistent performers
which will only help us in the league this season. After that who
knows? The Cerezo highlights start at 03:24 on the video and are
followed by a chat with Kakitani.
Champions and current 2nd place team Hiroshima kept going in a fairly even match with chances for both teams but a slight error in judgement from Jin-Hyeon in the 95th miniute delighted the home crowd. Prior to the game this was billed as a battle between Cerezo's Kakitani and Sanfrecce's Sato both of whom are in double figures for goals this season and both missed chances to add to their tallies. We remain in 6th and face Sagan Tosu who are just above the relegation spots in 15th at home on Wednesday. In other news Zaccheroni has named Yamaguchi, Ogihara and Kakitani in his East Asian Cup squad so let's hope they can win their first caps for the national team. The cup means a short break in the J1 schedule during which we will be facing the travelling Manchester United pre-season friendly circus.
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 23rd
and 30th 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.
A
very unexpected goal, he showed composure and a stunning finish in
the 2nd minute. Who am I talking about? Edno!
Congratulations on his first goal and actually looking like a
footballer. Culpi dropping him for a few games seems to have done
wonders although I would still like to see Sugimoto start for the
time being. Edno was subbed before the end of the match as his
reverted to his usual anonymous footballer role. Antlers, who started
the day at the top of the standings, then equalised but that man
Kakitani popped up again to ensure our passage to the league cup
quarter finals in pole position. To be fair he did more than just pop
up, he ran with the ball from our half and as the Antler's players
closed in smacked in the winner from just outside the box.
We
conceded first after another spell of choosing not to tackle anyone.
Yamaguchi equalised with a free-kick that the Reysol keeper misjudged
badly. Kakitani wrapped things up for us adding to his impressive
tally this season with a brace that keeps Cerezo hovering around the
ACL spots. Have we found consistency at last?
Again
Edno didn't start and this time didn't come off the bench either so
I'm starting to wonder whether we night be loaning him out to a J2
team this season (he himself is on loan to us from the Mexican club
Tigres but we've done similar things before). But on to more positive
things we scored 3 great team efforts with Kakitani grabbing two to
put him on 6 league goals this campaign ( 6 more than Edno...sorry!)
and Yamaguchi getting the other. Sugimoto looked really comfortable
and was on the same wavelength as his team-mates as he was involved
in all of the goals. Next up this Golden Week Urawa Reds visit Nagai
Stadium and we're all hoping their fans are on their best behaviour after Shimizu.
Oita
Trinita currently languish at the bottom of J1 but left with a point
despite hitting the woodwork in quick succession. To be fair to
Cerezo they did manage a pretty decent 16 shots this game whilst always
looking susceptible to an Oita counter. Edno was dropped today for
the first time but looked lively when brought on. As usual our
brightest spark throughout was Kakitani who seems likely to leave
this summer with Dortmund being touted as one possible destination.
This was the first game this season in the slightly revamped Kincho
Stadium with a larger standing section behind the goal which our fans
celebrated by chipping in together to pay almost a million yen for a
new banner.
If you wear the away colours in this section you can't watch the game, new rules this season.
Locals show their support
Trinita supporters gave it their all to help lift their team
League
leaders Omiya left with 3 points as they scored very early and very
late on with our only goal coming from Kakitani. Shin Kanazawa scored
from just past the halfway line after spotting Kim Jin-Hyeon off his
line about 22 seconds into the game. An expected result as we are
still trying to work out our best system (perhaps something with a
striker who can score would help?) while the squirrels on the other
hand are comfortably beating all comers at the moment.
Sitting, or standing in this case, pretty at the top of J1
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.
Kakitani's
calm finish secured an incredibly undeserved 3 points as Albirex will
be wondering how they are going home with nothing. No outfield player
for us performed particularly well as Jin-Hyeon had to be in top form
to keep us in the game. Worryingly our new no.9 Edno “the Rock”
lived up to his nickname by being a motionless inanimate object for
most of the game before being subbed. Hopefully Culpi will change the
starting line-up for the next game as quite a few players failed to
impress but Ogihara's introduction added some urgency and bite to the
midfield. An unexepectedly depressing moment came as we brought on
the re-branded Branquinho who now goes by “Branco”. This is a guy
we have on loan and we subsequently loaned to Yamagata in J2 as he
proved to be largely ineffective last year. As he came on looking at
his name on the scoreboard I thought it was a new signing until on
closer inspection it turned out to be our unsuccessful loaned loanee
sneaking back on to the pitch under a different name, very odd. In
other news congratulations to Shinji Kagawa who grabbed a hat-trick
in the early hours this morning for Man U against Norwich. Man U will
visit Osaka in the summer for a friendly bringing with them
overpriced tickets, an extra game in the middle of the J1 season and
the Japanese superstar we sold for 350,000 Euros. All said and done
we got 3 points but if we can't improve drastically we could well be
flirting with relegation again.
