Kashiwa Reysol has arguably been the hardest hit of the three newly relegated clubs. In total, 18 members of the Sun Kings have been shown the door in one form or another. A pair of Defenders, Yasuhiro Hato and Yukio Tsuchiya are heading up the Noda line to Omiya. Both Hato and Tsuchiya play an aggressive style of defense as shown by their combined 14 yellow cards and 2 reds. 10 year Kashiwa mainstay Tomokazu Myojin is heading to defending Champs Gamba Osaka. The 19th member of this expanding group will be National team striker Keiji Tamada. Reports on January 13th had Tamada rejecting bids from Shimizu and Omiya and selecting perennial underachiever Nagoya Grampus 8. However, a report in Sports Hochi has Yokohama F Marinos teaming him up with fellow national teamer Tatsuhiko Kubo. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/hochi/soccer/jan/o20060113_40.html
Kashiwa has gotten some players back from rental agreements, including Kashima Antlers midfielder Ricardinho as well as picking up a bunch of youth players, college kids and rentals and castoffs from J1 clubs. Kashiwa is in for a long season in J2 as well as a long stay. It wouldn't be surprising to see them finish in the bottom tier of the league.
Another Team that is facing the "Joy of relegation" Rakuten Empire charter member Vissel Kobe. Kobe has seen their two imports Martin and Ivo head back to Europe, Ryuji Bando join Gamba Osaka and numerous others scatter to various J1 and J2 clubs. Vissel has decided to rebuild with youth, signing 4 members from it's strong youth program and 6 players from the ranks of High School and College.
They did manage to get a find in young Sanfrecce striker Hiroto Mori who netted 4 scores in 12 games. they also picked up a couple of released Yokohama FM players (Nobuki Hara and Sho Kitano) who rarely played for the first team.
Finally that brings us to JFL champions and new boys, Ehime FC. It looks like a long, long season for Tangerine Dream as they set out with their core from the JFL, rented sattlelite players from Sanfrecce Hiroshima (3 total, plus a pickup) and Kashiwa Reysol. It would be a major upset if they finished ahead of anyone in J2. Honestly, I know little about this squad but I have a feeling that they are going to rival Thespa Kusatsu for ineptitude in their inagural season. Fortunately, they have the backing of their entire community so their long term future is bright.
Next weeks featured teams will be Mito Hollyhock, Yokohama FC, and Thespa Kusatsu.
CORRECTION/UPDATE: Sports Hochi is reporting that Tamada will join Nagoya as well. Cleber, an integral part of Kashiwa, left the team for Santos in Brazil. By my new count, that's 20 including a good foreign import and a National team player. They are having a supporters meeting on the 29th. Cookies will be served, blood will be spilled. That is all.
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