J2 around the league-RETURN OF THE KING

We start out this weeks installment of J2 around the league at the bottom......the very bottom. Thespa Kusatsu decided to go back to their roots and hire back the coach that led them into the J-League. Shigeharu Ueki, a former coach at Hiratsuka (Shonan) Bellmare and Montedio Yamagata replaced Satoshi Tezuka after the finished a dismal 5-8-31, trailing Yokohama FC by an overwhelming 22 points in the standings. Shockingly, the team only picked up 7 players, including Keisuke Ota (2 goals in 24 games) from Avispa Fukuoka, Yasunori Takada(2 goals in 26 games) for Shonan Bellmare and Yokohama FC, and a pair of Omiya players in MF Yusuke Shimada and GK Takahiro Takagi. 10 players are leaving next year, most notably Takayuki Yamaguchi to Sagan Tosu and GK co-starter Fumiya Iwamura to Avispa Fukuoka, leaving the nets in the hands of 3 players with no J league game experience and 40 year old legend Noboyuki Kojima. It would be very easy to say that this team will finish in last but there is a possibility that Ueki can muster up the same magic that led the squad to finish in the quarterfinals of the Emperors Cup.


Yokohama FC was a team that struggled last year so they decided to do some major renovations this year and drop 17 players from the 11th place squad, including Trinidad and Tobago National Silvio and 9 other midfielders. Some of the players joining next years squad are veteran Vissel kobe defender Ichiei Muroi who played in only 10 games for the J1 cellar dwellers and Chong Yong De, a little used MF from Kawasaki. The best pickup was probably former Shonan Bellmare MF Tomoyuki Yoshino, who had 32 caps in 2005. Of course, any column about Yokohama wouldn't be complete without the question, "How much does King Kazu have left in his tank?". He had 6 goals in 38 games last year and took center stage in Sydney FC's World Club Championship run, but he's 38 years old and 38 year old forwards don't have much of a shelf life. My guess is that he won't finish the season with the squad. I'm predicting he ends up in green one last time before heading back to Sydney for retirement.


Like their counterparts in Yokohama, Mito catapulted 15 players from the squad, including 9 midfielders. I'm guessing that the J-league midfielder has the same job security as your average McDonalds counterperson. I've seen 9 or 10 new McDonalds ladies in my local area in the past 3 months. Unlike the Mito midfield, they've all been hot! Let's get back to the article. Takamichi Seki is off to Consadole Sapporo and Shunta Nagai is off to Kashiwa....the pair combined for 6 goals in the Hollyhock midfield. Another player who is going to been seen on the other side of the J2 field is Fabio, who is headed to Shonan Bellmare. He netted 3 scores in 13 games. Yokohama FC DF Jungo Kawano leads 10 new members into 2006 which includes 2 Oita players, 2 Sapporo players and some amateur signings. Like Thespa and Yokohama, it seems like Hollyhock didn't do much to improve on a team hovering around the bottom. All three squads will probably hover around the same place in 2006.

Next weeks feature teams will be Sagan Tosu, Tokushima Vortis, and Shonan Bellmare.

OTHER NOTE: National teamer and former Kashiwa Reysol striker Keiji Tamada signed with Nagoya Grampus Eight in an attempt to stay on Zico's radar for 2006. Nagoya was on a downward spiral las year and played with a lackluster, haphazard style that quite frankly resembled Kashiwa. Welcome Home, Keiji! Nagoya also took Mito DF Kota Fukatsu. Fukatsu was a starter for Mito, playing in 39 with 2 goals and an astounding 14 yellow cards.