GAMETIME 3/4 VERDY vs. Tokushima Vortis

March 4th begins the Ramos era and with it a new adventure in the netherworld known as J2. Verdy 1969 faces an unfamiliar foe in Tokushima Vortis (2005 12 wins 16 ties 16 losses) who finished a surprising 9th in it's inaugural season in the J League. Tokushima added some offensive punch up front with the addition of Tokyo Verdy midfielder Jun Tamano and Sanfrecce Hiroshima import Jorghino in hopes of narrowing a -26 goal differential. Vortis had a fairly successful preseason going 3-1-0 against J1 and J2 squads. The highlights of the preseason included wins over defending champ Gamba Osaka and J1 squad Oita Trinita.

Probable lineups: Tokushima Vortis (1-5-4)

FW Haji

MF Tamano

MF Kataoka MF Ishida

MF Tsutsui MF Akiba

DF Fuji DF Omori DF Taniike DF Kim WM

GK Shimazu

Key bench players: FW Jorghino, FW Kobayashi

Tokyo Verdy 1969 (4-4-2)

FW Hiramoto FW Basilio

MF Nagai MF Ohashi

MF Ono MF Kanazawa

DF Fujita DF Togawa DF Hagimura DF Yanagisawa

GK Takagi


Key bench players: MF Anailson, DF Dedimar, FW Morimoto


THREE TO WATCH
11. Koji Kataoka MF

Anchor of the Tokushima midfield (38 games 5 goals) 18. Toshiaki Haji
Leading scorer in 2005 (12 goals in 42 games)

32. Jun Tamano
Former Verdy Mid, lead attacker in Midfield