Number 9, You're a Donkey!- Steve (Paul the Arsenal fan's best friend...FEVER PITCH)
If you were wondering why Shigenori Hagimura is in green right now and not orange, you should look no further than the last string of games that he appeared in. Start with the foul that led to the third goal for Kashiwa in a 4-1 drubbing. Then check out the own goal that helped Vissel Kobe steal one on the road. Follow it up with a yellow card and a pitiful performance in the 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Consadole Sapporo. Take a breather as you see a Verdy team hold 2nd place Yokohama FC without the services of our protaganist in this little tragedy. Finally,check out the stupid, stupid takedown of Sagan's attacker just outside the box that led to a straight red . NUMBER 2...........YOU'RE A DONKEY!
VERDY LINEUP
GK Takagi
DF Kaimoto, Aoba, DONKEY, Ishikawa
MF Marcus, Nejime, Kanazawa, Sugawara
FW Saito, Hiramoto
THE DIRT
Verdy came in hovering at 7th place.....I believe this is the lowest position they've been in all year.........facing a suddenly resurgent Sagan tosu squad led by Tatsunori Arai, J2's leading scorer. At the outset Verdy dominated the possesion.........there were alot of lovely passes that connected with nobody. It seems as though Verdy practiced cutting off their runs and giving the ball away because they were doing it to perfection in the first 30 minutes. At about the 10 minute mark, Marcus put in a nice set up to Nejime, who gets stoned in a one-on-one with Tosu keeper Junnusuke Schneider. The rebound went to Kanazawa, who fails to put in a shot right at the goal. The second dangerous chance came from Saito saving an errant pass, and putting it on a platter for the recently lethargic Hiramoto. He puts in a lame attempt which goes for naught.
As stated above, THE DONKEY drags down an attacking Tosu player just outside the box, stupid play, stupid,stupid,STUPID. Maybe he should have gotten yellow, but the ref was not gonna take any guff and showed THE DONKEY red. 11-10.
Tosu got their chance on a bad angled pass to Arai, who contorted his way into a rocket shot that put a dent in the post. Minutes later, Takagi got taken out by a battering ram in white. This would prove to assist the Saganites. In the 82nd minute , Yoon Jong Hwan would send a Hail-Mary from midfield over the head of a gimpy Takagi. Takagi managed to get a hand on the initial shot but sub Takaaki Suzuki would clean up the mess. 1-0 Tosu. A young and active Morimoto, who was getting butchered and pawed by the Tosu defense, used guile and determination to force a penalty kick two minutes later. Marcus steps up and buries the shot. 1-1. At this time both teams wake up and attack for the last 10 minutes. No scores, but Hiramoto finally shows some life on the attack and in the air. Verdy dodges a bullet.
RANKINGS
GK- Takagi got caught a bit flat footed on the goal. Not a great game for him and a yellow pushes him closer to a forced vacation . Actually it was one of his worst performances in awhile. He gets a 5
DF-Hard to say, they didn't let too many chances in but there was nobody in on the rebound that led to the Sagan goal. THE DONKEY also left the team a man short. Kaimoto was good on offense, Ishikawa.....not so much. Ichiyanagi and Aoba weren't bad. I did hate seeing all the corners from unforced errors. 5.5 squad 3.5 DONKEY
MF- Kind of the same deal as D. Kanazawa was good while he was in and Marcus was just brilliant tonight. Everyone else was fairly pedestrian.......they did control for most of the night but unforced errors and bad marking on the moon shot led to a goal. 5.5 squad 7 Marcus
FW- The weak link for awhile. Saito was good with the passes and played strong tonight. Hiramoto looked like he didn't care until after the 80th minute when he picked up. Morimoto really was good tonight..........he was in attacking mode and should have gotten a free kick on the shirt pull. Saito 6 ,Hiramoto 5, Morimoto 6.5
RAMOS- Good use of subs. The team is sloppy right now though. 5.5
QUICK HITS
As I was sitting through what could have possibly been the second consecutive shutout, I realized that this 2006 team is not very likeable. There aren't too many redeeming qualities to this squad as of late. I tried to think of what was good about the squad this year but it was getting tough. I like Saito and his story of Mexico, Brazil, and the JFL. I like the bounce back year Takagi is having. I like seeing the new additions play well. I like seeing Kanazawa and Nejime grow into dependable mids. Other than that, it's been a chore lately watching them muddle through 90 minutes. Boring football. Sloppy football. The days of a streaking Basilio juking a couple of defenders and putting a lightning shot in the back of the net seem like an eternity ago. Now it's one-on-two or three rams into the defense for the inevitable turnover. It's stupid mistakes which lead to red or yellow cards and long suspensions. It's constant shuffling of the deck chairs on green titanic with Rui holding his arms out yelling "I'm the king of the world!!!!!".
Verdy now sits in a dismal 8th. 10 points and a -29 gd behind Vegalta Sendai.
I will say that the officiating was rather poor tonight and Tosu was less than impressive. The ballboys were rather poor tonight too.
I'm finshed writing for today. MEH!
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