Wednesday, February 21, 2007

2007 Preview-Sagan Tosu


2006 Season 22 wins 13 ties 13 losses 64 goals 49 goals against +15
Lost amid the miracle season of Yokohama FC was the surprisingly good performance of Sagan Tosu. The pale pink and blue of south Japan stayed in contention for a shot at the promotion playoff spot until the last few weeks of the season. Built on the concept of lock down defense and a prolific scorer, Tosu managed to put in a respectable 4th place finish.
This year seems to be more of a transition year, as Sagan lost a ton, from the Manager to the Goalkeeper and some things in between. Kind of a shock considering they were fairly close to getting over the hump. The main loss on the season was that of Japanese goal machine Tatsunori Arai, who put in 40 goals in his two years with the club. Tosu is hoping that Mito refugee Anderson can fill in the void left by Arai. Another big loss to the squad takes place in the net where Junnsuke Schneider heads north to Vegalta. The third big contributor to leave is midfielder Takeshi Hamada heads back to Cerezo Osaka. Sagan will try to succeed with a youth movement so the team is a bit of a mystery. Early preseason results have been less than impressive (6 games 1-1-4 -8 goal difference)
With the rest of the top teams in the league improving, things look a bit dour for the budgies.....but don't be surprised if they shock again.
Projected Lineup 4-4-2
GK Taku Akahoshi
DF Keiji Takachi
DF Kazuya Iio
DF Hidenori Kato
DF Toyoki Hasegawa
MF Junya Yamashiro
MF Jong Hwan Yoon
MF Yoshiki Takahashi
MF Takayuki Yamaguchi
FW Anderson
FW Tatsuya Kamohara
Prediction 8th place

No comments: