Weekend Wrapup

This is gonna be quick........

Shinji Muro transferred to Sagan Tosu. The GK who was acquired from the highly prestigious Bay United in New Zealand played never for Verdy last year and probably won't play for Sagan next year either. Good Luck

A team of second stringers tied newly promoted J2 side Roasso Kumamoto 1-1 on Saturday in Kumamoto. Practice match superstar Kazunori Iio notched an early goal for the squad before Kumamoto tied late.

The team also won 7-0 to Miyasaki girls school of beauty and Gynecology 7-0 (Some University squad.....dunno, don't care)

Don't write angry.

Another "Guest" weighs in on Verdy

Shocking developments as a certain controversial Japanese Superstar weighs in on the 2008 version of Tokyo Verdy. Diva Kumi Koda has a bone to pick with this year's squad. Who knew this salty siren had an opinion on Tokyo Verdy? Who knew she liked soccer? Who knew she had my e-mail address? Anyhow, here's Kumi
Look, I'm totally not down with this years team. Seriously......they are OOOOOOLLLLLLLLD. It's a fact that once you hit 35, you are not only poisoned in your ancient womb, you are poisoned in life. Look yo, Tsuchiya, Doi, Kaimoto, Hagimoora, and Fukunishi are as old as my daddy and that creepy guy that walks the sidelines in the dinner jacket and the greasy hair.........Two words, Conditioner Byatch!
What's with their keeper? Who wears pink? It reminds me of that Ho Ayumi Hamasaki.
I hate her....she's like anorexic and she's easy too. My gawd, yo, she is so nasty. Speaking of nasty have you seen that new dude Leandro, seriously, he looks like one of those dudes that I made with on the yamanote line when I was in high school. Ewwww, garlic breath!

Anyhow, yo, i'm outty. Verdy is as over as SMAP and I'm hittin one of those dudes.

Who knew Kumi Koda spoke English? On second thought, after reading this we still don't know, do we?

Preseason Shenanigans!

Camp schedule is out and ooooooh it looks fun

Verdy will have preseason matches against the cream of J2, regional leagues and college teams. Surprisingly, not J1 squad is on the slate.

Miyasaki

2-7 vs Miyasaki University of something or other
2-9 preseason match vs Roasso Kumamoto
2-11 vs Ventforet Kofu
2-14 vs Tokushima Verdy......err Vortis
2-15 vs V Varen Nagasaki
2-17 vs Avispa Fukuoka

Verdy Beats on the Brats

The big boys took on their little brothers in a friendly and were victorious 5-0 in a 2x35 game

The first half saw Verdy field a squad of

Hiramoto and Funakoshi up top

Ono at the point

Hiroyama and Wada on the wings

Hattori and Fukunishi in the d mid position

Nasu, Hagimura, and Tsuchiya as the back 3

and Doi in goal

Hiramoto notched the first goal of the new preseason

In half 2, the team switched to a 3-4-3

Osama was up top with Iio and Inoue in support

Yoshitake and Fukuda played as wings

Sugawara and a student were in the middle

Miyasaka, Tomisawa, and Shinmura all teamed in the back

Takagi played keeper

Inoue and Osama both put up a brace to end the scoring at 5-0.

Now, if you remember last year, Hashiratani toyed with the 3 back setup as coach of the sattelite team. And for the most part it was successful in a shor period of time. Considering the pieces in place at the moment and the plethora of options at mid, it seems to be a wise decision to pursue a 3-5-2. Nasu, Hagimura and Tsuchiya all have experience playing in a 3 back system and the flexibility allows Diego to play as an attacking mid with the two former Jubilo men as anchors.

I'm guessing opening day might look like this

Leandro Hiramoto

Diego

Hiroyama Wada/Iio


Hattori Furuhashi
Nasu Hagimura Tsuchiya

Doi

Bench: Inoue, Funakoshi,Ono, Shibasaki, Kaimoto, Tomisawa, Iio/Wada, Takagi

Squad numbers and something different!

Finally, the team has released the uniform assignments for 2008. Here they are (* denotes new guy)

1. Yoichi Doi* GK
2. Kensuke Fukuda DF
3. Shigenori Hagimura DF
4. Takumi Wada* DF
5. Daisuke Nasu* DF
6. Tomo Sugawara MF
7. Leandro* FW
8. Kosei Shibasaki MF
9. VACANT
10. Diego MF
11. Harutaka Ono MF (Captain)
12. THE FAN
13. Taira Inoue FW
14. Seitaro Tomisawa DF
15. VACANT
16. Kazunori Iio FW
17. Yukio Tsuchiya DF
18. Koijiro Kaimoto DF
19. Yuzo Funakoshi FW
20. Nozomi Hiroyama MF
21. Yoshinari Takagi GK
22. VACANT
23. Takashi Fukunishi* MF
24. Tsuyoshi Yoshitake MF
25. JUMBO Hiramoto* FW
26. Takahiro Shibasaki GK
27. Masaki Iida* DF
28. Sho Asuke* DF
29. Sho Miyasaka DF
30. VACANT
31. Junpei Shinmura MF
32. Osama El Samni FW
33. Hiroki Kawano* MF
34. Tomoyuki Suzuki* GK

Some interesting omissions..........No Nagai or Silva.....which means that the team will try and bring in one more foreign player. Also of note, #9 is still open. A gentleman who donned the #9 shirt for Yokohama F Marinos last year is still without a team..........Takayuki Suzuki possibly signing?

ODDITIES........

If your looking at the picture and thinking to yourself, "Damn, Ueslei put on some weight in the offseason!" you are a tiny bit off. Oita unveiled their new mascot whose name I don't really friggin care to know. I guess it was originally supposed to be a turtle, but the Dr. Moreau inspired designer went horribly, horribly wrong and came up with this blue and white piece of fecal matter. I hate Oita. Can't wait to see what kind of abortion FC Tokyo puts out there.

Speaking of plans gone awry, the little team from Yokohama have entrusted former Verdy head man and perennial relegation victim Takuya Yamada with the title of Captain for the 2008 season. The good news is that Yokohama can't be relegated. There is always bankruptcy though so don't breathe so easily yet.