Friday, May 23, 2008

DERBY DAY PART DEUX

Sunday sees the two tenants of Ajinomoto square off for the 15th time in both clubs history as Verdy and FC Tokyo square off in Nabisco Cup group play.

Some facts

FC Tokyo have dominated not only the Nabisco Cup matchups (3-0-0, including a knockout of Verdy on their way to the Nabisco Cup championship) but the matchup in general (9-2-3 in total)

Satoru Asari and Ryuji Fujiyama are the FC Tokyo players to be with the squad for all the derby matches.

Yoichi Doi has been at all of the games but this will be his second as a Verdy keeper.

Yoshinari Takagi and Kazuki Hiramoto both have been squad members for all of the games for Verdy.

Verdy have all the players who have appeared for both squads in the Tokyo Derby (Doi, Shibasaki, Fukunishi,)

THE LINEUP

Verdy looks to play a full strength squad against an FC Tokyo team missing 3 for the NT callups

Look for the DHL trio up top

A midfield of Ono, Fukunishi, and Sugawara

The defense of Hattori, Nasu, Tsuchiya, and Wada

Doi in the net

A loss would most certainly doom Verdy to elimination in the glorified Satellite cup.

ACL behaving badly

Well, the good news is J League teams all advanced to the quarterfinals of the ACL with the recent 4-0 win for Kashima. The bad news is that all three squads have found themselves on the wrong side of attention grabbing headlines with the arrest of two Antler players for DUI. the players, who shall remain nameless because I'm too damn lazy to look up their names are suspended for the rest of the season after the arrest. Meanwhile, no word on penalties for the girlfight that took place between Gamba and Urawa.

Finally

Dokool, our resident FCT sycophant dared to challenge me on the use of icons by teams around the world. While technically he is correct that most teams use symbols that have nothing to do with their squads for their own personal glory, my point was that using the symbol of populist struggle and revolution for the poor and downtrodden is really weak considering that Urawa is by far the richest and most powerful club in Japan and probably east Asia as well.

So suck it Gasman!!!!!!!!!

(eh, he's probably right)

Sunday, May 18, 2008

SWEET SASSY MOLASSY, IT'S RAINING GOALS

Hulk notches 2, Leandro bags 1, and the glorious gods of self-inflicted wounds decide to bestow their bountiful feasts of misery and angst upon another unsuspecting victim by gifting Verdy their first own goal in reverse (I don't know what this sentence means either but Shimizu scored upon themselves).

BTW, if you are keeping track at home, Verdy is now tied with Omiya for own goals in all competitions with 3. However, Omiya did get one of those in Nabisco Cup play so Verdy is the leader going into the clubhouse.

Wait a minute.......this just in, Verdy indeed scored upon themselves at the end to boost their tally up to 4, so yes Verdy is the undisputed leader of self-immolation (God, I hope I used that word right).

Final score 4-1 Verdy, who find themselves up in the lofty position of 11th and 1 full game out of the relegation seat. In a weird turn of events, only 6 points seperates 16th place Jubilo from 4th place.....ahhh, hell, let's call it Kawasaki.

PANIC ON THE STREETS OF URAAAAWA, PANIC ON THE STREETS OF OSAKA...

I wonder to myself, are there two bigger groups of self important twats than Gamba fans and Urawa supporters? Guess I should be proud that our little league is "growing up" and acting like tools in Europe but I think the whole thing is pretty lame.

Hey, Gamba fans.....stop throwing crap at children, allright. You aren't at a Hanshin game in your lame little tiger pajamas. And BTW, game 13 isn't really the time to act like you just won the Champions League.

Urawa fan........nice charge of the gates and WOW how neat is it that you waited outside in the parking lot like a 13 year old after school because someone dissed your peeps. This whole fake "hard man" act was boring long ago, using F@#$ in your signs while crying about Kashima doing the same thing.......better than you, The display of a Confederate flag and Che Guevara (While ironically standing for everything he would hate) the droning chant and constant whining and booing when things don't go your way. The term douchebag comes to mind. And really, Tulio giving a lecture on FAIR PLAY and sportsmanship. That greasy diva is bent over on the ground more than a Thai ladyboy in a half-off sale. Ref baiting clowns should not be speaking about sporting etiquette, ever.

This is what will happen. Nothing. Ohhhhh, Omiya fans will be frisked when they come in because they might have an errant pet bottle and I'll have to pay 500 yen for a warm cup of Qoo but neither team will feel any repurcussions.

So yeah, when it comes down to it, it's not the J League who is harmed or either team or the fans or even the kid who was maimed by the pet bottle.........it's me. Soilent Green is the real victim in all of this because I can't have a friggin Diet Coke while I watch the game. I wasn't even at the game and I'm the only one that gets punished..............unbelievable.

Friday, May 16, 2008

MEDIA WHORE

I'm not really sure who was the bigger media whore in Verdy camp last week as a bunch of old J League legends took on the Verdy reserves in an epic 3-2 battle. Two of the ancient warriors were vying for most annoying ever.

Suspect #1 is the always moody Hide Nakata, who put in a good showing against marginal talent, chipping in 2 assists for the losing side. While Nakata has said he's tired of the limelight, it seems as though he keeps popping up when you least expect it, like the shy girl in the pretty prom dress who keeps asking, "Do I Look fat?" . While his intentions of playing an exhibition with the likes of Motohiro Yamaguchi and Daisuke Oku for charity are admirable, one wonders if he really does just miss the attention. I'd say yes.

Suspect #2 Ruy Ramos- Never one to miss an opportunity for attention, the hairdo has said that he would like to sign Nakata and play him in August. Overlooking the fact that Nakata is a 30 something midfielder who hasn't played in 2 years, adding an ego to a squad filled with them would surely cause a riot of epic proportions.

http://jp.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=697829

Anyhow, here is the goal writeup........I think Nakata will be in a Bellmare uniform by next year, but that's just me.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Lost Weekend

Well, The DHL era took a bump with the 2-0 loss to the malformed turtles of Oita. I'm not sure what was worse, letting in a goal to the nappily coiffed Edmilson or scoring a goal on your own team. Either way, it was predictible that Verdy would lose after travelling the length of Japan to play a well rested squad.

To make matters worse, Verdy hosted Omiya in a satellite math today and were thouroughly spanked 3-0. The lineup was as follows

GK:高木 Takagi
DF:福田 Fukuda、飯田 Iida、足助 Asuke、和田Wada (youth)(ユース)MF:柴崎(晃)Shibasaki 、新村 Shinmura、廣山Hiroyama、河野 Kawano FW:井上 Inoue、飯尾 Iio SUB:柴崎(貴 Shibasaki、宮坂 Miyasaka、吉武 Yoshitake 、エルサムニー El Samni、平本 Hiramoto<交代>62分:井上OUT エルサムニーIN82分:飯尾OUT 平本IN

Goals were scored by Taishi Tsukamoto, Hiroshi Morita, and Masahiko Ichikawa in the first Sat matches for both squads.

Next week finds Verdy in a relegation position match with Shimizu S Pulse. the last time the squads faced off, Shimizu came away with 5 goals to bludgeon the green in a Nabisco Cup affair.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

OFF TOPIC:JEF Chiba-OFF THE RAILS

After 1/3 of the season, JEF Chiba has decided to pull the plug on the Josip Kuse experience, firing the Croatian gaffer after an awful 0-2-9 start. My question though is this.....when are they gonna sack the FO? As far as I know, former Captain of the Green Titanic, Tadashi Karai is still in charge of all the personnel moves for JEF Chiba.

You might remember Karai as the man moving the deck chairs when all the young talent was fleeing Verdy for greener (no pun intended) pastures in.....well....mostly Saitama but you get the picture.

http://brilliantomiya.blogspot.com/2006/12/verdy-gm-moves-to-chiba.html

If you've missed Karai's work with Chiba, here it is.

Kept Osim's dimwitted son
Lost captain Yuki Abe to Urawa in a bidding war.
Got rid of mainstay defender Ilian Stoyanov after he got in a fight with Osim's dimwitted son.
Picked up useless foreign flopper Djorjevic and semi-useless striker Reinaldo on the cheap as well as erratic FW Tatsunori Arai. Erratic and semi-useless are still with the team.
Watched the team finish 13th.
Let Koki Mizuno go to Celtic
Lost in bidding wars for Hiroki Mizumoto (Gamba), Naotake Hanyu (FC Tokyo), Satoru Yamagishi (Frontale), and captain Yuto Sato (Kyoto).
Brought in molasses slow Eddy Bosnar and Drukovic, who possibly could be the worst player in J1 not named Takuro Nishimura.

But JEF reserves looks awesome right now.......actually Kuse wasn't a bad move. When I saw the team play Omiya, it was a group of young players pressing and attacking and clawing their way to an even score. The woeful backline and decrepit keeper were the problems in that game. The one "national teamer" that did stay around, Seichiro Maki, has done absolutely nothing and might be the biggest loser in this whole trainwreck of a season.

Bring in someone new though.....that should get you one whiff of fresh air before you realize your franchise is filled with rot. Bring in another foreign retread who doesn't have much of a clue about the J League. I'm sure Bora Milutnovic is waiting by the phone. Better yet, see if Avispa will swap you coaches. Maybe you can turn Petey Littbarski into your own little yellow Pixy and hope the fans feel natsukashii about the whole thing.

Your trains suck and your fans don't deserve this crap. Knock it off and do the right thing.......resign.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Oitans 11

Oh god.......I've been waiting 3 years to unleash that stupid title and today is the day! Huzzah!

Anyhow, Verdy demolished a quickly sinking Consadole side 3-1. The scoring started early when Leandro finally got his name in the books with a goal. The two Brazilians, Diego and Hulk also chipped in goals to build a big lead before Claiton stole one back.

The mean green outshot their promotion brethren 25-4. Actually this has been a pattern for Consadole with games of 20-6 (versus Urawa in a 4-2 loss) and 20-4 (against Kyoto in a 1-0 defeat). To be fair to the little birds from the north, they have had a schedule which has taken them from Sapporo to Urawa, Urawa down to Kyoto, and back up to Sapporo in the span of 10 days. Compare that with a team like FC Tokyo, whose farthest trip was a two hour train ride down to Shizuoka during the 10 day span and you can see why some teams look much better than others. It also probably has to do with talent and management as well, but the schedule has done Sapporo no favors.

Speaking of favors, Verdy gets to now travel to the lowest depths of J hell when they venture to take on the malformed tortoises of Kyuushu, Oita Trinita. For their part, Oita followed up a home win against Yokohama F Marinos with ummm nothing. They had the holiday off because the team they play (Gamba?) will take part in a death match in the ACL. Oita has been one of the more, shall we say, physical teams in the J league and it's worked for them......especially at home. Look for them to smack a couple people in the pie hole before it's all said and done. MF Muu Kanazaki has been really good for Oita and they seem to play their best in front of the home mongrels so this one is gonna be very tough. Add to that the absence of central defender Daisuke Nasu (due to yellow accumulation) and we could see some big scoring in this one.

Hulk has to get off early and not let the antics of Hobert or Edmilson get him into some stupid cards. That will be the key to the game.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Hell Week

Well, really hell days. The oh so wise schedule makers at J League headquarters decided it would be grand to send Verdy on a little tour of Japan. Tomorrow finds team green headed north to Sapporo to take on fellow 2007 J league risers Consadole Sapporo in a Kappa Derby. Consadole has struggled to find the right mix in J1, finding themselves in 17th.

On Saturday, Verdy heads south to Oita, who due to a scheduling quirk, gets a week long rest to recuperate and wait for Verdy to come in. One concern for Verdy is the accumulating yellows. Currently Hattori, Wada, and Diego all sit on 3 yellows apiece, so a rugged game could see a rather unique lineup in Kyuushu. Expect Oita to rough it up a bit against the older and more tired Verdy squad.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

A Classico indeed!!!!!!

In probably the most exciting game so far for fans of the mean green, Verdy notched 3 goals and held on to win against a very talented Yokohama Marinos side. Goals were scored by Hulk, Diego, and Takashi Furuhashi to propel the squad up to 15th with 11 points.

Yoku Dekimashita!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE HEAT INDEX.......Bottom's up in April

We will go in reverse order this month to reserve the surprise until the end.

18th. JEF Chiba- The once proud franchise is in shambles following numerous defections, Osim's son, and the hiring of the idiot that presided over Verdy's relegation campaign. Oh yeah.......your trains suck too.

17th. Consadole Sapporo- It's a bad sign for Toshiya Miura and company that the squad has come out with a very slow start. The M.O. on Miura squads is a strong start followed by a swoon in summer. Claiton has been great, the rest......meh.

16th. Albirex Niigata- I'm sorry but losing 3-1 to Oita seriously does you no favors in the heat index. 2 wins based on dodgy calls from the oh so consistent and noble judges help keep the third orange team from straight danger.

15th. Kashiwa Reysol- I thought Fransa was only a bad hairdo and a free kick now and then but this team needs him badly. Not sure what they are gonna do until the obasan comes back. Popo has been a disaster.

14th. Shimizu S Pulse- Signs of shaking off the rust are showing with wins over Kashiwa on the road and FC Tokyo at home. Still need a scorer though. Hey, didn't Anderson used to be on your team?

13th. Tokyo Verdy- Shook off a big loss to Kashiwa by beating Nagoya and Yokohama at home and tying up Niigata on the road. Hulk makes this a very different team.

12th. Kyoto Sanga- Unfortunately more a victim of bad luck than bad play........oh, there's another red card.

11th. Oita Trinita- Mu Kanazaki is making them forget about Umesaki. What are the odds he'll be sitting on the bench for Gamba next year?

10th. Jubilo Iwata- Gilsinho has helped the squad to their normal level of mediocrity. What has happened to the NT's? Seriously, what's going on in Shizuoka?

9th. Omiya Ardija- Perfect storm of tired legs and an opportunistic opponent caused humiliation. Looks like the boys are gonna have to tighten up the d and scratch some points out in the next couple of weeks.

8th- Yokohama F Marinos- Roni is showing signs of life but Lopes has been disappointing. The effort is there but the results less so.

7th- Nagoya Grampus- As is their MO, they have fallen back to earth. We get to see what kind of coach Pixy truly is........is he Arsene or Ruy?

6th-Gamba Osaka- This rating goes more on the strength of their play in the ACL. Tough loss to Omiya was followed up by a nice win against Nagoya.

5th-Kawasaki Frontale- Shaking off the after effects of their coach quitting and the Hulk debacle to pick up some results. Looks like they are scoring again as well.

4th- Vissel Kobe- Playing some nice football without scorer Leandro. They're also 4th because I forgot about them and don't really want to go back and change it. Maybe 8th.

3rd-Urawa Reds- Better to be lucky than good, although they did wallop Sapporo.

2nd- Kashima Antlers- Well boys, you wanted to go to Asia........now you're feeling the burn.
Marquinhos health also seems to be a concern.

1st- Tokyo Gas FC- Makes me a little sick too but they earned it. The good thing is they don't crown champs in May but they are good. Cabore is a player. Hirayama is a slug.

Friday, May 02, 2008

CLASSICO!!!!!!

Since the days of JSL, a long standing rivalry has been in effect between the two entities known as Yokohama F Marinos and Tokyo Verdy. It was only fitting that the very first J League game was played between the former Nissan FC and Yomiuri FC. On that first day, Verdy got the first goal but Yokohama got the win. 32 league matches later, Verdy finds itself on the short end of the rivalry and a definite underdog for tomorrow's match.

So after a two year plus hiatus, the Classico is back on. While some of the shine is off the rivalry with the additions of Kawasaki Frontale and FC Tokyo, not to mention the rapid decline of Verdy and the slow fade of Marinos, don't be fooled into thinking that both teams don't care about the win. This is a rivalry.

Currently, 3 players for the Tricolore once donned green, including the superb NT defender Yuji Nakazawa, who left for Yokohama under circumstances that will never be forgiven amongst the old soldiers in the stands. Verdy counters with recent signing, DF Daisuke Nasu, who has been a bright spot amongst a disappointing class of reinforcements.

Both squads play a triangle type of offense with large Brazilian mids serving as the rudder for the offense (Marinos-Lopes, Verdy-Diego). Both have Brazilian forwards who have been disappointing so far. The difference between the two is the quality of the midfield. Yokohama has relied on speed and good ball control to keep the team going. Verdy meanwhile has struggled to ingrain the former FC Tokyo man Takashi Fukunishi into the scheme comfortably. Recently, fans have seen the reemergence of former J2 captain Harutaka Ono into the plans of Hashiratani and company and the results (1 win and 1 tie) have been promising.

Anyhow, the potential lineup (according to El Golazo and Yahoo.Jp) looks a little like this

Hulk Leandro

Diego

Ono Fukunishi

Sugawara

Hattori Nasu Tsuchiya Wada

Doi

TWO OUT FOR THREE

Yuzo Funakoshi and Kojiro Kaimoto are both being shut down for 3 months due to various injuries. Nothin else to say, really.......I'm sure Nick is heartbroken.

Finally, that Takuya Yamada uniform is still up for sale with NO BIDS.........I'm shocked and frankly disappointed that no one here has put up the cash for that little treasure. I'm also mildly contemplating attending the match on the 18th between Verdy and Shimizu.....which has been pushed back to 6pm because somebody tried to blow up Chofu I guess..............I gotta be honest, I'm not really against blowing up Chofu....it's far and I don't like it that much. I'd rather they play in that place that holds 5000 people and has one bathroom.