A friend from across the field calls out the green

Song of the day dedicated to the red and blue http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=z7n37GME3fw

Seems our resident FCT fan and Aishteru Tokyo blogger Dokool has a little somethin to say about Verdy.

The article is here at the brand spanking new JapaneseSoccer.net (run by a little cabal of English speaking J league bloggers. http://www.japanesesoccer.net/wordpress/?p=435#respond

Not a bad article and the criticism is something I have been harping on since I started writing (Gahhh 3 years ago!).

Three things irritate me though

1. In attempting to claw its way back to the top, the team - again - signed a gaggle of veteran National Team members and Verdy OBs including Yukio Tsuchiya (Verdy Kawasaki member in ‘97-98), Tomo Suguwara (95-98), Kazunori Iio (who’s spent much of the last decade bouncing between Verdy and other teams), Toshihiro Hattori (in the picture), and so onand so forth. While this didn’t really work in 2006 as the team finished a dismal 7th place, a year later Verdy found its rhythm and returned to J1 on the back of its aging core following a 2nd place finish

Just for accuracy sake, Tsuchiya and Hattori didn't sign until 2007. 2006 saw Sugawara and Iio return as well as a ton of bargain basement fringe players and old Brazilians. 2006 saw Koji Maatsura and Shigenori Hagimura get a ton of minutes.

2. lacking a strong youth system

The youth system is one of the more competitive and talented ones in the country. It was just 3 years ago that the team was 2nd in Sahara cup and they are currently in the quarterfinals. The problem is that the young guys aren't being developed once they hit the big team. the youth system is solid.......they just need to use it to full efficiency. That's a problem with hiring short sighted managers like Ossie Ardilles and Rui Ramos who had the pressure to win now. Actually to be fair, Morimoto and Kawano came up through these two and both have promise to be really good......just not for Verdy.

3. let me pose a hypothetical question. You run a team that was once the crown jewel of the Japanese football system, tarnished by a string of poor decisions, lacking a strong youth system and on shaky financial ground. You share a stadium with a team that even in a bad year still doubles your average attendance and has a strong vision for the future. Sure, they’re perennial underachievers, but in the last decade they’ve still won as many trophies as you. After an embarrassing tumble to the second division, you’ve clawed your way back to the top on the backs of aging former stars who are a straw or two short of collapsing. What do you do?

Let me answer with a hypothetical of my own. You are the biggest team in the biggest city in your country. You are backed by an energy company with a big pocketbook and you double your rival in attendance in your worst years. You have one of the best youth systems in Japan and a plethora of resources. Yet you constantly underacheive and have only been able to match your poorly funded, severly mismanaged rivals (fielding an aging bunch of malcontents and has-beens) in trophies in this decade. What the hell are you doing?

I'll give you the next post D.

TAKAGI goes bargain shopping

J League tryouts took place yesterday and today and new head man Takuya Takagi went down to Osaka to check out 124 new prospects.

Here is the list in Japanese

相川　進也（札幌）大塚　真司（札幌）吉瀬　広志（札幌）鈴木　智樹（札幌）富永　康博（札幌）西澤　淳二（札幌）磯崎　敬太（仙台）岡山　一成（仙台）金子　慎二（仙台）佐藤　由紀彦（仙台）シュナイダー　潤之介（仙台）高橋　駿太（山形）内藤　友康（山形）根本　亮助（山形）本橋　卓巳（山形）金古　聖司（鹿島）大橋　直矢（水戸）椎原　拓也（水戸）塩沢　勝吾（水戸）高橋　昌大（水戸）岩田　正太（草津）金生谷　仁（草津）加藤　韻（千葉）熊谷　智哉（千葉）田中　淳也（千葉）照井　篤（栃木）中原　浩介（千葉）堀川　恭平（千葉）松本　憲（千葉）結城　耕造（千葉）横山　聡（栃木）鷲田　雅一（栃木）岡野　雅行（浦和）荒谷　弘樹（大宮）石亀　晃（大宮）西村　卓朗（大宮）若林　学（大宮）池上　礼一（ＦＣ東京）小澤　竜己（ＦＣ東京）足助　翔（東京Ｖ）海本　幸治郎（東京Ｖ）園田　清次（東京Ｖ）廣山　望（東京Ｖ）吉武　剛（東京Ｖ）鈴木　達矢（川崎）原田　拓（川崎）中田　洋介（横浜ＦＣ）梅田　直哉（湘南）加藤　望（湘南）川股　要佑（湘南）北島　義生（湘南）濱崎　陽平（湘南）三田　光（湘南）井上　雄幾（甲府）鵜飼　建吾（甲府）神崎　大輔（甲府）木村　勝太（甲府）宇留野　純（甲府）田森　大己（甲府）保坂　一成（甲府）山本　僚（甲府）寄井　憲（甲府）北村　隆二（岐阜）河野　直人（岐阜）小峯　隆幸（岐阜）奈須　伸也（岐阜）深津　康太（岐阜）

長谷川　太郎（横浜ＦＣ）山田　卓也（横浜ＦＣ）海本　慶治（新潟）諏訪　雄大（新潟）寺川　能人（新潟）渡邊　圭二（名古屋）森野　徹（磐田）石井　俊也（京都）大久保　裕樹（京都）田原　豊（京都）伊藤　博幹（Ｇ大阪）千葉　貴仁（Ｃ大阪）山本　浩正（Ｃ大阪）伊藤　将大（神戸）木下　真吾（神戸）栗原　圭介（神戸）曽我部　慶太（神戸）豊満　貴之（神戸）増田　清一（神戸）関　隆倫（岡山）阿部　祐大朗（徳島）石川　裕司（徳島）入船　和真（徳島）河野　淳吾（徳島）小山　拓土（徳島）柴村　直弥（徳島）島津　虎史（徳島）高橋　健史（徳島）玉乃　淳（徳島）古田　泰士（徳島）本間　康貴（徳島）松本　昴聡（徳島）神丸　洋一（愛媛）笹垣　亮介（愛媛）星野　真悟（愛媛）南　祐三（愛媛）宮原　裕司（愛媛）横山　拓也（愛媛）本田　真吾（福岡）石田　博行（鳥栖）加藤　秀典（鳥栖）鐡戸　裕史（鳥栖）長谷川　豊喜（鳥栖）山城　純也（鳥栖）河野　健一（熊本）小林　陽介（熊本）斉藤　紀由（熊本）佐藤　祐介（熊本）鈴木　祐輔（熊本）関　光博（熊本）町田　多聞（熊本）川田　和宏（大分）河原　正治（大分）根本　裕一（大分）

I'll talk about 5 guys I like who are in this heap later.