Close a door and......

A Brazilian enters through a window? I know I botched the old saying, whatever. Well, just as soon as rumors of Marcus heading back to Kanagawa and fat J1 living comes the rumor that Verdy is now in heavy pursuit of 22 year old Kashiwa Reysol scoring machine Diego to fill the void that seems to be a certainty. Diego was a killer in the MF for the newly promoted Reysol, notching 21 goals and picking up 12 assists in 43 games.

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/soccer/news/2007/01/18/04.html

http://www.nikkansports.com/soccer/p-sc-tp0-20070118-143872.html

(For more details on this, check out Verdyblog...they lay out this story rather well.....it's where I got the tip)

Two thoughts on this

1. Why are all these talented guys choosing to either go to J2 or stay in J2 rather than fight for a spot in J1? Besides Hiramoto, 5 other guys would have decent shots at starting on some of the lower end teams in J1 but chose to join up with Verdy. Is CyberAgent pumping alot of cash into this for a quick jump to J1? Are the CyberAgents going into big debt? Is Rui really that good of a salesman?

2. How sweet would it be for Verdy to stick it to Reysol by stealing their big gun?

Diego would be an upgrade over Marcus.......the offseason gets even better? Stay tuned!

The tranasaction rumor post du jour

CHEERS! VERDY! put together a comprehensive list of all the confirmed and speculated transactions that have or will go down in the offseason.

http://www.geocities.jp/cheersverdy/transfer/07.html

I'm not going to go into the definite transfers because I've covered them in previous posts. Instead I'll focus on the speculatative ones and give a percentage on what I think will happen.

Goalkeepers Ryota Tsuzuki-Urawa Reds Tsuzuki has fallen a bit out of the first team plans for the 2006 champs after playing the lions share of games in 2005. While it would be a coup for Verdy to pick up the former National Teamer, it seems unlikely given the veritable dearth of quality keepers in J1. If Tsuzuki needs more playing time, he could cross the street and play for small rival Omiya and get the job handed to him. Had some definite rust today in the Quaterfinal match against Jubilo today. He had some nice saves but wasn't even close in the shootout and looked lucky to win today.

Likely pickup 10%

Yusuke Kondo-Thespa Kusatsu Very young prospect who came in for a trial after a year of Sattlelite work for Thespa Kusatsu. Definite project who would come in as the 4th keeper. Good for the future I suppose.

Likely pickup 50%

Hiroshi Nanami-Cerezo Osaka and Toshihiro Hattori-Jubilo Iwata Recent articles have put the former teammates in bidding battles between two squads, their current club and Verdy. It's possible that Verdy could get both, one, or none and it would not be surprising. Of the two, I think Hattori is the more likely one to join up because he looks not to be in future plans for the Shizuoka squad.

Likely pickup BOTH 33% Hattori 60% Nanami 50% NADA 25%

Yukio Tsuchiya-Omiya Ardija (Full Disclosure-I'm a HUGE Ardija fan so this one is gonna be through an orange filter.......BIAS ALERT) Hell let's cut the pretense, I hate this move for two reasons. 1. It kills the Omiya backline. Tsuchiya proved himself to be a formidable force in the backline for Omiya this year. Unlike the others mentioned, Tsuchiya is a prime contributor to the fortunes of his squad. He has a guaranteed role on a J1 side. WHY would he leave to go to a J2 side in a tumultuos state unless they are grossly overpaying him? And where is this money coming from? CyberAgent? NTV? It's not making sense. 2. Tsuchiya has missed a decent amount of time in the past, only topping 30 games once in his career. At 32, it seems unlikely that he or Hattori or Nanami will be able to hold up through a 48 game endurance test. I don't like it.

Likely pickup- NO RULING

HULK-CONSADOLE SAPPORO- Hulk has been rumored to be pursued by not only Verdy but German squad Bayern Munchen as well. This one has some legs to it and I would be shocked if he wasn't in green next season

Likely pickup-65%

There was also some rumors about Verdy players who are currently in flux

Three guys have gotten offers from J1 squads. The most serious one has been Kazuki Hiramoto to JEF Ichihara Chiba. I would rate him as 75% likely to leave. A pair of talented middle defenders, Kenta Togawa (Kashima Antlers) and Satoshi Nakano (Venforet Kofu) have kind of slipped under the radar. Of the two i'd rate Togawa (60% likely to leave) as the one with more upside. Nakano hasn't even made the papers with the Kofu bid so I'd rate this as a 25% chance of exodus.

I'll cover more tomorrow.....these rankings are pure speculation, I do not have any inside info so take this with a grain of salt.

Rumor Central

Nikkan Sports now has a report about Nanami to Verdy.

http://www.nikkansports.com/soccer/p-sc-tp0-20061221-133070.html

The article states that (erroneously reported by me as current Jubilo player) Cerezo MF has stated he is 100% sure he will not go back to Jubilo and his decision will be between Tsunami and Cerezo or Ramos and Verdy.

Another interesting little tidbit is that they are going after Former National Team player and Urawa keeper Ryota Tsuzuki. That would be an incredible move, absolutely approve of this move. Tsuzuki got beat out for the job by Norihiro Yamagishi this season and looks like he has no place on the squad.

So just to let you know

Hattori- Jubilo
Nanami- Cerezo
Tsuchiya- Omiya (I don't buy this one)
Hulk- Consadole Sapporo
Tsuzuki- Urawa Reds

Tsuzuki, Hulk and one of the two old dudes and it's a very merry christmas in Verdy Town!

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Littbarski has officially been announced as the new coach of Avispa Fukuoka.

Awesome, now Ruy can go up against another former star of yesteryear who is a little deficient in coaching proficiency!!!!!!

Montedio Yamagata gets Yohei Toyoda on loan from Grampus. the young striker notched 1 in 9 games for the Nagoya squad.

And finally................

Back in business
This is day one of a blog dedicated to one of the most erratic and irritating teams on the face of the earth. Tokyo Verdy 1969 traces it's roots to something or other......hell if I know. Yomiuri had some sort of affiliation with them and then they were based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan.While in Kawasaki they were the first powerhouse in the inagural J-League. They won 3 J-league cups (92,93,94), Two league championships (93,94) , 5 Emperors Cup titles (84,86,87,96 and the last one).This year they started off by defeating crosstown rival (and crashing bore) FC Tokyo in the final of the 84th Emperors cup, guaranteeing them a spot in the Asian Champions League and raising expectations to unforseen heights.Now they will be taking road trips to exotic places like Ehime and Mito..........instead of playing perennial powerhouse Yokohama F Marinos, they will play powder blue Yokohama FC.If you are looking for detailed footnotes and historical references, there are better places. If you are looking for in-depth coverage of one of Japan's most storied soccer franchises, there are better places. If you are looking for breaking news and hot rumors about the men in snot green, there are much, much better places. However, if you are looking for the literary equivalent of a heckler at the Special Olympics (Which I am completely against........those kids try hard! Unlike the flotsam wearing the buzzard on their badges) This is the place for you.Welcome. Drive by really slowly and ogle the carnage that is.....................TOKYO VERDY 1969

One year ago today, I started Soilent Green 1969. Honestly, I thought that I would run out of steam and stop about 3 months in but here it is. I'd like to thank everyone who has read and posted comments (Especially Nick, Ultranippon, and now Aaron). Special thanks goes out as well to Masa at Masa-Net, Furtho at G!G!O!A! and the many bloggers who document Verdy in Japanese and Spanish. I'm hoping for an improved SG 1969 next year and a much improved Verdy.

Morimoto makes the U-21s

It looks like Italy has done wonders for little MO......

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/soccer/japan/news/20061219-OHT1T00065.htm

Around the League

A big blow to the team just below Verdy happened as Montedio superstriker Leandro leaves Yamagata and joins up with newly promoted J1 squad Vissel Kobe. The Rakuten Reds also signed Brazilian midfielder Botti from ACL champs Jeonbuk Hyundai of the K-League.

Gossip.....

Pride of Green reproted seeing seldom used Former Verdy keeper Takahiro Shibasaki at training today..........could he be coming in as a second keeper or third or first?