The season is over but the news is not......

Verdy had a practice game against 4th place Kanto Daigaku league squad Hosei University. In a game that was 2 periods of 45 minutes and a third period of 30 minutes, the squad fell 5-4

Goals were scored by Saito, Nagai, Hiroyama, and Mihara.

Hosei was led by FW Inoue who put them up early and gave Verdy fits all game.

The Fallen Hero returns from the Doha Campaign

Yugo Ichiyanagi returned today from Doha. Ichiyanagi notched a goal in the final game against North Korea. The squad finished second in their group and failed to advance to the knockout rounds. It should be noted that Japan went with a purely U-21 squad in a U-23 competiton. Disappointing result for the young samurai.

Found a new blog today

F2FF (From the second floor of Fukuari) is an English blog based on the exploits of JEF Chiba Ichihara. Updated often, it's been around for awhile but slipped through the cracks. Good stuff!

http://blog.drecom.jp/f2ff

Off-topic

Speaking of JEF chiba, rumors abound about the impending exodus of National team midfielder Yuki Abe. Nagoya Grampus Eight, Urawa Reds, and FC Tokyo all have been linked to bids for the star middleman. By my count, if Urawa is able to steal him away they would have the lions share of National team players...........

Tulio
Santos
Hasebe
Suzuki
Ono
Tsuboi
Tsuzuki
ABE?

Nagoya has also been linked with former Verdy man and National team player Yuji Nakazawa. The big blow to Verdy though would be if the gasmen snatched him up. The return of headman Hara could see the perennial underacheivers finally challenge for top of the table with the addition of Abe. They will still be godawful to watch when they take on Omiya but they will have a ton of talent. And that would show how far Verdy needs to go.

My guess is that he ends up in Urawa though........and Soma will fall a bit further back.

Records against J2 competition and others

Final records

Asian Champions league

Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I 0-0-2 -3

Emperors Cup

Tochigi SC 0-0-1 -1

J2 league 21-8-19 71pts -6

Yokohama FC 1-2-1 4 pts -1
Kashiwa Reysol 1-0-3 3 pts -5
Vissel Kobe 1-0-3 3 pts -2

Top 3 total 3-2-7 10 pts -8

Sagan Tosu 2-1-1 7 pts ---
Vegalta Sendai 2-1-1 7 pts ---
Consadole Sapporo 1-0-3 3 pts -5

Second tier 5-2-5 19 pts -5

Montedio Yamagata 3-0-1 9 pts +2
Ehime FC 2-1-1 7 pts -1
Mito Hollyhock 2-0-2 6 pts -2

Third tier 7-1-4 22 pts -1

Shonan Bellmare 2-0-2 6 pts -1
Thespa Kusatsu 2-2-0 5 pts +5
Tokushima Vortis 2-1-1 7 pts +3

Last tier 6-3-3 18 pts +7

VERDY G Made 196.9

Verdy G reports seeing former Yokohama FC coach Pierre Littbarski at Verdy practice. Littbarski, the former World Cup winner and Sydney FC coach is rumored to be one of the finalists to take over for outgoing Omiya coach Miura. Possible scouting trip? Maybe Martin is heading back to the prefecture of his birth? Hiramoto rejoining Daigo and Yoshiyuki? Or is Littbarski lined up to take over one of the many J2 openings?

We shall see!