WSM grades for 2008

On a scale from A to E (like school A is best)

A

Diego
Tomo Sugawara

B

Yoichi Doi
Daisuke Nasu
Kosei Shibasaki
Yukio Tsuchiya
Toshihiro Hattori
Hiroki Kawano

C

Kensuke Fukuda
Takumi Wada
Harutaka Ono
Seitaro Tomisawa
Kazunori Iio
Nozomi Hiroyama
Takashi Fukunishi

D

Shigenori Hagimura
Leandro
Hulk
Taira Inoue
Yuzo Funakoshi
Yoshinari Takagi
Tsuyoshi Yoshitake
Kazuki Hiramoto
Masaki Iida
Junpei Shinmura
Masashi Oguro

E

Francisimare
Koijiro Kaimoto
Sho Asuke
Sho Miyasaka
Osama El Samni
Takahiro Shibasaki
Tomoyuki Suzuki

Players with the best record in games played

1 Tomo Sugawara 9 wins 5 ties 6 losses
2 Harutaka Ono 6-3-5
3 Hulk 5-1-5

And the worst

1 Bikkuri Donkey 0-0-5
2 Shigenori Hagimura 0-3-2
3 Masashi Oguro 2-2-7

Two things jump out

1 The swap of Oguro for Hulk has been a failure. Oguro needs service and Verdy doesn't provide much........especially with Diego out. The injuries and national team stints haven't helped either.

YOU BE THE JUDGE!!!!!

DANGER! DANGER! 16th place

Dropped like a rock.......2-0 Vissel

The shots got more prolific but it was not to be.

So going into the home stretch

JEF Chiba H Yokohama A Shimizu H FC Tokyo
VERDY H Consadole A Yokohama H Kawasaki
Jubilo H Kashiwa A Kashima H Omiya
Albirex H Omiya A FC Tokyo H Gamba
Omiya A Albirex H Kyoto A Jubilo
Yokohama A Chiba H Verdy A Urawa
Kyoto H Nagoya A Omiya H Shimizu

If I had to judge right now, I'd rate the schedules from easiest to hardest as Kyoto, JEF, Verdy, Albirex, Jubilo, Yokohama, Omiya only because Shimizu, Consadole, and Gamba have nothing to play for. Also watch FC Tokyo versus Vissel......if they lose that game then they are probably out of the running for the ACL as well as definetely being out of the Championship race.

Nagoya is banged up as well. Magnum just returned and Narazaki is on the shelf.

Big game of the week 1. Yokohama vs Chiba- big matchup between 2 of the originals. Just when you thought it was safe for Marinos, they are back at the bottom. Feel a bit bad for Chiba who dragged and clawed their way out of danger but find themselves back at 17.

Big game 2. Omiya vs Albirex- In October I had an idea about what I would write for Omiya's obituary but I held off because its November and Omiya owns November. Still playing in Niigata is always tricky. Niigata managed to steal a point in Kashima but their combination of bad defense (13th) and bad offense (18th) has put them in danger. Omiya is almost as bad in both but seem to have a little momentum.

MONSTER GAME OF THE WEEK-VERDY vs CONSADOLE
If ya lose this one then you should probably prepare for the drop. Put Kawano and Shibasaki on the wings, Oguro and Inoue up top and run Consadole to death. They will quit if you get a lead but playing no goal trios up top ain't gonna cut it.

Halftime

Stats at the break

Verdy Vissel

Shots 1 9
Corners 2 6
Cards 0 Matsuoaka yellow
Subs 39 Donkey
Hiramoto

Score 0-0

In fact all 3 games went 0-0 into the break with the favorites all outshooting the little guys

If the games end like this JEF stands in 17th place with a -15 gd 35
Jubilo is 16th with a -6 36
Verdy goes to 15th with a -6 37
Albirex goes to 14th with a -14 38
Omiya is at 13th -10 38
Yokohama is 12th +1 39
Kyoto is 11th -6 40

The Verdy Show.......with special guest star......

Yukio Tsuchiya!!!!!!!!!

Here is your lineup for todays little shindig

DOI
WADA
TSUCHIYA
NASU
HATTORI
FUKUNISHI
SUGAWARA
SHIBASAKI
IIO
OGURO
HIRAMOTO

Bench....Takagi/Fukuda/Iida/Hiroyama/Inoue/BDonkey

As Nick posted yesterday, all the teams that can damage Verdy's J1 future won yesterday to fairly strong competitors. Today's big games see Albirex Niigata travel to Kashima and JEF go south to Oita. On paper it looks like two routs but JEF in fact has a record of 10-1-0 versus the Oitards.

BTW I hate Oita

In 2 weeks bottom dwellers Consadole Sapporo come in to face Verdy. Big and not so surprising news is that coach Toshiya Miura is a goner in 3 games. Since a big 3-0 win at JEF on July 12th, Consadole has gone 16 games without a win and 8 games without a point in league competition. Rumors are circulating that Consadole is scouring greater Chiba for coaches. One rumor has Osim and his dim son taking the reigns of the Northern Kingdom.

Have we not learned the lessons of Kim Il Sung, George Bush the first and Brian Dennehy when the installed their less capable sons into power? (Actually Chris Farley wasn't Brian Dennehys son in real life and he did save the day in Tommy Boy........his brother however is not funny at all....whatever, Osim junior is a tool).

Another name bandied about is Kashiwa man and former Verdy brain Ishizaki who would be a good hire because that guy can coach. Hitachi has decided the need an overpriced Brazilian twat to bung up a decent situation so more power to them.

1 hour to gametime

Diego is done

Wow........the league put the hammer down and essentially gave Diego the death penalty for this season with a 2 game ban. So more math for ya 2+2 in a 4 game season equals disaster. Adding that to the missing Kawano and the injured Tsuchiya and you see a problem.

The good news is that this is a team filled with grizzled vets who tend to buckle down when the going gets tough. And one of the games is against a downtrodden consadole squad who looks as if they've waived the white flag

The question now is this......where are the goals gonna come from?

VERDY ties Machida Zelvia

TM time 1-1 Taira Inoue notches 1 for the green but they conceed late

Finally Bomberhead is fielding offers from Urawa, Urawa south and OMIYA??????

HUH!!

Diego done for the year?

It looks like the tabloids are convinced that Diego is a goner for the season after yesterdays red card on the Stoyanov challenge (not surprisingly Iemoto gave the card........he of the Xerox cup fiasco).

Usually, the league gives an automatic game suspension on reds plus games for the degree of severity. Diego and the team are apologizing for the card, signaling that there was some merit to it (I didn't see it so I don't know). Anyhow the team is pulling for a 1 game suspension.....which would be tacked onto the 2 gamer that he's already out for.

The question now is, what kind of lineup does Hashiratani put out

BEFORE THE INJURY/SUSPENSION

Hashiratani went with a 4-4-1-1


Hiramoto

DIEGO
Shibasaki Iio

Sugawara Fukunishi


Hattori Nasu TSUCHIYA Fukuda


Doi


Well, not sure who goes where or what formation will be put in place. Last year they toyed with 3-5-2 and maybe they do it again..............It might look like this



Hiramoto Iio


Fukunishi

Shibasaki Fukuda


Sugawara Tomisawa


Hattori Hagimura Nasu


Doi

Pack the middle and put speed on the wings while letting Fukunishi be the main schemer


Or they could go 4-4-2


Iio Hiramoto


Fukunishi Hiroyama



Sugawara Fukunishi

Hattori Nasu Tomisawa Fukuda


Doi

Oguro could help if he comes back in decent form and Kawano might be back soon to pitch in.

11-1=1-0 Sanfrecce

It was going to be tough to begin with but 44 minutes in, Verdy talisman Diego gets run with a straight red and Verdy has to play defense for a good 46 minutes.......outshot 17 to 5, verdy succumbs in the last minute to a shot from midfielder Issei Takayanagi.

So for the second straight year Verdy will be watching the final on tv and now can focus on other things like tv dramas and not getting relegated. One worry has to be the punishment doled out to Diego for the straight red. Already having a squat for picking up too many yellows, I would have speculated that nothing major would happen because he was playing in a seperate competition but last week Omiyas Yasuhiro Hato got suspended for his red in the league and had to sit out the Emperors cup game. If it was a bad foul he could be done for the season, which doesn't help considering defensive anchor Yukio Tsuchiya is out for at least 3 to 4 weeks with a bad hamstring.

A glimmer of hope next week is the return of Oguro from crocked status. He will start from the bench against high flying Vissel Kobe.

OTHER NEWS

Former Verdy man and current Red Takahito Soma got an offer to play for CSKA Moscow. His contract is up after this season but all accounts are that he will be a priority for Urawa in the offseason.

I'll post on the new guys coming in later

Bad day so far

0-0 score but Tsuchiya leaves with a knock very early and Diego picks up a yellow that will sit him for 2 games.

5 to go

Yahoo predicts a 4-5-1 and I agree

Saturday fare is important to certain degrees

Kashiwa hosts Yokohama FM and with YFM on 36 you have to hold your nose and hope Kashiwa gets it

The big game is banged up Jubilo versus Nagoya who has been leaking points like a sieve. A nice 5 goal victory for Nagoya is the big hope here

If Verdy keeps winning it doesn't matter what anyone else does and a win versus Kyoto would push them up towards top half

Sunday has 2 big games

Albirex will host a free falling Urawa in Niigata and again you have to hold your nose and hope the bad team wins

Finally the 7 game unbeaten Chibapool take on the not so much Omiya Ardija who.........well.......score as much as me lately. Either way someone is gonna lose points so it's a net gain for Verdy

Game on

Diego gets it done

Not gonna do too much of a wrap-up because it stings but Hiroyama and Diego did a great job on the goal. Winning ugly is still winning

Purple rain

November will see the reemergence of Sanfrecce Hiroshima after the Newly Crowned J2 Champs dismantled Osaka Wayward gynecologecal and gastronomical beauticians University FC 6-0 in a rather easy walk over.

6 different Osaka players not named Hisato Sato notched goals in the contest.

The last time the teams squared off, Sanfrecce won 3-0 after Verdy was unable to find the net on 26 shots. the teams matched up for one other contest in 2005 and Sanfrecce won that one 4-1 as well. Sanfrecce goes into this game fully focused on Emperors Cup while Verdy must focus on staying alive.

Another fear is the resurgence of the Sanfrecce curse. The curse was broen last year when Sanfrecce dropped to J2 but it remains to be seen whether the curse reemerges with Sanfrecces promotion. Lose and Verdy might find out.

Tomorrow the Sattelites play their final match of the season against Montedio Yamagata.

Finall there was a Masaki Saito sighting at Yokohama as the rugged forward scored for Okinawa Kariyushi FC in their 2-1 loss to Yokohama FC. Soilent Greens all time favorite Verdy player deserves another shot in J2. I'm talking to you Tsunami!!!

Roadmap to Armageddon

Again possibly

This week's schedule has some interesting matchup has some interesting turns before the game against Nagoya tomorrow night at 6.

The first big matchup is Niigata vs Yokohama at Niigata. Niigata is on 35 points but has a terrible plus minus and has games coming up against Urawa, Kashima, FC Tokyo, and Gamba

Yokohama is on 34 and has been hot. A game between them and Verdy is coming up near the end of the season. So I'd say Yokohama winning is the best result for Verdy in this one.

Omiya hosts Kashiwa in another installment of the Noda line battle. Both teams are reeling so the winner will probably get a bit of a boost. Considering the next game is against Omiya, it might be in Verdy's best interest to root for Kashiwa. However, Kashiwa still does not have a win in the second half of the campaign ad they usually abuse Verdy so having them drop would be good too. So........tie??????

Vissel Kobe takes on Kyoto Sanga who is on the cusp of safety. Kobe got a result at Omiya and has a bit of momentum but still is very much in peril. Root very hard for Sanga in this one....Kobe is still vulnerable to the drop.

SUNDAY

2 games occur at 2pm that have major implicatons

Urawa goes to Chiba to take on the yellow hot dogs and their ragtag bunch of misfits. For possibl the first time ever, I have to root for Urawa because Chiba is quickly snowballing out of relegation territory. A loss might send them in a funk. So Just this once......root for an Urawa win

Finally Jubilo takes on Consadole. Frankly if Jubilo drops this one, they are dead. I imagine that the refs won't let anything bad happen to the baby blues in this one but still it won't hurt to root hard for Consadole

So.......Verdy could be sitting adrift in 17th before even kicking a ball.........not great.

Other concerns..........watch Diego closely......he is one yellow away to a two game vacation and that would be massively bad.

Anyhow.......Game on!

Game on

2 hours til kickoff

Doi
Fukuda
Tsuchiya
Nasu
Hattori
Fukunishi
Sugawara
Shibasaki
Diego
Iio
Hiramoto

Takagi
Leandro
Yoshitake
Hiroyama
Hagimura
Oguro
Donkey

Reports from Sports Hochi are that Kuwait are attempting to raid the J league of their Brazilian goleadors. The first real firm offer is from Al Saad for Davi

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/soccer/jleague/news/20080928-OHT1T00159.htm

Up to 10 are targeted by the oil rich Middle Eastern Kingdom including Edmilson from Urawa, Marquinhos from Kashima, Juninho from Kawasaki, Allesandro from Albirex, and Cabore from FC Tokyo.

Unfortunately Leandro was not on the list

The home stretch

The final start in earnest on Sunday.......

Here is the vital stats on the opponents


ガンバ大阪 Gamba Osaka
13 games
5 Wins
3 ties
5 losses
16 GF
19 GA

Who thought a trip to Syria would shake a lethargic giant out of their slumber. Looked good on paper until lately. Gamba did manage to beat Urawa at Saista but Verdy is decent at home.


名古屋グランパス
13 g
7 w
2 t
4 l
20 gf
15 ga

Taking out the Omiya win leaves them with a less than impressive +1 in gd and we might have seen signs of cracking with a loss to Chiba. No Magnum makes this winnable for sure.


大宮アルディージャ
13 g
4 w
3 t
6 l
15 gf
20 ga

The good news for Verdy.......no Denis Marques who made them look sad. The bad news, A giant Slovenian who can actually play. You can get in a shootout with Omiya and win, but if you let them score early and a couple, you will lose. Winnable but tricky the first 6 pointer on the schedule


京都サンガF.C.
13 g
7 w
2 t
4 l
15 gf
14 ga

Economical and tough at home. Kyoto won't blow you out so much as frazzle your nerves with close calls and pressure.


ヴィッセル神戸
13 g
2 w
7 t
4 l
12 gf
16 ga

A team that has the potential to score in bunches but usually doesn't. Plays for the tie on the road. This game has the potential to make or break Verdy fortunes in J1


コンサドーレ札幌
13 g
3 w
1 t
9 l
16 gf
26 ga

The good news is that Sapporo should be officially planning for J2 by the time this game comes around. The bad news is that it doesn't seem to matter because they are feisty little bastards. Must win.


横浜Ｆ・マリノス
13 g
6 w
4 t
3 l
16 gf
9 ga

Marinos is tough at home, letting up the 2nd least amount of goals at home.......not great for a team like Verdy who is a -12 on the road. Keep it close and hope to steal one............it's the mother of all classicos.


川崎フロンターレ
13 g
6 w
3 t
4 l
21 gf
18 ga

Somewhere the people of Kawasaki are smiling. Don't go into this one needing a win.

Off topic-Consadole Sapporo

One of the great stories in last years J2 campaign was the rise of Consadole Sapporo. Unlike some other squads Sapporo really relied on homegrown character guys instead of loading up with big names, reminiscent of Omiya circa 2004. Unfortunately for Miura and company Sapporo could not recreate the magic in J1. While there is an outside chance for Sapporo to squeak out ........no scratch that......there is abosolutely no way Sapporo is going to pick up 10 points in 8 games to get into the pro/rel spot.

What's next for the 2007 champs?

Guys out the door.....

I'm not sure but the offensive play of Davi and Claiton leads me to believe that someone will make an offer. Davi looks exactly like the type of player a team like Sanfrecce Hiroshima or Gamba Osaka will swoop on to shore up the offense. Claiton might be a tougher fit considering he's old and he doesn't play defense but if a team like Shonan happens to pop up to J1,I definetely see him getting a job. Takahiro Takagi lost his job to baby keeper Yuya Sato. Takagi showed himself to be formidable for both Thespa and Consadole in his time at J2 but has been a disaster this campaign, posting only 2 clean sheets in 19 games. A backup role at Omiya might be a good thing considering the admirable job GK coach Shirai has done with Aratani last year and Ezumi this year.

Guys coming in

It will probably be a combo of guys on their last legs and prospects like Yokohama FC. It won't look like Sanfrecce. If Miura stays, I do see him grabbing a couple more of his old favorites from Saitama like Naoto Sakurai or Aratani or even Hiroshi Morita, guys who can't consistently do it in J1 but could be good in J2. The name I think he could go after is MF Hayato Hashimoto who has virtually vanished from the radar. If Miura is canned.......which I don't think will happen...Verdy head coach Takuya Takagi has to be mentioned in any discussion. He even has some roots with Sapporo, having a cup of coffee with the squad in 2000. If he gets the nod, a ton of young satellite guys could be headed north.

Sapporo was actually the first place I encountered J League football (the gift shop to be precise) so I feel bad to see them drop. It might be awhile before I post one of these again unless Jubilo hits rock bottom

What we learned so far

Well Verdy finds itself in 15th with games coming up against a suddenly resurgent Gamba squad and a date with front running Nagoya Grampus. The good news is that Verdy was far worse when they beat Grampus the last time they squared off and they won.

Another worry is the resurgence of JEF Chiba and their increasing brand of Ultradefensive Chibapool style. After turning over the roster with castoffs from other squads, the yellowdogs have managed to get a little push to respectability.

A bit of good news is that Jubilo Iwata is downright putrid. A 5-1 thrashing by the putrid part of Tokyo has them at 26 points with 8 games remaining. Looking at past relegation victims.......

2005 Tokyo Verdy drops after winning Emperors Cup/Xerox Cup and Real Madrid friendly. the mixture of old names and young guns fail to mesh

2006 Cerezo Osaka bottoms out after being moments away from victory. A mixture of young talent and old names fail to mesh

2007 Sanfrecce Hiroshima drops to J2 after their cast of players who have caps for the national team at all ages fails to win for a very long time.

And now we have a team with Komano and Kawaguchi struggling to stay afloat. The good news is that their next two games are against a Niigata squad that is downright offensive on the road and a Consadole squad who has to be reeling from yet another last second loss. If Jubilo fails to get at least 4 points out of these two you will see teams getting their shopping lists ready for the gutting. Considering Ruis fetish for retro Jubilo members and you could see one or two next year..........no matter what happens.

6 pointers

10/18 vs Omiya
11/9 vs Vissel
11/29 vs Yokohama

And one must win versus Consadole.

UHhhhhhhhh

1-0 not Verdy

8 shots........Fukunishi and Oguro pulled at the half

Panic time?

Ecclectic to say the least

Doi
Fukuda
Hagimura iOi
Tsuchiya
Hattori
Hiroyama
Fukunishi
Shibasaki
Diego
Oguro
DONKEY

Takagi
Yoshitake
Iida
Shinmura
Kawano
Iio
Hiramoto

My first thought is WOW...........2 post offense with the one returner arguably the least effective
Diego better have a great game

Agggggggh!

4 shots today

Nasu gets the red

Oita wins 2-0

And Verdy drops to 14th

even 80 year old Brazilian Ueslei gets a goal

Anyhow here is something I like

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/billy-bragg-the-boy-done-good/2136999375/?icid=VIDURVMUS04

My favorite football song ever!

meanwhile Chibapool needs a pk and 2 red cards against bottom rung Consadole to win 3-2. I would cry conspiracy but I have no clue why the league would want a team who sells off all their assets and plays a really negative defensive style to stay up. Maybe it's the glorious kits.

Awww God!!!!!!

2-0 loss to Chibapool

Hagimura gets run in a game of Albirex rejects

Bunkerball wins out.......should be a good warmup for the mother of all that is boring

Oitards are a coming!

Nice to see Toda can still get a job somewhere.......not really.