El Golazo's 11 and rumors from around the league

Here is the selection

GK Takagi
DF Kaimoto-Tsuchiya-Tomisawa-Hattori
MF Hiroyama-Ono-Sugawara-Iio
FW Diego-Silva

I imagine we'll see a combo of Shibasaki, Sato or Nagai, Inoue or Funakoshi, and a defender on the bench

Of note is the fact that Tsuchiya, Ono, and Diego are all sitting on three yellows. A disaster is on the horizon if Verdy manages to not win and lose all three to yellows......can you imagine what that lineup would look like against Cerezo?

Magno to Saudi Arabia?

Hochi Yomiuri is reporting that Magno Alves has been in double secret super quiet negotiations to leave Gamba for Al Ithad of Saudi Premier league. Recently, Magno has been linked to FC Tokyo, Shimizu, and Al Wahada of the UAE. One place I can absolutely rule out is Omiya.

J2 Watch

Sanfrecce and U-22 D midfielder Toshihiro Aoyama injured his foot in the Beijing clinching 0-0 tie against Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Aoyama was the hero for the young Samurai when he cleared a dangerous shot off the line in the 9th minute to help preserve a clean sheet. Aoyama will be on the shelf for two months and will miss the final 2 critical games for Sanfrecce against Kawasaki and Gamba.

An always interesting preview of the upcoming game between FC Tokyo and 15th place Omiya can be found at Go!Go!Omiya Ardija!----------or here http://furtho.blog4.fc2.com/blog-entry-1023.html#comment2977 If you look close enough, you can see some angry comments from an unnamed blogger.

Kofu ventures into the place where their J1 adventure began. A slumping Kashiwa Reysol will try to do to Ventforet what the Yamanashi side did to them.......send them down to the two. Actually, I think that Kashiwa should actually roll over and die in thanks for the drop to J2....the team is in much better shape now then they were when they finished 16th twice.

Finally, the game of the week in J2 pits Vegalta against an erratic Kyoto side. Both teams need a max 3 points and had somewhat disappointing results in their last campaign. A tie might be the worst possible thing for both squads with a banged up but hard charging Cerezo side lurking in 5th.

Things are going to shake out tomorrow......we should see what 2008 is gonna look like with these games. Nerve racking stuff indeed!