One more out......but who's coming in?

Verdy.......NOT VERDY 1969!......confirmed the 1 year loan of part time U-23 player Yugo Ichiyanagi to perennial 4th place finisher Vegalta Sendai. Ichiyanagi got into 8 games for Verdy this year, failing to crack the lineup over Kenta Togawa, Seichiro Tomisawa, and Shigenori Hagimura. One of the failings of an otherwise sucessful 2007 was the failure to truly develop young talent like Ichiyanagi. Good luck to Yugo, here's hoping you pick up your game.

Speaking of Last Year's model, NIKKAN SPORTS is reporting that Verdy are now trying to outbid Kyoto for the rights to FW Atsushi Yanagisawa. Yanagisawa saw limited time this season, netting 5 goals. He did however net the game winner in extra time to avoid an embarrassing loss to Honda FC (ERRRRRRR, I mean a hard fought battle against a quality squad, ERRRRRRRRR).

来季Ｊ１に昇格する東京Ｖが鹿島ＦＷ柳沢敦（３０）獲得に乗り出すことが２１日、関係者の話で分かった。今季３７得点でＪ２得点王のＦＷフッキが川崎Ｆに復帰したことから、新たなＦＷ探しが急務。関係者は、出場機会の減少などから移籍を志願している柳沢について「リストに入っているのは間違いない。おそらく交渉することになると思う」と話した。今後、本格交渉に入る見込みだ。
　柱谷監督も「柳沢が欲しい。とにかく点を取れるやつが欲しい。経験もあるし、老け込むにはまだまだ早い」と明言。この日、就任が決まっている高木コーチとも、柳沢について話し合ったという。柳沢は現在３０歳で移籍金は発生せず、すでに京都が獲得オファーを出している。

Another Kashiwa player on the radar is 22 year old MF Chikashi Masuda. Masuda, who fell out of favor right about the time Kashima started their run to the championship, scored 3 goals in 23 games. Masuda can play anywhere in the midfield but was stuck at right back for most of his tenure. The U-22 member is also being pursued by Oita and Vegalta. Sanspo has the story here

http://www.sanspo.com/soccer/top/st200712/st2007122305.html

Yokohama FC WATCH

More little blue are jumping ship as Korean MF Chong Yong De makes his move to Consadole permanent. Mini midfielder Tomoya Uchida has been rumored by numerous outlets to be venturing inland to Saitama to don the orange of Omiya. G!G!O!A! has a more detailed story here http://furtho.blog4.fc2.com/blog-entry-1068.html#comment

Finally, I'd like to say thank you agin to all of you that have been reading this blog.......Thursday marked the end of year 2 of Soilent Green and I have appreciated all the feedback, even if I don't respond. The bet part of the blog has been the comments from people as close as Saitama, to varied places such as Ibaraki, Tokyo, Spain, England, Hawaii, Chile, Norway, and numerous other spots that have slipped my mind (Yamanashi?).

As a blast from the past, I republish the first post ever from frequent contributor and superfan Nick........

Can`t believe how many players have left either!!As our two best players; Washington and Soma were always going to leave but Im surprised anybody bothered picking up the most hapless defenders ever to grace the field!!i thought we`d still have the treat of seeing them bumble along in J2. Also Ramos reaks of "numpty" don`t reckon he`ll be around too long....my wish is to see Takagi shown the exit on account of his appalling haircuts for the last few seasons. Any team that has a dandelion in a pink top in nets deserves relegation!! We can`t complain really.. Its gonna be a long season me thinks. If Ramos is on about raiding the retirement home, how about Big Pat Mboma, or Edmundo.I hear Bobby Charlton is free on most Saturday afternoons.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone out there! Here's hoping your team finishes a distant second to the little orange monsters in Saitama!