Widely reported this morning was the baffling news that S-Pulse have offered soon-to-be-out-of-contract captain Shinji Ono a one year extension at a FIFTY PERCENT REDUCTION of his current wages.
The man himself said he may well be playing elsewhere next season (who can blame him!?), and this would be an absolute disaster for the team Ghotbi is trying to build.
26 year old Toyoda was the J2 top scorer for this season just ended with 23 goals in 38 games. Rather less impressively he has scored just 6 goals in 54 games at J1 level.
21 year old Yoshida is a local lad from down the road in Fujinomiya.
S-Pulse 1-3 G. Osaka Ito 9 ------------------------- Lee 32, 39 -------------------------------- Futagawa 52
Att. 18670
Line Up
GK K. Yamamoto
DF Tsujio DF Iwashita (24) DF Bosnar DF Ota
MF Edamura MF Jong a Pin MF Brosque (93)
FW Ito FW Takahara FW Omae (34)
Subs Used
Muramatsu on for Tsujio (61) Sugiyama on for Ota (67) Takagi on for Edamura (77)
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And that, as they say, is that. Another season all wrapped up and consigned to the history books. Well, a league season, anyway. The small business of the Emperor's Cup is merely getting started, and come December 17th we'll all be back at Nihondaira to take on JEF United for a place in the quarter finals. I think the J. League and Emperor's Cup would only benefit from a little mutual promotion. Rather than pretending the cup doesn't exist, if the league got behind the oldest competition in Japan a bit more I bet we'd see increased gates and greater interest generally.
Anyway. Gamba rolled into town needing a victory while hoping that both Kashiwa and Nagoya failed to win. In with a decent enough shout for the title, but around the hour mark, when it was evident both Kashiwa and Nagoya were on the way towards all three points each, this game rapidly became just another dead rubber.
A depleted S-Pulse (no Ono, no Ljungberg) started well. A rare (first time in six months or more) start for Ito Sho saw him score his first goal in orange. Only took him a year. We were the better team for a lot of the first half, but the visitors had to win and after a while found their feet. A couple of cock ups helped them on their way, but I felt like they were always going to win this.
That said, we were moving the ball around well at times and Ota, back at left back, was having a good game. He's been attracting interest from Europe recently, but I hope he goes nowhere for a while. Takahara also went close before half time, and only a fine save denied him.
After the break it felt a bit like we were just going through the motions, and I guess when you have nought to play for with all thoughts turned towards the cup, that's kind of inevitable. We never seemed to get a break and it played out 3-1. Well, that's it for J. League 2011, but with the last 16 of the cup to come don't be going anywhere! Still plenty more blood, sweat and tears to come this year in Japanese football.
A review of the S-Pulse league season will come over the next couple of weeks.
Edamura on for Sugiyama (55) Takagi on for Takahara (73) Ota on for Tsujio (85)
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Can't read too much into this result. No Jong a Pin, no Ono, no Ota at leftback (Masaki instead), a referee who called a clearly onside goal as offside in the opening stages and waved yellow cards around like confetti (at our players).
Aaah, sorry - never had the time to write much more than this and as time is moving on I'll just leave it here.
Takagi on for Edamura (57) Sugiyama on for Takahara (67) Nagai on for Ota (85)
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Them: Hard to play against, highly motivated, firing on all cylinders, potentially just two wins from the title. Us: winding down, missing our captain, looking towards the cup, nothing but pride to play for. And that was that. They won, we lost and we all went home in foul moods.
Despite all the above, it was very tight game, with the first half especially on a knife edge. The visitors in particular were largely restricted to long range efforts. The second was far more open, no doubt due to Bosnar's unstoppable free kick just before the break. It made Reysol throw everything they had at us to get back in it. They don't play very attractive football, but look at the table - it's been getting the job done.
They penetrated our defences on several occasions with some slick passing, and it was from a swift bit of overlapping that a shot drew a parry from Kaito. That was then headed home by the completely free Leandro to give them the lead. At 2-1 we kept having a go, but the look of a team playing for the title and one playing for pride is impossible to mistake. A late free kick from Bosnar went wide and that was pretty much that.
Kashiwa are now a whisker from the title and it'll be hard too see them blow it against either Cerezo or Urawa. If Nagoya fail to beat Yamagata on Saturday and Kashiwa win, it's all over. This time next year, it'll be us. #optimism
While I'm here, today S-Pulse became only the 5th team in the country to welcome its 5 millionth supporter through the gates. Top work.
I have to choose my words wisely. I'm a little disappointed with some of the ref's decision making today. Omae was in the area and got surrounded by two players and pulled down. I'm 1000% percent certain that was a penalty kick. If that had been given it would have been a different game.
We made a mistake for Kashiwa to equalise, and the second goal too came about from a mistake. After their second we changed the system and went with two up front. We created some chances to equalise.
I think Leandro is one of the best foreigners in the J. League, but with his diving he was trying to get a second yellow card for Jong a Pin, and that's disappointing.
Never mind the game, look at this instead
Videos
Eddy's belter. You really don't need to see anything else.
But if you want to put yourself through it, here you go:
Hiraoka on for Bosnar (HT) Nagai on for Takahara (71) Ito on for Takagi (84)
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Job done, in what was evidently one of the smoothest progressions for a J1 side this evening. Niigata lost to JFL opposition, Gamba Osaka lost to Mito Hollyhock, and most hilariously of all, Jubilo also lost at home to a J2 side in the form of JEF United.
Is that all you take away?
No, actually. :) Respect to the Tottori travelling support
By far the biggest cheer of the night came when Nagai slammed home our 4th. It was recently reported that he'll be leaving at the end of the year, and despite his rather sparse goal record, he's a popular man at Nihondaira.
Tottori played with a whole lot of heart but not a great deal of skill. They approached the game well but were never really in it. After we scored our third they completely went topoeces and we were just running rings round them for the final twenty minutes.
Round 4 is against JEF United, December 17th at Nihondaira. Kick off at 3pm.
Videos
Thanks to the awesome work of YouTube user Spulfly, all the goals.
Sugiyama (yellow 93) on for Takagi (68) Ito on for Takahara (90)
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Late, as promised. Fukuoka is a belting city, and they have a cracking stadium, but my one minor gripe is that the incline of the seats behind the goal just isn't steep enough to make out the far end properly. Apart from that, top marks. I also went down to (most probably) next season's Kyushu J1 representatives, and Sagan Tosu too boast a stunning football only ground with access Nihondaira would kill for (if stadiums could kill for things).
Give it time and we could see Kyushu rising as a power in J1. The all pervasive baseball consumes most sporting conciousness, but they have the infrastructure in place for footer. A good couple of years with some momentum built up there could be a power shift in Japanese football.
As for the game, I can only imagine how hard it must be motivating yourself for a meaningless game against relegated opposition, but the travelling fans deserved a bit more. We created few chances in the first half (I just checked the stats and we had one shot on goal) and Ono's (who was rested) captaincy and leadership were missed. Jong a Pin, as has often been the case, was a stand out, though. He's been a great signing.
The second half was better, but until the goal we weren't especially looking the more likely to score. A handball off a Ljungberg shot led to a penalty which for some reason Iwashita took. He made no mistake, but it was an unexpected choice, and were we in the running for anything other than prize money I doubt he'd have taken it. Two minutes later Bosnar walloped a freekick home which we've not seen for a while, and we had just long enough to think that was job done before a header came off Ota's head and looped over Kaito into the net. 2-1.
Two minutes later and we'd lost our lead and the game's explosive seven minutes were over. A couple of half chances for the home team was all that was really left, and it was game over. Hardly vintage S-Pulse, but it means we've only lost one in our last eleven. No league game now until the 20th when we have a chance to throw a spanner into Kashiwa's works but before that Gainare Tottori in the cup on the evening of the 16th.
Firstly, I'm been really impressed with such a beautiful city as Fukuoka and am happy to have come here. And this stadium is maybe the most beautiful in Japan. I want to congratulate Fukuoka. The ran and fought for 90 minutes.
I thought if we could get the first goal we could then control the game, and we did. After we got the second, I thought that we'd be in complete control, but we let in a strange goal. The opponent's header came off the top of Ota's head and floated in over Kaito. At 2-1 the stadium came back to life and with that momentum they made it 2-2.
DF Tsujio (yellow 71) DF Iwashita DF Bosnar DF Ota
MF Hiraoka (yellow 28) MF Ono MF Brosque
FW Takagi FW Takahara FW Omae
Subs Used
Ljungberg (yellow 71) on for Takagi (HT) Sugiyama on for Ono (71) Ito on for Hiraoka (85)
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How did I spend my weekend? Not at Nihondaira, sadly, but there is certain 80s fun to be had on a Saturday night in Nagoya.
Prior to David Coverdale and his shiny white teeth (it was the girlfriend's idea- honest!), we found an English boozer by the glorious name of Booby's. A Grampus bar through and through, I'm more than happy to give it a plug. Good booze and scran and several big screens for the football. It took a monumental effort of will not to smack the table and shout the place down when Omiya banged in two in two minutes to go in front, but self preservation is a powerful thing. The better team won out in the end, and fair play, they're up there going for the title and are in for a more exciting climax this year than we are.
But we're not without our own goals, and sweeping aside a resurgent Kofu who won 4-0 away last week wasn't the sign of a team lacking motivation. Highlights are attached below, and as I didn't see it, I can't say too much about the performance, but we seemed to do well without Jong a Pin. Brosque was back in midfield with Ono and Hiraoka.
Takahara started again and nearly added to his season haul on a number of occasions, most notably after latching onto an inspired overhead pass from Ono, but it was rightly ruled out for offside. Our third goal was a thing of beauty and watching it for the first time I perhaps rashly proclaimed it as one of the best goals I've ever seen us score, but you know what? I think I might stand by that. Ono stokes it to Ljungberg who rounds two players, exchanges a swift one two with Omae, then passes it back to Ono who lays off the perfect through pass for Genki to strike it home. Liquid football.
We scored three special goals today. We could play some great football, but there are still areas for improvement. Especially after out third goal, we stopped playing football. We started the game badly, but started playing after around half an hour. I'm satisfied with Takahara's progress, and I'm happy that Hiraoka covered Jong a Pin's absence very well.
Highlights
Highlights of the game. Takahara offside for his goal, but only just. He was behind the keeper, with the defender the final man when Ono played it.
Sugiyama on for Takeuchi (53) Muramatsu on for Takahara (80) Nabeta on for Ono (91)
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Not sure of the circumstances of Jong a Pin's red card, but two yellows in a minute suggests a yellow followed by back chat for the second. That said, you have to factor in that the referee was the notorious Nobutsugu Murakami, the bloke who sent off Kuboto last year without having seen the "offence", so God only knows.
Top scorer Takahara returned after two months on the sidelines, but no Ljungberg today, either starting or on the bench. Expect him back next week when we face a resurgent Kofu who today beat Cerezo 4-0 away, climbing out of the relegation zone at the expense of Urawa who fall to 16th. Can the 2006 champions, who spent most of the next three years booing every opponent instead of cheering on their own team, avoid a second drop to J2? Who knows and who cares. Fuck 'em.
All told, 1-1 away with a man down for the last 15 minutes isn't all bad, but frustrating given we were leading, especially if the red card was contentious. That said, I didn't see the game so I can't comment on incidents or the performance. In fact I'll pass over to fellow S-Pulse blogger Daisuke Matsuura with his post on events in Kobe today, coming straight outta Kansai.
No chance of the league, so the final five games have to be geared towards a top 7 finish and some prize money. Absolutely CRUCIAL is finishing above the scum for a sixth year in a row, and then there's still the Emperor's Cup. If we beat Gainare next month it's a Shiz derby last 16 game in December. Plenty of interest left this season!
Both teams were sloppy in the first half. We couldn't play the football we wanted to. We improved in the second half and were able to play own game a little. After we opened the scoring we were could control the game and create more chances. We had an opportunity to get a second, but we let that important chance slip.
Jong a Pin lost his cool when he got the yellow card. He was probably disappointed because it was his fourth yellow so he'll miss the next game. It's his first season in the J. League and is maybe frustrated at the inconsistent level of refereeing. Maybe there's a different standard for foreign and Japanese players...
Couldn't agree more. Just ask Bosnar.
Videos
OK - finally got to see Jong a Pin's red. Moments before, the 168cm Popo clatters the big man from behind knocking him over, which is no mean feat. It went unpenalised but a no less clumsy challenge from Jong a Pin brought out a quick yellow, and another for bouncing the ball away in frustration. The second was just gratuitous and a stupid, game changing decision by a bad referee who lost his cool. Jong a Pin later apologised to the fans and team, but presumably not to the clown in black.
DF Tsujio DF Iwashita DF Bosnar (yellow 33) DF Ota
MF Jong-a-Pin MF Ono MF Ljungberg
FW Takagi FW Omae FW Brosque (yellow 80)
Subs Used
Edamura on for Ono (90) Nabeta on for Brosque (92)
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What a difference a year makes. No need to beat about the bush - that was one of the best performances I've seen at Nihondaira in my seven years behind the goal. Add to that kebabs, sunshine, a full house, catching up with mates, and winning a few quid on the game, all that's missing is a late night visit from Aoi Miyazaki to top off the perfect day. As that probably ain't gonna happen, I'll have to call it a near perfect day, but they come around so rarely it'll more than do.
We controlled this one from the start. Ono and Ljungberg started together for the first time, and both played the full 90 minutes. It was a partnership which works. We had two veteran midfielders with pure footballing minds working together to run the game. Just as important was Jong a Pin's immense presence playing just behind Freddie and Shinji. He's a big, strong player and more than once today, to all intents and purposes, walked up to a Nagoya player, took the ball off him and began a forward move.
Nagoya may lament that they had a bad game, but they weren't allowed to play. We pitched it just right with a combination of pressing the away team, putting them on the back foot, and making them rush their decisions. They kept losing possession or ended plays empty handed. Add to that the forward thrust of Jong a Pin, Ono and Ljungberg's touch and vision, and we were creating chance after chance. We also managed to miss several ridiculous opportunities to open the scoring, but they came at such frequency that the law of averages meant we finally broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute from Omae's header.
The moment of the match came ten minutes later when Freddie ran at a defender on the right wing, knocked it round him with a touch so perfectly weighted that he could sprint around the back peddling white shirt, pick up the ball, take it to the byline, and cross it in for Brosque to strike home and win the game. It was a fitting end to a display of quality from S-Pulse against, not a team struggling with relegation like Yamagata or Urawa, but the defending champions. Credit where it's due, because I'm quick to moan when things don't go well, but Ghotbi got it spot on today. We were bloody brilliant. Patient when it was needed, stampeding forward when able.
I can't finish without mentioning Jungo Fujimoto. He did nothing of note, was deafeningly booed at every touch, was subbed on the hour, and failed to realise we were taking the piss when singing his name at full time. He was the villain of the piece, and played it perfectly. :) Night night.
Pictures
B?
The Aus Factor Plenty of needle made it feel like a derby Having fun there, Jungo? Who da man? You da man
Videos
Our second, with Ljungberg's quality assist. The move started by Jong a Pin's dispossessing of the Nagoya player.
Muramatsu on for Edamura (65) Ljungberg on for Nabeta (74)
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Under the cosh for the first half, much better in the second. Ljungberg had a big impact again, starting moves and also being there on the end of others, but the 15 minutes he was on wasn't enough to create a winner. Nearly, but not quite. Bare in mind he's still some way off full fitness, but his rapid integration bodes well for the future.
Kawasaki were not playing like a team who had lost 9 of their last 10, and might have grabbed a winner. But they had no hope of dealing with Takagi who just won't allow himself to be denied. A surging run down the left, he beat two players before darting into the heart of the penalty area and poking a shot into the bottom corner. Sugiyama could only parry it out to a waiting Brisque. 1-0 to the good guys.
At 1-0 down the home team were really going for it and when Juninho's stab was deflected home by Jong a Pin's leg to level the score it was deserved. A draw was probably fair, and given our injury reduced team, not an altogether bad result. An even better result was Kofu doing Gamba 2-0 - especially because I had a few quid on it. :)
Next up, relegation threatened Niigata in the second leg of our League Cup 2nd round game. We lead 2-1 from the first leg.
Goal!
Ghotbi Says
To be honest, I though the 1st half was very sloppy for both teams. We created a few half chances and a penalty that wasn't called. But I thought the 2nd half we started better and created a nice goal, but our reaction after the goal was poor. Kawasaki created some good opportunities and we were not in control, and they equalised.
But after they equalised, especially after Freddie came on, we controlled the game and had some wonderful chances to win. There are some positives to take out of the game, Nabeta had a good game.
We are playing without some of our key players and without your more experienced players you make mistakes. The important thing is getting Ono and Takahara back and Ljungberg fully fit. Once those three players are back you'll see a different team.
Our fans were wonderful from the beginning to the end, they cheered us on and I'm grateful for them.
Nagai on for Omae (76)
Hiraoka on for Bosnar (81)
M. Yamamoto on for Tsujio (88)
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A game so instantly forgettable it's already retreating rapidly into the dark recesses of my mind, never to return.
Before it's gone for good, it's worth noting that most of our twelve shots were long range efforts and never really looked like breaking the deadlock. Marinos had the more clear cut chances but blew them.
I'm in danger of falling asleep typing this up, so I'm going to leave it. Some matches are just not very good.
S-Pulse 3-0 Omiya Ardija Edamura 48
Ono 54
Takahara 78
Att. 16768
Line Up
GK K. Yamamoto
DF Muramatsu (yellow 45+1)
DF Iwashita
DF Bosnar
DF Ota
MF Ono
MF Hiraoka
MF Edamura
FW Omae
FW Takahara
FW Takagi (yellow 90+3)
Subs Used
Brosque on for Ono (68)
M. Yamamoto on for Hiraoka (81)
Nabeta on for Takahara (85)
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No time, no time! I'll be honest with you. I drank too much before the game and don't remember with too much clarity the events which led to our first win in four. I'll have a quick go though from memory.
Kaito was recalled for Usui who had let in 12 in three games. Not all his fault by any means, but it can't do a keeper's confidence any favours. Takahara was back leading the charge and Edamura made a rare start.
The first half was bereft of too many chances, but it was Eda who opened the scoring right after the break. Ono, from another of Ota's excellent crosses, doubled the lead. Shinji found himself deep in the Omiya box, and with a couple oif deft steps lost his marker. From behind the goal I thought he' d hit is straight it straight at the keeper, but how could I doubt him? It was aimed perfectly through his legs.
At 2-0 Omiya really had us hanging on for a spell and we just couldn't hold onto possession. But for a cracking Kaito stop it would have been 2-1 and the way it was going a come back wouldn't have been unlikely. But we held on and a belter from Takahara put the game beyond reach for the visitors.
So a good result for sure, but still tempered by the last three games. New signing Jong-a-Pin was there and was seen chatting away to Ghotbi before the game. Maybe we'll see him as early as the Cerezo match next week.
Aaaah, time up! I'm off to Aichi for the day. Will do the Ghotbi says bit later or tomorrow or whenever. See ya!
Takagi on for Brosque (55) Edamura on for Sugiyama (73) Yamamoto on for Tsujio (80)
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You have got to be joking. Well, at least it wasn'tfour.
Oh, hold on, as I type this, it is four. :( Another 94th minute goal for the opposition.
Are we trying for our worst ever goal difference? What the hell has gone wrong these last three games? This season was always going to be transitional, so here's to us finding our feet again and stopping this horrific run at home to Omiya on Saturday.
We only drop one place to 10th thanks to a bit of a cushion from our recent good run. I don't think anyone except the current bottom three will be going down, so let's not panic or get on anyone's back just yet.
But seriously, though. This can't go on.
Ghotbi Says
Translated back to English, so not his exact words, but the gist.
"We gave everything we had. We were unlucky to go one nil down and end the first half behind. We have a lot of injured players and people who aren't at full fitness and having a hard time of it. A positive is that even at 3-0 down we never gave up and were attacking until the end.
We're getting all our bad luck at once. I'm happy that our next game is at home where we can play in front of our own fans and stop this bad run."
Videos
Highlights.
Reaction from our travelling fans at full time. Can't say I blame them.
In other news, Brighton scored an 98th minute winner to mark a dream start to life at The Amex Stadium. After the last three weeks, I bloody needed this, I can tell ya!
Iwashita on for Yamamoto (HT) Sugiyama on for Ono (57) Nagai on for Takagi (70)
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Sake.
This cheered me up a little :)
With the rain pouring in Shiz, I wasn't going to sit on the grass watching fireworks, so I ventured out into the boonies of Iwata instead. Watching jubilo crumble to defeat is always highly entertaining, but it couldn't take my mind off the fact we conceded four goals without reply for the second game in a row. Lessons need to be learnt and learnt fast.
Videos
Hiroshima's goals. The quality isn't great, but why would you want it to be?
Takagi on for Bosanr (59) Takahara on for Ono (67) Okane on for Nagai (91)
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We turned around the 1-0 defeat earlier in June to progress to the next round of the league cup. Takagi bagged his first goal in an S-Pulse shirt, and it was great to see him bounding away behind the goal, arms aloft, with Ono after him.
Job's a good 'un!
Tonight was a very good recovery after Saturday's mauling at the hands of Cerezo, and a professional performance we can take some pride in. Kofu came with the advantage, but we kept to our plan and got the job done.
In the next round we face Niigata. The game is another two legged affair and will be played on September 14th and 28th.
Edamura on for Kobayashi (HT) Takagi on for Ono (62) Nagai on for Muramatsu (75)
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Deary me. We were poor from start to finish and got beaten by the better team. We looked tired and bereft of ideas. Our goal difference took another blow, but we remain in 7th and... aaah, bollocks. When Cerezo scored their third I swore a bit, ordered a pizza, and checked the TV listings.
"I don't know where to start. It's been a difficult night. Especially the second half. It was a good first ten minutes, but after not being to convert our chances, it became a difficult game.
Our response to going two down was good. We pressed and created chances and when we put the second striker in we were getting back into it. But the we got hit on the counter an it was 4-0.
I want to say well done to Cerezo, but as for us we need to pick ourselves up from this and look towards the Nabisco Cup game with Kofu."
S-Pulse 2-1 Niigata Ono 57---------------------- Ishikawa 5 Takahara 90 -------------- Suzuki sent off (55)
Att. 13599
Line Up
GK Usui
DF Muramtsu DF Hiraoka DF Bosnar DF Ota
MF Yamamoto MF Edamura MF Ono
FW Kobayashi FW Takahara FW Brosque
Subs Used
Omae on for Koboyashi (HT) Nagai on for Ono (78) Takagi on for Edamura (78)
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I'm bloody knackered, so I'm going to write this either Sunday or Monday. In a nutshell, Niigata were the most one dimensional team to come to Nihondaira this year, and despite taking an early lead, we always controlled the game. After the red card, Niigata's game plan was to keep nine men behind the ball with the Brazilian striker waiting upfield for long balls to hit us on the counter.
An S-Pulse moon was out
Tuesday update
Well, it's a bit later than I hoped, but I've had a busy weekend celebrating a UKU wedding (not mine!) and have finally just been able to sit down and write a bit more. As I mentioned, Niigata were not so good, but their goal was very well taken and they almost had two after we made a mess of a back pass.
With the man advantage we were always in control, save for a couple of the counter attack breaks. We just didn't seem able to create the killer chance. That was until a Takagi shot forced a corner, and another piece of perfect predatory positioning penetrated the Niigata defence. The goal, right on the stroke of the 90th minute sent us all barmy and Takahara was visibly loving it. If he keeps this up (and I think he just might) I might just forget he ever used to play for iwata.
We're up to sixth and face Cerezo on Saturday for a chance to climb into the top three. Ole!
Full time
By the way, out of our starting 11, EIGHT were natives of Shizuoka prefecture. Ota was the only non Shizuokan Japanese, and that is pretty impressive if you ask me.
Barry writes
