All Whites, Ferns, and other international teams
J league versus premiership versus A league
The J league is a major step up from the A league.
Top A league players in there off season who move to the J league for a short time can only manage to get into J2 clubs.
There would be no difference in standard from the bottom ten premiership clubs and the standard in the J1 league in Japan and thats being conservative.
I have personally been to games live over the last two years including watching Manchester United and Arsenal play European clubs and also to Japan watching a J league club play and the Japanese National team in one of the World cup qualifiers.
Michael is about 6 foot 2 - 3 and can play left or right back, plays games on a regular basis and fitness wise would be fitter than any of the New Zealand backs in the New Zealand team at present including Ryan Nelson.
I did say bottom 10 EPL clubs!!
The J league is a major step up from the A league.
Top A league players in there off season who move to the J league for a short time can only manage to get into J2 clubs.
There would be no difference in standard from the bottom ten premiership clubs and the standard in the J1 league in Japan and thats being conservative.
I have personally been to games live over the last two years including watching Manchester United and Arsenal play European clubs and also to Japan watching a J league club play and the Japanese National team in one of the World cup qualifiers.
Michael is about 6 foot 2 - 3 and can play left or right back, plays games on a regular basis and fitness wise would be fitter than any of the New Zealand backs in the New Zealand team at present including Ryan Nelson.
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I can only think of two A-League players that have moved to the Japan, Ufuk Talay and Mark Rudan who moved to a J2 club following the appointment of their former Sydney FC coach Pierre Litbarski at that club. The only other Aussie that I am aware of playing in Japan is Eddie Bosnar who is currently playing for a J1 club - JEF United Chiba - and has been starting regularly yet is deemed not good enough to play for the Australian national team and must therefore sit behind Rodrigo Vargas and Craig Moore in the eyes of coach Pim Verbeek.
I do agree that the J League is currently the best and wealthiest league in Asia, but has some way to go before it can match the might of the top European Leagues. I highly doubt that any of the J1 teams would be competitive over a season in the Premier Leauge.
If you want more proof on the quality of the leauge, here is a list of the club coefficient worked out the same as the UEFA coefficient:
http://www.persianfootball.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68687
[quote]This coefficient is determined by the results of the clubs of the leagues in AFC Champions League and AFC Cups games over the past five seasons.During that period each team gets two points for a win (1 for Qualifying rounds) and one point for a draw (0.5 for qualifying rounds). For games decided by penalty kicks the score after extra time is used.
One bonus point is allocated for reaching the quarter final(in ACL, After 03/04), the semi final,and the final. reaching the group stage throughout Qualifier in 2002-2003 ACL yielded two bonus points.
With Korea ranked as #1 and Japan #2. I expect Japan to be leading this shortly as they are currently progressing far more quickly than other leagues in Asia.
Bullion2009-03-16 17:29:11
scratch that, should read it properly. although would be good to see how all clubs from asia stacked up against each other regardless of if they got in to the ACl or not. be a mission and a half i spose
Christo2009-03-16 17:44:33
I highly doubt that any of the J1 teams would be competitive over a season in the Premier Leauge.
Ok Thank you Bullion.
It is nice to have some positive and enlightening feedback.
As to your comment above. This would probably be correct in an English environment as the Asians tend to struggle outside of there own environments but I wonder how the bottom 10 EPL teams would do actually going over to the J league in Japan for a season?
I highly doubt that any of the J1 teams would be competitive over a season in the Premier Leauge.
Ok Thank you Bullion.
It is nice to have some positive and enlightening feedback.
As to your comment above. This would probably be correct in an English environment as the Asians tend to struggle outside of there own environments but I wonder how the bottom 10 EPL teams would do actually going over to the J league in Japan for a season?
I think that some of the teams from the bottom half of the premier league would fancy going unbeaten playing in Japan - Man City, Tottenham as an example. I think it would make a difference on the nature of refereeing in Japan as a lot of those bottom half EPL teams would be far more physical and play the game at a faster pace than their J league counterparts and I would imagine referees in the J league not allowing as much of the rough stuff. Still I would think that the EPL teams would win more than lose.
how many players have transfered straight from the J-league to the EPL?
I did say bottom 10 EPL clubs!!
Yokohama Marinos ( Yuji Nakazawa) Japanese Captain who is reportedly earning more than 100 million annually for one, but I was not referring to top 6 premiership sides and there is no point in this as you obviously only watch one league in the world in any case so a list of Japanese names would mean as much to you as spouting off about brazilian players there.
And as for the FFS please keep your panties on.
Normo's coming home
And someone mentioned there is no Reserve League in Japan, so is he not getting any game time in a competitive competition?
I think I read an article which mentioned he might get loaned to a J2 league team, to get first team football in 2009. Any more news on this?
Is he about 20-21 now? So, forget about the all whites, surely the recent mens olympic team would have been a good starting point to check him out, so its not just Ricki keeping him out. Stu Jacobs obviously has his doubts. With the Olympics being held in China as well, it would have been playing conditions and climate Michael would have been very used to.
Also, if you look at the clubs our U23 defenders were selected from should we not start comparing them to the J-league?
Michael Boxall (Santa Barbara University � 19)
Ian Hogg (Western Suburbs/Hawke's Bay United � 18)
Sam Jenkins (Western Suburbs/Hawke's Bay United � 21)
Ryan Nelsen* (Blackburn Rovers � 30)
Steven Old (Macarthur Rams � 22)
Jack Pelter (Unattached � 20)
Aaron Scott (Melville/ Waikato FC � 21)
Cole Tinkler (Miramar Rangers/Team Wellington � 22)
Also I believe he was eligble for the U20 World in Canada 2007? Which he was also left out of, I think he was training with his J-league side then?
If we build it, they will come...

Normo's coming home
He of course played intersquad games (The squad consisted of 30 players so they had enough to do this (supposedly the intersquad games would determine who the coach was going to pick for his weekend game). If Michael didn't get in the team squad at the end of the week he would play a game in a Reserve Type League on the Sunday (He made the game 15, 4 times but unfortunately didn't get to come on off the bench).
They do have a Reserve League and basically all the J-League players who didn't make the Game 15 would play on the Sunday against each other eg: Albirex would play Urawa Reds, Kyoto, Hiroshima etc, so he was still playing against good opposition, as a lot of times you had first team regulars who were coming back from an injury playing in these games. (He was always a starter in these games - with a squad of 15 there were players that didn't get games every week.) He also played in friendlies against other J-League teams eg: he played in a friendly against Yokohama. Unfortunately he had an injury mid way thru last year and didn't really start coming back from it until around Sept.
As far as I know, Michael is the only Kiwi to have ever been signed by a J1 league club.
Wynton Rufer?
A thousand pardons. Of course Lol.
Should I have said under 20????
Because simply of the calibre of the players that Japan is starting to produce. A high majority of the players in the J-League are Japanese - and Japan trains them hard. They have the money, they can get the coaches. However I think there is one thing holding them back and that is the Japanese mindset on the field - and in general. When things don't work out right - there is no innovation from players, no one ready and willing to step up. They will try the same thing over and over again until hopefully they get a break. If they can move that problem - I see no other reason why not the J-League could become a close rival to the EPL, apart from maybe the fact that some foreigners might not want to live in Japan.

Three for me, and two for them.
Okay, that one I will call you on. Like all Premier League sides trups to asia, it has nothing to do with opposition strength and everything to do with the market for merchandise and how much they are paid. By your logic, Chinese clubs, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are comparable to the Premier League.
Hard News2009-03-17 17:10:24
+1, but he didn't go straight from the J-League to United's starting line-up. I personally think that without the international pulling power of the top European leagues the J-League can't grow to similar stature, there would need to be a change in mindset for players all around the world, who have always seen those leagues as the pinnacle of club fotball worldwide.
Perhaps the name should be changed to the World Premier league???
Any suggestions for a new name?
Any suggestions for a new name?
There is no comparison between Old and Fitzgerald.
But Michael has not played at such a high level as the NZFC or the Wellington Phoenix, has he? Old was a stand out at the Phoenix!
He'd have a European passport because of his Croation heritage??
Croatia's not part of the EU.

