The j-league starts again today
the main fixture of note for us Kiwi fans is Sendai and Niigata
but Gamba and the reds will be interesting as gamba has been promoted back into the J-league after a year out
Gamba score lots but have a leaky defense. they were relegated while having the highest goals for in the league
Man City in the 30s. Went down with the most goals and a positive goal difference.
Leggy will know the finer details as it was during his playing career.
Gamba osaka scored 67 goals in 34 games, second most was Hiroshima with 63.
they however conceded 65 goals so went down with a positive goal difference
Football is truly international. Sendai vs Niigata was a historic event for NZ, as it would be the first time 2 New Zealanders have ever started in a J-League match. Funny though one is Scottish and one is Samoan.
sorry its a bit late but have been quite busy this last week
Results for the week
J 1
Cerezo 0-1 Hiroshima
Nagoya 2-3 Shimizu
Tosu 5-0 Tokushima
Kofu 0-4 Kashima
Sendai 1-2 Niigata (Fitzgerald subbed on 49 minutes with concussion, McGlinchey played 68 minutes)
Kashiwa 1-1 F Tokyo
Gamba 0-1 Urawa reds
Yokohama 2-0 Omiya
Kawasaki 2-2 Kobe
Didnt get to see much of any of the games due to work this weekend so can't say too much about them but the gamba game looked like their defense hasn't got any better, while creating a few chances and just not converting.
This weeks big games are
Niigata v Gamba (Fitzgerald v My team) 5pm KO saturday NZT
Kashima v Sendai (McGlincheys team) 11pm KO saturday NZT
and
Kawasaki v Hiroshima should be a good game too. 4.30pm KO sat NZT
Was stuck in the past
will write one myself later tonight
ok so this is my attempt at a preview of Niigata v Gamba
Form
Niigata W
Gamba L
Games played since 2010 6
Gamba 2 Wins
4 Draws
odds
Niigata 2.37
Draw 3.40
Gamba 2.87
Preview
Niigata is a team that is really well balanced with a good solid defense, yet have the ability to score goals up the other end as well. On the other hand Gamba has a very leaky defense but can score goals at will. Gamba osaka looked very flat in their loss to Urawa reds and will be hoping to turn this around against a strong team who got the result away to Sendai. ITs hard to tell where teams are at this early on in the season but i believe that Gamba might struggle to get a result in this game. Right now Niigata is too good a team to let Gamba get on the ball and give them the space they need. I think it will be a narrow win to Nigata
Kiwi Watch
Fitzgerald is in doubt for the game, but have not heard anymore about his concussion
Big trouble is brewing after a sign on one of the bays to go sit had 'Japanese only' and a picture of a Japanese flag. Big racism row has started
At urawa reds
this weeks results
Hiroshima 2-1 Kawasaki
Niigata 0-2 Gamba Osaka (great result but shows what i know...)
Tokushima 0-2 Cerezo Osaka
F-Tokyo 1-1 Kofu
Omiya 1-2 Nagoya
Shimizu 0-1 Yokohama
Kobe - Kashiwa
Urawa 0-1 Tosu
Kashima 0-2 Sendai
Kiwi Watch
Fitzgerald is injured
Mcglinchey got 19 minutes
a preview of sendai and Gamba
On the back of our win last weekend in Niigata, Gamba travel even further north to Sendai to take on Vegalta at the Yurtec Stadium, with the kick-off at 17:00 JST. Both teams come into this game with different expectations to those of 2012 when Vegalta were close to the title whilst we fell down the J1 trap door.
Vegalta have yet to register a point this season after losing their two games thus far under new manager Graham Arnold, having been defeated by Albirex Niigata and Kashima Antlers home and away respectively, shipping 4 goals and scoring just 1.
Gamba have not won in the last two meetings between the sides, having drawn the home match 1-1 and losing the away game 2-1, albeit controversially down to poor refereeing, and our goal only coming in the final moments as a clear consolation from Paulinho.
There has not been much in the way of injuries this week for Gamba, with only Endo having a slight knock but he should be fine to face Sendai, although he will probably sit out the midweek game with Vissel Kobe in the Nabisco Cup. Abe has been part of the last two training matches so he might be knocking on the door for a place on the bench.
I cannot say that any changes should be made to a winning side and this will come as a blow for Kotaro Omori who has been excellent in his two cameo appearances from the bench. He would probably be the only one who could force his way into the team but that would have to be at the expense of Koki Yonekura who had a decent game last weekend. Many fans have been calling for Lins to replace Sato up front but I entirely disagree; Sato was getting into good positions last weekend but his finishing let him down. We have to remember that that was just his third starting appearance since his return from a year-long injury, so patience must be given to him because doing otherwise would be first unfair and second would knock his confidence. The goals will come – just remember how good he was in 2012 despite various little knocks.
Gamba will be up against former players Takuya Takei and Hayato Sasaki this weekend after both took the move north but have yet to have an impact in their first and second seasons at the club respectively. Yasuyuki Konno returns to his home prefecture and will be looking for a win this time round.
This game comes 4 days after the 3rd anniversary of the tsunami and earthquake that devastated the region in 2011 and one would expect the home fans to put on some event to show their remembrance. The stadium is going to be full of pure emotion in the stands and hopefully pure passion on the pitch.
The expectation this weekend will be to have a continuation of the effort from last weekend with a bit more control in the midfield and a greater cutting edge up front. It is going to be a tough game but I am sure that with the same work ethic, we can take all 3 points, especially as it seems like a good time to take on Vegalta given their change in manager. Iwashita and Niwa will have to be strong again and do nothing silly whilst Sato will need to take his chances this weekend. A defeat would be a step in the wrong direct and every little helps on the road – with the confidence from the win over Niigata, we should be taking another step forward.
much better than mine if not a little Gamba bias
Kiwis in Action
Kovu v Niigata 6pm KO NZT saturday
Sendai v Gamba 9pm NZT KO saturday
Kiwis in Action
Kovu v Niigata 6pm KO NZT saturday
Sendai v Gamba 9pm NZT KO saturday
Yokohama 3-0 Tokushima
Kofu 1-1 Niigata
Hiroshima 0-2 Urawa
Kawasaki 3-4 Omiya
Kashiwa 0-1 nagoya
Tosu 0-3 Kashima
Cerezo 4-1 Shimizu
Sendai 0-0 Gamba
Kobe 2-1 F Tokyo
Kiwi Watch
Fitzgerald didn't play
McGlinchey came on in the 64th
Niigata is in action at 5pm today NZT. Haven't heard if Fitzgerald is back or not
Sendai are playing at 7pm away to omiya
Fitzgerald played 90 in a 1-0 win. Had a good game
Mcglinchey played 90 in a 4-0 loss as did vukovic The are under some real pressure. Only scored 1 goal this season so far
I thought Vuko was injured?
I seen that on twitter too but he was on the official team list
Arnold apparently been sacked
Arnold apparently been sacked
Woo hoo. Perth next gig?
Arnold apparently been sacked
Arnold apparently been sacked
Woo hoo. Perth next gig?
Arnold apparently been sacked
Where does that leave the players he took to Sendai eg: McGlinchey?
Obviously it's a lot harder to coach in Japan than what he thought - major issue being the language!
Very interesting read about Arnold's tenure at sendai
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/scott-mcIntyre/blog/1186328/Arnie-was-on-a-hiding-to-nothing
Very interesting read about Arnold's tenure at sendai
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/scott-mcIntyre/blog/1186328/Arnie-was-on-a-hiding-to-nothing
Seems it's not only a dom post thing to be full of shit. Get more and more skeptical of papers. Either that or I should work on my resume.
On another note I'm going to the osaka derby on Saturday. Should be great. Sold out stadium... If only the nix had a derby....
The biggest game of the season so far sees Gamba travel south to take on cross-city rivals Cerezo “The Pigs” Osaka in what promises to be an explosive and fascinating game at the Nagai Stadium, the game kicking-off at 14:00 JST. Both teams will be looking for the win that can move them to respective better places in the league.
The furore that followed Diego Forlan to the bad side of Osaka has seen the side stick themselves near the top of the table, winning 3, drawing 1 and losing 2 – interestingly, being able to score in just one home game so far, like Gamba. They lost their last outing to Kashiwa Reysol 2-1 with former Gamba man Leandro netting the decisive goal between the sides. The team seem to be finding ACL commitments hard to juggle.
The last game between these two rivals came in the Emperor’s Cup in 2012 where we went to the final after being Cerezo 2-1 along the way, with team-hopper Akihiro Ienaga giving us a deserved win in extra-time after Endo’s early goal was cancelled out by Kakitani. In the league in 2012, Cerezo won the first match 2-1 thanks to a 90th minute winner and then squandered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with an Akihiro Sato double in terrific rain dragging us back from the brink.
Kenya Okazaki scored twice on Monday in a training match against Kwansei Gakuin University and could be set for a place on the bench in what will be his first experience of the Osaka Derby if he makes it onto the field. Takashi Usami has started physical training and will be back before we know it which is of course great news. Koki Yonekura is the only other absentee and probably will not feature until after the World Cup break.
One of the biggest rumours this week has been Takaharu Nishino getting his first league start of the season and in J1 in place of Daiki Niwa, the man who has been substituted in the last two games in order to throw more attacking players on. He has been somewhat poor in the last few games but nothing in comparison to Iwashita, but we all know that he is a solid starter whilst Hasegawa is at the helm. I would be very happy to see Nishino start. Our biggest probably has been in the attacking midfield area, where many of the guys have been well off form and off pace in the early stages of the season – Kurata, Futagawa, Abe, Omori, Lins and Sato have all had too many downs and too few ups. Hasegawa will have to pick 4 from them and stick with them. Many fans want to see Lins play as the lone striker and that might just happen with Sato really rusty, which is a shame but we need everyone at 100% for this game.
Osaka is Blue and Black. Always has been and always will be. But more importantly, this game will give us either confidence or fear depending on the result. A win would really raise the morale in the squad and would hopefully get us back on track after a decent start in the league and cup. We cannot afford to lose this game with a winnable game against Omiya Ardija coming up. We have to brave, courageous and determined against this 5th place team. We have to take our chances and finally score a goal otherwise Cerezo will destroy us.
Was a great game finished 2-2. Probably fair. Had 42000 people and gamba( away) out sung the home team.
In other news vuckovic and McGlinchey weren't in the sendai squad??? Is that the end of them?
vukovic and McGlinchy were on the bench in the cup game last night, with the latter coming on in the 57th minute in a 2-1 loss.
my Gamba won 2-0 against Sagan in other news
Kobe went down 3-0 to Tokyo
Bad news for sendai going down 3-0 yesterdy with Mcglinchey on the bench... did they make the right desicion?
At least Sendai are not bottom of the table. I wonder what the chances of McGlinchey and Vukovic becoming regular starters are? Anyone have any ideas when they can get out of their contracts?
At least Sendai are not bottom of the table. I wonder what the chances of McGlinchey and Vukovic becoming regular starters are? Anyone have any ideas when they can get out of their contracts?
i believe vukovic is there till august while McGlinchey is there till the end of the season
both were on the bench in a 0-0 draw yesterday. neither got on
Man city has now bought the yokohama team as well.
in other news Sendai has been going great with a win over last years champs. my team gamba is not doing so well though, was 2-0 down after 3 minutes at the weekend and ended up losing 3-0 with our star player being the worst on the pitch