2011.01.01
Kashima Antlers won the Emperor's Cup

http://www.goal2002.com/2010/emp.html

2010.12.05
FC Tokyo Relegated, 2010 J.League Final Matchday

I was in the Saitama Stadium to see the match of amazing Kobe surrvive on 4th December.
Urawa helped their good-rival FC Tokyo's tragedy in the event. Sorry Tokyo, be sure to be back in a year.
- takahasi@goal2002.com

FC Tokyo Relegated On Final Day, Vissel Kobe Secure Safety - goal.com

Vissel complete their great escape as capital club are sent tumbling into second tier.

There was more than one surprise on the last day of J-League action, as Vissel Kobe's heroics in Urawa secured them a place in the top-flight next season at the expense of FC Tokyo.

The capital club was deservedly defeated in Kyoto, where a surprisingly lively Sanga won 2-0 thanks to goals from their Brazilian duo Dutra and Diego. Their death knell was sounded by Kobe's thumping 4-0 win away against the Urawa Red Diamonds.

Relegation is a hugely disappointing result for Kiyoshi Okuma's men, of whom there were high expectations at the beginning of the season.

2010.12.01
World Cup 2022 Bid Tomorrow

http://www.dream-2022.jp/en/

Katsumi Takahashi. Member of Japan Bid Team
takahasi@goal2002.com

2010.11.25
Japan won Asian Games Double - Men U21 and Women

2010.11.23
Kashiwa, Kofu, and Fukuoka. J1 Promotion Closed

Kashiwa Raysol has been promoted on 7th November and Ventforet Kofu on 14th. Kashiwa completed one year promotion, asthey have succeeded in strait promotion in season 2006. For Kofu, 2006 and 2007 were happy seson in J1, but the spotlight came to Kofu again.

J1	1	2	3	16	17 or 18
	Nagoya				Kyoto	Shonan
	ACL			Relegation
J2	1	2 or 3
	Kashiwa	Kofu	Fukuoka
	promotion

2010.11.20
Nagoya Grampus won 2010 J.League

Nagoya Grampus won 2010 J.League beating Bellmare in Shonan, while 2nd place Kashima drew in Kobe. Nagoya became the 7th team who won the league since 1993. Nagoya, sponcered by TOYOTA, has not utilize their "power", but coach Dragan Stojkovic joined in 2008 and Tanaka Marcus Tulio joined in 2010 filled missing pieces.

"I have worked for Nagoya for ten years, seven as a player and three as a coach. I am proud of this Nagoya's historic achievement. I thank to players, intelligent and stable managements, and supporters who wait for long. I am very happy", said Dragan Stojkovic.

2010.11.03
Jubilo Iwata won the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup

Jubilo Iwata beat Sanfrecce Hiroshima to win the J.League Cup in National Stadium, Tokyo. 5 - 3 for the Cup Final.
The match is filled with many exciting football contents. It started silintly. Both seemed to be nervous under the pressure that they cannot perform their offense.
Openning score was from Jubilo in 36 minutes. Presses from Iwata attackers made Hiroshima defense's slite mistake and midfielder Funatani's header broke the Hiroshima's goal. Soon after this, Hiroshima goals back and finshed first half at the 1-1 score.
Secon half was the game for Hiroshima. They scored second goal in 48 minutes and almost ruled the game. If the match ended with this score, the final is the ordinary one. But Iwata scored in 89 minutes and tie with Hiroshima 2-2. It can be a miracle but it might be inevitable for tired Hiroshima.
Extra time was the football show. Iwata socored in 102 and 104 minutes (4-2), but Hiroshima got back in the end of extra first half by 4-3. In the extra second half, Jubilo's ace strackers Maeda's beautiful loop shot finished the match. (The match had a bounus that Hiroshima got a penalty shoot chance and they failed!)
Iwata won their second Nabisco Cup.

2010.10.12
Japan draw with Korea

2010.10.11
How to make October holiday exiting

On Saturday and Monday, The 3rd round of 90th Emperor's Cup were played. This year, there were few upsets excludin JFL Sony Sendai beat J1 Vegalta Sendai at 2nd round. This weekend, althugh J1 bottom Shonan and Kyoto were beaten by J2 clubs, higher clubs won and went to 4th round scheduled on mid November.

On Sunday, J.League cup, aka Nabisco Cup, were played in Kawasaki and Shimizu and both away teams went to the final. For me, I enjoyed three matches of four days and every three teams I supported won. To leave tactical or technical things behind, the best for holiday is to watch the winning games.

Japan 1 - 0 Argentina in Saitama Stadium, 8th October 2010


Kawasaki Frontale 2 - 3 (agg.) Jubilo Iwata in Todoroki Stadium, 10th October 2010


Urawa Reds 2 - 0 Tokushima Vortis in Komaba Stadium, 11th October 2010

2010.10.08
Japan 1-0 Argentina in Saitama, 8 October

While Japan bearing off Argentine attacks from the kick off, Okazaki scored from Hasebe's middle shot's reflection at 19 minutes of first half.
Japanese grouped defense started keeping paace with varied attacks conducted by Mascherano, they won uno-zero match. The match was not a defensive one, Japan prooved themselves a good match with Argentina on their organizatoin and skills.

Japan 4-2-3-1
Morimoto (Maeda +65)
Okazaki (Sekiguchi +71), Honda, Kagawa (Kengo Nakamura +77)
Hasebe, Endo (Abe +71)
Uchida, Kurihara, Konno, Nagatomo
GK Kawashima (Nishikawa +85)

Argentina 4-3-3
Tevez, Diego Milito (Higuain +33), Messi
Cambiasso (Bolatti +45 -> Di Maria +84), Mascherano, D'Alessandro (Pastore +59)
Heinze, Burdisso (Lavezzi +78), Demichelis, Gabriel Milito
GK Sergio Romero

nikkansports.com	www.sponichi.co.jp

2010.10.02
J.League. Nagoya goes 9 points clear

On the same day, the baseball team Dragons celebrates their league championship in Nagoya. Does Nagoya win double major sport title in Japan?

2010.09.23
Japanese in the Transfer Market

Kagawa's debut in Bundesliga is welcomed as a big surprise, several Japan internationals made contracts with European clubs after the Japan's success in South Africa.

Before the World Cup, only four have been playing in Europe major leagues, which include Hasebe Makoto (Wolfsburg, GER), Morimoto Takayuki (Catania, ITA), Honda Keisuke (CSKA Moscow), and Matsui Daisuke (Grenoble, FRA to Tom Tomsk, RUS). Goalkeeper Kawashima, left back Nagatomo, and defensive midfielder Abe are offered after their World Cup activity. Kagawa failed to be in the World Cup squad, although he was taken to South Africa as a backup member against his will, but Dortmund knew his ability. Uchida is the best right back in J.League. This is the first chance for Japanese players to be offered from named clubs. For me, I wish to watch Abe Yuki playing in English Championship league. Does some TV start broadcasting in Japan?

2010.09.08
J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup Semifinalists are

Semifinals will be on 29th September and 10th October.
http://www.goal2002.com/2010/nab.html

2010.08.31
Japan Welcomes Alberto Zaccheroni as New Coach

JFA made a contract with Alberto Zaccheroni as new Japan National team coach. He is the first Italian to lead Japan squad. There are many cultural gap between Italy and Japan, I suppose, but if he can do well in living in Japan, he is the good choice for Japan.

Before this announcement, several Spanish names and (even at the morning of the announcement) an Arzentina name is written large on the newspaper. As Osim and Zico were welcomed from J.League, Zac is the first coach broght from international football's open market.

"By the time this adventure is over, I want to create a lot of great memories and to show the fans Zaccheroni football, Zaccheroni samurai," said Zac in Tokyo.

Japan will play against Paraguay in Yokohama on Saturday 4th, and vs Guatemala in Osaka on Tuesday 7th. Zaccheroni will watch these two from the stand due to the work permit.

2010.08.30
The 90th Emperor's Cup Fixtures

JFA announdced the 90th Emperor's Cup Fixtures of 2010 and it is UP now!
http://www.goal2002.com/2010/emp.html

2010.08.28
Best match of the season for Urawa, but failed to finish

From the kick off, the match is hot and exciting. Both teams proved themselves that they wish to win THIS match. In the second half, Robson Ponte scores brilliant goal and Reds almost wins their much-needed three points from the champion. Late goal from Motoyama ends the match draw. The result disappointed Reds supporters and players much, but the goal and the match is the best for developping Volker Finke's team.

2010.08.08
2010 Shimizu leads at the J.League Halfway Stage

At the halfway of the 2010 J.League, Shimizu S-Pulse beating defending champion Kashima Antlers reaches on the top winning 36 points from 17 matches. It is remarkable that Shimizu lost only once. The team has been led by coach Hasegawa Kenta since 2005 and reached to this position.

Shimizu is followed by 35 points Nogoya Grampus and 34 points Kashima. Nogoya has reinforced themselves and this year's acquiree Tanaka Marcs Tulio from Urawa begins to fit to the team. Kashima is the most stable team, but two defender are trassferd to European and Arab club after this world cup.

Other clubs are not in good condition. This year's ACL participants Kawasaki Frontale, Gamba Osaka, and Sanfrecce Hiroshima are in the middle class of the table. Volker Finke's 2nd year of Urawa Reds already loses 8 matches in this season. Yokohama F-Marinos bought clubs hero Nakamura Shunsuke back but could not win many points.

Promoted Cerezo Osaka is on 6th and has good start. Other Vegalta Sendai and Shonan Bellmare stay bottom area of the table. Kyoto Sanga is the only club the second club that fired their coach in this season of J1 and stays 18th.

2010.07.25
Japan Football Association appoints Ogura as new president

http://www.jfa.or.jp/eng/topics/2010/255.html

2010.07.14
The league's Back

2010.07.04
J.League will be back from 14th July

As I am writing Japanese reports from http://blog.goo.ne.jp/katsumi06 till the end of the World Cup, this page will be back at a time the J.League will be back.

Yes, I am enjoying this cup so much.

2010.06.25
Japan 3 - 1 Denmark to advance to R16

2010.06.14
Japan 1 - 0 Cameroon

2010.06.09
It's coming, but today is the Nabisco cup group league final match day

2010.05.30
Japan Scored Thrice from England, it's not a joke

2010.05.24
Japan 0. Korea 2. in Saitama Stadium

There is a power gap between two countries now. A shot from Park Ji-Sung remind me his colleague Wayne Rooney. We couldn't ship players off to South Africa happily, but the World Cup is coming.

2010.05.16
J.League goes into World Cup Break

2010.05.14
Japan submit Bid Book to FIFA

Japan hand over the bid book for 2022 World Cup. The book represents the bid concepts of 208 smiles that is for sharing the football love with kids from all 208 nation assocications. Our appeal includes Japanese technology which is represented by the SONY PSP bandled in the bid book. We are proud of the content of the proposal which will changes the World Cup and the world. The detail of our proposal will be descrobed here afterward.

2010.05.12
Full Quota of Korean Clubs in ACL Eastern Last Four

It was a phenomenon that Urawa Reds brought the new ACL title to Japan for the first time in 1997. Before that ACL was said to be a duty or penalty for the J.League champions. What is now? ACL for Japan is over in early May.

http://www.goal2002.com/2010/acl.html
http://www.goal2002.com/2009/acl.html
http://www.goal2002.com/2008/acl.html
http://www.goal2002.com/2007/acl.html

2010.05.10
"I am not interested in the selection", said I.

In 2010, the team continues to fail developing themselves in training matches. This was the last chance for the coach to enjoy the support from people, but he seems to reject. I am a man who think if we share the same dream together, it can support players. However, he goes into more difficult way by himself.

The only thing clear is that players can change it. On the pitch in this June, you can do that.

Goalkeepers : Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale), Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata)

Defenders : Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Daiki Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers)

Midfielders : Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F. Marinos), Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Daisuke Matsui (Grenoble, FRA), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg, GER), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow, RUS)

Forwards : Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe), Kisho Yano (Albirex Niigata), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Takayuki Morimoto (Catania, ITA)

2010.05.01
Shimizu beat Urawa to Keep the Lead

Shimizu 2. Urawa 1. 1st May Shizuoka Stadium

League leader Shimizu beat 3rd place Urawa by 90+3 minute's goal in their home in fornt of 38,000 spectators. The audience includes about 10,000 Urawa supporters who went a 500 km round trip from Urawa. The match has heigh tension and is even. Both team prooved their strong points. The reason Shimizu made the match is their collectivity in defence and the quailty of strikers positioning. I am happy to see a such quality match and unhappy with the result.

Another interst in the match is Ono Shinji. Ono, born in Shimizu and has been the idol of Urawa. As Ono had belonged to Feyenoord and VfL Bochum, this is the first season for him to break off the relationship with Urawa. Today, Shinji performed several charming balls, help Shimizu players a lot and do not bring the match end by himself... As Shinji is said to change Shimizu to lead the league, he is the way he was.

2010.04.29
Kashima and G-Osaka. Final 16 of ACL

Korean four out of four clubs qualified. Chinese one club out of four, and Aussie one out of two qualified. It is notable that matches in China had 20,272 audiences in average for 12 matches, while 8,399 in Japan and 6,546 in Korea. As the number may not be precice in China match, away matches in China become more difficult, year by year.

2010.04.24
Ciro Ferrara Finds a New Job in Japan?

2010.04.19
Urawa Celebrates 1 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0 Home Audiences

Urawa Reds announced that their home audiences reached 10,017,524 which makes Reds the first club to have 10 million spectators after the victory of league leading match against Kawasaki Frontale.

"I am sure it was worth the admission fee people had to pay to come to the stadium to watch", said Volker Finke. Yes, it was.

As club didn't announce the detail statistic, I counted from my own data. Mmmm, there is a slight difference.. (^^;)

2010.04.11
Football under the Sakura Bloom

Yokogawa Musashino playing under the sakura (cherry blossoms) trees in Musashino Stadium

11 Apr. 2010. Yokogawa Musashino FC 0. Ryutsukeizai Univ FC 0. in Musashino

In Japan, many Sakura spots are known and the stadium is no exception. Musashino city has best Sakura boulevard that they played under the beautiful blossomes today. My neighboring town has 3rd division team Yokogawa Musashino FC. Last year, Musashino won the 2nd place of JFL. As they have not declared their will of J.League join, they has not been promoted to J2 and choose playing in JFL this season. The match is quite intersting that each team employs simple 4-4-2 system and possesses thier ball carefully. The absence of strikers are the common challenge of our country.

http://www.goal2002.com/2010/jfl.html

2010.04.04
Shimizu and Promoted Sendai Get off a Good Start

Cezar Sampaio joins to Ventforet Kofu? No, he serves Brazilian foods at a stadium shop in Kofu, jsgoal.jp reports.

Gamba Osaka struggles. 2008 Asian champions draws third, loses twice without a victory. As new striker Hirai appears players seem not to be best form. Two years of Emperor's cup victory with ACL champions make greater fatigue. (Iwata 4. G-Osaka 3. 4th Mar)

2010.03.20
Two Returned Yokohama Legends Changing Marinos. Yokohama 4. Kawasaki 0. in Yokohama

The match today is far from worries that we see simple and organized tactics on the pitch. Nakamura scored and assisted another goal. Current No. 10 Yamase scored twice. I must add that oals today are brought from fast pass exchange and higher motivation for shots from the middle range. This is the happy day for all Yokohama fans.

2010.03.14
A Victory Relieves the Stadium, Urawa Reds 1. FC-Tokyo 0. in Saitama

Brilliant start for promoted Vegalta Sendai, Kawasaki Frontale follows. They played first two matches of the season and each club won at least one points from two matches. We can dream of a good season because Kashima Antlers proove their high quality of football, Yokohama F-Marinos attracted us with Nakamura "coming back" Shunsuke, Urawa starts revealing their "ball oriented football". Promoted clubs are alive. Cerezo Osaka welcomed Gamba Osaka and 37,860 came stadium to celebrate their come back. Average attendance of first two matches is 22,598 for J1 and 8003 for J2. Numbers are developed compared to ones of season 2009. We feel happy with packed stadiums.

2010.03.06
Kashima, Good Start for 2010 J.League. Kashima 2. Urawa 0. in Kashima

Kashima proved their high-quality finished form from the opening game. Urawa Reds wished to revenge for the defeat in their home on the last match of 2009 to let Kashima win, but Kashima still gets a good lead. Their play has no waste and they know the time to play.

This is the introduction of Volker Finke's second year of Urawa Reds. Hiroshima's talent Kashiwagi is joined and they make progress in the posesstion soccer, I believe.
"This match is very dense and has high quality. Two teams presented interesting match", said Finke after the match. I am afraid that some supporters start stopping to understand these objective analysis, of course I will give support for Volker's team management.
"Reds wish to go on their style that made this match dynamic and interesting", said home team coach Oswaldo Oliveira. He followed "I told my players that we only have to use Reds' style against them". On the contrary, Finke's command was quite aggressive that in the second half he threw a striker in a defensive midfiler out, and another attaker in a stopper out. This was a strong message from Finke. I am very intersted in when will Volker's boys produce mass goals.

2010.02.28
Nakamura Returns to Yokohama F-Marinos

Yokohama announced Nakamura Shunsuke's return

Yokohama F-Marinos announced Nakamura -Japanese No.10- Shunsuke's return to his home. He has moved to Espanyol after the 08-09 season in Glasgow, but only after the success on the pre-season match against Liverpool, he has lost his place in Spain.
"I has been thinking of my return to J.League in the past one-and-half year. It is only Marinos for me to be back", said Shunsuke. "The move at this moment is difficult, but as the World Cup is coming I wish to play in the environment that I can play."
"I don't grow without knocking myself against the wall. When I dropped from the World Cup squad in 2002, and when I lost the position in Italy, I spring back myself stronger from that"
The 2010 season starts from next Saturday.

1997-2002 Yokohama F-Marinos / 146 matches 33 goals
2002-2005 Reggina (ITA) / 81 matches 11 goals
2005-2009 Celtic (SCO) / 128 matches 29 goals
2009-2010 Espanyol (ESP) 12 matches no goal

2010.02.24
Season 2010 Started with Asia

http://www.goal2002.com/2010/acl.html
http://www.the-afc.com/en/schedule-a-results

2010.02.14
Good-bye Okasa-san. 0-0 w/ China, 1-3 w/ Korea in East Asia Championship

Mr. Okada's credit was that he accepted to be a national coach after the sudden stroke of Mr. Ivica Osim and he tried to follow Osim's concept. Sad to say to Okada, although he followed Osim's way (it was needed from Japanese soccer family), it was not his own approach. Okada was good at reaction soccer that kills oppeonent's feature. This soccer from national team seems to be from assistant coach Oki Takeshi came from Ventforet Kofu.

The real reason why I use the word "good-bye" is that he seems not to be preparing the World Cup game, but only to win this East Asian cup. He should have let player known that this was the good preparation for South Africa, and he should have given opportunities to sub players. It is very difficult to play with Mr. Okada. Thank you, but the leader should have kept his way and prepare in long-range.

Mr. Okada after the loss from Korea in Tokyo Kokuritsu Stadium

Japan's coach Osim has stroke http://www.goal2002.com/2007/t/20071116.html
Okada gets official nod from JFA http://www.goal2002.com/2007/t/20071204.html

East Asian Football Championship 2010

2010.02.07
2010 J.League Pre Season Transfer

Two international stars came back to Japan.
Inamoto Jun-ichi, spending nine seasons in Europe (Arsenal, Fulham, WBA, Carfiff City, Galatasaray, Frankfurt, and Rennes), finds new job in Kawasaki Frontale.
Ex-Urawa's icon, Ono Shinji returns to his home-town Shimizu. After his second glory with Urawa, he had joined with Vfl Bochum. Two intarnational 30-years-old players put J.League up this season.

In Europe, only Honda Keisuke (ex Nagoya) makes a good show. After the successful years in Netherlands 2nd division, he made a 9M Euro contract with CSKA Moscow. Nakamura Shunsuke in Espanyol still can not perform his best play in Celtic, said to be back to Japan, stays in Spain to prepare the World Cup.

Tulio Nagoya Grampus	Inamoto Kawasaki Frontale	Ono Shimizu S-pulse

2010.02.06
No Fever! Japan Scoreless with China

Japan draw with China 6 February in Tokyo. The match is the opening of East Asian Football Championship 2010. The cup has been played since 2003 and Japan is not good at this cup.

East Asian Football Championship: 2010 Japan, 2008 China, 2005 Korea, 2003 Japan

2010.02.03
J.League announced 2010 Fixtures

2010.01.31
2010 Japanese Football

Japan National Team

Clubs

J1 Clubs 1 Kashima Antlers 2 Kawasaki Frontale 3 Gamba Osaka 4 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 5 FC Tokyo 6 Urawa Reds 7 Shimizu S-pulse 8 Albirex Niigata 9 Nagoya Grampus 10 Yokohama F-Marinos 11 Jubilo Iwata 12 Kyoto Sanga FC 13 Omiya Ardija 14 Vissel Kobe 15 Montedio Yamagata J2-1 Vegalta Sendai J2-2 Cerezo Osaka J2-3 Shonan Bellmare		J2 Clubs J1-16 Kashiwa Reysol J1-17 Oita Trinita J1-18 Jef United Ichihara Chiba 4 Ventforet Kofu 5 Sagan Tosu 6 Consadore Sapporo 7 Tokyo Verdy 8 Mito Hollyhock 9 Tokushima Vortis 10 TheSpa Kusatsu 11 Avispa Fukuoka 12 FC Gifu 13 Kataller Toyama 14 Roasso Kumamoto 15 Ehime FC 16 Yokohama FC 17 Tochigi SC 18 Fagiano Okayama JFL Giravanz Kitakyushu
* the number denotes the season 2009 league position