Me too ! And the passing game...... I only fast-forwarded thru the pre-2003 series yet, but obviously this series is exquisitely made. It was quite touching to see those women, at least 15 years after retiring, to gently pass the ball around. They led the way at a time when the international gap was huge.
From the JFA website - this - which says that: “Sawa hasn’t joined her team’s sessions and it is obviously impossible for her to join us for these upcoming games,” Sasaki explained. “Iwashimizu picked up a light injury during a friendly match with her team recently, so it will be an opportunity for me to check new players.” also: three players were called just for trainings:goalkeeper Misaki Amano of Vegalta Sendai Ladies, and forwards Risa Fukazawa of JEF United Chiba Ladies and Chika Kira of Urawa Reds Ladies. Any GK is interesting - but this is a name I have not heard of?! Of course Chika Kira is the Chinatsu Kira from 2008 - if she ever links up with Iwabuchi, then we can think of scores like....... 7-1, 7-2, etc.
By re-watching that, I guess I got that she's Yumi Obe, former CB and captain of Nadeshiko team. Now that I know why they were so passionate about this match, I find her tears even more touching. I still would like to know more by unepomme about Miyamoto's baby... I agree, one of the best parts of the document: it's really great to see those women, that had to suffer sever losses on the pitch but were paving the way for something greater than them... Really touching. I also liked to know about previous pre-Sasaki coaches: Suzuki, Ueda, etc. For sure, with their work, they too slowly prepared what Nadeshiko Japan is today. Is it correct that Ueda is still currently in the NT staff? It seems to me like I often see him alongside with Sasaki at some press conferences. Yeah, I had posted another article about Sawa's and Iwashimizu's absences, but it's good to get confirmation about that (still worried for Sawa's long recovering, though...). I was aware of the presence of Chinatsu Kira at the camp (see pic below) but I wasn't sure about why she was there... Thanks for the info, mumf!
Though it's quite early for that, anyone knows about good live feeds? I'd really want to enjoy those matches with some high quality streaming...
Ueda (2002-2004) At first, he felt they often laughed because they lacked seriousness, so he forgave laughing during the trainings, but he soon noticed their eagerness to get strong. He made them run a lot first in the training in order to set up a good defense organization. In Athens the team beat Sweden with the tactics, tight defense and the counter attack - long balls to the FW, but it wasn’t enough effective against the US. He is now the chairperson of Nadeshiko in JFA. Ohashi (2004-2007) He felt they were unable to do headings, sliding tackles and standing ups right after falling down. He made them do hard trainings about those, and taught them basic playing standards to strengthen individual levels. He dared to enter the locker room during the half time even though the players were changing uniforms because he knew well how important he gets to know about players’ conditions. He aggressively called up new players like Kinga, Sekiguchi, Ohno, Nagasato and Miyama.
I am a teacher, so I guess i somehow know what I am talking about: not enough seriousness is never good, but too much seriousness, all the time, is usually not good either, if you want to do a good job and get some good results... That's also why I really like the good-humoured spirit of Norio Sasaki... ^__^ I am not really sure about how exactly does that role translate... Can you explain better what it's his role now? That part was really impressing: watching scenes of sliding tackles training and than comparing them with the good use of this kind of tackles in the WWC 2011 quarter final vs Germany, really makes you appreciate all the good work that's been done (and carefully planned) in years!
It seems like the shark now is quite alive and kicking, and not really so much wounded anymore, at least judging by these pics ^__^ ; let's hope that she now quite completely recovered from her ankle injury. By the way, is there still snow in the north of Japan, at the beginning of spring?
If a coach cannot talk to a team at half-time, then its the players fault. Do women actually change their uniforms at half-time if they slide in the mud? It looks like though he knew the right players, as the core of the 2007 team is still much in place. I noticed that, in the 2011 WC that all the good teams had mostly players who were 24-25 years or older. Really the German team was too old. Compare that to women tennis players, where the best ones are closer to 20 years old. Here is a Sky Blue video of the 2nd game. Its a bit biiased - it omits to mention the score (0-3). However it does seem that Sky Blue were denied a good goal for a ridiculous off-side call. Is there any TV video of this? In any case, the scenes at the very end are good, it was a treat for the fans.
People, it seems like L-League docs part 3 (2007-2012) are up on the moukoko4 channel. (http://www.youtube.com/user/moukoko4) I now know what I am going to do in the next hour!
I don't know of it either. I just literally translated it, but I can guess it may be something like GM.
I made a misspell; not Sekiguchi - Sakaguchi. And you should know now why Sawa will never kick PK. After the defeat against North Korea, Ohashi told Miyama, Sakaguchi and Nagasato to pay more respect to senpais off the pitch.
By the way, this video shows that the "Japan Women's National Football Team" entry in Wikipedia is wrong: they list as the first official international match an India-Japan 1-0 in 1986, and as the biggest defeat an USA-Japan 9-0 in 1999 (that would be equaled by that first Italy-Japan). is it possible that it still wasn't an official FIFA match? Or is it simply another case of a Wiki entry needing errata? On this thread we knew about Sawa's incident during the penalty shootout vs Korea in 2006. We even had another video, that was even more complete and eloquent than the sequence in this one. Does anyone know where it could be retrieved or can even post a link to it? I am not sure if I understood the exact reasoning behind Ohashi's reproach. Was it a sign of respect for Sawa? Did he feel that Sawa could have felt too much pressure and responsability and not enough respect, and that fact could have caused her mistake?
Sorry for my confusing remark. It's irrelevant with Sawa's failure. It is rather about the younger players' future. Nagasato says that they were certainly loud off the pitch. Miyama says that he must have noticed something wrong about their attitudes, though she doesn't know what it is. I infer that his remark means, "not to be overconfident. Be modest and make more efforts."
I didn't find any video highlights of the Okinawa game vs Sky Blue FC. Maybe the match wasn't televised at all? Anyway, you are right both about the obvious bias of the video (in the end it's the american point of view ) and about the fact that the off-side on Sky Blue's goal was non-existent: a case of embarassing home call, although later INAC deserved the win in the second half. Anyway Sky Blue's video series about the Japan tour (a whopping 12 episodes!) in general are quite entertaing and funny.
Oh sorry, I thought you know the word. It means older persons, in this case older players, than you. Senpai-Kouhai (younger ones) relations still seems important in Japan, especially in club activity scenes. Kumagai is a senpai of Kyokawa in Tokiwagi. I remember Maruyama jokingly accused Kawasumi, saying she didn't treat Maruyama as a senpai in some variety show months ago.
I suspected that. I remember Sawa used the word to that TV interviewer, remember? But then you explanation to blisett made me a little un-sure; so it could have been Sawa, or captain Ikeda, etc. Concerning the cultutal issue, in the USA it is non-existent, which to me creates a weird feeling of uncertainty, as if "nothing matters". By the way, I cannot look at the videos later than 2002 at the moment, but be sure I will have comments or questions. Keeping the best wine until last...
That Italy match wasn't the first ever international match. The narrator says this was the first match against the "TOP" international team (i.e. not first match ever). The first national team was formed and played a few months earlier in the same year for Asian Cup (not sure the official name of the tournament). That match against Italy on the documentary was part of the event of Kobe Exposition '81. In fact there was another game in Kobe played against England. The match against Italy took place in Tokyo and formed by the players from Kanto area of Japan. The match against England was formed by the players from Kansai area. So it wasn't really proper "national" team. Either way, the national team was formed in 1981, which is widely recognised in Japan. However there is another theory to that. Some say the official national team was formed later (I can't remember the exact year but around mid 80s). It's something to do with the fact that the national team was organised by the JFA or not. Indicating women's national team were not organised/selected by the JFA in the early years. When I was watching the 2011 WWC final on BBC (UK broadcast), they used the later version as the birth year of women's football in Japan. But I remember the commentator did say "officially organised national team" when he mentioned it.
It is very common. There was even a men's World Cup over 100 years ago, when no national teams existed. Some English village won it! If you google up the "first World Cup" you will find it. I have questions about Ando's blog here and here - did she get her first yellow? And of course I wonder if the "incident" is over in her mind, or in her fans' mind (those who maintain the blog).
Also this relation sometimes can mean a lot in school and university environment. Maruyama's jibes are coming from the fact that they went to the same University at the same time (Maruyama 4th year and Kwasumi 1st if I got it right - described as God and slave status in most University teams).
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyinaZR2tLI&feature=related"]???????????? - INAC?? ?????? - YouTube[/ame] Not sure if this old news here, but the second goal in this game was a bit of a wow moment . Girly has demonstrated some genuine world class ability with that goal, but can she regularly produce moments like that?
No the video is new. Actually when did I see 3 great goals in one game (well, maybe the Algarve final). Each one WOWed me. Actually I cant even identify who scored the first one? They ruined the nice vacation for the Sky Blue GK - the memory will be a nightmare for her now..... Competition: Everone choose your preferred order, example 1st goal = C 2nd goal = B 3rd goal = A - where A is the greatest, and C is the least. I didnt choose yet, I want to see them all again tomorrow