Well, at least we've seen some Utsugi... But no japanese goals in D1F today. And I hope MHSC doesn't lose its second place because of that (although any other team will have to meet Lyon, eventually...)
... but first two goals taken by Lyon this season... I wanted to post another pic of Utsugi but the system doesn't allow me to do it...
Just adding the players name: - (back) Delie, Durand (17 y/o GK - She made several saves yesterday even if the score was huge at final time ^^), Gadéa, Lavogez, Asseyi - (front) Plaza, Utsugi & Tor.r.ent.
Tomorrow (13th) from 6:28 p.m. on Nadeshiko TV is the Nadeshiko League & Challenge League awards ceremony. http://match.nadeshikoleague.jp/2012/live/20121113/index_live.html
I also have seen already the background: those photos with the history of Montpellier HSC are at the Montpellier Store or something of the kind? Looks like it was an autograph session, wasn't it?
Very happy Utsugi is back. Everyone remembers Carli scoring two goals in the Gold medal match in London, but really, Carli won the Gold medal for the US when she took out Utsugi. This forced Sasaki to play an injured Sakaguchi. Did Sakaguchi require surgery after the Olympics? Anyway, happier times. Clearly, Rumi can play with both feet.
They are all very young players : Delie (24), Durand (18 next week), Gadéa (21 in december, she is the future great French CB), Lavogez (18, former Captain of U17 NT), Asseyi (19 in 8 days), Plaza (24), Utsugi (24 next month), Tor.rent (20). There could be in addition Laetitia Philippe (21), Cynthia Viviana (19) and Marine Pervier (22) and you'll have a perfect view of Montpellier's youth ! Future is theirs !
While I was (uselessly) looking for some coverage of African Women's Championship on the FIFA site (for records: Equatorial Guinea won it on home soil and Genoveva Anonma was top-scorer) I found this Sasaki's interview : Probably all the things he said were already present on Japanese media (and so they are not new for unepomme, hirohiro, an_turtar and all the Japan-based friends), but I guess for anyone else it is an interesting reading. He says that young players have to develop their skills... Looks like U-17 and U-20 are already doing it.
I guess that there must be a part about fair play in the guidebook about FIFA Player of the Year voting process. I hope that when players, coaches and journalists will decide their votes, they won't remember just Lloyd's 2 goals in the Olympic final, but also this :
FC Takahashi have announced the playoff details for the two most important matches of the year. They're not up yet on the Nadeshiko League website, and the Sayama website doesn't mention that they're in the playoff at all, so these details may change again. So the first leg is in Kasaoka because Takahashi doesn't have a grass pitch, and the second leg is in Kumagaya with an evening kickoff so I suppose we'll all have to stay down together overnight. AC Sayama. Good stuff.
I am sorta looking at it, but I can't really watch Nadeshiko League (I guess it's a common problem here in Europe), because the screen keeps freezing every 4-5 seconds... So I try to "guess" what's happening....
Was Asuna Tanaka so brilliant this year in INAC? I wonder because I watched just few matches, so I really don't know...