Anyway, it seems to me that two players somehow fell out of grace in these last pages and aren't much considered, probably because their ages make really unlikely for them reaching Canada 2015: Ando and Maruyama. Ando can't really find a convincingly position in the MF/FW rebus and anyway, if she's played, she rarely is as a real FW. We recently saw that she can still be "the boss" in a Duisburg side that was emptied of most of its other talents, but I am not sure if she's stil got a future in NT. Maruyama had a resurgence lately in Nadeshiko League and, if she's back in full fitness she's not a player that can be so easily dismissed. But she's already 29, I guess, or such, and so she's not the kind of player you choose to start another cycle, unless next season she starts scoring at an impossible rate...
You forget about Utsugi already? Prior to the Olympics, in my mind she was about to become Sasaki's first choice defensive mid; well, that was until Llyod demonstrated one of the many gifts that got her on the FIFA POTY list... Heading towards 2015 though, I'm sure the one area Sasaki won't be worrying about is the mid-field, especially once fringe/young players like Utsugi continue to step up as major factors for this new generation of improved talent pool depth.
So all three played at Tokiwagi (I remember a music video featuring them many pages back) and from there they went to INAC as a promising trio. And because Kyokawa was the most promising, she was allowed the most time on the pitch and subsequently a chance on the senior team before the other two. Got it. But then disaster struck...
I was thinking about Ando a lot but she doesn't seem to fit in anymore, for the reasons you mentioned. I think she might just continue to help building up Duisburg and might even stay on coaching - as was mentioned a while back. I had considered Maruyama as one that will of course be on the team after full recovery... But You are right, 4 years can be a long time....
Don't even get me started about Lloyd... Anyway, yes, I hope Utsugi will be back in full form: i guess she will be tested in future training camps, along with young talents like Naomoto, to check if she fully recovered from injury. I am not closely following Division 1 Féminine this year, but I don't think she's back on the pitch yet, is she? Lately Virany posted a picture where we can see that she's able to eat pizza for sure , but we're not told anything about the question if she's able to train with the ball or still not yet. Virany? You're quite right, but they weren't all 3 in Tokiwagi... As an_turtar showed with the pic he posted, only Kyokawa and Nakada were playing there. Yoko Tanaka was playing in JFA Academy Fukushima instead (current team of Narumiya, Masuka, Kojima and many other U-17 talents) and, if you remember, she mentioned it in an interview, where she was very grateful towards people from the Fukushima area...
No I didn't forget her. Utsugi and Tanaka were used while Sawa was out, but both players especially with Sakaguchi playing alongside, they seemed to lack a bit of sparkle (for me anyway). It was all too tidy and nice but it relied on too much on wide players attacking-wise. I still not sure who else out there to break in within next 2.5 years.
1. I have to say that, apart from many other nice details in that video, I was happy to see Sameshima produce many effective crosses from the left (although quite wasted by her team-mates ): come on, Shark, we want you back at your best in National Team's next cycle! 2. No, the goal was from #14, DF Yuki Fujimoto, who's not quite... baby (she was born in 1985, so she's now 27): I admit though that, from the far distance, there could be some similarity with the baby Fukuoka's FW that was so unlucky during this season; she's called Hirata Hikari, #22 and she's 17, but I don't think she was even on the pitch vs Belle). Well, we already knew that the girl... uhmm... uses to cry a lot: if they lose, if they win, if U-20 NT is eliminated by Germany, if Urawa Red Ladies casually loses a match with her on the pitch, if a coach leaves and says goodbye, if... Well, you get it. Here, she can't just stop weeping: she had emotionally invested so much in being on the top of that podium? Anyway, being emotional can be a good thing, both maybe sweet Hikaru would benefit from a little more self-control, wouldn't she? Well, I guess it will come with age. Maybe. (bad mumf! Ok, she's an easy-cryer, but you don't have to make her cry too!) Oh, mumf, big thumbs up for all of those video-finds!
Today's games - all starts at 12:30 Inac vs Beleza Fukuoka vs Urawa Sayama vs Belle Jeff vs Niigata Takatsuki vs Iga
I'm not Virany but I can answer concerning Utsugi. No, she hasn't played again with Montpellier this season. I don't know if eating pizza will help for her recovery. For the spirit, certainly. For putting on weight too I'm happy to see that someone shares my feelings about Carli "demolisher" Lloyd About the Nadeshiko, I think that there is too much obsession with the U20 amongst the fans at the moment and much, too much mediatization. I agree of course about their talent and I felt really impressed and enthusiastic at the U20 WC. I agree too that they are as cheerful and lovely as the Nadeshiko. But except three or four of them (and even that, I'm not sure, you'll know better than me), they just don't play with their A team. We see them more posing for all sorts of photos and invading forums and blogs because they are cute (they are, alright) than on the grounds. Despite their real skill, they have, in my opinion, a long, long way to go to reach the Nadeshiko's top level. Just look how many years those ones needed to reach a WC final (and win it) and an Olympics one. And players like Sawa and Miyama played in US Pro League and benefited at a high point from this experience. Even if I don't know very well the Nadeshiko League players, I'm certain too that there are quite a lot of players too old to be members of the U20 that are waiting for entering the Nadeshiko team. Nagasato and Otaki seem amongst them, even if Ami doesn't play very much with Lyon. That doesn't mean of course that one or two very young players (U20) couldn't be called by Sasaki, as he did with Saki (how right he was ! ). But I would be surprised if he took many risks in the near future.
I read a few times recently in Japanese newspaper that Utsugi played. http://www.sponichi.co.jp/soccer/news/2012/11/04/kiji/K20121104004487560.html I don't know of the detail, though.
Not too many changes today. Kado Yuka and Sakai Nozomi start for Belle instead of Nagamachi and Mizushima, Sawada replaces Muraoka for Sayama, Ji So-Yun is in for Tanaka Yoko for INAC Kobe, Yamamoto is in for Yanai in the JEF lineup, Urawa start with Fujita in place of Naomoto, and Niigata recall Otomo in goal along with Hori and Wakabayashi. Ichitani, Yamamoto and Kawamura make way. The other teams are unchanged.
Miyama scores to make a Takahashi-Sayama playoff even more likely. They should be showing that game on television, this INAC-Beleza game is abysmal. But it's 1-0, Goebel-Yanez has scored. There's a bit of a dispute about it to say the least. And Anclas are 1-0 up...
Yajima Yuki equalises for Sayama for her first of the season. INAC two up and Beleza look beaten already. The first goal was onside I think, looked ok on the replay.
3-1 to Belle at very early in the second half and off to Saitama we go for the playoffs. Urawa managed to equalise against Anclas.
Looks like Noda Akemi threatened to shoot the players at half-time, they look like a different side altogether. Anclas are now 2-1 up, that's only the second time this season they've scored two.
Hi an_T...... just got in, and sat down. Thought I might get the 2nd half of the Beleza game on some justin channel, but I guess there was none, and I forgot about the clocks anyway (ours went back last weekend). But cant believe my eyes: AnClas 3-2 up on Urawa And Kumi Yokayama has her 1st L-league goal!
Anclas do it again! Sayama destroyed! Takatsuki win! JEF overtake Iga! The Anclas-Urawa game recording to be shown at 7pm is now unmissable.
Where is Wavester when you need him....... I just know that its raining tears at this moment in Fukouka......
I had those pics already, but they're always funny! Well, it seems there's just no way for me to wake up early enough to watch Nadeshiko League matches, neither on the last matchday! Well, understand me, they're played in the early morning here in Europe... Anyway, let's recap what this matchday had to offer to us (including last "verdicts" of this year's league): INAC Kobe Leonessa-NTV Beleza 4-0 (25' Beverly Goebel-Yanez, 35' Ji So-Yun, 72' Nahomi Kawasumi, 74' Emi Nakajima) Well, it seems like INAC just beat its record of last season: in 2011 they had lost just 3 points (from 3 draws) in the entire league; this year they just lost 1 single point! Okayama Yunogo Belle's draw with them looks huge in perspective. Differently from last season, they lost their overall invincibility, because they were beaten by NTV Beleza in the League Cup final, but in Nadeshiko League they definitely did better (the only way they couldn't beat their record today was losing to Beleza but... well, it just didn't happen ). Goebel-Yanez scores again and both goals in first half were from foreign players: I guess we can say that girls from other countries made their contribution count, in this season; I'd say that, in order of importance, we have 1) Ji So-Yun, 2) Goebel-Yanez, 3) Becky, but all 3 players added something to INAC: the club is not just japanese players. Nakajima scored again from the bench: I guess she's a quite good player that doesn't find much space in a team that's crowded with NT stars, U-20 Stars, overseas talents... I'd see Nakajima's chances to grow better in another team: she's young and I don't think waiting in line for ages on INAC's bench is so good for her: she could do so much better in one of the middle-rankings teams. Who didn't score??? Takase!!! but Asano Nagasato didn't either. And so the top-scorer rankings remain the same, with Takase winning by just one goal. But what an anti-climatic ending for this battle... They had the chance to battle for the top-scorer's title on the same pitch on the last day and... no-one of them scored... Sob. Fukuoka J Anclas-Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies 3-2 (22' and 54' Mari Kawamura (F), 44' Michi Goto (U), 71' Akane Saito (U), 84' Yuki Fujimoto (F)) They don't win a single match for quite all of the league, and suddenly they win the last two matches! Did they play more relaxed after the relegation sentence had been spelled for them? Well, they even manage to score 3 goals in a single match... At least they finished on high note and they had their happy ending. I wonder if Anclas are stronger than Challenge League teams and can hope for a quick resurgence next season... Yuki Fujimoto scored again for the win: in the team's roster she's listed as a DF, but in today's line up on Nadeshiko League site she was... promoted FW! Well, I guess it's just the coach changing her position, but it's funny... On the other hand, I've never seen a so lunatic season like Urawa's one: they can beat Okayama Yunogo Belle and NTV Beleza and they can lose to Speranza FC Osaka Takatsuki and Fukuoka J Anclas... What do you think about it? Too many unexperienced youngsters in their team? are they psychologically fragile? How can you explain a so "highs and lows" performance from them this season? AS Elfen Sayama-Okayama Yunogo Belle 2-6 (20' Aya Miyama (B), 42' Yuki Yajima (S), 48' Yuka Kado (B), 51' and 65' Manami Nakano (B), 66' Kaoruko Suzuki (S), 68' Miki Matsuoka (B), 87' Kumi Yokoyama (B)) It wasn't today, actually, that Sayama's girls had to find the points to save themselves from relegation play-off After two bad home losses, it was predictable that Belle was going to give their best to win, and they scored with all kind of different players, including Kado and Kumi Yokoyama from the bench! Speaking about bench, I wonder why Sayama in the last matches didn't start Suzuki, that's one of their best players and today scored from the bench: maybe she was a little injured? Anyway: now the play-off match is officially AS Elfen Sayama vs FC Takahashi Kibi University Charme. How do you see their respective chances people? (apart from an_turtar, who spoke already about the subject ). I have to say that, in my opinion, Elfen Sayama really crashed apart in the last part of the season, and it's really difficult to pick up the pieces and to play a great play-off... JEF United Ichihara Chiba-Albirex Niigata 2-0 (54' Naoko Sakuramoto, 74' Shiho Ogawa) A middle-of-the-rankings clash, without much to say. JEF had no chance to catch Albirex, and remain a point behind them indeed, but with this win they leap over Iga and finish the league in position #6: not bad for them. Albirex is #5 instead, and they probably pay for their many injuries this season: I wonder if they could climb up along with the top 4 next year. Speranza FC Osaka Takatsuki-Iga FC Kunoichi 2-0 (67' Karina Maruyama, 70' Miki Asano) Maruyama again! Well, they had to wait for her, but I guess it was worth: her goals (how many? 3? 4?) in this last part of the season were a huge contribution to a quite unexpected result, if you ask me... Still in the middle of the second leg of the league, should I had to bet on it, I wouldn't have said that Speranza had a chance to avoid relegation... And now they made it! 8th place in the league! I can just imagine the celebration after the game. Actually I would like to see that, not just imagine. Anyway, even if I am aware that this was a result of the team (and of their new coach, whose name I forgot) and not of Maruyama only, I want to pay a tribute to Karina: she had a very difficult time after her injury, but in these last weeks she showed that she's still a champion that can make the difference. No-one can ever forget her goal against Germany in 2011 WWC: now we can say that she's still up to those standards! Maybe it's a little late for a National Team big comeback, but she's still a glorious great player. Way to go, Karina!
It has to be said it was a penalty kick though, goalkeeper Ono Maya having been sent off, becoming the only player in the Nadeshiko League to be sent off all year (three were sent off in the Challenge League).
I just finished watching INAC-Beleza Highlights on Girafferunfast's YT channel. I agree that probably first goal is ok: Goebel-Yanez is for sure on-side when the first pass (Kinga's one) starts, and then she is "probably" slightly on-side also on the second pass, the header finding her free in the box. By the way, I even got the impression that it could be a Beleza's DF touching that header actually (and if it was like this, it would be a back-pass, and so Goebel-Yanez would be automatically on-side). After the match, the players officially celebrated their league title in front of their supporters (they still hadn't had the chance, because they played two away matches, vs Belle and vs Urawa); all of the team's members were wearing a t-shirt with "two successive victories" written on it.
Yes, in my match report I said that I suspect that it was a Beleza defender (Iwashimizu?) who headed it last, the confusion came because the assistant raised her flag, but the referee was right to ignore it.