This is his last year tentatively; he has stated his desire to retire from the game after this season.
Omg have you Kashima's new jersey for 2011 ? http://www.so-net.ne.jp/antlers/news/2011antlers.jpg its so beautiful,i love the solid shorts and the diagnol antler on the jersey. Nike makes the best kits.
I hope he changes his mind. It must take a lot of sacrifices, but he's still playing at a very high level, he is the most complete and the best striker in J. League (Juninho and Maeda close behind IMO). Would be a shame to retire so early while he is in full possession of his abilities.
Well its official,we all saw it coming since september Nagoya won the J-League.Congrats to them i wont lie they played well all season.
The Antlers should bring back Tashiro. It was Oskao who should have been loaned instead, so he could gain experience and grow as a player.
Kashima are after Daigo Nishi. For the next year, I would like to see more of Yasushi Endo, I think he has tremendous skills. He has the defaults of his qualities and often tries to make too much, but in terms of skill there are not a lot of players who can compare. Also, I hope Gaku Shibasaki will earn his first minutes in J1. Great to know that he can learn with Motoyama.
- byebye Marquinhos - Oiwa retires - Kasai's contract wont be extended - Gilton's loan contract will expire, he will go back to Brazil probably
He'll be missed. Such a shame he wasn't granted an opportunity to discover the joys of an International career. A non-event. A fruitful and pretty long career, won a lot of titles at club's level. I highly doubt he'd play in the Brazilian Serie D though, top flight material for sure.
Kashima currently have only 5 defenders in their ranks ! The good old Iwamasa and Inoha (who might move abroad) are the unique centre backs of the team. They had to rely on a 38 years old guy to get the job done at the end of the season.
I like Kashima's shirt, but that is mainly for the colour combinations. In my opinion, Mizuno's shirt are the best, followed by Kappa, Umbro, Puma and some Adidas-jerseys. Nike's shirts, I feel most of them turn out to be too generic and use the same pattern, but that is a trend that most of the other manufacturers have started with too sadly.
Too bad the sponsor box ruins what seems to be a really interesting pattern on the front of the new ki
Kasai never played this season,i dont think i ever saw him not once.was he on injured reserved or something ? i hope Gilton comes back somehow.
yea, they seriously need a striker ... no way they will go into next season with Koroki, Osako and Sasaki as strikers only!
sankei sports reporting they are going for the 24years old Brazilian striker Carlao from Portuguese team Uniao Leiria, but still some problems with transfer fee it seems
wikipedia has him already signed for Kashima, though it's not referenced. His stats look good, about a goal every two games, but some of those were in the Portuguese second division. It looks like this guy pretty much came out of nowhere in Brazil though, the new J League season would only be his third in professional football. You can understand why Leiria want some money for him since he looks from his stats like a prodigious talent. edit: translation of this page suggests that the player's agent might be scuppering the deal as he's trying to squeeze too much pocket money out of Kashima.
got this from guy who is more into Portuguese soccer, he said Carlao's agent said the deal is almost done http://www.record.xl.pt/Futebol/Nacional/1a_liga/uniao_leiria/interior.aspx?content_id=625419
Basically that sounds like a press release from the agent. The fact the article is at pains to state that he is a "FIFA-registered Agent"? As if that means anything It could just be a way of putting pressure on Kashima. Jorge Baidek has an interesting history apparently. He was Jose Mourinho's agent before Mourinho dropped him and moved to Chelsea. Baidek also has previous ties to Leiria, though it's not clear if he was a player or a coach.
I have nothing against Brazilians but arent there other good strikers and midfielders ? maybe if Kashima scouted in other places they would see that.