Official 2019 Nadeshiko Japan Thread [R] - なでしこジャパン（英語スレッド）

Also, it looks like the Division 2 final, Chifure AS Elfen Saitama vs Cerezo Osaka Sakai Ladies, will be played on the same day.

I suppose the schedule for Challenge League's play-offs will be out after the last matchday, next week?

 

Wow, that's very interesting.

Italian league of course is not a top league, but it's growing and, apart from Italian NT members, it has some mildly good internationals, as Aluko, Clelland...

 

Interesting: will the other two Japanese players (Shijo Tomari and Marin Fujisawa) remain in Wacker Innsbruck also? It could become one of the most "Japanese" overseas clubs ever!

 

For a moment, I really thought it could have been a 1-45 loss: it would have been quite hard for Tokiwagi's already disastrous goal difference!

Instead it was a 1-4, and Tokiwagi end the league with a goal difference of -29.

Time to tie loose ends together:

So, with just a single goal in 2nd half, at 51', Tsukuba manage to win this deciding match and to switch positions once again with Niigata: the season ends with Tsukuba at 4th place and Niigata at 5th.

The results in the West Division, instead, spell doom for Ange Violet Hiroshima, since they lost to NGU while Speranza won their game vs Belle.

It's interesting that Hiroshima had gone ahead in first half, at 33', and it needed two late goals, at 75' and at 82', for NGU to reverse the score. Anyway, as I had written above, the result of that game wasn't enough for Ange Violet, since both NGU and Speranza had a way better goal difference. The Speranza-Belle game was never really in contention, so Hiroshima's win would have been basically moot.
So NGU and Speranza top the league (nearly identical stats: NGU have 1 point more than Speranza, scored the same goals but took one less).

Tomorrow's games can't change the situation in any of the two Challenge League's Division, so the positions are now determined:

East
1. FC Jumonji Ventus
2. JFA Academy Fukushima
3. Norddea Hokkaido
4. Tsukuba FC Ladies
5. Niigata University of Health and Welfare
6. Tokiwagi Gakuen High School

West
1. NGU Loveledge Nagoya
2. Speranza Osaka Takatsuki
3. Ange Violet Hiroshima
4. Okayama Yunogo Belle
5. Cerezo Osaka Sakai Girls
6. Kibi International University Charme Okayama Takahashi

 

Well, I was born in your same century, not a "millennial" at all, so I'd say you should be more or less as young as me!

Also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS_Adema_149–0_SO_l'Emyrne

 

In Cerezo there is a Nao Matsumoto and a Hono Mastumoto: which one did score?

Kibi end the league with a (negative) record goal difference of -34. They took 46 goals against in 15 games: more than 3 goals against per match!!!

 

Oh, wow, I hadn't even noticed!!! Ok, unepomme is more "senile" than I had ever thought!

 

NWSL update:

- on Saturday, Orlando Pride-Sky Blue FC 1-0. Kawasumi only played the last 15' for Sky Blue and, after this loss, her team is now once again dead last in NWSL.
Highlights: http://www.nwslsoccer.com/videos/E6AC89DC-CC22-4E3B-2818-1256D997AECD

- On Sunday, Chicago Red Stars-North Carolina Courage 2-1. Very good win for Chicago vs the reigning champions, projecting them at 3rd place along with Seattle Reign FC (the fight for a play-off position looks very tight in NWSL this season). Yuki Nagasato basically played the full game (was subbed-out at 90'): she didn't have any goal or actuall assist, but look at her pass to Kerr, who almost scored again, in the final part of the highlights: http://www.nwslsoccer.com/videos/EACD1BAC-D1B5-21FB-DD15-17344EF5B2E9

- Since NWSL has 9 teams, every week one of them takes a seat, and it was Seattle Reign's turn to do that. There are anyway some intersting news: it's been said, on the Reign 2019 thread, that Rumi Utsugi received a green card, so she shouldn't count as an "international" anymore. This could make it easier for her to remain in Seattle (or in the USA in general), since she the team doesn't have to use an "international slot" for her. No news about her injury instead.

 

As far as I know, she should keep playing for Japan, even after applying for US citizenship: I guess FIFA has special rules, somehow different from legal rules of citizenship of the different nations.

I guess her move was just made to make it easier for her to keep playing in USA: since NWSL teams has just a low number of international slots, some players, if they have the requirements for that, use to apply for a green card: Jodie Taylor did the same in Seattle one year ago, so the Reign could play one more international, but she kept playing for England anyway, including this year's World Cup.