Apparently she had expressions of interest from clubs in the US, France, Sweden, and the UK, but in the end decided on Japan.
This is very unusual for Beleza. They have brought some university players in the past like Kinga and Ariyoshi but rarely get players from outside of their system.
Does anyone know or any news wether or not Japan can call up Nadeshiko players in Europe for the Olympic qualifications? Obviously it's outside of FIFA's jurisdiction. So is it up to the kindness of each club?
Uetsugi. Long time friend of the Shark and I think she was at Albi with Dream Ear and Kawamura. Uetsugi is a quiet player that is often over looked, but I think she does quite well!!
Queen Ji at a recent Korean Women in Sports award ceremony. She is with Inbee Park, #2 lady golfer in the world and soon to be hall of famer. Apparently, lady golf is big in Korea. A crazy number of Korean players are in the top 20 of the world. Golf is in the Olympics this year after like a near 100yr absence. That means you almost have to be in the top 10 in the world to make the Korean team. But I digress!
Some fun pics from the HS Tournament. Jedi Mind Trick for the PK! Cheer reminds me of the New Zealand All Blacks! Kono has a post match chat with the opposing team Captain. Nice touch!
Jedi Mind Tricks are popular these days... I wonder if she learnt them by herself. Also wonder if, at least, this was one of the PKs that went in!
U-18 second round highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDju9HyV4Yc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=779x8bYBJ1I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybEKewaVeJk
For some reason, when I was clicking on the different links, it was always opening me the Menina highlights... I had to patiently copy & paste each different link to make it work (I suggest to do that to any other people who happens to have my same problem). That pair of Menina supporters (one of them with a drum) could have been only two, but they made noise for an entire stadium full of supporters! Who's that interesting Urawa's FW #9? She looks quite tall. She reminded me a little of Ami Otaki... There were some quite tall girls in JEF-Saitama also! Were they just tall for their age-class or is there a recent trend of more and more tall young girls turning to sokka? The tallest ones, if I am not wrong, were Saitama's #6 (the one with pigtails) and ponytailed JEF's #5, who, not surprisingly (at least for me: I quite expected something of the kind), ended scoring with a header from CK. Am I right that she received (unwillingly, I hope) a kick in the face from Saitama's #7 in that action? If JEF-Saitama looked quite well-balanced Linda-Cerezo was a blow-out (not surprisingly, I'd say: all the other teams in quarter finals were well-know and quite established: where did those Club Fields Linda's players come from and how did they reach this stage of the competition? ). That poor GK #34, in particular, seemed hopeless: she looked like a field player who randomly happened to play in goal... . They were anyway as much fierce as to score a goal (and their #28, #30 and #35 looked quite lively). I liked the fact that there were other Cerezo girls as supporters (including one on crutches). Any chance that we can get highlights from High-School tournament also? I want to see Fuka Kono score (and Fujieda special beginning-of-the-match-routine ).
Actually, it's (sadly) not outside FIFA's jursdiction -- FIFA jointly organises the Olympic Football tournament together with the Olympic Organizing Committee, so their dates apply. As far as I can tell, the periods Jan 18-26 and Feb 29-Mar 9 are FIFA-sanctioned dates. The Jan 18-26 window corresponds to the first Okinawa training camp, the Feb-Mar window corresponds to the qualifying tournament itself. The second (Feb 13-19, Okinawa) and third (Feb 22-28, Osaka) training camps are not on FIFA dates, so whether or not international players can attend those would depend on league schedules and player availability. Just casually looking at the French league schedule, I can see Montpellier plays Jan 10 & 17, Feb 7 & 21, and Mar 13; Lyon plays Jan 10 & 17, Feb 5 & 21, and Mar 13. The second camp (Feb 13-19) would be a tight squeeze for Rumi & Saki unless their clubs release them, but is conceivably possible. The pre-tournament camp (Feb 22-28) looks possible, although they might be a day or two late, given travel time and jet-lag. Frauen Bundesliga I'm not so familiar with.. maybe someone else could comment.
Not highlights but match replays are on this link. Scroll down to get the replays by day. http://www.tbs.co.jp/joshisoccer/
As Tabasco T says, you can see full games unless they are geoblocked. You should just look for the aimed date and then "藤枝順心", and push "再生" at the left end.
#9 is one of the four promoted girls, Shiokoshi Yuzuho (165cm). Mari's #6 is Asada Marina (162cm), Jef's #5 is the scorer Motozono Kana (170cm) as you say.
Don't know if we had that before christmas, but Frankfurt lost to Essen 2:3. Ando played for 63 minutes and Ogimi did not play at all due to a knee injury (distorsion left side).
Funny reading the now mandatory start of year arguments that go against, and for, the idea of creating Nadeshiko sub forum lol. But even with the brain freeze effects three or more ongoing topics in one place can create, it's good to see how much the Nadeshiko thread continues to remain so active all the time now. Anyway, I also just wanted to point out something I thought interesting, that just like the German women's league of a few years ago, I'm pretty sure the Japanese league is also beginning to showcase the same early signs of what will surely become a power shift vacuum; this power vacuum existing due to former elite clubs not being able to navigate, and dominate, a landscape of increasing numbers of new wave talent not able to be stockpiled into one or two clubs anymore... Plus I know it's a bit late to comment on the news of Sawa's footballing retirement, but to say she's left the Japanese game in a significantly healthier state from where she saw it start, would be a truly ridiculous understatement, in attempting to highlight the kind of positive legacy she'll leave behind for future generations to follow. Peace out Sawa...
Curious if last year Hinomoto's number 6 pictured below, is playing at University now? Somewhere else?
That's the kind of accurate info I was needing. Thanks, Frideswide! Now that I am reassured about internationals' availability, I am probably going to reflect in the next days about the roster I'd like for the qualifiers.
Remind me of which the other promoted girls were: two of them were World Champions Mamiko Matsumoto and Yu Endo, weren't they? Mari's ? Wasn't the match vs Elfen Saitama?