Anyone know how serious Shoji's injury is from the match against Muangthong? Will be tough on Kashima given their lack of depth on the CBs position. Ueda and Shoji have been playing nearly every game of this season, will not be easy for anyone to replace his chemistry with Ueda on the pitch.
Nothing serious according to sponichi. http://www.sponichi.co.jp/soccer/news/2017/05/12/kiji/20170511s00002000442000c.html
That's good, but I have to say that Kashima is too reliant on Ueda and Shoji, they should rotate more.
It is very likely that only Kawasaki might make it to the next round. They must be careful tho, Muangthong still can be dangerous.
The usual choke job by Urawa, though Jeju's keeper was very good. Everything is possible in Saitama but that goal at the end felt like a lethal blow. Nishikawa could have done better.
Suzuki is a chance wasting machine. He could have scored like 3 goals in this match against Guangzhou.
That's the border between average and good. If he will ever break it I don't know. But that's his problem for sure.
I will put some faith in him. Osako also used to be really raw but he developed into the player he is now but Osako's finishing is definitely better back then tho. Koki Ogawa is also similar to Suzuki imo, both are useful for their physicality of aerial threat but waste a lot of chances.
Osako was always miles better than Suzuki, it's not even close. Suzuki is good at running straight lines for now and that's about it. Ogawa also has nothing to do with Suzuki, besides he doesn't miss that many chances.
I think some similarities are there in their aerial play but it's true that they are different. I however expect Ogawa to be anything but a clinical finisher once he gets more playtime in J1, would be happy to be proved wrong
If he doesn't have that he won't make a career, he's not particularly fast. He didn't miss that many chances during the U20 WC, a couple one but he scored a goal and who knows, would have scored other if he had stayed healthy.
Toru Oniki really impressed me thus far, especially the 2 matches against Guangzhou where he managed a draw despite having many players out due to injuries then, if he could keep this up for a couple of more seasons, I think he is a suitable candidate for JNT's coach in the future. Ogawa has never played against a team like Guangzhou Evergrande, it is difficult to say that he will not miss as much chances as Suzuki if he played against a team with the likes of Paulinho in it.
Breaking News: J-League side Kashima Antlers released their coach Masatada Ishiii as the club fail to qualify from ACL round of 16, eliminated by Guangzhou Evergrande due to away goals, Ishiii had lead Kashima Great success in 2016 season, finished runners-up in Club World Cup, won both J-League and Emperors' Cup. Meanwhile, CSL side Jiangsu Suning may release their coach Choi Yong-Soo if the club could not beat Shanghai SIPG in ACL round of 16 clash, Jiangsu lost 1st leg 1-2 in Shanghai.
Urawa did it! They are through to the quarter finals. 2 out of 3 Japanese teams progressed which isn't bad, considering that Kashima only knocked out by the away-goals rule. So 2 Japanese and 2 Chinese teams in the QF, while it might be the first time since the inauguration of the new ACL edition in 2003 that no Korean team managed to make it to the QF.
Lol Jeju and Urawa players were fighting at the end of the match. Koroki was elbowed by a Jeju substitute.
That was Baek Dong-Gyu and he was sent off straight away. There was also a post-match scuffle after Zlatan seemingly went and taunted the Jeju bench. Very unsporting behaviour from Zlatan but also a disgraceful behaviour from some Jeju players.
Crazy to think they've actually sacked Ishii. Sick. Instead, Urawa did it. And unless racial comments are involved, I hope they'll get a maxi-disqualification by AFC.
I was at the game. It was Abe that was elbowed. The Jeju-substitute ran across the entire pitch and attacked Abe. It all started to escalate when Jeju's number 7 and Zlatan clinched together, which shortly afterwards saw the Jeju player headbutt Zlatan (albeit not fiercely). Then a lot of players came together, and in the end the Jeju-substitute came storming across the entire field and attacked Abe. The ref should have sent off Jeju's no7 as well imho, cause a headbutt is a red card no matter what. After the game things got even dirtier, and saw lots of players and staff from Jeju trying to get into some of the Urawa player's faces. Especially Zlatan, and after that also Makino. There were 4-5 players chasing Makino who had to escape down to the locker rooms to avoid being attacked. Of course, there are always 2 sides to a story, and for what I know the Urawa players might have said something really bad to the Jeju-bench or players. I sat on the other side of the pitch so didnt see what went on near the benches that well. . Knowing players like Makino and Moriwaki etc though from earlier matches, I doubt they are 100% innocent. But a bit ironic that maybe the player who is seemingly the biggest gentleman on Urawa (Abe) was the one that got attacked the worst=)
Good to have 2 Japanese teams through! Hope we avoid the Japanese teams meeting eachother in the next round. Have to feel sorry for Kashima though, and it doesn't really make sense that they sack Ishii after all that he's done. Kashima have been really poor at home this season in the league, but they are not that far behind and the league still looks wide-open so seems a bit hasty imho. And speaking about Urawa, it might be early to speculate, but in the past in a match like this, where they had the pressure on them being 0-2 down from the first leg, they would have 9/10 times most likely choked under the pressure. This time they managed to get the job done, even though Jeju came alarmingly close to a 2-1 goal right before FT. Maybe they have finally learned?