Aw, two of my favourite clubs have to clash in the first match-day! Have to hope for a draw? An interesting key to read the match is: Yoko Tanaka vs her former club.
Murakami and Matsumoto are both members of the u19 NT. And both of them are very talented. I am excited about their performance at the 2017 AFC U-19 Championship Murakami seems to be a real leader on the pitch. She can play as a 2nd striker or as a central mitfielder. And she has a great vision and technique. Matsumoto is a striker, but she can also play as a winger. She is very fast and has the ability to beat opponents easily. She could become a weapon for Nadeshiko in the near future
Today's games: Nadeshiko League 2 Konomiya vs Orca 13:00 Setagaya vs Nittaidai 13:30 Tomorrow's games: All start at 13:00 Jef vs Mynabi Beleza vs Chifure Albi vs Iga Nagano vs Urawa Inac vs Nojima Nadeshiko League 2 Ehime vs Harima 12:00 Cerezo vs Nippatsu 13:00 Belle vs Kibi 13:00
Today's result: Nadeshiko League 2 Konomiya 0-1 Orca (Matsunaga Yoshie) Setagaya 0-3 Nittaidai (Hirata, Uemura, Arakawa)
Matsunaga scores again as she was doing in Challenge League. Can Orca Kamogawa be ready for the "double jump" (from Challenge League to Division 1 in two seasons)? Nojima seemed well-positioned to do that some seasons ago, but then it took them some time to actually adjust... Meanwhile, I wonder what's Speranza's worth without Narumiya and Maruyama... We've often seen teams that were relegated from Division 1 coming back up after just one season, but Konomiya doesn't seem the best suited team to do that, despite the fact that they were relegated through play-offs only, and not directly. Hirata, Uemura... and now Arakawa to boot, who keeps scoring as she always used to do in the last decades. Nittaidai... Now that's a club that looks like it's finally well positioned to reach Division 1, after some 2-3 years of disapointments. Welcome back, Nadeshiko League!
I agree with you and I love those players too, but there are many good players up front for this U19 NT, for example Ueki, Endo, Miyazawa, Kono, Takarada, Hayashi and Nagano of course. So it may be rather hard for them to be selected.
Yes, she obviously didn't feature again. Here the resulting selfie: Was a nice evening. The club tried to fill the stadium by selling tickets for 5 instead the regular 8€ and creating a hype that resulted in uncommon queues (we usually arrive a quarter hour before the match and can just walk in) and some people missing the start of the match. Officially 7300 people watched, nice atmosphere. More families than usual in a night match. As for the match itself, Paris was clearly the better, way more dangerous team, and at the start of each half there were big 1 on 1 chances in front of the goal. But there they were surprisingly lacking in accuracy, missing from many promising positions, so the Bayern women were able to get back into the match with fighting spirit. Miedema's goal was magnificent, luckily we sat right in front of it. ^^
You're absolutely right and I know that. But even if they are not chosen, they are players to watch for the future.
Meanwhile, talking about Champions' League, is maybe Saki Kumagai on her way for a second title, after the one won in Italy last year? The 0-2 away result in the first leg vs Wolfsburg, the opponent of last year's final match, seems to put OL well ahead to advance to semi-finals... Here are (German) highlights :
Today's result: Inac (Kyokawa, Nakajima, Ohno) 3-0 Nojima Beleza (Tanaka, Sakaguchi) 2-1 Chifure (Nakamura Yushika) Albi 0-0 Iga Jef (Kamogawa) 1-2 Mynabi (Ichise, Hamada) Nagano (Yokoyama) 1-0 Urawa Nadeshiko League 2 Ehime( Kamata, Ueno, Akune) 3-0 Harima Cerezo (Matsubara Shiho, Takarada, Kitamura) 3-0 Nippatsu Belle (Hayashi, Hamamoto) 2-1 Kibi (Yoshida Nagisa)
Another day at the office for Kumi, giving her team the first 3 points of the season in the final minutes
I don't think so. Is obvius that Kumi is a great player and the key player for Nagano. But football is a team's sport and she will need the help of at least 1 or 2 of her attack players and a better defense than last year. The second thing seems to worked this game (at least they had a clean sheet against a good offensive team like Urawa) and if they acomplish that at many of the games, with a goal machine like Kumi, they could fight with the best teams this season.
Does anyone know about the attendances' figures? Last season, Nagano had an incredibly high number of warm supporters by their side: Although I basically agree with KAPIJXM, this could anyway help them...
I am very happy for Mami Ueno I liked her performance at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup last year. She is a smart player and a good striker. The performance of Cerezo is just incredible. It is currently a u20 team and they play without experienced players. Matsubara and Nishida are leading this young team. Saori Takarada continues to develop as a player. She is an incredible talent and needs to score even more goals.
【なでしこリーグ1部】第1節の対戦カード別・観客動員数です。※2016年シーズン・第1節の観客動員数合計は、12,222人でした。#ndsk_l pic.twitter.com/wBZYXJ07Lm— Nadeshiko.Football (@Ndsk_Foot) March 26, 2017
Wow, quite spectacular. And quite all of them chose the "killer look" instead of a smile... I am surprised that Arisa Mochizuki is already a starter for Nagano, after so long waiting on the bench in Beleza. Hadn't Nagano had her starting GK from last season being called for a youth team, recently? But I didn't see her on the bench, either, actually... Talking about the bench: many players there who were supposed or expected to be starters, at least until some seasons ago. Maybe, Nagano's team is a little deeper this year, after all?
According to Full Bloom Guidebook (by the way, welcome back to Full Bloom Guidebook Nadeshiko League's updates also! ), Yuri Kawamura wasn't on the pitch today, but we hadn't any more news about possible offers to her from NC Courage. Given usual Japanese work ethic, I would be surprised if the US team were so stacked in the midfield/defense to decline to make an offer to a good level Japanese international. Anyway, I asked for news on NC Courage 2017 thread. We're going to see...
I missed some parts of Inac vs Nojima game. Nojima fought so-so in the first half, but not enough. My impressions about players: Genevieve Richard sometimes showed good saves, but sometimes feeds dangerous passes to the opponents. Ishida Minami did a relatively good job. Kunitake Aimi looked good for her debut. Nagasawa Madoka was unstable considering her potentials. Usui Rie was unable to do something special. Takagi Hikari was the best in the team, but not enough. Oyama Saki and Yoshimi Natsuki were below average for their potentials. Tanaka Yoko was good at set play situations and with her visions, but was unable to create great chances. Kawashima Haruna was good at her moves and techniques, but easily taken the balls due to her fragile physiques. Minamino Arisa did a good effort, but often left alone. Michelle Pao, Wada Naoko and Kobayashi Miharu seemed to have shown their potentials, but not enough.
Are you going to understudy all of INAC's opponents this season (since we get to watch only INAC games, sigh! ) or do you have a special interest for Nojima?
I have special interests for every player, but you know, we know about Inac's players very well, don't we? By the way, I know that was an Inac's exclusive channel, but I think the announcer should have introduced the other team's starting lineups at least. It was a very uncomfortable broadcast for neutral audience. P.S. The commentator was Kai Junko.