Official 2018 Nadeshiko Japan Thread [R] - なでしこジャパン（英語スレッド）

University of Kentucky stopped the bleeding with a 1-0 win yesterday, and who was the scorer? No other than Yuuka Kurosaki. Maybe is she the only really good player there?

 

I won't follow all of the players in Spain, this season, they're too many.
Only for this 1st matchday, the results of the teams including our players are:
- Albacete won by 2-4 in Sevilla, with both Japanese starting;
- Malága lost 0-4 home to the reigning champions of Atletico Madrid; Chiba was on the bench;
- UD Granadilla Tenerife Egatesa lost 2-3 home to Real Sociedad: no trace of Dozono, not even on the bench: maybe injured? I couldn't find any news about Michi Goto's situation;
- Espanyol-Real Betis 1-0: for Espanyol, Shinada wasn't seen, not even on the bench; for Real Betis, Erina Yamane was the starting GK: could be relevant (since last year it looked like she had fallen out of grace), especially if she's still in any way in Takakura's plans (or if, at least, she's following her just in case).

In other news, Olympique Lyonnais won their second league-match vs Soyaux by 4-0.

Frauen-Bundesliga (with Naomoto in Freiburg) will start next week-end only.

 

Thank you very much!

I actually couldn't locate the team in Spanish Second Division. Maybe is it actually a regional league? Or something particular of Basque? @KAPIJXM, can you give any additional info?

 

Why so much negativity? I've got the feeling they could make it instead. And this would really re-open everything for the title: should INAC meanwhile win vs Albirex, there could be three teams tied at 23 points at the top of the league by the end of next sunday! This would be so exciting!

 

A question for Japanese members: why Niigata University vs Norddea Hokkaido, that was scheduled for today in Challenge League, hasn't been played? Hokkaido team had maybe some problems in traveling because of the recent earthquake?

 

I hadn't notice either: I saw her play 3 or 4 minutes vs USA when I was in Concarneu and she looked ok. Then, I read that she was on the pitch for about 15' vs Paraguay: I saw that game on TV only, but I didn't remember seeing her pick an injury.

Since I can't read Japanese, does the Tweet mentions which kind of injury it is?

 

Oh, that's very sad.

Also, she wasn't an extablished starter yet, but this should damage INAC also.

 

As I said before in this thread, I absolutely agree about the key-role Mana has raised to in our NT right now: if there is a player who can lead the team to any kind of successful campaign in France next year, it's definitely her!

On a different note, before today I had never noticed the rhinoceros mascot plushes being given at Asian Games: they look kawaii (especially if in the hands of Mana Iwabuchi or Yui Hasegawa ):

アジア競技大会、優勝することができました🥇✨応援ありがとうございました😌またチームで頑張ります👊🏼#AsianGame2018 #AsianGames pic.twitter.com/YJbwcCLDg5

— Mana Iwabuchi 岩渕真奈 (@buchi_mana) September 1, 2018

 

On Wednesday, OL won their first Champions' League game of the season, an away match in Norway vs Avaldsnes, by 0-2. Here below you can see the goals of the match, by Henry and Majri:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=286008005333788

Saki Kumagai played the first 68' minutes of the match, before being subbed-out when the match was still on 0-1. She's our best CB, so there is no discussion that this is the role she should play in Nadeshiko Japan. It can be interesting, though, that, judging from line-ups on the UEFA website, she's used to play as an holding midfielder in a 4-3-3 system.

On a different note about our internationals, the seminfinal of NWSL between North Carolina Courage and Chicago Red Stars (involving our Yuki Nagasato) has been moved from Sunday in Cary (North Carolina) to Tuesday in Portland (Oregon), because of the hurricane Florence and its possible aftermath. So basically all of the games of NWSL play-offs (the seminfinals North Carolina Courage vs Chicago Red Stars and Portland Thorns vs Seattle Reign and the final match for the title) will be played at the same venue.

 

While waiting for the play-off matches to be played, NWSL published extensive charts with stats from all of the regular season. As Nadeshiko Japan fans, we can be proud that Yuki Nagasato ended at 3rd place in this season for number of assists.