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

If Yuki actually wants to come back to NT, though; we're still uncertain about that (although a conversation I had about that with Kei Matubara in Concarneau last month allows me to hypothesize that there is at least a possibility).

The NWSL stats page for Yuki Nagasato that you linked to in your post had some excellent numbers. I'll notice one that's quite uncharacteristic for a Japanese player: 4 Yellow Cards!

 

Well, I anyway remember that at least a pair of these YCs looked like they were quite fair. Another one though, if I remember correctly, had been quite harsh.

 

For those interested, Portland-Seattle is going to start here in about 30 minutes (or maybe even less, not sure). The timing of the match is quite good for us in Europe!

Line-ups are already out: Utsugi in the starting 11, Kawasumi on the bench (as she's often been lately).

 

Yes, Yokoyama is making her presence felt, now that she's back in Nadeshiko League. Probably too much late for Nagano getting back in contention for the title, but anyway impressive.

In the relegation battle, nothing has changed, since both Cerezo and Nittaidai have lost their respective home matches with the exact same score (so even goal difference doesn't change for them). Of course, no changes, in this moment, favours Nittaidai, who have the slightest of margins over Cerezo, but actually everything is still open.

Nagano and JEF were paired in the rankings and they remain paired too. Shoko Uemura back to goal (she was scoring in clusters in Division 2) and Risa Fukasawa scores too (I guess everyone knows I like Risa Fukasawa very much ).

In Division 2, everything (apart from first and last places) remains perfectly balanced, and I guess this draw epitomizes very well the situation in this season: basically second place is up for grabs for anyone!

And Challenge League gives the first verdicts of the season instead: todays results should mean that Yamato Sylphid (first team of Kawasumi's career ) will be directly promoted to Division 2, while Jumonji FC Ventus will have to play-off vs one-to-last Div. 2's team. Congratulations.

Meanwhile, Tokiwagi (!!!) and Tsukuba will have to play-off to avoid being relegated in Regional Leagues.

Please, @unepommekun correct me if I had anything wrong.

I see Norddea Hokkaido didn't play today either: still the aftermath of the earthquake, I suppose. I wish the team and their relatives all the best, and I hope we'll be seeing them back on the pitch very soon!

 

NWSL update:

- Portland Thorns-Seattle Reign 2-1. Utsugi was subbed-out at 83', Kawasumi never left the bench. Seattle lost the semifinal and once again they're not going to win NWSL. The only Japanese hope remained is Nagasato, in team with Kerr.
There are not yet available highlights from this semifinal, so I am going to post them later.

 

Our players fully deserved the Fair Play Award not only for their disciplinary record, but also for the respect they have shown to opponents and supporters everywhere and in every match!

As I fan who watched two matches in Concarneau, I can tell you: our players always find the time to acknowledge their supporters, no matter how small the crowd is. After the match vs Spain, I was afraid the players would have only stopped to thank the supporters to the other side of the pitch, where the most of Japanese supporters were (with banners and everything): instead, after that, they also turned to the side where I was, although there were much fewer and sparse Japanese supporters there. Riko Ueki signed an autograph to me and when I asked her if she could please beg Nagano by my part to come over to the place where I was too she happily complied and I had Nagano's autograph also (+ Minami's, + Stambaugh's). Stambaugh stopped by for entire minutes making selfies with both children and older fans. In conclusion: each and every player was the personification of kindness to all of the supporters!

 

I won't extensively follow Spanish League (too much demanding because there are too many teams and too many Japanese players in them), but I want to remind everyone that there is an excellent thread dedicated to Spanish League and WNT, where lately user @Patchouli started uploading lots of good videos!

To give you an example (but I won't always post videos here), yesterday Erina Yamane's Real Betis lost an home match by 1-2, while Albacete (sporting two Japanese starters, Hitomi Tanaka and Tomo Matsukawa) won by 3-1 vs Madrid CFF:

 

Yes, Momiki's lob was very beautiful and Hasegawa through-pass that assisted that goal was utterly awesome! And later in the game Hasegawa's assists for Shimizu's goal was equally outstanding.

By the way, FT Beleza-Nojima 3-0. Tanayo & Co. obvioulsy still miss something and Beleza (although INAC is still battling) could run away with another title...

 

Beleza-Urawa next Saturday can be another very important match to potentially re-open the league: should Red Diamonds Ladies win, they would stop Beleza at 26 points while climbing at 25. Wins by INAC (in Sendai) and Nojima (in Chiba) on Monday shouldn't be seen as impossible, since Albi and Vegalta are the two teams sitting just above the two relegation-fighters.
So, by 24th of September (my birthday! ), we could get the following situation: Beleza and INAC 26 points, Urawa 25, Nojima 23. I hope for this kind of present from the teams!

 

Yes, it happened vs INAC also, last week. Probably it could be a conditioning problem: how often Nojima's player can have training sessions? I'd bet less than INAC and Beleza: most Nadeshiko League teams are semi-professional at best, I'd say.

@And G would tell you that they have... Wada (only take it half-seriously: it's been a running joke for years here on Nadeshiko thread, now. And anyway, you should look back for that time, maybe 4 or 5 seasons ago, when Wada scored directly from CK! ).

 

Incidentally, I just discovered that Akemi Noda is part of Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara's staff! Probably @unepommekun had already announced that in the past and I had forgotten...

 

Some short updates from Frauen-Bundesliga and Division 1 Féminine (both games were played today):

- SC Sand-SC Freiburg 0-0. Of course, Hikaru Naomoto is still recovering from her injury, so she wasn't even on the bench. So-so result for her Freiburg side, that should be anyway a more than decent team (including good established plaiers, as Lena Lötzen, and promising youngsters, as U-20 NT star Giulia Gwinn).

- Guingamp-OL 0-3 (hat-trick by Le Sommer). Saki Kumagai didn't start, but she was subbed-in at 56'. Perfect record for OL after three match-days, 15 goals scored, no goals against.