I was looking around, and then I saw Saori Takarada's name. Just last year, she scored her share of goals (5) and came just short of winning the Golden Boot in the U20 tournament. Furthermore, she is the same height as Sugasawa at 168 cm tall. So far, Takarada only played 1 (or 3 depending of your source) senior cap. Based on what I could translate from Japanese about her club stats, she is quite a goalscoring machine herself with 22 goals in 18 Nadeshiko League 2 appearances last season (30 goals in 29 club appearances total). It may be a little harder in Nadeshiko League 1 this year because of adaptation, but I would seriously start putting money on Takarada as a viable option for internal competition with Sugasawa. Also, Takakura needs to find a way to bring back Yuki Nagasato (also 168 cm tall) into the mix. Unlike other veterans left from the 2011 team, she can still provide something useful on the pitch if she can cut it in the US. Right now, there is a need for high-level internal competition up front, and it usually works when you bring both a seasoned veteran and a superkid to compete with the current starters in specific positions. Mind you: it worked wonders for France when Aimé Jacquet brought both a criticized veteran in Christophe Dugarry and a very promising 20-year-old in Thierry Henry ahead of the 1998 World Cup. And like you pointed out in a different post, Yokoyama is not material for a starting XI. I think she's mostly at risk of getting the boot if Nagasato and/or Takarada get their way in. I would love to see international competition taking place very soon, but I also hope the Tokyo team will finally be settled around the new year or shortly beyond.
RUS 0 - 1 JPN at HT Composed 1st half by Nadeshiko. Patient but reserved. Russia grew into game in last minutes which may explain why Japan chose to stay bit reserved - not knowing how much energy opponents are still having.
FT: Russia 1-2 Japan. Good thing that Ouchi scored early in the second half. Japan got a penalty with a little more than 15 minutes to go, but missed it until the Russians scored on the next attack. It should have never been that close, to be honest. North Korea will be everything but a cakewalk in the final. They battered Ireland 5-0 earlier today.
I'm glad to watch Murakami Maho (Jumonji - Waseda) playing; she is not so strong, but versatile and clever like Haruna. Chiba is of course the core of this team; her cross ball accuracy is outstanding. I saw Hara's play for the first time; her dribbling skill certainly gave good threat.
Yoko Tanaka twitters in Spanish.... Hola la gente de Huelva! Encantada de poder formar parte de Sporting Huelva como primer equipo fuera de mi país. Muy ilusionada con la nueva aventura que empieza ahora!! https://t.co/QseGZNsx5C— 田中陽子 Tanaka Yoko (@TANAKAYoko20) July 11, 2019
The official website says it will start at 9:00 PM local time on tomorrow, which is basically the same timeslot as yesterday's match.
That's an interesting point you made - I've been thinking about it too. The US are primarily characterised by their physical and athletic strength, and that's what has been giving them the edge so far. However, as other nations keep improving, possibly with other philosophies, those factors might not be sufficient anymore. They might go the road of Germany's men of the 90s - seemingly unstoppable at first by not being brilliant technicians but by sheer force and "willpower", but increasingly becoming outdated and irrelevant in the world of modern football. But that's just speculation from my side.
FIFA women's World rankings' were updated today. Understandably, we've dropped out of top 10, at 11th position.
Tomorrow's games: Nadeshiko League Cup Group A Nagano vs Nojima 17:00 Nadeshiko League 2 Cup Group B Bunnys vs Ehime 14:00 Challenge League West Nagoya vs Speranza 15:00
Universiade final start in 20 minutes. (FISU TV) In match for bronze Russia won with Ireland 2-2 (pen. 4-2)
Valliant effort from Russians wasn't enought to sway the commentator but the way Nadeshiko played in this tourney may have.
Good game by Japanese students against various age Korean NT players. So Yon Jon winning strike was thing of beauty. All in all close, good match. With more competent referees Japan could've won though. 1st Korea goal scored with hand while Japan was wrongly called on two phantom offsides going in 1v1 in 2nd half. Excuuuse us?! So Yon Jon (PRK) scores the stunning game winner from way outside the box with just one minute left in the Women's Football Final. 🦵⚽ #Napoli2019 #ToBeUnique #Universiade💻📱🖥 Watch the Universiade on https://t.co/8XfcaBi162 from 3 to 14 July! ☀🌋🍕 pic.twitter.com/1KGBUSqRzy— FISU (@FISU) July 12, 2019
Yes, it was very close. It was nice to see the smiles of North Korean girls. The term “phantom offside” sounds interesting. Would VAR have prevented (or worsened) the problem? Kumagai’s incident last week could arguably be a “phantom hand.” There is a medical phenomenon called phantom limb. A soldier loses his arm in combat, but afterwards still feels itchy or cold on his lost arm. This evinces that the sensation of touch, and others, is made by brain rather than body parts. What you call phantom offside could suggest that the image of three-dimensional space, based on depth, height and width, is constructed by the (referees’ and other observers’) brain, rather than observed by the eyes. Eyes only receive reflection of lights.
What I wanted to say is that the referees may have really “seen” offside due to their location and due to other factors, rather than committing a misjudgment.
As I have stated before, Yoko Tanaka scored 26 goals in her first season as a support striker in the second division. That same year Yokoyama scored 36 goals in the second division. Both of those two are good players (I love Yoko), but good players will tear it up down there. It is good that she is scoring goals, but we really have to see what she does in the top division and more importantly how she plays against tougher opposition. Obviously I hope she continues to improve, but we should not forget other players. Particularly forwards who play well in weaker teams. Part of Sugasawa's appeal is that she can hold the ball up. Mina Tanaka is worth not forgetting, but she will probably have to change the way she plays a little, and/or go abroad and score some goals. I am not sure if she will bring back Nagasato, but I would like to see it. The player does not need to be tall, just strong and have the ability to keep the ball (like Iwabuchi) for when they drop deep to help out the the midfielders. It would be nice if they could shoot as well. If Takakura persists with a 4-4-2 then this the kind of player they need in my opinion. Again this is only my opinion. I am not a football savant or anything.
I will probably be wrong. The US will probably go on to win the next three world cups (God I hope not), because people do keep writing them off, myself included and they seem oblivious to it all. I will say one thing though, they were a lot fitter than the Europeans. But their squad is old and I think it will only get older as the players play longer to make more money. It will create a vacuum with the next generation of players. Did anybody under twenty-five play for them at this world cup? I am sure there was, but I can not think of anybody right now. I will probably be wrong about them.
Today's result: Nadeshiko League Cup Group A Nagano (Yokoyama) 1-1 Nojima (Sakuramoto) Nadeshiko League 2 Cup Group B Bunnys (Taniguchi Konomi, Sato) 2-2 Ehime (Akune, Ohya) Challenge League West Nagoya (Fukui) 1-0 Speranza
Penanty each and no VAR....how refreshing What was the Kunisawa presentation for us non Japanese speakers? ps......Kore-eda Hirokazu film "Shoplifters"...Watch this