Official 2017 Nadeshiko Japan Thread [R] - なでしこジャパン（英語スレッド）

Hi, guys, and welcome to our new shiny Nadeshiko Japan football-related thread for 2017.

2017, the year waited for so long by everyone, the year when... ...when... ...when... *crickets*... nothing happens?

Ok, not exactly. But we have to say that most of the exciting tournaments that we use to be waiting for are way more than a year from now. No U-17 WWC or U-20 WWC until 2018. Next editions of AFC Women's Asian Cup and of Asian Games are also in 2018. While we all know that we have to wait for 2019 for next WWC in France (at least, it's so close to my country ). And (gasp!) still three years to go for Tokyo 2020 Olympics...

So we're just left with an Algarve Cup that's orphan of the likes of USA and Germany, and, at club level, with our usual Nadeshiko League competitions? Ok, Nadeshiko League is exciting, but we need more!

Well, for sure we're going to get EAFF Women's East Asian Cup. And it will be held in Japan! But it will be in... December 2017!? Oh...
We also get Universiade, in Chinese Taipei in August 2017: it could be worth following and I wonder if any University talents can find their way to Senior National Team.

Ok, not very much, I admit. Please, correct me if I forgot anything.

But if the year is so "empty" for what concerns "big tournaments", this means that it's the perfect moment to develop a team for the new cycle! This has to be a developmental year! The developmental year. We have to get a Japan's team that's stronger than ever, and that can repeat the incredible success of the 2011 generation. Takakura has a long work ahead of her. At the same time, she has all the time in the world to make all of this work count, at every level. I hope JFA will cooperate and will plan a cycle of important friendly matches accordingly: the Senior Team will need to accumulate international experience, especially if Takakura will tinker around a lot with schemes, tactics, players... It's not only a "lab" work, that can be carried on with just training camps and stages: it has to be verified step by step on the pitch, versus real opposition.

So my wish for 2017 is a serious schedule of friendly international matches, that makes it possible to develop an elite team for the 2018-2020 cycle!

A more delimited wish is for a player in particular: Aya Miyama. I guess there was no worse and saddest year in her career than this 2017. No qualification for Rio Olympics. Injuries. Parting ways with Okayama Yunogo Belle, who subsequently dismantled their team and got relegated in 2nd Division...
We don't have many news about her these days, but I just hope that she can find new life somewhere, in a different team. Such a career can't end like this, no way! So, this has to be the year of Miyama's resurgence!

 

First of all: some very good news to start 2017. Apparently, Full Bloom Guidebook recently resumed activity, and it's been updated with all of the missing stats, from the end of October 2016 on!
Welcome back, an_turtar!

Next: I finished compiling the chart of the seasonal scorers at club level. The rules I followed are the same as previous years, as seen here (give or take a few). For "too long, not read" jumpers , the core is: no National Teams goals, no overseas leagues goals, only Division 1 club competitions in Japan (included Empress' Cup, that has clubs from all levels, but no Division 2, no Nadeshiko League Division 2 Cup nor any lesser league).
This year, there is a competition more than last year (Nadeshiko League Cup Division 1), but there aren't so many matches more (since last year's Division 1 formula was Regular Season + Exciting Series, that counted for more or less the same number of matches as Nadeshiko League Div. 1 + Nadeshiko League Cup), so it's quite meaningful that this season there were much more goals in top-positions of the chart.
The format works as usual:
4 - Chinatsu Kira - Urawa Reds Diamonds Ladies - 13 (9 / 2 / 2)(+11!)
this means that Kira is 4th in the chart, played in Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies, scored 13 goals, 9 in Nadeshiko League Division 1, 2 in Nadeshiko League Cup (Div. 1) and 2 in Empress' Cup, and that she scored 11 goals more than previous season (and yes, this is a fictional example: actually this year Chinatsu Kira scored just 1 goal in the whole season, counting all competitions).

These are the first 20 positions of the chart (actually the first 21 position: 7 players were tied at 15th place, so I added 1 position to accomodate them all):

Nadeshiko League Seasonal scorers

1 - Kumi Yokoyama - AC Nagano Parceiro Ladies - 27 (16 / 9 / 2) (can't be properly compared: in Challenge League last season)*
2 - Mina Tanaka - Nippon TV Beleza- 26 (18 / 6 / 2)(+5!)
3 - Yuka Momiki - Nippon TV Beleza - 20 (7 / 8 / 5)(+13!)
4 - Ami Sugita - Iga FC Kunoichi - 11 (6 / 4 / 1)(+3)
- Risa Fukasawa - JEF United Ichihara Chiba Ladies - 11 (5 / 5 / 1)(+7!)
6 - Sayaka Oishi - Albirex Niigata Ladies - 10 (7 / 1 / 2)(-2)
- Mizuho Sakaguchi - Nippon TV Beleza - 10 (7 / 3 / 0)(0)
- Mai Kyokawa - INAC Kobe Leonessa - 10 (6 / 1 / 3)(+3)
- Megumi Kamionobe - Albirex Niigata Ladies - 10 (6 / 4 / 0)(+1)
- Shiho Tomari - AC Nagano Parceiro Ladies - 10 (4 / 4 / 2) (can't be properly compared: in Challenge League last season)*
11 - Haruka Hamada - Vegalta Sendai Ladies - 9 (6 / 1 / 2)(+4)
- Yuri Kawamura - Vegalta Sendai Ladies - 9 (6 / 1 / 2)(-1)
- Rin Sumida - Nippon TV Beleza - 9 (5 / 4 / 0)(+9!)
- Yuika Sugasawa - JEF United Ichihara Chiba - 9 (5 / 3 / 1)(-6!)
15 - Shinobu Ohno - INAC Kobe Leonessa - 8 (7 / 1 / 0)(+2)
- Yu Nakasato - Nippon TV Beleza - 8 (5 / 0 / 3)(+2)
- Michi Goto - Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies - 8 (3 / 3 / 2)(+4)
- Megumi Takase - INAC Kobe Leonessa - 8 (3 / 4 / 1)(-2)
- Yui Hasegawa - Nippon TV Beleza - 8 (2 / 3 / 3)(+ 4)
- Ayaka Michigami - INAC Kobe Leonessa - 8 (1 / 4 / 3)(+7!)
- Narumi Miura - Nippon TV Beleza - 8 (0 / 2 / 6)(+8!)

* Anyway, Yokoyama scored way less in Division 1 than in Division 2: last year she had scored 35 goals in the league only, while Shiho Tomari had 11 goals in the league and remained more or less the same.

Some observations:
- when two players are even on goals, I've written first the one with more goals in Division 1 (arguably, the most important competition); when they were even in Division 1 goals, I just used alphabetical order;
- Mina Tanaka scored 5 goals more than previous year and was top-scorer of Division 1 this season, but she did worse in the general seasonal chart: she was at 1st place in 2015, ahead of top scorer of Division 1 Yuika Sugasawa, while this year she lost 1st place to Yokoyama, despite beating her in the League;
- Yuka Momiki is the sensation of this season: despite not having scored much in the league, she grabs 3rd place, with an impressive 13 goals more than previous season! If you factor in her performance at U-20 WWC, I guess it's been the year of her final blossoming;
- after first three places, with 20 or more goals each, the level suddenly drops by about ten goals in subsequent positions, that, in general, look quite average. On the other hand, in 2015 Mina Tanaka was the only one to score more than 20;
- Yuika Sugasawa, who was top-scorer of Nadeshiko League and 2nd overall seasonal scorer in 2015, had the worse performance this year (at least between the ones who managed to remain in top 20), with 6 goals less and 9 positions down; I do wonder if she keeps being NT material or not...
- despite being quite old (at last Nadeshiko League Ceremony, she was awarded for reaching 200 caps in Nadeshiko League, along with Yuka Kado and two other fellow seasonal scorers, Megumi Kamionobe and Mizuho Sakaguchi) and despite never having been too much heralded, Risa Fukasawa posts an impressive 4th place, with 7 goals more than last season!
- One could wonder where Michigami would have ended if she hadn't been injured for most of the season: she anyway managed to scored 8 goals; quite equally impressive was Narumi Miura: 8 goals without scoring even a single one in the league!
- The way Nippon TV Beleza players populated the chart of Seasonal Scorers is impressive! They are 7 out of 21 (Tanamina, Momiki, Sakaguchi, Sumida, Nakasato, Hasegawa, Miura)! Last season, they were just 3 out of 20 (Tanamina, Sakaguchi, Momiki), with two other teams, back then, having 4 players each at max (Vegalta with Kawamura, Ono, Inoue and Arimachi; Albirex with Yamazaki, Kamionobe, Oishi, Saeki); also, 4 of the said 7 Beleza players were part of National Team at last U-20 WWC this year (Momiki, Sumida, Hasegawa, Miura);
- Notable names from last year who are now out of top 20 Seasonal Scorers:
Rika Masuya (-8!)
Marumi Yamazaki (-8!)
Kiko Seike (-9! injured all season )
Chinatsu Kira (-7!)
Hitomi Ono (-5!)
Aya Miyama (-4 )
Ayaka Inoue (-3)
Yui Narumiya (-2)
Aya Saeki (-5!)
Saori Arimachi (same number of goals from last season, but she dropped at 22th place, with it, this year)
Rie Azami and Kaoruko Suzuki are now in Division 2; the former scored a reasonable number of goals there compared to what she had scored last season in Division 1.

 

First goal today for Yukari Kinga in Aussie W-League, but it was not a good one, since it was Canberra's only goal in an 1-6 rout vs Sydney FC.

Canberra anyway keeps a 6 points advantage over 5th place. The top 4 of the league will play-off for the title.

 

It's strange to watch the video while already knowing results of next round...

- 16-0 was a quite harsh result from Cerezo!
- Happy to see Ange Violet advance, although they will be subsequently crushed by JEF...
- Urawa's girls looked like each was twice as tall as their opponents!
- I liked a lot the action of Sfida Setagaya's #4 on the right-side: she looks like a good player!

Yes, and it was also in extra-time to boot...

Despite the result, I guess INAC took the right direction by strongly supporting a youth team, as other Division 1 team do (Urawa, JEF, Albi and, in particular Beleza). I guess their main model is indeed Beleza, not only for the choice of a different name than just "Urawa Youth" or "JEF Youth" (Beleza > Menina = INAC > Leoncina), but also because the Beleza/Menina/Serias youth program was a very successful one, unrelentlessly producing players for the Senior Team and for National Teams as wel. If INAC wants to stay as a permanent power in Nadeshiko Football they have to nurture a youth academy, and that's what they're trying to do: the results are going to come in the future!

 

Well, I'll admit I was hoping for something more, but at least the 12 days "overseas tour" in July/August has the potential to be interesting, if there are enough matches and they are against high-quality opposition.

As for the previous "friendly tour" in Europe, in fact Belgium is not the most exciting opponent around. Part of me hopes that the second opponent "to be defined" is a stronger one (Germany, France, England, Sweden...), part of me hopes that it is... Italy!

 

I am sorry for Shutoku's GK, who seemed better than Jumonji's (she quite had an hand on a pair PKs, and she even scored one!). I am also sorry that I didn't see anyone console the unlucky girl who missed last PK: I hope that it happened out of camera...

By the way, while watching this penalty shootout I realized that I ignore many of the rules about how it has to be played: every player on the pitch has to take a PK, before a player can shoot again? What if there is a clearly injured player on the pitch (as Akari was, who was limping)? Is she dispensed from taking a PK? Is it necessary that someone on the medical staff certifies that she's injured, to skip out on her? What happens exactly, if each player on the pitch, GKs included, already took a PK? I don't think you can use players on the bench, then, do you? So, you can then have a player take a second PK, and so on? And, when everyone has already shot and you start again, you have to follow the same order of penalty takers as the 1st "round" of PKs?

A lot of questions, I know, and about circumstances that seldom happen, if ever, but I'd like to know the comprehensive rules about penalty shootouts (and don't remind me to them! I'd prefer a clear answer from someone who knows!)