Official 2021 Nadeshiko Japan Thread [R] - なでしこジャパン（英語スレッド）

Wow, Kei Hoshikawa??? That's great news for INAC. Of course, he had the luxury of having most of INAC world-beaters, Sawa included, at the peak of their careers, but I remember his team as one of the best incarnations of the club in the last decade. At the time he was at the helm, I guess INAC Kobe Leonessa was not only the strongest team in Japan, but one of the strongest in the world.
I am curious to see what he will be able to do with a seriously down-graded roster. Not sure he will be actually able to fight for the title, but, hey, I guess he will make something of he team with Yui Narummiya as the advanced play-maker.

Looks like our thread's campaign to remove Engels was a success, wasn't it? Ok, we're not influencers at that level, and actually the quality of some of Engels' team performances didn't need any further hint, but let me pretend for a moment that we were part of the decision making!

 

Hannah Stambaugh has been quite consistently called in Senior NT camps, lately, and I bet she would have been given playing time also, if international football hadn't had this long Covid-related break. Coach Takakura uses to start more expert GKs, mostly Yamashita (that should be considered the 1st pick, these days) and Ikeda, but, after having seen her play in France when I followed U-18 WWC, I am persuaded that Stambaugh is the future. She's just 22, she still has a margin to work on her skills but I already consider her excellent for her age and compared to most of other Japanese GKs (although one could say that the level of the competition for this role in Japan isn't incredibly high).

As you can see from my avatar, I have an insane love for Aya Sameshima (aka "The Shark"), but since she's going to turn 34 in June, I am aware that she's on the declining curve of her career.

I guess some of the most established name in WE League that still have a central role in NT, apart from Hina Sugita that you already mentioned and apart from young players that have been already mentioned by @Lechus7, are probably 30 yo Emi Nakajima (INAC) and 26 yo Hikaru Naomoto (Urawa). Naomoto had actually been quite marginal in previous years, but after her brilliant 2020 season, leading to Urawa's title, I can see her carving a most prominent role for herself in NT also.
The most high profile defender still currently in the domestic league is probably Risa Shimizu, who recently re-signed (signed again ) for Beleza.

Then of course, there are players that most people on this thread use to appreciate but, for some reason, never actually managed to make their breakthrough in NT: one typical name, in this sense, is Yui Narumiya (who recently trasferred from JEF to INAC).

I already mentioned more names than you requested, and I of course could go on, but since you only asked for 2 or 3 I stop here (although I already feel that I could have made different choices).

 

Sorry, guys, but in Italy high-school has lessons on Saturday morning, so I am just back from work!

So I apologize for not giving you news about Yui in time, but I am so happy she scored at the end of 1st half. No streaming, as long as I know, but you can follow the live-ticker of 2nd half (going to start) here:
https://www.milannews24.com/pink-bari-milan-femminile-live-formazioni-cronaca-tabellino/

At the end of 1st half it says: "Hasegawa is litterally shutting down Pink Bari's midfield".

 

This same Twitter feed, I see, points out that Yoko Tanaka also scored with Sporting Huelva today. It doesn't show the goal but I guess we can anyway appreciate a picture of Tanayo making random Anime moves (someone in particular will appreciate, I guess ):

SPORTING 1 - LEVANTE 0 (2') ⚽ Goooooooooooool de Yoko Tanaka tras recibir de Gey en la frontal de tiro cruzado #PrimeraIberdrola #15añosenlaelite pic.twitter.com/HqlQ9jmjJc

— Sporting Club Huelva (@sportinghuelva) February 27, 2021

 

Brace for Hasegawa at 59'!!!

She's really showing Milan AC why it was worth signing her.

She anyway has countless other mentions in the live-ticker for crosses, assists, corner-kicks and general awesomeness!

 

Soon after, Hasegawa is subbed-out, at 66'.

I guess today she's made clear what her level as a player is. With her on the pitch, Milan AC don't need to settle for just 2nd place on the league (that anyway will grant a Champions' League's spot next year), but I guess they can actually challenge Juventus for the title!

 

Has any of you, guys, appreciated the fact that, for her first game as a starter, her first game in the league, her first goal scored and her first brace, Yui Hasegawa wasn't wearing the primary Milan AC's kit with red and black stripes, nor the secondary white kit, but actually the third kit, the one in a... Beleza/Green Machine shade of green?

 

It ends here: Pink Bari-Milan AC 1-6, FT.

Brace for Haseagawa and brace for Valentina Giacinti, that, incidentally, is my favourite Italian player and had already scored a brace on Wedenesday with Italian NT in their 12-0 win vs Israel that qualified them for Euro 2022 (so, 4 goals in 4 days for Giacinti!).

 

All the media are for Hasegawa: for instance, even if you can't read Italian, you can see the headline of this article is "Hasegawa show" and you can check out the grades of the players; Yui is the only one deserving an 8 out of 10.

Bonus pic from Milan AC website



I am really excited by Hasegawa playing for my town's team: does my excitement transpire?

 

Quite expected, but, in addition to getting the best grades in all media reports of the match, Yui Hasegawa was officially named the MVP of Pink Bari-Milan AC :

🥇 | 👏🏻
𝗠𝗩𝗣 @TIM_VISION | #BariMilan!
Yui Hasegawa @maybe10_ 🇯🇵 🔴⚫

📊 @OptaPaolo #SerieAFemminile pic.twitter.com/gyANwxcCoL

— FIGC Calcio Femminile (@FIGCfemminile) February 27, 2021

Today, in Serie A Femminile, Napoli-Sassuolo was also scheduled. I wanted to wait for tomorrow for a general reacp of Italian league, when Juventus-San Marino will be played (I am afraid a savage beating is expected for Kunisawa's side ), but, since highlights of Sassuolo's match are already available, I guess it's worth mentioning that the game ended 0-1 and that our Mana Mihashi played the whole game, picked up a Yellow Card and, especially, hit a resounding crossbar at 11'! (See below):



Sassuolo is now third-placed, just behind the Juventus-Milan duo (Juventus should anyway most likely take the lead again tomorrow by beating San Marino).

On social media, supporters of Milan AC Femminile are heatedly discussing if Vero Boquete and Yui Hasegawa are supposed to play together or not: before today, many of them, who didn't now our Yui, were thinking that she was mainly a Vero's replacement and that the Spanish player was surely going to be a starter in next week's big clash vs Juventus. Now that they've seen Hasegawa in action... they're not so sure anymore.

We don't know for sure what coach Maurizio Ganz plans to do, but it looks like he was anyway impressed by Hasegawa's performance.

 

Menwhile, the match-day of Serie A Femminile has been completed and, as expected, Juventus have beaten San Marino by 3-1 (although San Marino at least managed to make it a little more difficult for Italian Champions' by keeping the score at 0-1 in 1st Half and by scoring a goal at 78' that left some glimmer of hope of reaching a tie for about 10 minutes, until Serie A's top-scorer Cristiana Girelli scored Juventus' 3rd goal at 89').
Shiho Kunisawa was on the pitch for the whole game for San Marino.

So, now Juventus are again three points ahead of Milan AC in the race for the title, waiting for next week's direct clash in Turin, Juventus-Milan.

Meanwhile news of Yui Hasegawa's debut have reached Japanese media, with articles in English or in Japanese. I guess it's worth reposting Yui's goals from a Japanese YouTube channel, because it seems to me that the quality of the video is higher compared to the one that had been uploaded on Milan AC's official Twitter account: in particular, I have the impression that the second goal can be seen in a better definition here.




Meanwhile, in FA WSL, Aston Villa has just lost the home match vs Arsenal by 0-4: the gap between the top four teams of the league and the other ones is too much wide, as @Lechus7 correctly noticed in another thread. The game vs Arsenal was one of two catch-up game for Aston Villa, but it was the basically unwinnable one; the derby vs direct competitors of Birmingham City should be much more interesting, but I don't think it's been re-scheduled yet.

Today, Mana Iwabuchi was subbed-out at 77', on 0-3. Everytime I see that on the scoreboard, I always hope she wasn't taken out because of an injury, but I assume that the reason was just resting her for future and more meaningful matches, since today's one was already lost by then.