Narumiya scores to make it 1-0 in for INAC in the 71st minute. I honestly didn't think INAC would score but a clever fast restart from a corner right after Niigata made a sub meant they were able to exploit their disorganized opposition.
INAC has upped their pace after they scored. Still a lot of mistakes and Nakajima is just slow on the ball, her crosses from the wings are still good but she's barely ever on the sides in her current position and she keeps losing possession or slowing down the attack unnecessarily.
H.T......Nagano 0 Sanfre 0....yet another game with no goals It's not for the want of trying but both teams attacking play is pretty 'tame' imo (am biased but perhaps a Yamaguchi appearance in second half could make a difference for Sanfre)
FT 1-0 INAC INAC have been a team that can just win on their bad days and that's why they are probably going to be league champions. Hoshino's post game comments "The team played like they thought they were already champions even though they've accomplished nothing yet. That's probably why we wasted the first half like that so I had to make early subs" Niigata on the other hand has lost 4 matches in a row. They haven't played horribly in any of those matches but they just can't seem to find a win. I feel this team is a little lacking in midfield. Though I still disagree with it I feel it's times like these when the pro-reg argument starts to make sense.... INAC are 9 points clear of Second place Sendai
INAC is into setting records this season. Including pre-season, todays win is their 12th straight match without conceding meanwhile Sanfre is one up in Nagano. Goalie blunder.
Definitely one of the more....awkward goals I've seen. I feel the keeper was too focused on Nakashima coming in for the header?
Today's result: WE LEAGUE Jef (Ohsawa, Kamogawa) 2-0 Nojima Inac (Narumiya) 1-0 Nagano (Goshima, Takizawa Chise) 2-1 Sanfre (Matsubara Yuna) Nadeshiko League 2 relegation promotion matches Belle 0 - 2 DR Hiroshima (OG, Adachi) V Mie 0-0 R Shonan
90 min+2...Nagano 1 Sanfre 1...free kick...Goshima 90 min+3...Nagano 2 Sanfre 1...Takizawa F.T....Nagano 2 Sanfre 1 Well what an end to what was going to be a 1-0 win for Sanfre. If you don't watch any other W.E. stuff this weekend watch the 'crazy' end to this game Lost for words
The last 2 minutes alone made this game the best of this week. Insane. The best free kick so far too. Nagano are a completely different team from what they were last season in terms of quality.
I really like Hiroshima and the way they play such fun football, but really this match should have been a 1-0 victory to them. I love that they go for it, but their defensive indiscipline and lack of game management are astonishing at times. The thing is though, I kind of respect them for not being so cynical, but remember the first goal came from a Hiroshima corner. Then they give the second goal away because they are still going for the win and get caught on the counter. It is incredibly naive football, but it is fun. After Nojima they are easily my favourite team. Despite losing 2-0 and being thoroughly outclassed by a very good JEF team, who have now won four in a row, Nojima looked a little better going forward. Nojima were able to shoot at goal from inside JEF's penalty area. But there is still way too much sideways passing in attack and too many long-range shots. At least they realise they need to score goals to win. Kitano got midfield wrong playing my two favourite Nojima players in central midfield (Kitakata and Ishida) together. I love them, but they are too slow to play together and were constantly over-ran in midfield by Kishikawa and Kamogawa. Ishida had her worst game of the season. I really hope she bounces back because she has improved so much this season. Kamogawa was very good for JEF along with Osawa. Although JEF were the better team and deserved their victory the first goal came from bad keeping. Fubuki for Nojima has actually been very good this season, but she let in an easy goal.
Flash NWSL update: The semifinals of play-offs were played yesterday and they were two upset, since the first and second-placed teams of the regular season were eliminated: OL Reign-Washington Spirit 1-2 and Portland Thorns-Chicago Red Stars 0-2. The final, Washington Spirit-Chicago Red Stars, will be played on a neutral ground in Louisville on the 20th of November. So, we could tell that we have two Japanese players, Saori Takarada and Kumi Yokoyama, in the final of NWSL, but it's a fact that they are more and more irrelevant to their team and, in fact, neither one played a single minute of the semifinal.
I rewatched the highlights from Urawa-Sendai and I have a question (need the answer for my data-base files): was the second goal considered an own-goal because it was the GK who sent the ball on the post and then into goal? I didn't see any other Mynavi's player touch the ball, so I have to suppose it's an own goal by GK Mamiko Matsumoto, but it anyway seem strange to me, because I've got the feeling that the ball would have gone in anyway, without her intervention (shouldn't this be the rule for own-goals? ). Edit: Kozue Ando still scores wonderful goals at age 39!
It can`t be an own goal by the goalkeeper. It must be that the Mynavi player No.4 has headed the ball towards the goal (or it was deflected from her back) and not the Urawa player No.3.
it has to be as you say, although, with only that angle and with the shadow in the part of the pitch where the action happened, I can't really manage to see a touch by #4 (Miyu Takahira, by the way, U-20 World Champion in 2018) no matter how many times I rewatch the video.
I can`t really see it either but watch the reaction of Urawa player No.3: Teammates want to gratulate her because they think she scored but she waives with her hands to signal that she was not the scorer.
Sad reality. Takarada was one of the most talented players in the Nadeshiko league and now she is "irrelevant" in the NWSL. The same happened to Yokoyama, Momiki... Even Iwabuchi still looks like a rotation player, she only starts games for Arsenal to rest someone for the Next big game... Literally happens every time... Hasegawa, instead of playing for a big team, plays for an average West Ham, which will end up just below the middle of the table... Kumagai move I didn't like as well... I just feel that this theory about "why Japanese players can't compete with European big names" proves itself again and again... That's why I wanted Hasegawa to play at least in a CL club... West Ham, what a waste of talent and time (with all respect to West Ham)...
I really am starting to think the NWSL is not a good place to go for Japanese players. Kawasumi and Nagasato are the only players are seeing success over there and I feel that's only because they play more like a typical NWSL players now. Yokoyama was starting to become irrelevant even in Japan before she went to the states so I am not very surprised but I really need Takarada to get the hell out of there. Things aren't so bad in Europe though. Mana is probably the most unfit she's ever been in her career excluding the times when she was actually out for injury. Just the fact that she couldn't play at least 45 minutes in every match at the Olympics shows that, given how vital she was to the team. Eidevall seems to know her well so I know she'll be used when she is most effective. Hasegawa's still in the process of making a name for herself. Her time will come. (Though there's also a problem of supply & Demand. How many small midfielders can succeed in Europe) To be honest I don't know much about Momiki or Hayashi these days but they seem to be building a good reputation for themselves in Sweden. The Nadeshiko league didn't have anyway of "advertising" their players to big clubs in Europe so Japanese players have been reliant on international matches to build a reputation for themselves. That was probably really hard to do under Takakura's NT where they kept.....losing. Maybe not ideal but also not as hopeless as you may think
By the way, did you watch the game of Arsenal vs West Ham? I'm a little bit surprised with Arsenal ladies' strength and accuracy of their passes.
So, with all do due respect for the team, we could start calling them Waste Ham! (Sorry for the pun ).
Not sure how many of you follow the WK-League thread, with @sbahnhof's regular updates, but for those who don't it's worth knowing that our good old Asuna Tanaka will play the final for the league-title. The semifinal of the play-off between Gyeongju KHNP and Suwon WFC was a thriller that ended on a 5-4 score and... two Tanakas were scoring in it . Asuna Tanaka, with a PK, started her team's comeback after they had gone behind by 0-2, while Mebae Tanaka (maybe @pierre bezukhov is missing her now for Nojima?) gave a lifeline to her team in injury time by scoring a late 4th goal at 90'. As you could probably see if you followed the link to the WK-League thread, the final will be played on two legs, on 16th and 19th of November.
Nojima could use her, but really I want Yoko back! There is a reason why that match ended at 5-4 and it is not for the attacking play. Takarada is a good player, but she is playing for a pretty good team, which is playing well, so it is always going to be difficult to break into the first team. But I agree she should perhaps look to move to a club that will give her more of a chance to play. Japanese players have to be a bit more selective about the teams they play for overseas in the future. They need to play for teams that play possession based football in order to thrive in my opinion. Japanese players are used to playing a certain way and the problem is many teams overseas do not play that way, so when they join some lower ranked team the system of football must be difficult to get used to. The problem is that their skills are not being utilized and in most cases they lack the physicality and speed to match it with a lot of foreign players. Players really need to research how teams play before they make the jump overseas. Yoko Tanaka is the best example of this. She is an incredibly skillful player, who is also very smart on the pitch, but slow. She played at Huelva for two seasons, and was played out of position for many games. But in the second half of her second season she established herself in central midfield which coincided with Huelva's rise up the table. It was fantastic and her fortunes also coincided with Huelva playing a much less direct style of football. She improved because the team also started to play a bit differently. The thing is though, early on in her first season you could see her wondering why everybody was standing so far a part and what she was supposed to do when she got the ball. She would get the ball, pass it to somebody and then watch them lose it immediately. Yoko was trying to bring players into the game with short passing and link up play but other players would just kick it to nobody or dribble into three defenders and lose the ball. It was exasperating to watch. However, she established herself at Huelva and then moved to Rayo Vallecano and pretty much the same thing is happening again. She has started at left back in two games! But Huelva wanted her to stay and she decided to move to Rayo, so she really only has herself to blame for her current situation.