Official 2020 Nadeshiko Japan Thread [R] - なでしこジャパン（英語スレッド）

I've got plenty of time to post my weekly international update, this time, because I won't have to go to work tomorrow (there is a sort of quarantine in my area because of the corona-virus crisis); so let's travel around the world:

Aussie W-League:

- On Thursday, Melbourne City win an away game vs Western Sydney Wanderers by 0-4 and clinch the title of the regular season: this also means that they'll have the home advantage in the semifinal of play-offs. Frankly, they seem several levels above the rest of the field and I'd be quite surprised if they wouldn't end winning the play-offs once again. Kinga played the whole game.
Highlights (including an hint at the celebrations for the regular season title): https://www.w-league.com.au/video/w...-melbourne-city-highlights-westfield-w-league
Bonus: a short recap of Melbourne City's season so far, including a beautiful Yukari Kinga's goal from some weeks ago: https://www.w-league.com.au/video/premiers-melbourne-city-clinch-w-league-premiership-a-game-spare


Division 1 Féminine:

- Today, OL-Montpellier 5-0: if PSG had any hope that Montpellier could stop OL, they were crushed; By now, I'd say that what once was Rumi Utsugi's team is no more the third force of the league (replaced by Bordeaux) and can't compete anymore for a result with the likes of OL or PSG. Saki Kumagai started, got a Yellow Card at 3' (!) and was subbed-out at 66'.


Frauen-Bundesliga:

- here I have a question for the thread: @unepommekun, towards the end of 2019, gave the news to us that Hikaru Naomoto was going to get back to Urawa and Shiho Tomari to Nagano. No news about Natsuki Kishikawa, instead, unless I've missed them. Today, though, Division 2 resumed and BV Cloppenburg won an away game by 0-2 vs FSV Gütersloh without Kishikawa being anywhere to be seen on the pitch nor on the bench. Since she had always been a regular starter so far, I have to wonder if she didn't left the club too. The only other reason why she wasn't there should be an injury. If anyone knows more, please tell: if we'd discover that Kishikawa left Cloppenburg for some reason, we could scratch Frauen-Bundesliga from our international updates for good for the remainder of this season.


Liga Femenina:

- Espanyol-Sevilla 0-1. Espanyol had almost managed to gain one point; then, at 79', Ayaka Noguchi, who had started the game, was subbed out: 7 minutes later, at 86', Sevilla scored. Not that I want to suggest that a Japanese player on the pitch would have prevented that, but...

- The other teams with Japanese players in them were clashing against each other: Deportivo Abanca-Sporting Huelva 5-1 (oddly, they almost have the exact same jersey, with white and blue stripes, but Deportivo's are horizontal while Huelva's are vertical). Maya Yamamoto started, didn't score any of the goals and was subbed out at 67'. Yoko Tanaka was nowhere to be seen (still injured I suppose?).
Deportivo now back at 4th place (they caught up with Atheltic Bilbao); Sporting Huelva one-to-last , although level in points with two other teams.


Serie A Femminile:

- Since most women's league matches are played on Saturday, they managed to avoid the quarantine that started today: the league, though, will resume on 21st of March only. It could have been a very important match-day for Tavagnacco, since they were winning an away game in Empoli, and with an early goal by none other than our Shino Kunisawa! But Empoli equalized at 90'! Tavagnacco anyway gained one point over Verona (that lost by 0-4 to Juventus and are now 2 points ahead) and didn't lose any point to Pink Bari (that had a 2-2 draw vs Inter and remain 1 point ahead). both Kunisawa and Kato played the whole match.
It's a shame that, the day when our player scores, we apparently don't get any highlights. I can only point you to this article (in Italian) showing a picture of our player and claiming that she was regenerated by the arrival of a young new coach, Chiara Orlando, who moved her to the midfield from defense where she was deployed so far: a goal was the immediate reward.

 

Thank you very much: this confirms my suspects. So, from now on, I'll skip Frauen-Bundesliga in my international update posts, since we haven't any Japanese player anymore in the two first divisions, at least as far as I know. Should any Japanese player be signed by the start of 2020-2021 season, I'll go back including this league again.

Although I guess the times when a lot of prominent NT players as Saki Kumagai, Yuki Nagasato and Kozue Ando were playing in Germany are far behind and Frauen-Bundesliga has lost quite a lot of its attractive power.

Thanks, I hope we'll be ok soon! For my part I am healthy, not much worried and quite optimistic instead.

 

Thanks! So we even have another Japanese player in Frauen-Bundesliga's 1st Division (although 1FC Köln are currently deep in the relegation zone).

Do you know if these players are regular starters in their respective teams?

By the way, I am not sure where most of them come from: I suppose some went directly to Germany from University teams, without transitioniong through Nadeshiko League?

Edit: oh, and welcome to our boards, @Lohmann: I just noticed you joined today!

 

Well, that's why we're a well-informed bunch from all parts of the world.

 

Semi-off-topic:

a US player claims that USWNT reserves team is second best NT in the world.

Now, I am a sportsman and I have no problem admitting that USA are strong and most probably deserved their title, but it's not like they dominated all opposition at the WWC, apart from Thailand. The matches vs Sweden, Spain, France and England, and for an half also the final vs Netherlands, were quite close affairs and I am not sure at all that USWNT would have won them with their second-lines.

Now, I am aware that great numbers work against us, because one day it will fatally happen that a team will win back-to-back WWC and Olympics and the spell that prevented that so far will be broken, but this really looks like too much hubris from USA and I have to hope that it will find its retribution in Tokyo this summer.

 

Well Kobayashi's injury is very annoying, but I am glad that Ueki is in. At WWC 2019 she was out injured and we missed her potential contribution to our offense line. I probably already said that, but my opinion is that, if healthy, Ueki could be a key-player at Olympic Games.