AFC WOMEN'S CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 2019

In this article, Beleza's coach Nagata expresses the wish to get the chance to clash with OL and the rest of the world elite. As much unbeatable as OL can seem, I have to say that I'd greatly enjoy an OL-Beleza clash: Olympique Lyonnais-INAC Kobe Leonessa from about 7 years ago at the Mobcast Cup was one of the most exciting international club matches I've ever seen; back then, INAC was half Japanese World Champions (Sawa, Kawasumi, Ohno, Kinga, Sameshima, Kaihori, you name it...) with some elite international to spice things up (Beverly Yanez, Ji So-Yun) and, although OL had finally prevailed with a PK by Bompastor in extra-time (conceded by one of the few just average players of that star-studded INAC side, CB Junko Kai), the teams had seemed quite evenly matched and OL hadn't managed to break the game in regular time.

In the same article, I like how Precheur jr. (Jiangsu's coach) appreciated Beleza's technique, since I am a fan of technical football vs physical football too. (I am aware that there are people on these boards supporting the opposite approach ).

 

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Saturday, the end of the tournament:

Highlights : Melbourne Victory (AUS) vs Nippon TV Beleza (JPN)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhwZNT7AnRw


Two goals by Tabitha Chawinga, and Jiangsu finish 2nd:

Highlights : Jiangsu Suning (CHN) vs Incheon Red Angels (KOR)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol1cHC3cYEU


also an interview with Chawinga from Thursday

The Victory could look to the league of Guam for better team-names - presumably we'll see Guam's champions in the next AFC tournament. Tonight's match is a classic battle of technique vs physicality/diet:
Quality Distributors vs Heavy Hitters/Nutrition Mission Heat

 

the cool part is it's a 'stand alone' Japanese team, instead of the fair share of foreign 'mercs' that was so obvious from the other 3 teams(especially the strikers). But looking at Beleza's squad, all 17 players(highlighted in purple in the link) played for Japan NT. That should of given them a huge advantage in this tourney.
Nippon TV Beleza - Wikipedia
so yeah, if you got what seems like the entire NT out there, I can see them matching with most pro clubs in the world/
other impressions, Beleza didn't spring the surprise long balls(that was the NT\'s bread n butter during 2012-16 WCs),so hence, rather predictable tactics. Beleza had several 'hot shots' from the u20 WC champs(Endo, Ueki, Myagawa a few more?) but none of them looked really that phenom in their post youth efforts. Or at least to Germany's wonder pups recent perfromances(Oberdorf, Buhl, Gwinn) & the US same age, Davidson, Pugh, Marcario(though they didnt bother with u20/WC). So perhpas a little concern for Japan's future?

since your so much into the wacky world of Australian sports. meet arguably their most famous female athlete, Hannah Mounce(hint; at one time she/he was the enforcer of the their mens NT handball team

 

Well, yeah, NTV Beleza is some sort of "NT club", but actually it's made from NT members from very different eras, so it's not properly overlapping with Nadeshiko Japan Senior NT.

In the roster, there are some old glorious veterans from 2011-2015, although they're often injured these days and have started leaving Senior NT or being marginal to it: Saori Ariyoshi, Mizuho Sagaguchi, Azusa Iwashimizu (the two latter, by the way, weren't even brought in Korea for this tournament).

Then we have current Senior NT regular members, mostly in their mid-20s: Ayaka Yamashita, Risa Shimizu, Narumi Miura, Yui Hasegawa, Yuka Momiki, Mina Tanaka (who was though left out of WWC 2019). Recently, Rikako Kobayashi and Mayo Doko have being called by Takakura for camps or friendly matches.
Some of the girls in this group include players who were very successfull at youth level, including U-17 WWC 2014 champions.

In addition we have the U-20 World Champions from last year, that you mentioned:

Apart from Endo, Ueki and Miyagawa, that you listed above, there is also MF/FW Hinata Miyazawa (that I am not sure if you confused with DF/MF Asato Miyagawa, since Miyazawa played a lot more in this tournament, although mostly as a sub).

You said that U-20 players didn't impress yet at Senior level, but actually Jun Endo and Riko Ueki have become fixtures in Senior NT, although not yet in a stable starting role. Consider that Ueki, the most promising one of the bunch, was left out of WWC 2019's roster because of an injury, but I can definitely see her making an impact next year at Olympic Games at home.

Finally we have the "next generation", the U-19 members who were recenlty crowned AFC Asian Champions 2019 and who are going to represent Japan at next year's U-20 WWC, including MVP of the tournament, Oto Kanno, along with Wakabo Goto, Shino Matsuda and Sara Ito.

So, no, I'd say that there's quite a lot of talent down the pipeline and there's not much worry for the future of Japan nor of Beleza.

 

Well, with up to 6 clubs next year, I can imagine either

A) champs from same 4 nations as 2019 + WAFF rep + other regional rep
B) champs from same 4 nations as 2019 + defending champ + rest-of-Asia rep

The stats nerd in me is wondering how the ranking system will be structured...

 

That's a good point. I just hope they're smarter about it than UEFA was!