MLS vs. J-League

Discussion in 'MLS: General' started by Lolonearbyyolo, Apr 28, 2006.

  1. Bob Morocco

    Bob Morocco Member+

    Aug 11, 2003
    Billings, MT
    From the last Gambare highlight show it looks like attackers can stand still in the box with the ball at their feet without getting challenged. Also from the highlights the attacking looks strong and players aren't afraid to shoot but the defenses are a little lax and the goalkeeping is worse than MLS.
     
  2. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    In the last U.S. / Japan friendly (in San Francisco), I think it was mostly American MLS guys vs. Japanese J-League guys. I'm less certain about the latter, but my guess is that most of those guys play in the J-League. That game was pretty well dominated by the U.S.. Seemed like a good 70-80% of the match was played in the U.S. offensive half of the field. My impression was that the Japanese players didn't challenge nearly as hard for possession as the U.S. players did.

    Of course I don't know what percentage of J-League players are not Japanese nationals, so that may still not be all that good an indicator of the relative level of play between J-League and MLS.
     
  3. 352gialloblu

    352gialloblu New Member

    Jun 16, 2003
    England
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Agreed. Good attacking play and shooting, but defending isn't particularly good and the goalkeeping is awful, so it's hard to judge, really. Looks fairly entertaining, though, to be fair.
     
  4. chapulincolorado

    Jul 14, 1999
    McAllen, Texas
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    Yeah...you never know when the Yakusa might infiltrate our supporter groups? :rolleyes::D
     
  5. BBBulldog

    BBBulldog Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jun 25, 2004
    Dinamo Zagreb
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    That wouldn't be wildest thing I've heard security come up with (I'm not kidding :))
     
  6. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Using the same sample size, I'd have to say that DC United would finish in the top two or three in the EPL every season.
     
  7. Lolonearbyyolo

    Apr 17, 2006
    Section 138
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Excellent, now we are getting somewhere! Thanks Bob Morocco & JazzyJ.
     
  8. GutBomb

    GutBomb Red Card

    Aug 28, 2003
    Outside Boston
    you used to be a very respected member of this site, and your posts were well thought out. over the past year or so you've just turned into a dick. We appreciate your photos, but your attitude has taken a serious decline over the past year. i guess you missed in my original post "take that as you wish".

    unless you wished to take that as "J-League is better than MLS" then ignore this post.
     
  9. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Wait. So I show that a sample size of 5 or 7 games is insufficient to grade the relative strengths of leagues and that makes me a dick?

    Cry me a river.
     
  10. GutBomb

    GutBomb Red Card

    Aug 28, 2003
    Outside Boston
    no one was claiming it was. you implied that people were.
     
  11. numerista

    numerista New Member

    Mar 21, 2004
    MLS teams have a lot more foreign nationals, but some of the J-League's are high-quality. Another factor to consider is that the J-League has 18 teams, so its domestic national team talent is more spread out. To give an idea of how different the two leagues are ...

    2005 J-League Top Goalscorers

    R. G (P) Name [nationality] Club
    --------------------------------------------------
    1. 22 PAULINHO [BRA] Kyoto
    2. 21 (1) BARE [BRA] Kofu
    3. 18 (1) GLAUCIO [BRA] Fukuoka
    4. 17 Taro HASEGAWA Kofu
    17 (1) Tatsunori ARAI Tosu
    6. 15 (2) Michiaki KAKIMOTO Shonan
    15 ALEMAO [BRA] Kyoto
    15 (1) Takaaki SUZUKI Tosu
    9. 14 (2) BARON [BRA] Sendai
    10. 13 SCHWENCK [BRA] Sendai

    http://www.rsssf.com/tablesj/jpn05.html

    2005 MLS Top Goalscorers
    1. Taylor Twellman NE 17
    2. Jaime Moreno [BOL] DC 16 (but 9 were PKs)
    3T. Landon Donovan LA 12 (4 PKs)
    3T. Jeff Cunningham COL 12 (2 Pks)
    5T. Christian Gomez [ARG] DC 11
    5T. Herculez Gomez LA 11
    5T. Amado Guevara [HON] MET 11 (4 Pks)
    5T. Carlos Ruiz [GUA] DAL 11 (3 Pks)
    9T. Clint Dempsey NE 10
    9T. Youri Djorkaeff [FRA] MET 10 (2 Pks)

    As you can see, players put up much bigger numbers in Japan than they do in MLS ... and this is in spite of the fact that MLS plays a longer season (32 games to 30).
     
  12. chapulincolorado

    Jul 14, 1999
    McAllen, Texas
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    LOL.....here...Andy....

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Bluecat82

    Bluecat82 Member+

    Feb 24, 1999
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    From my observations the last several years...granted, they all come from watching Gambare...that the majority of teams in the J-League seem to have at least one Brazilian on them ...which probably caomes from having more cash to spend than MLS.

    My observation is that the general style of play in the J-League seems to be Brazilian (again, that's judging from a highlight show...I imagine that a little creative editing would make RSL look like Barca...ok, a lot of creative editing)...which the Japanese Federation seems to want to transfer to the national team...including the selection of Zico as head coach...and he's been there an awfully long time.

    Interesting that there seems to have been an influx of Argentine players into MLS the last several years, no?
     
  14. shuvy87

    shuvy87 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Oct 17, 2003
    USA
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    Yes it was all J.LEAUGE based players; however, that was one the horriblest games JNT played in a while. Japan usually plays 3-5-2 but the manager wanted to test 3-6-1 for the first time, and it failed 100%.
     
  15. RevsFunk

    RevsFunk New Member

    Jan 25, 2006
    Boston
    like people have said before, the J-league has a lot more cash to spend, and less major sports to compete with. In addition, the youth pop culture in japan has embraced the league.

    In terms of level of play, I think it is probably around the same as the MLS, but because of popularity and other factors, it is viewed as a better league. When I went to England 2 summers ago, Urawa red diamonds were playing in the pre-season vodaphone cup with Man U., Boca Juniors, and Benfica (not positive about Benfica). Though Urawa didn't do that well, they held their own, with a little more money invested MLS could well be playing on a higher level also.
     
  16. BBBulldog

    BBBulldog Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jun 25, 2004
    Dinamo Zagreb
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    which is where MLS should be pushing it more too
     
  17. Marchetti

    Marchetti Member

    Sep 23, 2004
    Chicago->STL->Denver
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Japan only has THREE professional sports leagues, making attendance and support at each game, for any team, much better than we expect in the States.

    1) Soccer
    2) Baseball
    3) Sumo
     
  18. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Asia League Ice Hockey
    http://www.alhockey.com/
     
  19. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    BJ (Basketball Japan) League
    http://www.bj-league.com/bj/Top.do
     
  20. shuvy87

    shuvy87 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Oct 17, 2003
    USA
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    Basketball, Ice Hockey, and Volleyball is still considered as minor leagues.

    I also want to point out that many J. League fans repects MLS in some aspects and one is that MLS clubs are building SSS.
     
  21. SoccerNova2009

    SoccerNova2009 New Member

    Aug 19, 2000
    probably at a bar
    Besides Sumo, other fighting sports are also very popular and draw big crowds (20K to 75K)

    Pride FC
    K-1
     
  22. HSEUPASSION

    HSEUPASSION New Member

    Apr 16, 2005
    Duck, NC
    Rugby has an ok following in Japan, so does auto racing. If you want to add it in as a sport, professional wrestling can draw large crowds too.
     
  23. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    I was responding to the word "professional" - I didn't see a qualifier stating "major league"
     
  24. striker

    striker Member+

    Aug 4, 1999
    I am no statistician. My guess is that 5 or 7 losses in 5 or 7 games is statistically significant. On the other hand, you can argue that teams did not necessarily play to win in these matches, and MLS and J League teams might be at different parts of their training cycles during these matches.
     
  25. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    Good to know. I thought the game was probably not reflective of the JNT in general, because frankly they didn't look very good. The strange thing is that despite all those JNT / J-League midfielders I thought the U.S. won the game in the midfield.
     

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