Official 2004 J.League Thread [R]

These comments, of course, are just based on rumour and speculation. Actual prices and salaries are never disclosed publicly so the "reports" in the sports tabloids are based on little more than "so-and-so said that so-and-so said that . . . ."

Based on personal experience, I know of two cases where the players themselves indicated that the figure released in the newspaper was about 25% off the mark (and since the actual figure would make the player more valuable in subsequent trades, I see no reason why they would lie about such a thing).

Nevertheless, it is clear that the Reds are determined to purchase a trophy or two this season. It will be very interesting to see what the team looks like in practice, when it already looks so formidable on paper.

 

350 million for maezono! lol, what a scam that turned into.

 

I keep forgetting that J-League salaries and transfer fees are all kept under wraps.

Speaking of rumors, there are talks about Vissel Kobe, who are now under new ownership, going after Rivaldo and Fujita. I'll believe when it happens, but I do appreciate that the new owner is (at least talking about) taking an aggressive approach.

Finally, from Nagoya's official site, Grampus have acquired Japan U-23 goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima. They already have Japan's #1, Seigo Narazaki so either they bought him to warm the bench or they expect Narazaki to go abroad?

 

Yep, that Rivaldo. Hochi is reporting that Kobe will offer him a "blank check". My guess is that it's mostly a rumor generated as a result of the new ownership.

The new owners of Vissel are Crimson Group, which operates Rakuten Ichiba, the largest internet shopping site in Japan and coincidentally, current sponsor of Tokyo Verdy.
Rakuten Inc. president, Hiroshi Mikitani is a Kobe native, which means he is a man of superior intellect and impeccable taste.

Also, it looks like Kazuyuki Toda is planning on a return to J-League after not receiving a satisfactory offer.
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/soccer/eusoccer/headlines/20040114-00000038-kyodo_sp-spo.html

 

Cerezo Osaka supporters?

Are there any out there?
I may be the only foreign season ticket holder
cheering on the Pink Wolves at Nagai Stadium
this year....

 

I'm going to be travelling in Japan in late March and am wondering, naturally, if it will be possible to drag my wife to a J-League game.

Can anybody recommend a good site in English for a fixture list, ticket info, etc.? (Is the league even playing that time of year?)

Thanks!

 

The good news is that the J-League season starts on March 13 and plays every Saturday/Sunday.
The bad news is that the last weekend of March is an international weekend and you get the first group matches of the Nabisco Cup, which is the 3rd most important competition in Japan and national team members will be away in Singapore.

Anyway, here is a rough schedule of events:
J1 (top division)
Sat-Sun, March 21-22 - Matchday 2
Sat March 27 - Nabisco Cup Matchday 1
J2
Sat, March 21 - Matchday 2
Sat, March 27 - Matchday 3

I haven't been able to find a schedule published anywhere but it should be available soon. The Rising Sun News is a good source of news.
For tickets, posters in Japan can better help you, though I think you can either get tickets at the gate or at convenience stores.

 

How good is their opposition in the ACL?

To get an idea of how busy the Marinos will be, here's the schedule of the Marinos and Japan NT, who will obviously call up a few Marinos players

2/7 Japan NT friendly vs Malaysia (H)
2/10 ACL vs Persik Kediri (H)
2/12 Japan NT friendly vs Iraq (H)
2/15 ACL vs Persik Kediri (A)
2/18 Japan NT Word Cup Qualifier vs Oman (H)
2/22 A3 vs Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (Shanghai)
2/25 A3 vs Shanghai Shenhua SVA (Shanghai)
2/28 A3 vs Shanghai International (Shanghai)
3/6 Xerox Super Cup vs Jubilo Iwata (Tokyo)

Remember, this is all before, the season starts. And this doesn't include the the 3 U-23 friendlies in February and the 6 Olympic qualifiers in March.
So full national teamers like Nakazawa may play up to 9 games and U-23 players Nasu and may play up to 10 games in 28 days.

Even without national team commitments, this is a tough pre-season schedule.

 

That's my mistake, sorry. I was reading a column on SportsNavi and the posted schedule was the one Yokohama was requesting the change to.

The actual schedule is as you said, vs Persik Kediri on 2/24 (H). According to nikkansports, Marinos will form two squads and send one to A3 and keep the other in Yokohama.

That's some really poor scheduling. Couldn't they have sent another team (Urawa? Iwata?) to the A3 championship?

 

I cant believe all this complaining.

OK, the schedule definitely is screwed up, but it certainly isnt the first time this has happened. The Marinos should just quit complaining and play the matches already. Thats what they get paid to do. I never heard Jubilo or the Antlers crying because they had to play two matches on the same day (and yes, it HAS happened before. And not just once, but many many times . . . )

 

I wasn't "complaining" from the Marinos' point of view. But the folks organizing the A3 Championship and ACL can't be too happy that both tournament will feature less than full strength Marinos squads, and A3 organizers must have known that they were going to conflict with the ACL

 

This may or may not be true. To be honest, the people scheduling the ACL probably have no problem with the idea that Japan might send an understrength team, since the majority of AFC staffers are either West or Southeast Asians.

My point, though, was that this happens every single year, as regular as clockwork. I never heard Jubilo Iwata or Kashima Antlers complain about the situation, even though they obviously were as unhappy as anyone else about the atrocious scheduling. The Marinos schedule is no worse than what has been the case every year for the past decade. If they cant beat a Vietnamese or Thai team in the ACL first round with their reserves, they DESERVE to be knocked out.

 

did stupid afc fix the stupid group stage format so that no longer only hosts can win the group like last year? anyway the acc is still a warm-up garbage tourney for the mighty japan's j-league. no one really gives rats ass about it even though meantime the asia cup finally started getting some attention by the mighty japan. the best compliment that i can give to this garbage cup is that any j-league sides participating in this sick tourney simply take advantage of having more time for warm-up at international level. the truth, however, is that j clubs will have to face many potential injury threats by under-skilled asian league sides and won't actually provide good warm-up at all. rather they have to waste their energy in order to protect themselves from vicious attempts by those minnows.

i think it's fair to say while japan sweep all the major competition in asia (asia cup, wcq, and olympic q), we should let other minnows have some feeling of consolation by letting them win a garbage tourney such as asian game and acc. but let's say if we play the acc in the middle of summer and then no minnows such as ipl, jia, k-league, saudi league or whatever will stand a chance against the j-league.

 

In a bit of news that should make female soccer fans in Japan happy, Turkish international Ilhan Mansiz has joined Vissel Kobe. You might remember Ilhan as the player whose popularity with the ladies eclipsed even that of David Beckham during the World Cup.

http://www.ssu.co.jp/ilhan/

 

why do we need a turkish? just fix a match with turkey and spank them so stupid people in japan finally will wake up

 

Can someone verify if this Turkey striker Ilhan Mansiz getting signed is a big of deal than the news report I saw says? They say he is almost as loved as Beckham...WHy?

 

Actuaully just saw another report today...appearantly it is becasue of the girls he is so popular and his little ponytail. whatever...sure he's a decent player, but, so are a lot of people who come to play football in Japan and they don't get anywhere near the publicity....so what happens when he's no longer a fad in Japan?