Official 2005 J.League Thread [R] - part I

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

I can't believe this. They sent off Iwamasa again. And according to Rising Sun News it was BS again. I really want to see these calls for myself, because it seems like the refs are taking them right out of first.

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Allow me to LITERALLY be the devil's advocate and bring up the topic of match fixing. Antlers had appeared to be the runaway favorites for the title early on, and they had a nice cushion. Now all of a sudden they have a narrow lead. True, perfomances are up to the players, but lately (and we're talking in the past couple of years) the refs have had a hand in plenty of crucial matches.

Now comes the conspiracy theory. What role does gambling play in J-league soccer? I'm sure the Japanese would find it taboo to even think of such a thing as match fixing, but based on consistent (or rather inconsistent) officiating, one often wonders how loud money talks. It's a no brainer, some supporters in Japan have focused their eyes to the European leagues, seeing that the domestic product hasn't lived up to par, again possibly due to horrid officiating. And SO, with no split season titles to aim for, one long full season has to be made more exciting, especially down the stretch, RIGHT?? Having a chamipon decided with have a season left is a no no, right?? I mean, if Kashima had such a huge lead, there could be fans withdrawing from matches, seeing that their own side would be all but eliminated from any signs of hope for the title. So what would you do to alleviate that possibility?? "Make" matches a little more interesting, intriguing, and dramatic.

Again I'm being hypothetical, but at some point, match fixing (by the league, TV stations, officials, or yes, even the Yakuza) has to be put into this equation.

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

What, do you have horns and a forked tail and everything?

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Hi all. Two really trivial questions. A couple of weeks ago I was in the middle of a two week trip to Japan, seeing as much as I could without spreading myself so thinly that I'd have 28 seconds in each place before moving on (loved the place, by the way, possibly my favourite trip away). On the middle Saturday I was in Kyoto and decided to go and see Kyoto Purple Sanga play. Apart from the odd lull I enjoyed the game, and was impressed with not only the players running around so much in that heat and humidity, but also the fans at one end of the ground who spent the entire game jumping up and down and singing - I was breaking out into a sweat just watching them (actually, being not used to that kind of weather I was breaking out into a sweat with the effort of blinking, but that's a different story). The thing was, walking down the road towards Gion the previous night, I stumbled across a sports shop which in keeping with the number Kyoto Purple Sanga flags which lined the city centre's streets, had a fair collection of Kyoto Purple Sanga shirts in stock. I liked them, especially the away shirt, with the clincher being that Kyoto Purple Sanga have the same shirt sponsor as my team, Reading, so I bought one. When I get to the game, however, I begin to notice a distinct absence of similar away shirts. Home shirts by their thousands - but not a single away shirt. So tell me, do fans in Japan just never wear away shirts to home games? Is the style just really unpopular? By wearing the away shirt have I transgressed some Japanese tradition about football shirt ettiquette, somehow overlooked in the Rough Guide, and brought shame upon all those sitting near me in "S" section (or whatever section it was - I might be able to read Katakana, very slowly, but I was all but illiterate where my ticket was concerned).

Secondly, having taken the trouble to learn Katakana (not that it was huge amount of use, other than for identifying drinks in vending machines) it became apparent that there are certain letters than can't be said in Japanese - so why did the people who named Japan's clubs seemingly go out of their way to use as many unpronounceable western letters as possible? Purple Sanga is bad enough, but Vissel Kobe? At least purple means something - where does Vissel come from?


Anyway that's it. Any answers would be much appreciated.

oh, one other thing. When I was in Tokyo I went up the Tokyo Tower. At the top observation deck there are murals showing the skyline on a clear day with inscriptions saying what all the highlighted buildings/parks/mountains etc are. All very good, but next to those, presumably saying the same thing, are braille inscriptions for the blind. All very considerate, but why exactly would a blind person pay to go up an observation tower?

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

No, it was a figure of speech.

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Hi RichardL, I got a few good chuckles out of your post, thanks for that on this droopy Monday afternoon!

I don't think there's anything wrong with wearing an away shirt, not to worry! Just that it's a matter of color -- to create the effect of the solid club color presence. So people who go to the supporter section (behind the goal) will wear the colors (something similar, so it blends in with everyone else from a distance), even if they don't have the replica jerseys on. I don't think they wear away shirts to away games either.

Vissel comes from Victory+Vessel... a "launching forth of victory"...something to that effect. As for being unable to pronounce certain letters, well, it doesn't matter! As long as it sounds "cool" even with the Japanese pronounciation and has a symbolism that agrees with those who had the responsibility of coming up with it. Japanese are so used to using borrowed words that we're beyond the "can we pronounce it exactly like it should be?" point.

Here's a funny story -- when I saw my first football game with Japanese commentary, the commentator said "saDONdes" (the emphasis on the capital letters) a couple time. I was wondering, what the heck is sadondes??? I thought maybe it was portuguese or something. And then it dawned on me that they were saying "Sudden Death".

As for the braille and the Tokyo tower...well, um. Ya got me there! The only thing I can think of is that there may be some sort of requirement to have all things in writing also labeled in braille in public places like that...

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

damn j league jerseys! cost a lot!

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Hilarious post, Thoma Gol.

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

True, but if we say China for ex. Great players like Zheng Zhi should've gone to Europe, it would only make him better. I were really dissapointed when neither of Southampton or Hertha Berlin signed him. But i can understand what you mean.

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Nabisco cup Semis are today Urawa plays JEF Chiba and Gamba goes up against Yokohama FMarinos.................I'm going to predict Urawa wins 2-1 and Gamba wins 4-1 unless Yokohama gets the same refs as they did in the Omiya quarters..........that would change the score to 2-2.

No TV for the games, of course...........I guess they don't want to preempt the panel discussion shows and wacky hijinks

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Gamba 1-0 Yokohama FT
HAHAHAHAHAHA

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Just heard this but it Miyamoto Rejected an offer to go to Treviso in Serie A and So did Naohiro Ishikawa hahahahaha J League is the best, were finally keeping our players

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Good! I want Yokohama and Kashima and Shimizu to all go to hell.

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Why do you hate them so much

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

hello japanese friends....any jubilo iwata fans how is kim jin kyu and choi yong soo playing?? and what bout lee kang jin in tokyo verdy? and cho jae jin and choi tae uk in shimizu?? thanks

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Cause I'm a Jubilo fan. I hate them, they hate me, we are one disfunctional family!

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Jubilo fan here, I think Kim has been doing pretty well, but I haven't seen much from Choi. I haven't checked much but it seems Jubilo likes having Cullen and Maeda playing striker when I was in Japan. Lately they have been rotating Maeda, Cullen, and Choi, with Nakayama coming off the bench at the forward position.

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

thanks watanabe......cullen is the half white half japanese guy rite? maybe i saw him on the wrong day but last time i saw him play he never really impressed me....and looks like choi yong soo's days are over....and nakayama is still playing?!

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Some days Cullen is on some days he is............. In fact that is the way with most of Jubilo's strikers. And yes, Gon is still playing, I think he is trying to out last Nanami, even though he really should start thinking of retiring.

I think Maeda and Cullen, if Jubilo can hold onto them, will prove to be an amazing striking group in about 3-4 years.

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Be careful for what you ask for, because YOU just might get it

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

watanabe how do you watch j-league any streams??

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

I just thought about something which may or may not the single most stupid thing said of all time but i've noticed more quilitys of a midfielder in Takayuki Suzuki than a striker and since he can't score for ******** (2 all season and 1 was a pen) why don't kashima try Playing him in midfield role sort off like what alex ferguson's done for Alan Smith (striker trying to be midfielder)
Any thoughts

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

Keiji Tamada just scored 2 in 8 minuites for Reysol, good signs,
4-1 Kashiwa against FC Tokyo about 35 mins left

 

Re: 2005 J-League Thread [R]

urawa equilize with Kashima IN LAST MINUITS, GAMBA COULD GO TOP!!!!!!