I think this could be the problem if we're talking about late J League games but for NT games it's least concern. Bigger one is how they're going to handle the masses of people and difficulties in transporting them.
Hopefully there won't be any problems in finding alternate venues if that is necessary. For example they could switch to the Toyota Stadium. I realise that it's not that easy since the clubs don't generally own their stadiums and it's short notice, but maybe they could find a way around it in the circumstances. For the rolling blackouts, will they affect the whole country or just the Kanto region? The news suggested that it would just be a regional thing, so they could switch the NT games to Nagoya or Kansai instead.
Props to the Japan FA for providing a timely confirmation on the status of the games, and for not calling them off. So let's just hope the situation normalizes and nothing else happens... that the games are played in solemn memory of the victims.
There really is no reason to hold these friendlies. If they insist on playing, I'd rather see them make-up the J-League matches on these dates.
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/soccer/news/2011/03/15/kiji/K20110315000429520.html Hasebe, Matsui & Kawashima planning a charity match for Euro-based players on 6 May
Montenegro's game is cancelled. http://fscg.co.me/201103151618/Vijesti-Selekcije/otkazana-utakmica-sa-japanom.html
New Zealand football maintains Tokyo is safe for the All Whites but the coach of the Japanese national side has left the country. Fearing the possible risk of contamination as Japan confronts a post-quake nuclear emergency, foreigners have been leaving the city and the Japan national coach Alberto Zaccheroni is among them. Zaccheroni and his staff flew home to Italy at the weekend saying their families were terribly worried and needed to be assured they were alright. No return date has been fixed. The All Whites are due to play Japan on March 29th four days after a match in China. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/sport...-going-to-japan-but-coach-not-sticking-around
So it looks like: MONTENEGRO - no NEW ZEALAND - undecided, but surely not at National Stadium (overall I'd say: UNLIKELY) COPA AMERICA - so far, YES, but not sure if J.Leaguers will be in squad
can anyone translate this? will it be in Tokyo? if everything is fine by June Im taking a trip down to Tokyo after I get back from this deployment.
If we were to play Copa America with an all-European team: GK: Kawashima, Hayashi? DF: Yoshida, Abe, Makino, Uchida, Nagatomo, Yasuda MF: Hasebe, Honda, Kagawa, Matsui, Hosogai, Ienaga FW: Morimoto, Yano, Miyaichi, Okazaki. That's a squad of 18. Could add Seto, Soma, Cullen for numbers if we need more people. Morimoto Miyaichi---Kagawa---Okazaki Hasebe---Honda Nagatomo---Yoshida---Makino---Uchida Kawashima Not a bad unit. Apparently with this friendly with Spain business, many many countries have offered to do a charity game with Japan and its pretty much the JFA's pick.
TOKYO (AP)—The Japanese Football Association has canceled a pair of friendlies against Montenegro and New Zealand because of the devastation in the country following last week’s earthquake and tsunami. The national football team had been scheduled to play Montenegro on March 25 in Shizuoka and New Zealand four days later in Tokyo. http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-japan-friendlies
The latest I've seen is that they want to hold a charity match vs NZ in Osaka and are waiting to hear from the NZ team for the go-ahead.
NZ withdraw from Japan friendly , also from a friendly in Osaka. http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/index.php?id=11&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=951&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=dd9ca99205
Honestly, somebody tell me how the leak at Fukushima can be a problem IN OSAKA, when an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945 left Kansai untouched...
Hahaha, I was preparing something like this for goal.com, as we agreed we need some "good news." It seems as you did it earlier and perhaps better than I would have done, I might have to quote you and give you credit!! Where is Hayashi, btw, still in Rumania?
You know, after leak the soil of Honshu will melt and the world will split in two, that's what media saying around the world with French and German experts confirming that it already happened. Kiwis are pretty smart.
Looks good, but I dont understand how you can put Miyaichi and Morimoto ahead of Ienaga in such a formation. Morimoto have done nothing that suggests he is even good enough for the NT-squad the last year or so, and both Kagawa, Honda and Okazaki can hold that single-striker role if needed. Even Yano (!) seems a better deal than Morimoto these days, as he atleast sees some playing time. Miyaichi have had a great first couple of games ( but against mostly low-quality teams keep in mind) , but Ienaga just finished what was probably his best ever season and he is getting closer and closer to a starting-spot in a La Liga club.