Is that Emi Yamamoto that was a member of Nadeshiko Japan team some years ago? I thought she had retired!!! And she even plays in Italy (although quite far from my home: Milano and Napoli are quite at the opposite ends of the nation). A testament to the (un-)popularity of women's football in Italy is the fact that I haven't known anything about that before reading this post and there was no trace of it in any media...
I saw it on some Italian pages, I don't think she played at the weekend. EDIT: she came on as a sub and scored I think. Here's a quiz related to the popularity question earlier. Rank the 2010 teams in order of average attendances. I've just worked out the stats for the season. Albirex Niigata AS Elfen Sayama Fukuoka J. Anclas Iga FC Kunoichi INAC Kobe Leonessa JEF United NTV Beleza Okayama Yunogo Belle TEPCO Mareeze Urawa Red Diamonds
By the way, it can be mildly interesting to notice that there is a recurring... "Yama" in Napoli's team! In fact, the club that now plays Emi YAMAmoto is sponsored by a famous italian underwear company called YAMAmay. The full name of the club, that plays in Serie A (first division), is in fact "Carpisa Yamamay Napoli CF" (it's currently 5th out of 16 in the 2012-2013 League, when quite all the first leg have been played). Maybe they expressely signed a player whose family name is according to the sponsor's name? Here I found an article on the club's site, talking about Yamamoto; its title is "First match with goal for Japanese Yamamoto" (she played for the first time in the second half of the 4-1 home win vs Lazio, on 22th of december). The article is just a report of the match, so I guess isn't worth to fully translate it for you: I'll just translate the parts about Yamamoto. It says that she replaced Caramia at the beginning of 2nd half and that she scored her team's 4th goal at 82' with a "Del Piero-like shot" (probably meaning a curved ball from the left-corner of the box to the upper right corner of the goal: what we could call a "Kawasumi-like shot" ), before Lazio scored its only goal at 90'+4. Coach Peppe Marino said: "I like how the new girls integrated with the team: they can give us a big help when the league will start again" (the league will stop until 5th of january for Christmas + New Year holidays); Emi Yamamoto was happy for her goal: "Finally I managed to be on the pitch, from now on I'll have to work hard to be ready and play match after match to reach the targets the club determined at the beginning of the season". Yamamoto's words seem to imply that there were some problems before she could be on the pitch, but I've got no idea which kind of problems could they be. I've got also no idea about what kind of "targets" the club has for the season. I don't think it can be winning the League, because there are at least 3-4 teams way stronger than them (Torres, Brescia, Tavagnacco, Verona); I also don't think they can have realistic ambitions of being second, to play Champions' Legue next season. But I'll admit I don't know much about Italy's women's League. I'll have to ask Gricio61, the Italian women's football expert on this forum, on the dedicated thread. Edit: I see an_turtar beat me about that, and he basically had it right about what was written on the article.
I guess I had some statistics about that somewhere, compared with 2011 results, but I can't find them... Anyway, considering that in 2010 current INAC stars were still playing in Beleza I guess NTV was the first team for attendance; i'll try to work starting from that: NTV Beleza Urawa Red Diamonds INAC Kobe Leonessa Albirex Niigata Okayama Yunogo Belle TEPCO Mareeze JEF United Ichihara Chiba Iga FC Kunoichi AS Elfen Sayama Fukuoka J Anclas By the way, considering Iga FC Kunoichi's and JEF United Chiba's performances in Empress' Cup, I ask again: what teams you think will be relegated next season? There is no obvious "weak team" for 2013, except maybe Speranza FC Osaka Takatsuki, but they keep saying that they are going to sign strong players... What do you all think? It's true that we're still far from knowing the exact line-ups and coaching staffs of the clubs for 2013 season, but if you should say the names of the two relegated teams right now, what would you say?
I see from the Carpisa Yamamay Napoly CF official site that Emi Yamamoto is "only" 30: so why she somehow fell from grace and we hadn't heard about her lately??? She was a member of the National Team, in the past years, but I never heard about her in the last 2 seasons. Maybe somebody had said that she had tried to go playing in USA with not much luck? I seem to remember that... For sure I remember a NT match (some friends here will help me to remember which match exactly it was): there was all the stadium chanting out loud for Japan, that was playing vs China (or North Korea) for some important tournament (or qualifier); Sawa was on the pitch with a bandage on her thigh, Arakawa and Otani had scored a goal each (or maybe Otani two goals) and the match had been a triumph for Nadeshiko Japan. Well, I remember that I had seen an old video of that match and that Emi Yamamoto had been absolutely outstanding on a wing-position. Why she completely disappeared, after that? She was even very pretty. Well, she still is, it seems: please, rep this message if you like this black-and-white Yamamoto's picture for Carpisa Yamamay Napoli FC official calendar for the season 2012-2013! (the name written on it is Emily Yamamoto! I guess the first name Emi was sounding too much odd to someone here in Italy, and he decided it had to be an abbreviation for Emily )
From red & black to black & blue... Wow. I hope it's Germany this time and not the US again. Frankfurt lack someone like her in midfield. Most teams do, of course. Wolfsburg don't have a Japanese player yet, so maybe they feel left out and want her. Poor Belle, they won't get close to 3rd place without Aya. I think I posted this some years ago in this thread: Anyone recognize anyone besides her in this "All-Star Team"? Wild guess: 1. Urawa Red Diamonds 2. NTV Beleza (big gap) 3. TEPCO Mareeze 4. Okayama Yunogo Belle 5. Albirex Niigata 6. INAC Kobe Leonessa 7. JEF United 8. AS Elfen Sayama 9. Fukuoka J. Anclas 10. Iga FC Kunoichi
The only one I recognize for sure is new INAC's coach (and assistant coach for the past season) Ishihara (with a lot more hair ). If there were other recognizable girls, it was too fast and little for me to tell them. Thanks a lot for the video, And G; Yamamoto looks really cute, and she can even speak some english! Not really "great" english, but, thinking at what we were saying some days ago about English proficiency in Japanese football it sounds even decent to me. And G, you surely know what match I was talking about in the post above, and when it was?
I have the strong hope that there won't be teams that are clearly separated from the rest. This year, there were 10 points difference between AS Elfen (best relegated team) and the Kunoichi (bottom of the "better" teams) and I don't see anything like that happening again. Three predictions: The point difference between #10 (last) and #8 (out of relegation) will be 3 points or less. The bottom 5 teams will be Niigata, JEF, Iga, Takatsuki, and Takahashi; the point difference between those teams will be 8 points or less. The last team will get at least 15 points. I also see Vegalta and (if they lose Miyama) Belle sitting behind the top teams, but comfortably in front of the bottom teams on places 4 and 5. I'd also say INAC wouldn't get a 15-point lead on Beleza again even if they kept their top players, and with some of them leaving it will be even closer. Very, very wild prediction for the 2013 season: 36 - INAC 33 - Beleza 31 - Reds 26 - Belle 25 - Vegalta 21 - JEF 20 - Albirex 18 - Takatsuki 18 - Takahashi 16 - Iga You know how my predictions always come true, right?
Lol, yes, we know! Although your predictions could be quite sound this time: I guess I could disagree just about details... And it's a shame that 2 of these teams have to be relegated next season, because they look all strong to me. I secretely hope for en expansion to 12 teams and no relegations... Beware of an_turtar, And G!
Sorry, no idea. In fact I may have never seen that match. If you find any videos, please post them. I forgot to add that Takahashi will of course win their relegation playoffs and also the 2014 season.
I can't even express how happy I am for the fact that we finally have a Japanese player in the Italian League; Napoli is quite far from my home (quite like having to go in Hokkaido for Japanese friends , only in the opposite direction, from north to south ). I never use to go watching matches of the Italian women's league, but if Emi is coming to play a match here in the north (vs Brescia or Verona, for instance) I could consider going to the stadium. A pretty Japanese player is enough of a motivation for me. I could ask for her autograph and she would be surprised! There is also a video from the calendar that I was talking about, and you can check it out here; Emi Yamamoto can be seen only once, little after the beginning of the video, but it's a beautiful close-up, similar to the photo above. The making of the calendar, called "Love for Woman", is a Christmas charity event to raise funds for an association that supports women in the society and fights discrimination and sexism. I found an article about the signing of Emi Yamamoto: it says that "it was some months that Emi was training with Napoli Carpisa Yamamay" and "finally the manager Italo Palmieri managed to conclude her signing". The article doesn't explain why she was signed so late, since it was some months that she was training in Italy, but there was probably some problems (with her previous US club, maybe? ), as underlined by that adverb "finally", that returns in her interview after saturday's match ("finally I can be on the pitch"). Anyway, everyone seems to be happy that she now can play: manager Italo Palmieri says that coach Peppe Marino "knows her well and appreciates her, after she trained with the team for months" and he adds that Yamamoto "is a quality midfielder, who plays like Pirlo and can make us step up a level". It's a shame that I live quite far from Napoli, because the article also says that the club doesn't charge any price for the home matches: I am not sure if clubs in the north do the same. I hope so, so I can go watching Emi play in Brescia, or Como or Torino.
Ohno is going to move to Lyon. "..they already reach an agreement. She will go to France next month and sign after medical check.." Nikkan-sports
People, I am excited: often we can see posted on this thread videos involving Japanese players coming from German Frauen-Bundesliga, French Division 1 Féminine, USA old and news leagues... Well, for the first time on this thread, I guess, we can enjoy video highlights with a Japanese player from Italian Serie A Femminile! I found a video of Carpisa Yamamay Napoli vs. Lazio: forget the fancy background music, the zooms and the camera angles, the overcrowded attendances... Hey, it's Italian league! we have still a long way to go... But you can enjoy Yamamoto's goal (nice, but now that I can see it I wonder what has to do with Del Piero, as it was said in the article ) and (drums! ) an actual interview with Emi, who speaks english (and way better than 2 years ago! ).
WOW! So they really did like her in the Mobcast Cup final? Now the OL forward line looks quite crowded: Schelin, Thomis, Le Sommer, Tonazzi, Otaki... and now Ohno. Unless they play her in the midfield. Actually as much crowded with Abily, Nécib, Dickenmann, Franco... Seriously, I hope she'll get as much playing time as she deserves. For sure OL signed a great international star. And Ohno was serious about wanting to play in Europe. It's a shame that Kinga won't probably have the same chance (unless she tries it next year, after she'll recover from injury). So INAC will indeed have to start next season without Ohno and Kinga. Now I wonder again about the Americans Becky and Bev. And I also ask myself if there couldn't be some kind of exchange between OL and INAC: since we can see how much crowded OL roster is going to be, is it impossible to think that some French star could leave OL and come to play in INAC at Ohno's place? It would be a great thing.
Emi Yamamoto in Saturday's match (for records, Napoli normally plays in light blue, like the Napoli men's team [that's a completely different club, though; women's club is not affiliated with it]; since Lazio has the same jersey, they wore red):
That's not a bad guess. Here's the actual ranking, with average attendances, followed by this year's average attendances: Urawa Red Diamonds - 1700 (2542) TEPCO Mareeze - 1644 (2960 as Vegalta Sendai) NTV Beleza - 942 (4250) Okayama Yunogo Belle - 935 (3403) Fukuoka J. Anclas - 926 (894) Albirex Niigata - 908 (2021) AS Elfen Sayama - 686 (1212) INAC Kobe Leonessa - 582 (6300) Iga FC Kunoichi - 406 (1512) JEF United - 390 (1176) The best attended game was Mareeze's home game against Fukuoka (4,254), while the title decider between Urawa and Beleza was close to that, with 4,012. There's a big drop after that to 2,117, which was for Fukuoka at home to JEF United. The worst attended game was INAC's home game against Niigata (210).
It's a qualifier for Athene 2004, against North Korea (3-0) in the National Stadium; attendance 35,000.
I don't think anyone would be surprised if it ended something like that, though with many exciting moves to come we'll have to wait. I think right now the league is figuring out what to do about maybe increasing the number of teams to twelve. 16 teams in the Challenge League is too many, and the solution of dividing them up based on last season... is that going to happen every year? So in one year Hoyo play two local derbies against Kagoshima and the following year only one, and they have to travel to somewhere like Sendai instead? It looks like their plan was maybe to increase the Challenge League team numbers to give themselves the option in the future of easily increasing the Nadeshiko League team numbers. But we don't know how promotion will work either, they have to work out a scheme for playoffs, maybe between the sides finishing top in the two sections or something. FC Takahashi will survive no problem, as long as they keep wearing their Bart Simpson t-shirts.
Nobody like Kiddy Saki to put you back to good health Her beautiful header in the Sawa's friendly Xmas match (take note that she already scored a header some minutes before on Miyama's FK but she was slightly off-side)
Great news! About a year ago, she was on Foot&Brain show and she said one day she wants to coach Nadeshiko. I hope she does well with little Nadeshiko to build the platform to become one. She formed the golden era of Beleza along with Noda and she has the stature and respect from the current players. It's up to her to prove herself now.
Yep, it was a make or break match for women's football in Japan. Many considered women's game could have disappeared in Japan, had they lost the match.
The always marvellous Waseda Sports has an interview with Otaki Ami ahead of their opening Inkare game tomorrow. She was also interviewed before moving to France.
Asano Tetsuya has been confirmed as Iga manager. Ono Maya, Fujimoto Ayano and Takeda Yuki have left the Kunoichi.