girafferunfast has already uploaded videos of the penalty shootout and the interviews of INAC players with awards ceremony. I really appreciate his acting so quickly after the match. Interesting that the interviews all seemed very subdued despite winning the tournament. Goebel-Yanez is seen wiping away her tears and So-Yun is emotional during her interview. Afterwards, Kawasumi wipes the tears from So-Yun's face. I even got a little misty seeing that. Even Kinga looked as if she had been crying. I suppose they realize this is the last time many of them will play together as a team, Beverly and S0-yun for for sure and possibly even Kawasumi and Kinga. Also, hope the Albirex team doesn't take this loss too hard. They played and amazing game, almost beating one of the best professional teams in the world. It could have gone either way and as KAPIJXM says, they should be proud of themselves. Also, thanks to unePomme for the detailed play-by-play early this morning (at least early for me).
I think my favorite part in all of this, is that Ms. McCarty has been absolutely invisible on this side of the world since she left, the tone of the reception of her departure being, as previously stated, "finally, she is gone." and no one has said anything since. Meanwhile, here she is becoming an integral part of this very interesting Niigata team and scoring goal left and righto propel the team to the Final, including three keys scores in the Final itself. I'm happy it worked out this way for her. Here's to hoping she decides to stay longer. I looked around and I found this video that has the goals from the march proper, for those who haven't seen them. Also, my heart goes out to Ms. Saito. I missed a penalty exactly like that once. Completely different circumstances, but to sold the 'keeper and then have the post hate you that much... hurts the same no matter the moment.
I don't want to throw an ice shower on you, but an_turtar, on his Full Bloom Guidebook, says that: "McCarty is due to return to the US following this game, the final match of her loan period and her contribution to Niigata's last ten games has been considerable". Although I had already seen Giraffe's goal scenes, your video had proper highlights and I much appreciate it! Edit: LOL at Junko Kai having a tantrum and stomping her feet on the ground after 1st goal, at about 4':04" of the video, in replay... Also, was #11 Sakina Hirai who made wonderful assist for McCarty's 2nd goal? I had never heard this girl's name...
Well, it was a loan so I guess it was obvious. Still, no reason she can't return at some point. I still think that Washington will want to get something out of their investment, but who really knows. The project didn't work for as long as it was on, she might feel inclined to return to a system she flourished in, if things sour quickly. I don't think things can get much worse from the fans here, but then again it is the internet...
It seems ages ago (because it was actually... pages ago ), but it was just yesterday when this exchange of posts happened between mumf and me. Now I checked the Ichitani/Koganemaru situation and it is an interesting one indeed, that I guess most of us overlooked... Do you think you know who's is the starter GK in Albirex? No? Well, it's probably because basically there wasn't one this season! Do you remember when, before London Olympics, Sasaki was alternating Kaihori with Fukumoto, apparently never deciding who was going to be the starter? Well, something similar happened with Ichitani and Koganemaru in Niigata in 2013: it doesn't matter if Ichitani wears jersey #1 and Koganemaru #21; basically they played the same number of official games (although Koganemaru played even slighlty more games than Ichitani, despite being #21). I checked on Full Bloom Guidebook (with the help of the JFA official site for just one game, the first of Empress' Cup, the only one when an_turtar hadn't cared about giving the full line-up) and it appears that these are the full stats of 2013 season: Tomoko Ichitani: 14 matches played (10 in Nadeshiko League, 1 in Nadeshiko League Cup, 3 in Empress' Cup) Sachie Koganemaru: 16 matches played (8 in Nadeshiko League, 7 in Nadeshiko League Cup, 1 in Empress' Cup) It looks like Koganemaru was the first choice GK for Nadeshiko League Cup (but Ichitani managed anyway to play one game), while Ichitani was the first choice for Empress' Cup (although Koganemaru played the first game, vs Takatsuki). In Nadeshiko League they were freely alternated, and you can't even say that there were likely injuries or long periods when one of them was preferred, because it happens quite often instead that there are strings of matches with a change of GK every week (Koganemaru, then Ichitani, then Koganemaru, then Ichitani again... Just like Sasaki used to do with Kaihori and Fukumoto in 2012): you can only say that there was a slight preference for Koganemaru at the beginning of the league and a slight preference for Ichitani towards the end of the league. But overall, Maiko Otomo's retirement created a very interesting situation in Albirex this year. Now, maybe, after this brilliant Empress' Cup, Ichitani could have finally won the starting spot over Koganemaru?
Ms. Koganemaru might have to do something big to top Ms. Ichitani next season. I kind of like the idea of equal play for both of them. For good or for ill, that sort of shuffle can really change gameplans. Oh and dude, how did I not know that this happened? You guys probably have known this since it happened, but... Sugawara Sayuri, Ms. Kawasumi... just beautiful...
I had seen the 1st video since early 2012, when it came out (at the time Nahomi still had the bobbed haircut from WWC 2011), and, interestingly, I found I still had it my collection (I stored links to all relevant video-files, all classified, in some folders on my PC): I said "interestingly" because obviously it wasn't one of the plenty links that were wiped away by the elimination of first Moukoko's account on YouTube. I hadn't the Vol.2 video in my collection, instead, although I've got the feeling that I had seen it too (but anyway I didn't remember the wonderful scene at the end, with Nahomi giving an high five to the little girl). I thank you very much for digging up for those "old-school" videos, BtR. (Nahomi's sweater has an early version of the "Road Runner" logo on it, "Road Runner" being the name of her own blog [and road run she did, in these videos! ]). When I first saw the video, in 2012, I still didn't know anything about Japanese language; now I know some little more and I noticed some things: when the director of the video is presented to Nahomi, they call him "kantoku"; so in Japanese "kantoku" can mean at the same time "coach" (as we mostly hear it used) and "director"? Also, at the end of a shot, I seem to hear him say "OK desu" ("it's OK"): so, like in Italian and many other languages, the english form OK is commonly used by natives?
I like the recent trend of playing final matches of important competitions in quite little stadiums, full to the brim of people and joy... We saw that before with Mobcast Cup, it was repeated with Empress' Cup: the Nack5 stadium's standings looked really well with all those people on them (an_turtar on Full Bloom Guidebook and Ken Suzuki on WSU agree about the figure of attendence, a more than respectable 3.901 supporters). I hope this becomes a trend in Nadeshiko League too, unless much people are expected for big matches or a women's match is played just before of after a men's team's match...
Despite these scenes, I guess at the moment the only official transfers are Becky at Portland and Bev at Seattle Reign... We still hadn't anything official not only from Kawasumi and Kinga, but from Ji So-Yun either: yesterday shlj (one of the more active members on the FA WSL's thread), posted a link to his blog, where he gives news about transfers in FA WSL, and Chelsea FC Ladies still appears having signed just Rachel Williams and Laura Bassett... So, we're going to see how things pan out. Menwhile, anyone who has news about the transfer season, please let all of us know!!! Anyway, should Nahomi Kawasumi really move to Seattle, TabascoT will have to live to his word, buy a season ticket and send to us wonderful reports, complete with photos and autographs, like many of us did from other places of the world! TabascoT, if a Nadeshiko finally comes to USA after all this time you campaigned for it, you'll have no excuses, no matter how far you live from the stadium where she will play!
Talking about Ji-So Yun... apart from winning multiple MVP prizes, she quietly raised to the top of the Empress' Cup's scorers' rankings: not sure if anyone here was aware. Final top-scorers' rankings from 2013 Empress' Cup have the following podium: 1) Ji So-Yun (INAC Kobe Leonessa)(6 goals in 4 matches, including 2 braces and 1 PK) 2) Megumi Takase (INAC Kobe Leonessa)(5 goals in 4 matches, including 2 braces and 1 PK) 3) Arisa Minamino (Kanto Gakuen University)(4 goals in 2 matches; she scored an hat-trick in the first round, basically eliminating Fujieda Junshin alone, and then one of the lonely two goals of her team in the 8-2 loss vs Kibi) Six players at 3 goals follow, including Tiffany McCarty, Kibi's Marin Hamamoto and Asuka Nishikawa, Vega's Sawako Yasumoto. Since in my files I wrote down all of the goals of Nadeshiko League, Nadeshiko League Cup, Mobcast Cup and Empress' Cup, before the end of the year I want to sum them up to get the overall top-scorers' rankings of 2013 Nadeshiko season (if an_turtar doesn't beat me at that, as usual... ). Probably Beverly Goebel-Yanez will top the overall rankings as she did with the League's rankings, but I am anyway curious about the general performances of a lot of high-profile players...
Oh, later I also want to give you final rankings from our collective goals-of-the-week votes (while I wait for mumf's last selection). It will be a quite long and crowded post, but I hope many won't mind giving a look to it. If someone likes the idea, we could choose goal-of-the-season from those goals-of-the-week. You could object that we should re-watch the videos to remember the goals, but (apart from the fact that I wouldn't mind re-watching some goals' digests during these holydays ) I could answer that if you don't remember some of the goals-of-the-week, well, then it means that they can't be goal-of-the-season for sure, or you would remember them! A goal competing for goal-of-the-season has to be memorable, so the rule is: "if you can't remember it, it can't be your choice!"
Well, I've just taken the time to watch the Empress Cup Final's 20 mins highlights. Seems it was a very exciting game... From what I saw — and being aware that 100 mins are missing... —, I will say this : - The first half seemed to be entirely in INAC's hands who had many opportunities through Ji, Nao, Bev but Niigita's defense was strong. - A big mistake in INAC's defense allowed McCarty to score against the current. 1-0 at H-T for Albirex seemed very lucky and undeserved for INAC.... But... in Football, you have to score if you want to win. That's what the Nadeshikos realistically taught Germany in 2011, Brazil and France in 2012... - On second half, Albirex didn't content itself to defend its avantage but attacked and created itself several good opportunities to do the break. INAC's defense (Kaihori apart) didn't seem very secure. Far from that. - Kinga's equalizer came when the game seemed closer to be 0-2 than 1-1. On this goal too there is a defense's big mistake, Albirex players being much too much passive and ill-positionned. And Kinga played cleverly. - After the equalizer and up to the end of the 90 mins-game, it seems that INAC took the control of the play again. - Ji So-yun's goal at the start of the extra-time, full of determination, is the consequence of another big mistake, this time from Ichitani. As we say in French, "Elle avait des gants en peau de lapin", sometimes "en peau de chat" (to wear gloves made of rabbitt (or cat) skin), that is a GK that let the ball slides from his/her hands. - In second part of E-T, Kamionobe would have deserved to see her beautiful long-distance shot going into the net instead of hitting the cross-bar. Too bad ! - McCarty's equalizer is just beautiful. All the action is, and her strike are perfect. Really a gem. - Maybe a penalty could have been called at 11'13, an Albirex's player being pushed from behind in the area and, in consequence, being unable to control the ball. Seeing that she had her back to INAC's goal and that one can't say that a goal opportunity was prevented, I would have called an indirect FK, actually. - But... 15 seconds later (the action went on), there was — to mho — a clear foul (and a penalty this time) against McCarty. For me, the foul is obvious and a pk and maybe a goal at this moment of the game with less than 3 minutes to go and a score of 3-2 would have changed everything of course. Had McCarty didn't try to shoot (but she couldn't do it properly because of the foul that unbalanced her), I suppose the referee would have called the pk. - The penalty shoot-out... Well, as we all know, it's 25% the shooter's talent, 25% the GK's talent, and 50% lottery... Kamionobe's strike was perfect, impossible to catch, just near the inside post... Ichitani's save from Bev's shot was really brilliant, as was Kaihori's... McCarty's was clever : she knew that if you want to be sure to score a pk against Kaihori, you have to shoot right in the middle and above the "middle" line, because Ayumi always dives on one side... Has anybody told Yamazaki that you must NEVER run bakwards just before shooting a pk ? Her shot was poor and Kaihori dived on the right side... Who could expect from Takase something else than a missile ? That's what she did... Saito's was a good one but she was very unlucky to hit the post while Ayumi was compltely on the other side... Kinga's was very "professionnal" , and Oishi's perfectly mastered... Of course, it was very symbolic that the last penalty, the winning one, was shot by INAC's captain, emblematic Kawasumi. She dit it with perfection, the same as Kinga's... - From what I saw — and, again, in those 20 mins highlights only — three players were really above and would have deserved to share the MVP award : Ji So-yun (small wonder), who actually got it, but also Tiffany McCarty, so brilliant and dangerous ! and Megumi Kamionobe, who looked like a second Ji on the field. That was my Xmas two-pence...
Sorry if this has already been discussed but what is McCarty's issue with her old team. Is she not liked in Washington for some reason? She seems to be a good fit with Albirex. She appeared to be emotional by the loss in the Empress Cup final.
Thank you very much for stopping by, Gromit. I guess they were quite precious for being just two pence! By the way, if anyone's wondering where he/she can find the 20 minutes highlights Gromit is talking about (because he/she couldn't locate them or hasn't bookmarked the YouTube channel that also gave other Empress' Cup matches' longer highlights to us), the video is here. By re-watching it, I had the impression that Bev Goebel-Yanez was actually quite slow and awkward in this match, compared to her standards. She looked tired; or was she just emotional for knowing that she was playing her last match in Kobe?
The video is also here (WSU) or there (Dailymotion) That's what I forgot to say, thanks for reminding it to me : the apparently poor game by Bev, particularly compared to McCarty who, I say it again, really impressed me a lot.
This will take some serious planning to make it from Texas to the matches in Seattle or Portland. Seattle vs Portland is becoming a big rivalry in the MLS that is spilling over to the NWSL. Hope Kawasumi is ready for the big rivalry game in front of 12K+ in Portland!! Interesting that the Thorns home record was not so good. Their explanation is that the big crowds gets the other teams fired up as they don't play in front of such crowds at home!! I did get a call for season tickets from the Thorns based on the one game I went to last year. Trouble is not $100 for the Season tickets, its the $700 in airfare from Texas for each match!!!! (Still no smileys. I stumped the dark knight with my issue!!)
Well, I guess considering that she was selected very high in the draft, the main criticisms against her seem to stem from her inability to perform at a high level during her time in Washington. Despite playing the majority of the matches from what I remember, she only scored two goals with a very low shot accuracy percentage. From what I read, she seems to have had a trouble with some "easy" shots, while being very offside-heavy and foul-prone. I've also seen criticism lodged against her for her lack of rhythm with her teammates, consistently giving away possession with stray passes and such. The numbers seem to back that perception up, but her play with Niigata says otherwise. It could be that the Spirit system doesn't suit her, or maybe she finally found her legs in Niigata. I guess we will find out. As an aside, the Spirit finally acknowledged the fact that Ms. McCarty still exists, tweeting about her performance in the Final yesterday. the first peep from the side of the globe in like four months, at least the first peep that wasn't us Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too! I hope everyone is having (or will have) a good one!
Yeesh, that's ugly for the wallet right there... what are you chances at catching any Houston Dash matches in the near future?
Hi Lechus7! and Merry Xmas + Happy New Year to you! Why don't you stop by here more often? How things go up there in Poland? Did you see that your Leonessas made the quadriplete (League + League Cup + Mobcast Cup + Empress' Cup)?
Today's unreliable rumors: Bracelona also seems to be offering a move to Kawasumi. Inac seems to be offering a move to Ohno.
Just watched the final. I just wanted to say Kamionobe was immense. We all know she's got that finesse that only certain players have, and I've always enjoyed watching her play - to just see her touches, they way she holds the ball, and passes etc. But she was showing different side of her usual game. She was all over the pitch battling for the ball. She didn't get much of the ball as expected, but she was the one who can make the difference when she got the ball. You could tell she really wanted this. She was captain fantastic. Shame we could never see her play in that central position in Nadeshiko...
My oppinion about Tiffany and Bev issue: It's simply because of opposition DF's physical strength. Obviously Kitahara is stronger and taller than Kai.
I just watched inac vs niigata game. It's a game to remember for a long time. THANKS Kaihori was a hero again. With both Kawasumi and Ji gone, there is no reason for me to support INAC anymore. Kawasumi and Ji are two brilliant and key players for INAC, they are exciting and entertaining to watch. Especially Kawasumi, her runs, her passes, her crosses, her ball controls, her scorings are so magnificent. I used to watch her goal scorings over and over again. Well, I wish her all the best on her new endeavor.