I guess we never knew exactly how things went. Yes, Nagasato refused Algarve Cup's call, but it sounded like a temporary thing back then. What happened exactly, after that? Takakura ruled her off because of that, as Manchester Nadeshiko (consistently) suggested? And then Yuki held the grudge to the point that she doesn't even mention Nadeshiko NT anymore in her social media? Or it was actually Yuki herself who slammed the door at NT for good, as #5nadeshikofan supposed? Kawasumi's situation is even more puzzling: yes, Takakura had clearly said she wanted to "cut" most of the oldest veterans, but she had anyway changed her mind after that in the case of Sameshima. I guess a coach should keep the door open for most of the players, younger and older alike, because you never know when the need could arise to call one who just had a stellar season or who seems to have the right features for a particular job in the team. I mean, Takakura in these two years called just anyone, including youngsters and players from obscure Division 2 teams or even University teams. But when you go in Seattle for a friendly match, you don't call the Japanese star of the local team, who incidentally just set a record of assists for NWSL . In this case also, we actually don't know if it's Takakura who stopped calling Kawasumi or if it's Naho who declined. Once again, #5nadeshikofam suggests this second theory, but in fact supporters are left in the dark about all this and are kept wondering... We don't know what happened and still happens behind the curtains, and we're probably never going to know (at least in the short term), but it's obvious that, in a supporters' forum, it's impossible that this isn't a subject of discussion. Especially given the mediocre results our NT posted lately.
Wow, Menina is out! And both games ended at PK shootout. It's surely true that these 4 teams were all quite equal in strength. We have to expect the final to also be decided by PKs? Now, Cerezo should seem like the favourite. But, before I risk forgetting Ichinose again, I would like to see her win!
In fact, Menina members are too young. Five of the starting line up are junior high school students; the scorer Hijikata is 13 years old.
Good news: You can watch tomorrow's third place match and final of Youth Championship on the net. http://www.jfa.jp/match/joc_womens_2017/tv.html
Before today's three games, I introduce the players who were called last year as Little and Young Nadeshiko candidates. Urawa #1 Fukuda #11 Ippoushi #18 Ohnishi #4 Takahashi Menina #6 Matsuda #3 Goto #4 Ito #7 Yamamoto #8 Kinoshita #11 Iwasaki #2 Ono #9 Ueki #10 KanNo Jef #4 Ohkuma #8 Nakao #9 Ohsawa #3 Ichinose Cerezo #21 Yamashita #34 Matsumoto #24 Tanaka #25 Yoshizumi #18 Tsutsui #3 Wakisaka #13 Yakata #11 Takarada Fujieda Junshin #18 Nagae #23 Nojima #25 Watanabe
Today's result (1): Youth Championship third place match Menina 3-0 Urawa Yamamoto, Iwasaki, Hijikata Menina completely overwhelmed Urawa.
High School Final...Junshin 2--0 HT 2nd goal....offside?? Unepomme......worth the 5am start....thought the crowd would be bigger.
Fair enough......it was very early in the morning (for me). Best team won.....thanks for the introduction to this annual piece of theatre. Have only managed to find bits and pieces on u tube in past. Following it from start to finnish was good.Thanks again.
Felt a little bad for the JEF player who made the winning penalty kick. The team rushes past her to pile on top of the goalkeeper. Though the GK was probably more instrumental in the victory with that one deflection.
Yes, you can enjoy these competitions when you are emotionally involved in some team apart from players' level. So it's not so fun only seeing the final. But I very enjoyed watching Menina's third place match. Fujieda Junshin scored 22 and lost zero; perfect victory. Next year I'm looking forward to the other teams' revenge, especially Hinomoto's. And because Osaka Gakugei (Cerezo related) was lots of first year grade players, it could become much stronger.
Aussie-W-League update: - Yesterday, Melbourne City-Perth Glory 3-0. An excellent result, propelling Melbourne City back at 3rd place (tied with Sydney FC). And, what's more important for us, Yukari Kinga assisted one goal and scored another. One would wonder if she couldn't still be NT material. Old veterans from 2011 never get too much "old". Judging from highlights, it was an one-traffic match, but let's not forget that Melbourne had lost to Perth at the beginning of the season: https://www.w-league.com.au/video/full-time-highlights-melbourne-city-v-perth-glory-0 Let's celebrate properly with Yukari! Get this pic : Coupe de France Féminine update: - Racing Besançon-Olympique Lyonnais 0-20. Ok, it was a team of youngsters from a regional league, who happened to meet OL on their way, but... For records, Saki Kumagai only played from 56' on (she replaced Henry, who was back from her title-winning NWSL season at Portland Thorns), and no, she didn't score any of the 20 goals, if you were wondering, although I won't list all of the scorers. Read them by yourselves, guys: http://www.olweb.fr/fr/article/cdf-...ntree-en-lice-face-a-besancon-0-20-33434.html Liga Femenina update: - On saturday the 6th, Real Betis won an apparently historical match vs Sevilla by 1-0, but Erina Yamane wasn't on the pitch nor on the bench. Injured? Still in Japan for some reason (not the camp, of course)?
Kinga... Nice picture....obviously works hard to keep in top physical condition ...as they say hereabouts "she's as fit as a cowboys horse"
Well, is the Sevilla "clásico", they have a very hard rivalry since almost 100 years, so, is not apparently, IS historical
Can anyone help... Been looking for a table of all the Takakura matches so far without success Been all over JFA (eng language) site to no avail..
Takakura's notebook: Fri 03/06/16 FRW United States 3 - 3 Japan First match - 70% vets in starting 11 Sun 05/06/16 FRW United States CANC Japan (2-0) cancelled (result stands) Thu 21/07/16 FRW Sweden 3 - 0 Japan Wed 01/03/17 ALC Japan 1 - 2 Spain Fri 03/03/17 ALC Japan 2 - 0 Iceland Mon 06/03/17 ALC Norway 0 - 2 Japan Wed 08/03/17 ALC Japan 2 - 3 Netherlands Sun 09/04/17 FRW Japan 3 - 0 Costa Rica First match played in Japan (!) Fri 09/06/17 FRW Netherlands 0 - 1 Japan 50% vets in starting 11 Tue 13/06/17 FRW Belgium 1 - 1 Japan Fri 28/07/17 TON Brazil 1 - 1 Japan Sun 30/07/17 TON Japan 2 - 4 Australia Fri 04/08/17 TON United States 3 - 0 Japan 30% vets in starting 11 Sun 22/10/17 FRW Japan 2 - 0 Switzerland Fri 24/11/17 FRW Jordan 0 - 2 Japan Fri 08/12/17 EEF Japan 3 - 2 Korea Republic Mon 11/12/17 EEF Japan 1 - 0 China PR Fri 15/12/17 EEF Japan 0 - 2 Korea DPR 30% vets in startin 11 W: 8 L: 7 D: 3
Yeah, but I don't expect any vets beeing called anytime soon. I think Takakura reign is do or die kind. Present team has enough to qualify for WWC so I doubt she will call any of old guard just for the sake of AFC Cup. Exception for Ariyoshi and perhaps Kawamura, others like Nagasato or Kawasumi may come in only as reserve players in case of a plague (multiple injuries) of Yokoyama, Tanka, Nakajima or Sakaguchi.
Moves in Nadeshiko League is going. I put only some famous players here. Sasaki Mayu (Mynavi - Urawa) Fujita Nozomi (Bell - Orca) Ikadai Risa (retired) Katrina Gorry(Mynavi - Brisbane) Caitlin Jade Foord (Mynavi - Sydney) Brittney Cameron (?) Yamazaki Marumi (Nagano - Jef) Tomari Shiho (Nagano - Overseas?) Nishikawa Asuka (Mynavi - Nagano) Nakamura Yushika (Chifure - Nagano) Michelle Pao (retired) Oyama Saki (retired) Kuno Fubuki (Iga - Nojima) Kakazu Asuka (Mynavi - Orca) Hirakawa AnNa (Shutoku high #9 - Nippatsu) Honda Yuka (Mynavi - Harima) Takigawa Yume (Tokiwagi - Nagano)