Ranking Nadeshiko League 1 Top scorers 4 goals - Sugasawa (Urawa) 3 goals - Yakata (Cerezo), Minamino (Nojima), Tanaka (INAC) 2 goals - Ueki (Beleza), Narumiya (JEF), Iwabuchi (INAC), Michigami (Iga) Ranking Nadeshiko League 2 Top scorers 3 goals - Chiba (Harima) 2 goals - Murakami, Seno, Kashimoto (Setagaya), Tajima (Chifure), Kojima (Jumonji)
Was looking for Nadeshiko League Round 4 Digest, but I guess it will be uploaded later today. Meanwhile, while I was on Nadeshiko League Youtube website, I found a video with JEF players encouraging people to wash their hands! I must admit JEF's "prettiness factor" keeps being quite high: I would definitely listen to health advice, if coming from the likes of Yui Narumiya, Ami Ohtaki or Shoko Chino. Who's the player at the beginning of the video?
Ooh, does the "Wash Your Hands" song have alternate versions? Like they're Miles Davis or someone. On reflection, it's actually not the most annoying hand-washing song this year; there are many others. (Probably Vietnam had the best one) From the WK-League thread: It's OK, you can post stuff if you want. I haven't seen all the South Korean games yet, but the weather was crazy there again, and there were some Japanese goals. My favourite Haji photoshop so far was week 8, although I've no idea about the phrase "2nd circle"... circle of hell? I dunno.
The weekly Digest has been uploaded about an hour ago. Here it is: For what concerns my "Goal of the Week" choices, I'll anticipate that I don't like very much goals that needed big blunders or anyway the active collaboration of GKs and defenders: that's why I won't vote for direct goals Sakuma scored from FK and Suzuki from CK in Iga-Nojima; in the first case, the side where the shot went in was criminally uncovered, in the second case the GK just awkwardly slapped the CK-shot on the post and in. Having said that, my top three are: 1) Rikako Kobayashi in Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza vs Albirex Niigata Ladies (mostly for Hasegawa's nutmeg to Albirex DF, that let her enter the box undisturbed and cross: pure class. Anyway, Kobayashi's shot wasn't bad either. Of course, Albirex's defense had probably mentally broken down at that point, shaken by the first goal two minutes before, but Beleza's action was anyway neat). 2) Mina Tanaka in INAC Kobe Leonessa vs Mynavi Vegalta Sendai Ladies (the way she controlled the ball, turned into the box and slinged that shot to the far seven was awesome. Also, the long-range assist was quite good: was it by Takase? I sometimes wonder why she doesn't get any consideration for NT: ok, on the Right-Side we have a lock-in starter in Shimizu, but Takase is very versatile and could cover many different roles; she's a veteran, but she's not so old, after all, just 29, and looks perfectly fit). 3) As usual, my third choice is the most difficult one: i briefly considered Hamano (for her young age also) but the action didn't seem so stellar and benefitted from Ikeda's ill-advised coming off the box; Hamada's was quite good (even for the importance of equalizing INAC) but the defense let her too much space to score that one; in the end, my choice is Fuka Kono in Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza vs Albirex Niigata Ladies: the cross was quite low, but she managed anyway to head it with enough power and accuracy to score. I always liked Kono since the times of U-17 WWC 2014 and I hope she'll find a way to shine in Albirex this season (I assume she basically took Sayaka Oishi's place as her team offensive terminal). An observation: probably Cerezo could have even won by a bigger margin vs Urawa. Who was their player who missed the PK? I didn't manage to read her number.
I'm not sure, but she might've been chosen in Nadeshiko challenge members last year. And there is one more strong right side back candidate, Seike Kiko. She is faster than Takase.
Goal of the week contest. Choose three best goals from each round and award it with points: the best - 3pts 2nd best - 2pts 3rd best - 1pts 4th round highlights My pick: Hamada vs. INAC 3pts Tanaka vs. Vegalta 2pts Endo vs. Albirex 1pt Current standings: Tanaka........7pts Sakuma.......5pts Hamada..... 4pts Kobayashi...3pts Suzuki.........3pts Endo............1pt Kono............1pt voted by: blissett, unepommekun, KAPIJXM, Lechus7
Quite interesting that so far Tanaka's goal is leading the week, despite the fact that no-one of us has voted it at 1st place! Basically, no-one thinks it's the best one, but everyone likes it.
I believe it is Sara Imada. Well as you know they don't play for Beleza, so according to some people they should not be given a chance to play for Nadeshiko. I am also starting to like MIyake. I think Nadeshiko have a number of candidates at right back, but the problem is they already have a pretty solid right back. It is the easiest position on the field to play, but Shimizu plays it well for Beleza and Nadeshiko. She generally does not make mistakes too. But they have a lot of choices for covering her, which has often made me think that Shimizu could potentially play at centre-half. They of course do need a new left back. I have always liked Ushijima, but she seems to be injured. I don't think Nadeshiko are that bad defensively, but they could certainly improve. Yes they have made some defensive errors in the past, but a lot of their problems stem from passing the ball out of defence. If Nadeshiko miss passes in defence they tend to get punished and there is not a lot the defenders can do when it goes wrong. I get why Nadeshiko do it, but the players have to be on their game and good passers. The thing is though Beleza try to do this and they too are not very good at it sometimes. Watch the first half against Niigata and watch them lose the ball time and time again in their own half. I think what is more problematic is that one of the main culprits for missed passes under pressure was Nadeshiko regular Miura. One of her missed passes led to the first goal. Teams have been focusing on her since last season. She played much better in the second half though and that was partly due to Beleza moving the ball more quickly in midfield. They also did not get stuck in defence with the ball as much.
It sure look like her. And she contributes to JEF's "prettiness factor". Thanks! We still need you "Goal of the Week" selection, @pierre bezukhov! Edit: from JEF's website, I also like Sara Imada's autograph: she looks like a funny one!
Trivia....but am curious Mynavi v Ehime For dedicated followers of these teams... Aproximately how much would it cost fans to travel to the away fixtures. Looks like an 1800+ km round trip to me. (some Man City Ladies fans I know consider the round trip to London 550km a big deal)
Also, I seem to remember some videos from the past showing Ehime playing home games on a field lost in the woods with a breath-taking view of the sea (sorry but I can't seem to locate any of those videos ). Do I remember well? Anyway, I don't think they keep playing there in Division 1, do they?
If they were driving it would cost a around 35,000 yen return and take about twelve to fifteen hours one way. The train would cost about 60,000 yen return and take about eight hours one way. The plane from Osaka airport would take 70 minutes to Sendai and cost a lot, but if you knew the fixtures early (unlike this year) you could probably book early and get cheap tickets. Going by plane would possibly be the cheapest. You can get very good deals on planes in Japan, whereas the train prices never change.
Goal of the week.... Tanaka's was the best. Kobayashi's goal is next. Michigami was probably the best of the rest. Admittedly they Kobayashi and Michigami's goals were about the players that set them up.
60,000 yen and sixteen hours on a train.......WOW If my currency converter is correct that's a lot of dosh (and lot of time) Thanks for your trouble Pierre
Eriko Arakawa beat her own record for oldest goal scorer in Nadeshiko League. 1293836253364760577 is not a valid tweet id Top 5 1. Arakawa 40 years 284 days (Chifure) 2. Arakawa 38 years 363 days (Chifure) 3. Yamamoto 37 years 231 days (NIppatsu) 4. Ando 36 years 286 days (Urawa) 5. Yomokata 36 years 234 days (Yamato Sylphid)
I find very interesting that 3 out of 4 of the players in this chart (Eriko Arakawa, Emi Yamamoto and Kozue Ando) are still playing and nothing suggests they want to retire soon.
Wrong )) They should be given a chance to play for Nadeshiko and they will/do. The problem is, once they in training camp, they have to stay on their head to impress the head coach. I was playing myself, I know how those things are going. You have a core of Beleza players in training and you have newcomers, then here comes the ball and a whistle and everyone mixing in different teams start playing "Beleza style of football" in practice. Only strongest will survive ! ) Obviously players like Nakajima, Iwabuchi, Kumagai and some other most talented/experienced players can adapt quickly. Now imagine kids from Cerezo pushed to play against all those monsters, it's just not easy, not only because of a skill difference but just how mentally difficult it is. That's why not that many can survive. A fun conspiracy theory for you. Why do you think Jun Endo was called to the NT time after time before her transfer to Beleza? Obviously, she was talented but still very raw. Because her transfer to Beleza was agreed ages ago and NT head coach knew about it. She was getting experience at the NT while her adaptation to this style of football was coming as well. Same story with Tanaka departure from Beleza. Japanese federation counting on Olympic games success. Not only Tanaka wants to play at the Olympics, but the NT head coach also wants Kobayashi, Ueki and Endo to play regularly for their team. As you can imagine it's quite hard to play all of them in starting 11 for Beleza, so here you go. So, blame Ueki for Tanaka's departure lol This is why I like to follow football and analyze different aspects of this game/business. Always quite fascinating to watch ))