Comical defending by the Argentinians. The first penalty, although soft, probably was a pen. The second, no. But I guess if you spend most of your time in your opponents' box, you're going to get them. I enjoyed the Bangladesh game more, to be honest.
Norio Sasaki compared this Argentinian team to South Korea in the way they play. I think Korea would provide much more of a challenge if we play them. Which is confusing because I thought Argentina performed measurably better than South Korea at the World Cup. We also couldn’t beat them in 2019. Maybe the team are just that much better but I doubt it. How is it that most teams that come to Japan to play a friendly seem to be in horrible condition? The travel is long but it’s really a consistent issue with almost every team. Anyhow this it probably the kind of game you want to play when trying out a new system for the first time. Olympic qualifiers will be more of a test.
I don't know how much it weakened them, as I don't know the players themselves, but apparently they were missing players from Boca Juniors who has to play in the Copa Libertadores.
It was their first match after Banini's retirement from int'l football. She was Argentina's greatest talent so far.
And are they the world champions? Sorry, but, even I like the result and the play, it doesn't serve if then they can't capitalize at the big stage. Thank you for the correction, sometimes I am a little lost on my list, is not easy to maintain well updated a list of 12 teams at the same time. But is already updated, thanks again.
Looking for full match replay as I fell asleep after 5-0... Well... highlights will do for the moment On more serious note, do we know what was the attendance?
I think they did capitalize though, they performed better than most expected and proved that they’re back at that competitive level. The team seems more confident too. Do I think they will win a major tournament soon? Unlikely, but winning isn’t the only success in sport. Entertaining fans with their brand of football is certainly a type of success.
Saki is, most of them are in junior categories, the team historically is. Besides the style is remembered in football and so is the process.
45th Empress' Cup - Kansai region 24th Sept Semis Tezukayama Gakuin University vs Diablossa Takada FC Sohizo Osaka Gakugei High School vs Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences Diablossa Takada FC Sohizo (Nara) beat Cerezo U18 1-0 in the first round and Hinomoto Gakuen High School 3-0 in the second
Hi, @Dernhelm! If they don't invite Philippines, maybe we could meet in some Asian qualifier for something, someday!
Today's result: Nadeshiko League Nippatsu (Katayama, Kawano) 2-6 Nittaidai (Kitazawa 3, Shinoda, Tamura, Terao) Setagaya 0-0 Iga Nadeshiko League 2 Viama (Kakazu 2, Saito, Arima, Fukumaru, Okano, OG, Kawano) 8-0 NORD Mie (Kuwahara 2) 2-2 Belle (Araya, Yokoyama) Anclas (Yanagita) 1-0 DR Hiroshima
Nadeshiko Replacement Tournament - Ranking games OSA Rhea 2-0 D Izumo Imabari 1-0 Lilywolf Unfortunate for Lilywolf in their first year at this competition but the 3 that go to the shunting group have been at it for at least 3 years including this year so we should see at least 2 of these join D2 next season. I do wonder why Consadole attempt this though, experience maybe? This and the last 2 years they've played 8 games, scored 0, conceded 29. In this years 2 games they had 0 shots. -------------------------------- 45th Empress' Cup - Kansai region Osaka Gakugei High School 0-1 Osaka University of Physical Education Tezukayama Gakuin University 2-1 Diablosa Takata Tezukayama Gakuin Unis second goal was at 80+2. I was hoping we'd get to see Diablosa Takata at this years National Tournament since the greatly improved over last year where the went out in the first round of the Kansai competition. -------------------------------- Training match result Vonds Ichihara 0-6 Nagano
Nice to see Nadeshiko again, although Argentina did not seem a real opponent yet. Ueki playing for West Ham also surprised me pleasantly! Are we favourites for the Asian Games, despite playing the B team?
Nope. Well organized, top-tier teams most likely score against this Japan B team. China and South Korea are the favourites. Both are playing their usual senior NT squads, minus only a couple of overseas players. Japan's squad is a mix of players from the youth teams plus a few from the WE League. In a match against well-organised rivals who can easily handle the high tempo and pressure - the lack of chemistry of this team B will come to the surface. I suspect that the first problems may already appear in the match against Vietnam. Despite the advantage in possession, it may be hard for Japan to score. A win by only one or two goals: 2-0, 2-1 or 3-1 is quite likely. Of course, a lot depends on whether Vietnam will play at 100% or rather let the match go, saving their strength for the play-off round.
I don't know of the other teams, but this Japan B team has lots of future stars like Chiba, Nakashima, Tanikawa, etc. So I'm really looking forward to watching the game vs stronger Asian teams.