Official 2024 Nadeshiko Japan Thread [R] - なでしこジャパン（英語スレッド）

WE League Cup

H.T....Regina 2-0 Reds
Regina under seige for most of first half but breakaway goal from Yoshino at 22 mins and Mami Ueno taking advantage of some loose goalkeeping at 35 min mean they lead at HT

(Live footie at 3am..madness)

 

Ikeda in Urawa's goal had an awful 45min... she gambled on a first goal and lost, and then gifted Hiroshima with the second. Urawa's problems go beyond this though. The Reds look pretty much still quite disjointed... oh, athletic prowess is there but the tactical plan has become very transparent.
I wonder if perhaps Kusunose has nothing more left to offer?

btw one more goal and Hiroshima will take revenge for men's game between this two clubs, won by Urawa 3-0 last month.

 

Urawa pulled one back. Hiroshima defenders fell asleep, lots of ball watching...

 

78 mins
Regina 2-2 Reds

Bit of a predictable eventuality the way the game was going
Dont know whether can cope with ET at this time in the a.m.

 

imho Takahashi was clearly offside... but officiating wasn't good for the whole game so no surprise here I guess...

 

WE League Cup Semi

F.T.....Regina 2-2 Reds.....ET to follow

(Not seen Urawa for ages..forgotten how 'physical' they are)

 

Hiroshima again takes the lead in 119th min... and wins the match at the death

 

WE League Cup Semi

F.T...AET...Regina 3-2 Reds

So...as far as I am concerned there really is a Santa Claus

 

But apparently his generosity doesn't reach as far as Ehime

 

Sundays Empress' Cup - 4th round results - pt 1 (morning kick off games)

Viama (Terada 13,Yamamoto 23/120+1) 3aet2 Setagaya (Kaneko 5, Kashiwabara 66pen)
Belle (Taniguchi 11 ,Yokoyama 14/39, Kakoi 65, Kondo 71) 5-2 Ehime (Sakurai 5, Mori 42)

Viama to play Omiya and Belle to play Nojima in next weeks 5th round.

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KLSL Division 1/2 Promotion/Relegation

Waseda Uni 6-1 FC Machida Zelvia

 

Sundays Empress' Cup - 4th round results - pt 2 (afternoon kick off games)

Ichihara (Sakuraba 45/64) 2-1 Shizuoka (Nakajima 78)
Nagoya (Ezaki 12) 1-0 Iga

Ichihara to play Regina and Nagoya to play Albi next week, 5th round.

 

Today's result:

WE League Cup semifinal

Regina (Nakashima, Ueno, Takahashi) 2-2 (at 1-0) Urawa (Takahashi 2)
Inac (Moriya) 1-0 Albi

 

No real surprise in the top 10. Shaw and Horan a bit too overrated in my opinion and I expected Caicedo, Pajor and Patri to be a bit higher.
I also don't understand how Miyazawa made the top 100 this year.
I would have put Tanikawa higher than Kumagai

From the Guardian :

Kilo Seine?! an youngster!?! She's already 28!

 

I hate to blame the loss on one player but Ikeda clearly gave the win to Regina today.Regina had only 7 shots but she made 3 mistakes resulting in 3 goals conceded.

 

Miyazawa started for Man U today. She played as.... holding midfielder. I think it may become her usual position in 2nd part of the season.
By the way Ueki already plays centrally as CAM behind two strikers (she was involved in 3 out of 5 West Ham goals today).
Seike scored vs. Chelsea. I hope she will stay in Brighton because in Arsenal (most likely club to call her next season) she will be instantly moved to central midfeld.

uh... I almost expect Taylor to move Yamashita as holding mid next season.. in that all important double pivot role with Hasegawa.

 

As for the first goal, as Ikeda also had to prepare for a cross ball, it would've been hard to stop it. The percentage of which Nakashima would choose was even or maybe more.

 

Hinata Miyazawa played 83 minutes for ManU against Liverpool of Fuka Nagano (whole match).

 

Kiko Seike played 86' and scored for Brighton at Chelsea of Maika Hamano who spent game on the bench.

 

Riko Ueki played whole match for Westham against Crystal Palace.

 

Aoba Fujino played whole match, Yui Hasegawa 74 minutes, while Ayaka Yamashita was benched for ManCity against Leicester of Yuka Momiki (whole match) and Saori Takarada (81 minutes).

 

To be fair to Manchester United, Miyazawa is a very versatile player and at times for Sendai she played quite deep as a box-to-box midfielder.

I am wondering when a European or an American team will start using actual central midfielders from Japan. Kinoshita and Wakisaka would be the two I would go after if I were a team looking for a box-to-box midfielder.

I do think that part of the reason why Japanese players get moved centrally is because they are not as fast as other players, but they are technically superior and are tactically very aware. Also if they have come through the national youth teams they have probably played in a number of positions, so they are very useful because of their adaptability.

I watched the Wellington Phoenix versus Brisbane Roar match in the Ninja A League yesterday, which had one Japanese player start for each team.

One of the players was Wellington's delectable Mebae Tanaka who is very popular with the camera people - I do not know why that would be. They still play her on the wing, but I am waiting for her to be moved centrally as soon as there is an injury to a key midfielder. Tanaka's crossing is still exceptional, so they may leave her out there. But she is probably not fast enough.

The other player was former Speranza and Okayama Bell defender Momo Hayashi who has been starring as a holding midfielder for Brisbane. Both Japanese did not play that well, but some of Hayashi's passing was exquisite.

I want to stress that the A League has some very skillful players, but the passing at times is poor. However, the physicality is on a different level compared to the WE League.

 

No, she can't let her goal so open like she did. Her defenders are, at least Goto was, here to catch the ball if a cross is coming.

 

Tomorrow's game:

WE League
Urawa vs Cerezo 18:00