Exclusive on Sugita's transfer (full article: Stumptown Footy) "Jeff Agoos (Portland Thorns President & General Manager): I think when a player like that leaves a city, it's obviously a void, and we certainly understand the challenges it brings. And we know that that fans have come to know and love her. And look, we always think of Hina as a Thorn. She will always be a Thorn for us. So we really appreciated all the efforts and the contributions she made, not only to the team, but to the city. And, a lot of the thinking was done in mind. I don't know if there's any right time to make a trade with somebody like Hina, who's beloved here in Portland. She's been really a tremendous player and a person for this club. She's been a champion here. She's been a fan favorite and really somebody who embraced Portland from the first day. So it was a very, very difficult decision to do, but we thought it was best for the club, and importantly, what was best for Hina. We made significant efforts to try to work toward an agreement, and at a point where we felt there was an impasse and we couldn't get to an agreement. We felt it was important to find a solution that supported Hina's career, and Hina's pathway and her arc, and the club's both short and long term goals. And we think in this deal, we found both."
I don't know if Nadeshiko Japan suffer from Hina Sugita's absence, but I'm pretty sure Portland will. Did you guys know Ayaka Yamashita has her own YT channel? Narumi Miura played whole Concacaf CL match for Washington at NY.
According to the US board, Portland would have kept her, but they couldn't match an amazingly high offer from Angel City.
Games of the weekend: October 4th WE League Chifure vs Mynavi 14:00 Beleza vs Regina 15:00 Nadeshiko League Shizuoka vs Setagaya 13:00 Speranza vs Nippatsu 13:00 Nadeshiko League 2 Kibi vs Shonan 13:00 Bunnys vs Imabari 14:00 October 5th WE League Jef vs Inac 13:00 Cerezo vs Ohmiya 13:00 Nojima vs Albi 14:00 Nagano vs Urawa 18:00 Nadeshiko League Orca vs Nagoya 12:00 Harima vs Iga 13:00 Belle vs Viama 13:00 Ehime vs Nittaidai 13:00 Nadeshiko League 2 Izumo vs Yamato 12:00 Fujizakura vs DR Hiroshima 13:00 Mie vs Ichihara 13:00 JFA vs Nankatsu 14:00
My new game of this weekend: I restrict it to WE League games this time. You select one from three options (two winning teams or draw), the number is your possible point. 1. Chifure (50), draw (30) Mynavi (20) 2. Beleza (10), draw (30), Regina (60) 3. Jef (70), draw (20), Inac (10) 4. Cerezo (40), draw (30), Ohmiya (30) 5. Nojima (50), draw (30), Albi (20) 6. Nagano (70), draw (20), Urawa (10) an extra game: 7. Japanese scorers playing abroad (England, Germany, USA) (1, 20pts, nobody, 20pts)
Nadeshiko League - Division 2 If Kibi loses and Bunnys lose or draw, Ichihara will become champions if they win. The race for second is also much more interesting this year with JFA out of the running, we could see 2 teams promoted (2nd placed to playoff vs D1 11th). Kibi looks to have the easiest end to the season but anything can happen as Bunnys found out last weekend. Image thanks to Ichihara. At the foot of the table is also quite close, 7 points between 9th and 12th. We could see up to 4 different teams in D2 next year. --------------------------- This weekend Harima are aiming for a 1,000 attendance, Izumo aiming for 2,000 and next weekend DR Hiroshima are aiming for 2,025. (If I read things correctly)
Ok let’s be a bit crazy here 1 Mynavi 2 Regina 3 draw 4 draw 5 draw 6 Nagano 7 Matsukubo (NC Courage)
1. Mynavi 2. Regina 3. INAC 4. draw 5. Albi 6. Urawa 7. Maika Hamano (Chelsea) Can I indicate just one Japanese player abroad, or the fact that you wrote Japanese scorers imply that I can add more than one? And if yes, is there a limit (for instance: just one player per league)? Or do you only have the choice between a single player or nobody? Let me know before this evening, because, if I am allowed, I would gladly add someone else.
Oh sorry, as I have dithered about how many, when I decided it as one I forgot to erase the "s". So one scorer is correct this time.
The WE League fan selected best 11 and MVP of the last week WE. GK: Tanaka Momoko DF: Sakurai, Ohta, Ichinose, Kingetsu MF: Hirakawa, Ito Miki, Ogawa Ai FW; Aikawa, Shimada, Sumiya MVP: Shimada Mei
Hinata Miyazawa played whole match for ManU against Chelsea. She's really bossing that United midfield, isn't she?
1. draw - But if Chifure win this I will be very happy. It will be a draw or a Sendai win. 2. Regina - I have no confidence in this prediction, but Beleza have looked tepid the last couple of games. 3. Inac 4. draw - both teams are a mystery to me 5. Nojima - Stella have not beaten Niigata in a long while and I doubt they will win this one, but they are my team. 6. Urawa 7. Tanikawa
Today's result: WE League Chifure (Fujiwara) 1-3 Mynavi (Yakata, Endo, Tsuda) Beleza (Shiokoshi) 1-1 Regina (Ueno) Nadeshiko League Shizuoka (Nakajima 2, Miwa) 3-1 Setagaya (Horie) Speranza 0-2 Nippatsu (Shibuya, Murakami) Nadeshiko League 2 Kibi (Kanda) 1-2 Shonan (Shiono 2) Bunnys (Sato, Kimura 2) 3-1 Imabari (Hirosawa)
A entertaining and interesting game, Regina didn’t park the bus and came to play. Both teams could have won the game, the draw is fair.
Regina has two draws and one win against the big 3. Why are they unable to do this against weaker teams?
I have a few thoughts on this, but I want to stress they are just thoughts, so nothing is set in stone and I am just thinking aloud, so to speak. I think the key problem for them this season is that they do not have a very good striker/forward. I love Hiwatari. I love her speed, touch and positioning, but she does not strike fear in the goal keeper when she is near goal. She has to improve her goal scoring, or they have to get Shiokoshi to play much closer to her, or find another striker. Anyway, against weaker teams they can get forward in numbers more, which gives other players opportunities to score. But against the better teams this does not happen as much. On top of that their defence gets exposed against better teams, especially at full-back. Regina's goal and their best chances all came from the wings. Sometimes it is the fault of the full-back and other times it is down to the midfield pressing too much, which happened for the goal. But today they missed Kitamura today If she plays on the left then Shinjo plays in the midfield where she poses way more of a threat to goal than on the wing. I wonder if he will try Shiokoshi out on the wing given that she started her career at Urawa on the wing. Yamamoto is playing really well at the moment. Yanase was also very good for Regina.