Interesting: along with Yukari Kinga being spotted on U-17 NT's bench today, it looks like the generation of 2011 WWC winners is being more and more involved.
AFC U17 Womens Asian Cup Semi Final F.T...CHN 2-4 PRK (FINAL...JPN v PRK Sunday 17.5.26 1330hrs blisset time...before you ask)
I kind of expected him to be chosen, so I am not that surprised. As interim coach it gave the players a chance to get used to the idea. I imagine the decision was made when they fired Nielsen. In the end it should be fine, because Nadeshiko are a good team. However, they are not a great team and I am not sure he is the person to make them great. I hope so, but we will have to wait and see. I imagine Nadeshiko will play some nice football but go out in the quarter-finals of the World Cup being overrun in midfield by a physically stronger, yet equally skillful team who will pressure them into mistakes. Unless they play Spain, whom they might beat. Managers who have had success at junior level worry me a bit with their in-game management. I think they set their teams up well with a plan, but if that plan goes awry they struggle to rectify problems quickly. I would like the JFA at some point in the future to choose a manager from the WE League to lead Nadeshiko, but I do not know when that will happen.
@pierre bezukhov The JFA should perhaps open up the chequebook and start hiring Sir Alex Ferguson to record a few online seminars for all aspiring Japanese coaches to follow, especially the part about in-game management.
Comment from Coach Tomohisa Kano I am deeply honored and humbled to have been appointed as the new head coach of Nadeshiko Japan. In recent years, the world of women's soccer has made remarkable progress and development. The level of competition is improving year by year, and in addition to high athletic abilities such as speed and power, the use of sophisticated team tactics in offense and defense has become the global standard, and a deeper understanding of tactics is now more important. In order to reach the top of the world, I feel that we need to further refine the strengths that Nadeshiko Japan has built up so far, such as coordination and dedication in offense and defense, while also improving the strength to win one-on-one situations in offense and defense, and in each battle for the ball, as well as further improving the individual strengths within the team and group. I will do my best to show fans and supporters an aggressive, tough, and powerful Nadeshiko Japan on the pitch, so that they will think, "I want to see them again," and "I want to support them." I believe that the current Japanese women's players have great potential. As the head coach of Nadeshiko Japan, I will strive wholeheartedly to reclaim the world title and contribute to the overall development of women's soccer in Japan, so that women's soccer can become even more popular within the country.
My game (1): Select one from three options (two winners and draw), the number is your possible points. WSL 1 Brighton (40) draw (20) Tottenham (40) 2 Chelsea (30) draw (20) Manchester United (50) 3 Everton (30) draw (20) Leicester (50) 4 Liverpool (70) draw (20) Arsenal (10) 5 London City Lionesses (30) draw (20) Aston Villa (50) 6 West Ham (70) draw (20) Manchester City (10) 7 Japanese scorers in the top league of England, Germany , USA, Sweden (3, 20pts, perfect 3, +100pts, nobody,100pts) 8 at least two goals scorer (1, 100pts, nobody,10pts) 9 at least three goals scorer (1,300pts, nobody,5pts)
My game (2): Select one from three options (two winners and draw), the number is your possible points. 1 Mynavi (20) draw (20) Chifure (60) 2 Oomiya (30) draw (20) Nojima (50) 3 Jef (80) draw (10) Urawa (10) 4 Beleza (30) draw (30) Albi (40) 5 Cerezo (30) draw (20) Nagano (50) 6 Inac (40) draw (30) Regina (30) 7 scorers (5, 20pts, hit 4, +50pts, perfect 5, +100pts, nobody, 1000pts) 8 at least two goals scorer (1, 100pts, nobody, 30pts) 9 at least three goals scorer (1, 200pts, nobody, 10pts)
My game (3): Select one from three options (two winners and draw), the number is your possible points. 1 Harima (50) draw (20) Orca (30) 2 Ehime (50) draw (20) Nippatsu (30) 3 Iga (5) draw (5) Vonds(90) 4 Belle (10) draw (20) Nittaidai (70) 5 Viama (20) draw (20) Setagaya (60) 6 Nagoya (50) draw (30) Shizuoka (20) 7 Scorers (5, 20pts, hit 4, +50pts, perfect 5, +100pts, nobody, 1000pts)(if it is her first goal this season +100pts) 8 at least two goals scorer (1, 50pts, nobody,100pts) 9 at least three goals scorer (1,100pts, nobody,10pts) 10 at least four goals scorer (1, 200pts, nobody, 5pts)
Game 1 1 Brighton 2 Chelsea 3 Everton 4 Arsenal 5 Aston Villa 6 Manchester City 7 Matsukubo (NC), Seike (Brighton), Tanaka (Utah) 8 Matsukubo 9 nobody Game 2 1 Mynavi 2 Nojima 3 Urawa 4 draw 5 Cerezo 6 Inac 7 Yoshida (Inac), Shimada (Urawa), Sasai C. (Nojima), Endo (Mynavi), Takarada (Cerezo) 8 nobody 9 nobody
Game (1): 1 Brighton 2 Chelsea 3 draw 4 Liverpool 5 London City Lionesses 6 Manchester City 7 Yui Hasegawa, Manaka Matsukubo, Mina Tanaka 8 Kiko Seike 9 nobody Game (2) 1 Mynavi 2 Oomiya 3 Jef 4 draw 5 Cerezo 6 Inac 7 Riko Yoshida, Ai Kuwahara, Hanon Nishio, Wakana Onishi, Chihiro Yamaguchi 8 Mei Shimada 9 nobody Game (3): 1 Harima 2 Ehime 3 Vonds 4 draw 5 Viama 6 draw 7 Kumi Yokoyama (Shizuoka), Yuzuki Tsuchiya (Via), Misuzu Uchida (Sfida), Wakiko Kojima (Ehime), Samia Masuda (Vonds) 8 Asuka Kakazu (Via) 9 nobody 10 nobody
My answer for game (1): 1 Brighton 2 Manchester United 3 Everton 4 Liverpool 5 London City Lionesses 6 West Ham 7 Matsukubo, Tanaka (Utah), Tanikawa 8 Matsukubo 9 Nobody
My answer for game (2): 1 draw 2 Oomiya 3 Urawa 4 Beleza 5 Cerezo 6 Regina 7 Nakashima, Tago, Hiwatari, Nishio, Takikawa 8 Nobody 9 Nobody
My answer for game (3): 1 Orca 2 Nippatsu 3 Iga 4 Nittaidai 5 Setagaya 6 draw 7 Takahashi Hikari (Nittaidai), Uchida (Setagaya), Matsuda Risana (Iga), Kurata Akari (Orca), Kawasaki Saya (Harima) 8 Tsuchiya 9 Nobody 10 Nobody
1 Brighton 2 Chelsea 3 Everton 4 Arsenal 5 London City Lionesses 6 Manchester City 7 Tanikawa, Chiba, Seike 8 Nobody 9 Nobody 1 Mynavi 2 Nojima 3 Urawa 4 Beleza 5 Cerezo 6 Inac 7 Riko Yoshida, Mei Shimada, Miki Ito, Moka Hiwatari, Mao Kubota 8 Yoshida 9 Nobody 1 Orca 2 Ehime 3 Iga 4 Belle 5 Viama 6 Nagoya 7 Yokoyama(Shizuoka), Terao (Belle), Kouno (Orca), Tsuchiya (Viama), Uchida (Setagaya) 8 Nobody 9 Nobody 10 Nobody
1, Harima 2, Ehime 3, Iga 4, Nittaidai 5, Viama 6, Shizuoka 7, Kawasaki (Harima), Kono (Iga), Tsuchiya (Viama), Kondo (Ehime), Yokoyama (Shizuoka) 8, Nobody 9, Nobody 10, Nobody
U-20 WWC draw underway: Japan have already picked USA in group D! (Well, USA at youth level has seldom been overly dangerous, actually ).