Well, whimsy may not be the right word, but it was an interesting round to look back on (though we don't have much time since the next round is on Wednesday).
There were all sorts of scorelines, bursts of brilliance from teams that have been doing poorly, stagnation in teams that have been doing well. Sunday was like a "reset" day, a day of results that showed us that it is going to be difficult to say exactly which teams will be on top by the end of the season.
This is a crazy week, what with the Golden Week holidays and the football schedule being what it is. I have only been able to watch one game from this Sunday, and probably won't be able to do much more.
First, the game I watched: Antlers 0 - 1 Cerezo. Hello? What happened? It was a beautiful day at the stadium; the spectators were glorious, and I must give a big thumbs up to the Antlers supporters who really brought a festive atmosphere. (Did you know that Antlers supporters use only unique chants/melodies?) The first 5 minutes of the game, Antlers had a bit of difficulty calming things down. Cerezo were exteremely disciplined and energetic, and Antlers just had to wait it out. When Cerezo got the ball near the penalty area, the Antlers supporters threw up an explosion of confetti into the wind that showered onto the pitch (the paper was cut quite large, and you almost lost the location of the ball in the flurry). After that, Antlers seemed to get their rhythm, and guys, really, you wouldn't have believed how beautifully they played. They created numerous opportunities -- you know, the kind of passing and running, faking out, and back-forth that flows on a zen-like day. But in a string of unbelievable finishes the ball just wouldn't go in. The price of beautiful football may be loss of concentration on the finish??? Maybe. Funny, because Antlers are known to be rather heavy in play, just solid in defense and wise in game-making -- they aren't the kind of team that have many multiple goals, but they know how to get the crucial goal and then control the game for the result they want.
Most days. But this day Cerezo were superior. They were focused in defense, as opposed to the strange unraveling in the Antlers back line. (Particularly, Antlers Aoki, who had been looking like the weak link until his nice volley shot that invited Nozawa's goal a few games ago; today, he was once again a weak link) Cerezo threatened the Antlers goal a number of times; left side Jose Carlos was definitely one of the biggest threats. But as a team, Cerezo knew how they were going to get a goal -- simple and speedy, resulting in a 18th minute goal from Furuhashi (a beautiful through-pass down the middle of the box left dmf Aoki flat footed, and Furuhashi was completely alone with the ball right in front of the goalie). Everything Cerezo did was apparent and simple and strong. Cerezo reminded me a little of Omiya in that first round game against Gamba which Omiya won 2-0.
Total possession was 60/40 for Antlers, but the fact that they were not able to get even an equalizer is something that many fans will be worried about. The impression I got from watching Antlers through the past two months has been that they have been setting certain hurdles for themselves as they progressed without losing. They found things they wanted to improve, and I have a feeling that they overemphasized the minute details in this game -- losing concentration where it came to someone actually kicking the ball into the goal. I think they mentally tired themselves out. In the second half, they did seem to cut out the fancy stuff, but by then Cerezo were on a roll and Antlers were just too frustrated to have the kind of mental focus they should have.
Antlers Coach Cerezo introduced an strange modification in the players and formation when he used his three substitutions. Dmf Fernando got hurt and so Ogasawara had to shift down; so Motoyama did not have his buddy up front to create better quality attacks. Suzuki, who had been out to injury for over a month, subbed in and showed his physical strength matched up against multiple Cerezo players but did not make one shot; not helpful as a forward. Things got rather messy at the end, though their desire for the goal was obvious and they did not give up until the end.
After Cerezo's win over Reds in round 7, I've taken notice of how well they've gel-ed. Some of it may be that their opponents don't take them as seriously as they should. But they are putting in some solid performances, and the next round opponents Verdy should take note!
In other games:
Jubilo 4 - 0 Reysol: Crazy result coming from a up-to-now lethargic Iwata. Also note that Nakayama's pk goal was his 150th of his career in the J-league. A first for any player in its history. Congrats, Gon!
Reds 3 - 0 Grampus: This scoreline was quite a surprise, considering how solidly Nagoya have been doing. But it does herald the return of the Reds forwards -- their engines seem to finally have gotten started. Next opponent Kobe are currently down and out, and may prove unable to withstand the Reds onslaught.
Sanfrecce 5 - 0 Alibrex: wow. In the rain, the purple jerseys fought hard and stretched for every goal.
Oita 2 - 1 FCTokyo: What's up Tokyo??! Not only are they on a losing streak and dropping in ranking fast (they used to be number 2!), they have just added to their long injury list -- Lucas and Suzuki. When will this downward spiral of injuries end? Kaji was back, and there was definitely more balance and spirit from the right with Ishikawa feeling the groove again. Tokyo started off with two perfect chances, but one hefty kick from Ishikawa hit the top of the goal; and another long rocket from Kaji spilled from the goalie's arms but was cleared. Oita's top guys pulled through when it was their chance, and showed how important it is to make the goal when it matters. Kudos to Oita for pulling through after their defeat to Omiya last week.
**Gotta end things here. Tomorrow, I'll do some catch up on general football news including the gossip behind the North Korea FIFA decision and the Fujita transfer talks. I'll also post my predictions card, and hopefully before the games on Wednesday I'll do an intro on our first team to be spotlighted -- if you have any requests, let me know.
There were all sorts of scorelines, bursts of brilliance from teams that have been doing poorly, stagnation in teams that have been doing well. Sunday was like a "reset" day, a day of results that showed us that it is going to be difficult to say exactly which teams will be on top by the end of the season.
This is a crazy week, what with the Golden Week holidays and the football schedule being what it is. I have only been able to watch one game from this Sunday, and probably won't be able to do much more.
First, the game I watched: Antlers 0 - 1 Cerezo. Hello? What happened? It was a beautiful day at the stadium; the spectators were glorious, and I must give a big thumbs up to the Antlers supporters who really brought a festive atmosphere. (Did you know that Antlers supporters use only unique chants/melodies?) The first 5 minutes of the game, Antlers had a bit of difficulty calming things down. Cerezo were exteremely disciplined and energetic, and Antlers just had to wait it out. When Cerezo got the ball near the penalty area, the Antlers supporters threw up an explosion of confetti into the wind that showered onto the pitch (the paper was cut quite large, and you almost lost the location of the ball in the flurry). After that, Antlers seemed to get their rhythm, and guys, really, you wouldn't have believed how beautifully they played. They created numerous opportunities -- you know, the kind of passing and running, faking out, and back-forth that flows on a zen-like day. But in a string of unbelievable finishes the ball just wouldn't go in. The price of beautiful football may be loss of concentration on the finish??? Maybe. Funny, because Antlers are known to be rather heavy in play, just solid in defense and wise in game-making -- they aren't the kind of team that have many multiple goals, but they know how to get the crucial goal and then control the game for the result they want.
Most days. But this day Cerezo were superior. They were focused in defense, as opposed to the strange unraveling in the Antlers back line. (Particularly, Antlers Aoki, who had been looking like the weak link until his nice volley shot that invited Nozawa's goal a few games ago; today, he was once again a weak link) Cerezo threatened the Antlers goal a number of times; left side Jose Carlos was definitely one of the biggest threats. But as a team, Cerezo knew how they were going to get a goal -- simple and speedy, resulting in a 18th minute goal from Furuhashi (a beautiful through-pass down the middle of the box left dmf Aoki flat footed, and Furuhashi was completely alone with the ball right in front of the goalie). Everything Cerezo did was apparent and simple and strong. Cerezo reminded me a little of Omiya in that first round game against Gamba which Omiya won 2-0.
Total possession was 60/40 for Antlers, but the fact that they were not able to get even an equalizer is something that many fans will be worried about. The impression I got from watching Antlers through the past two months has been that they have been setting certain hurdles for themselves as they progressed without losing. They found things they wanted to improve, and I have a feeling that they overemphasized the minute details in this game -- losing concentration where it came to someone actually kicking the ball into the goal. I think they mentally tired themselves out. In the second half, they did seem to cut out the fancy stuff, but by then Cerezo were on a roll and Antlers were just too frustrated to have the kind of mental focus they should have.
Antlers Coach Cerezo introduced an strange modification in the players and formation when he used his three substitutions. Dmf Fernando got hurt and so Ogasawara had to shift down; so Motoyama did not have his buddy up front to create better quality attacks. Suzuki, who had been out to injury for over a month, subbed in and showed his physical strength matched up against multiple Cerezo players but did not make one shot; not helpful as a forward. Things got rather messy at the end, though their desire for the goal was obvious and they did not give up until the end.
After Cerezo's win over Reds in round 7, I've taken notice of how well they've gel-ed. Some of it may be that their opponents don't take them as seriously as they should. But they are putting in some solid performances, and the next round opponents Verdy should take note!
In other games:
Jubilo 4 - 0 Reysol: Crazy result coming from a up-to-now lethargic Iwata. Also note that Nakayama's pk goal was his 150th of his career in the J-league. A first for any player in its history. Congrats, Gon!
Reds 3 - 0 Grampus: This scoreline was quite a surprise, considering how solidly Nagoya have been doing. But it does herald the return of the Reds forwards -- their engines seem to finally have gotten started. Next opponent Kobe are currently down and out, and may prove unable to withstand the Reds onslaught.
Sanfrecce 5 - 0 Alibrex: wow. In the rain, the purple jerseys fought hard and stretched for every goal.
Oita 2 - 1 FCTokyo: What's up Tokyo??! Not only are they on a losing streak and dropping in ranking fast (they used to be number 2!), they have just added to their long injury list -- Lucas and Suzuki. When will this downward spiral of injuries end? Kaji was back, and there was definitely more balance and spirit from the right with Ishikawa feeling the groove again. Tokyo started off with two perfect chances, but one hefty kick from Ishikawa hit the top of the goal; and another long rocket from Kaji spilled from the goalie's arms but was cleared. Oita's top guys pulled through when it was their chance, and showed how important it is to make the goal when it matters. Kudos to Oita for pulling through after their defeat to Omiya last week.
**Gotta end things here. Tomorrow, I'll do some catch up on general football news including the gossip behind the North Korea FIFA decision and the Fujita transfer talks. I'll also post my predictions card, and hopefully before the games on Wednesday I'll do an intro on our first team to be spotlighted -- if you have any requests, let me know.
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