Before the weekend I thought I'd sneak in this last Friday post -- J's Goal posted the popular goal scene cilps >>Click for site (voted by site vistors) from the Round 13 games.


Shimizu S-Pulse Ohta's goal against Kashima Antlers
Kashiwa Reysol Tamada's goal against Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Niigata Albirex Edimilson's goal against Urawa Reds
Urawa Reds Tanaka's goal against Niigata Albirex
Kawasaki Frontale Hulk's goal against Jubilo Iwata
Cerezo Osaka Ze Carlos's goal against FC Tokyo
Jubilo Iwata Nanami's goal against Kawasaki Frontale
FC Tokyo Toda's goal against Cerezo Osaka
Jef Chiba Abe's goal against Vissel Kobe
Yokohama Marinos Sakata's goal against Oita Trinita
Gamba Osaka Oguro's goal against Tokyo Verdy
Kashima Antlers Alex Mineiro's goal against Shimizu S-Pulse
Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sato's goal against Kashiwa Reysol
Nagoya Grampus Koga's goal against Omiya Ardija
Vissel Kobe Hirase's goal against Jef Chiba
Omiya Ardija Christian's goal against Nagoya Grampus
Tokyo Verdy Washington's goal against Gamba Osaka

I seem to have no ambition to post any serious entries today, so I thought it would be an appropriate time to introduce some old interview video clips -- of some of the Japan national team players right before the 2002 World Cup.

A number of the players from the squad back then are still with the Japan national team now, and just watching these clips makes me realize how much time has passed since then (a little over three years) and how some of these players who used to be the backup players back then are now an integral part of the starting team. It's also strange to think of all that's happened since that World Cup under Troussier to now with Zico.

On each page, the interviews are split into sections. Just click on the media player you want to use. You can also take a look at other players interviews by browsing the photo strip links at the bottom of this page.

I can't translate every interview, but will try and respond to requests -- just leave a note in the comments, and let me know which player you want to get the translation for.

>>Click to see Mitsuo Ogasawara, April 2002
>>Click to see Takayuki Suzuki, March 2002
>>Click to see Koji Nakata, March 2002
>>Click to see Atsushi Yanagisawa, March 2002
>>Click to see Seigo Narazaki, Jan 2002
>>Click to see Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Nov 2001
>>Click to see Alex Santos, Oct 2001
>>Click to see Makoto Tanaka, Feb 2002
>>Click to see Atsu Miura, Feb 2002

And this is a hilarious interview with Kubo -- who is famous for his aversion to responding to interview questions with more than a sentence.
>>Click to see Tatsuhiko Kubo, Feb 2002

And for Furtho,
>>Click to see Chikara Fujimoto, Jan 2002

Following in my silly mood for the day, thought some of you may like to see the commercials that are running in Japan with Japanese footballers in them:

Here's a Strada car navigation system commercial with Gamba Osaka's Miyamoto and Oguro. There is a 15 second and 30 second version, plus a behind-the-scenes montage video you can check out (particularly tasty for giddy Miyamoto fans).

>>Click Here to go to the website



Here's a Playstation Winning Eleven commercial with Zico and Shunsuke Nakamura.

>>Click Here to go to the website

You can skip the intro. When the intro is over you will see these choices.


The Adidas "Gimme the Ball" campaign has added more footage to its site.

>>Click here to go to the website

To get to the video clips and interviews, click the link indicated in the photo below. The Nakamura section has added a fairly long interview, plus video from the shooting of the commercial.


See the Comments section of this entry for a translation of Nakamura's interview.

Well, if you're wondering how the new manager Pavel is shaking things up a Vissel Kobe in the past week... they had one draw against Chiba and then allowed a last minute goal to Albirex Niigata for a loss in the last round. Daisuke Matsui mentioned in his diary (Yes, I try every chance I can to get Dai's name into my entries...) that he watched this game from the stands and was surprised at how Vissel had changed in the last year -- he said they used to rely heavily on hurling in long balls from behind, but now the team is connecting their passes and building up a more creative offense.

[On a side note, if any of you are wondering where Shunsuke Nakamura is hiding himself these days, he was just seen at the Marins/Antlers game on Wednesday night -- Shunsuke being a Marinos boy; he was excited about their win and gave special kudos to Enomoto, Ohashi, Oku and Nakazawa.]

So the new Vissel manager, in addition to taking Kazu Miura out of the roster altogether, had introduced a new tradition to the club -- the players get to vote on who they want their captain to be. Kazu was knocked off his throne by Atsu Miura. Atsu came over to Vissel this season from Verdy, where he lost his position to sidehalf Soma. He's been the leader-in-the-shadows in the national team; though a lot of the attention goes to Miyamoto or HNakata, I think Atsu Miura can be thanked for several key turning points in the national team. From the Asia Cup win, to the Bahrain qualifier win. At Vissel Atsu's been taking on a more prominent role in leading the offense -- during one of the practices this past week, Pavel made Atsu play as a forward, something he hadn't done in ten years...!

I'm sure these are dark days for Kazu, but he's a pro and quite an adult about these things. I think his aim is pure: he just wants to play.


Wedding Bliss

The papers announced that Jubilo Iwata's Murai had gotten married. Which made me think it would be fun to post a few of the couple shots of some of the Japanese footballing stars.

Jubilo Iwata sidehalf Murai and his new wife,


Jef Chiba's captain Yuki Abe and his wife:


Sanfrecce Hiroshima sidehalf Komano and his wife:


Shinji Ono and his wife:


Yoshito Okubo and his new wife:


Kazu Miura's wife:


Atsushi Yanagisawa and his wife:


Yokohama Marinos Daisuke Oku's wife:


Shunsuke Nakamura's wife:

Not surprisingly, the Friday edition of ElGolazo features a giant photo of Yokohama F Marinos captain Yuji Nakazawa right after he headed in the team's winning goal against Kashima Antlers on Wednesday night.

The teams have less than two days until the next game tomorrow -- I'm worried about the level of exhaustion among the players. It was still pretty tough back in the spring, but now that it's summer, with the humidity and heat...

This next round 15 has a number of exciting matchups. Tokyo Verdy vs FC Tokyo in a Tokyo derby -- with Verdy coming off record goal allowances in the past two games, and FCTokyo having trouble getting a win. And the Saitama derby between Urawa Reds and Omiya Ardija -- Reds are going to be tough to stop especially with Fujimoto missing from the Ardija lineup; but remember Reds do tend to get overheated, and if Ardija can use their mature mentality against them it's an advantage.

None of the top teams are playing each other, so there may not be all that much movement in the rankings after this round... The theme for the teams in the top group is probably "don't mess up, hold it together"..or something to that effect. [japan football soccer j-league j1 division japanese]

Nagoya Grampus certainly know how to spend their Yen. The club currently boasts the top two highest paid Japanese footballers in the J, goalie Seigo Narazaki and new transfer midfielder Toshiya Fujita.

By cutting out Marques and Ueslei in the past couple months, Grampus have also paved the way for new addition to their forward ranks: Luiz "Luizao" Carlos Goulart. The 29 year old Brazilian is coming from Sao Paulo FC. He's appeared on the Brazil Selecao in 17 games, with a total of 2 goals. In 2002, he appeared in 2 of the World Cup games: the group game and the semifinal against Turkey.

He is currently playing in the Brazil Libertadores, and will arrive in Japan after that at the end of this month.