Monthly Archive for June, 2009

Jubilo Iwata pursuing Akamine

Published on June 29, 2009 in F.C. Tokyo Player News and F.C. Tokyo Reports by dokool. 2 Comments

Several newspapers are reporting that Jubilo Iwata has made an offer to FC Tokyo forward Shingo Akamine.

Jubilo recently lost its star forward, South Korean national Lee Keun-Ho, when he was acquired by French Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain.  While Akamine scored a team-leading 18 goals for FC Tokyo last season, he has played a reduced role so far this year as Hirayama’s form has improved.

In an earlier game this season, Akamine scored the lone goal of a rain-soaked match to lead Tokyo to a 1-0 victory against Iwata.

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Match Report: J1 Round 15: FC Tokyo vs. Shimizu S-Pulse

Published on June 29, 2009 in F.C. Tokyo Match Reports by dokool. 0 Comments
J.League Division 1 Week #
First Half
1 – 0Second Half
1 – 1

Final
2 – 1
June 27th 2009, 7PM Kickoff at Kokuritsu Stadium (Shinjuku, Tokyo) Attendance 28,987
GK 20 Shuichi Gonda
DF 25 Yuhei Tokunaga
DF 4 Bruno Quadros
DF 6 Yasuyuki Konno
DF 5 Yuto Nagatomo
MF 28 Takuji Yonemoto
MF 10 Yohei Kajiyama
MF 18 Naohiro Ishikawa
MF 22 Naotake Hanyu
FW 9 Cabore
FW 13 Sota Hirayama		 Starting Members
 GK 29 Kaito Yamamoto
DF 25 Daisuke Ichikawa
DF 3 Naoaki Aoyama
DF 2 Arata Kodama
DF 4 Kosuke Ota
MF 23 Shinji Okazaki
MF 8 Takuma Edamura
MF 7 Teruyoshi Ito
MF 13 Akihiro Hyodo
FW 11 Kazuki Hara
FW 18 Frode Johnsen
74′ 40 Tatsuya Suzuki (for Naotake Hanyu)
85′ 33 Kenta Mukuhara (for Cabore)
89′ 24 Shingo Akamine (for Naohiro Ishikawa)		 Substitutes 42′ 6 Marcos Paulo (for Takuma Edamura)
73′ 10 Jungo Fujimoto (for Akihiro Hyodo)
83′ 15 Shinji Tsujio (for Daisuke Ichikawa)
7′ Yohei Kajiyama (PK)
62′ Naohiro Ishikawa		 Goals 58′ Frode Johnsen
17′ Sota Hirayama
26′ Yohei Kajiyama
42′ Shuichi Gonda
66′ Yasuyuki Konno		 Cautions 6′ Akihiro Hyodo
  Ejections  

Report

The blue and red express continues to roll up the J.League table as Tokyo played a tough game of soccer against a Shimizu squad that was much improved from that of two weeks ago.

Once again, Tokyo started the game off with an early goal to take the lead and momentum.  This time it came off of a PK that Cabore earned when he was egregiously tackled on the far left side of the Shimizu penalty box.  Kajiyama took the kick and sent it rocketing to the left post past the keeper for an easy 1-0 lead.

After that, as if he felt that he had given FCT an unfair advantage, the referee seemed to favor Shimizu for the rest of the match; S-Pulse took 20 free kicks in the match compared to Tokyo’s 11.  Furthermore, Tokyo recieved no less than 4 yellow cards during the match.  Despite this, Tokyo’s defense did a terrific job of stopping any Shimizu attacks; in partciular Bruno made a terrific tackle late in the first half to stop what appeared to be a dangerous drive.

Tokyo continued to dominate in the second half as well, but Shimizu brought the game back to a deadlock when their goalkeeper fell over while walking the ball out (I’m actually pretty sure that an FCT player bumped into him but I could have been mistaken, causing play to stop and the referee to come over and check on him.  This break in the action allowed Shimizu extra time to move its men down the field, and Johnsen was able to sneak an easy one past Gonda.

Five minutes later, Naohiro Ishikawa took a deflection off Kajiyama of a pass from Hirayama and proceeded to thread the goddamned needle, rocketing a shot that slipped just above the goalkeeper’s outstretched hand and slamed in and under the crossbar for the score.  Nao is now the second-highest scorer in J.League with 8 goals, first among Japanese players.

From then on it was simply taking control of the field and depriving Shimizu of any opportunities to even the score.  While Tokyo missed several opportunities over the course of the game that could have easily made it a 3-1 or even 4-1 game, this was a well-earned victory and if Nagatomo’s postgame speech was any indication, team spirits couldn’t be higher.

Quotes

“I feel like I’m seeing more shooting opportunities than I used to.  In the first half there were some chances, but in the second half the play just opened up and I felt like there were a lot more options.  My game is definitely becoming more interesting lately.” ~ Naohiro Ishikawa

“In the first half we moved the ball around a lot but we weren’t able to move the ball forward as much as I would have liked.  On defense we fell into some dangerous spots a few times but we successfully forced Shimizu to give up the ball.  Overall we were able to get thigns done so all we can do is look at what we need to correct from today’s match.”  ~ Naotake Hanyu

“One of the important points we looked at heading into this season was whether we could break  the kind of zone defense that Shimizu used against us so effectively last year.  Because we scored three points against them in the Nabisco match, the players came into this game with confidence.  I’m happy that 28,000 fans came to help us start our summer counter-attack.” ~ Hiroshi Jofuku

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Several South American players line up for auditions w/ FCT

Published on June 24, 2009 in F.C. Tokyo News, F.C. Tokyo Player News and F.C. Tokyo Rumors by dokool. 4 Comments

Now that most of the domestic leagues across the world have wrapped up for the season, many J.League teams are taking advantage of expiring contracts to snap up foreign players who might provide a needed advantage.

FC Tokyo, which has gone nearly half a season without filling the 3rd “foreign player” spot in its roster, has invited several players to participate in team practices and may be close to signing one.

-Brazillian Rafael Bastos, believed to be playing for Vitoria in Brazil, has spent the last couople weeks with the team and participated in practice matches, but as of last Friday team officials had said they were “postponing judgement” as they did not feel that Rafael had been able to properly display his abilities.

-Argentinian Carlos Escudero, 19, has just finished a 2-year contract with Argentinian side Club Athletico Huracan and came to Japan after talking with cousin Sergio Escudero, a forward with Urawa.  According to Carlos, “I’ve heard that while Japanese players have speed and ability, the number of players who can dribble effectively and move the ball up the field are relatively small.  I’d like to see that sort of play.

-Brazillian David dos Santos, of the Brazillian club Juventus (which as far as I can tell is something like 5th or 6th division if that), will also be participating in team practices.

Escudero and dos Santos are supposed to have participated in a practice match this morning; however it’s raining quite heavily in Kanto at the moment so unless they’ve got an indoor stadium I’m not sure what’s going to happen.  If Escudero wants to demonstrate his ball control, a wet pitch may be the best place to do it.

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Match Report: J1 Round 14: Kashiwa Reysol vs. FC Tokyo

Published on June 24, 2009 in F.C. Tokyo News by Lantis. 0 Comments
J.League Division 1 Week 14
First Half
0 -- 2Second Half
0 -- 1

Final
0 -- 3
June 7th 2009, 1PM Kickoff at Hitachi Kashiwa Soccer Stadium (Kashiwa, Chiba) Attendance 10,266
GK 33 Takanori Sugeno
DF 25 Yusuke Murakami
DF 5 Mashiro Koga
DF 13 Yuzo Kobayashi
DF 7 Hidekazu Otani
MF 14 Keisuke Ota
MF 28 Ryoichi Kurisawa
MF 19 Shu Abe
FW 15 Minoru Suganuma
FW 20 Tadanari Lee
FW 9 Hideaki Kitajima		 Starting Members
 GK 20 Shuichi Gonda
DF 25 Yuhei Tokunaga
DF 4 Bruno Quadros
DF 6 Yasuyuki Konno
DF 5 Yuto Nagatomo
MF 28 Takuji Yonemoto
MF 10 Yohei Kajiyama
MF 18 Naohiro Ishikawa
MF 22 Naotake Hanyu
FW 9 Cabore
FW 13 Sota Hirayama
51′ 10 França (for Hideaki Kitajima)
51′ 11 Popo (for Keisuke Ota)
60′ 27 Yuki Otsu (for Tadanari Lee)		 Substitutes 68′ 27 Sotan Tanabe (for Naotake Hanyu)
71′ 24 Shingo Akamine (for Cabore)
79′ 40 Tatsuya Suzuki (for Sota Hirayama)
  Goals 9′ Naohiro Ishikawa
20′ Cabore
46′ Sota Hirayama
  Cautions  
  Ejections  

Report

Unfortunately due to photography commitments I wasn’t able to make the trek out to Hitachi this time, but I would have apparently had a much better time than I did the first time I went there bck in March.

Cabore breaks his slump in league games, Ishikawa moves into a tie for 3rd among goal-scorers (tied for 1st among Japanese players), and the battlin’ monk Hirayama gets his first goal of the season.   Now let’s see them keep it up.

Here’s the video:

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Nabisco Cup Group B Round 6: FC Tokyo vs. Shimizu S-Pulse

Published on June 14, 2009 in F.C. Tokyo Match Reports, F.C. Tokyo News and J.League Nabisco Cup 2009 by Lantis. 0 Comments
Nabisco Cup Group B Round 6
First Half
1 - 0Second Half
2 - 1

Final
3 - 1
June 13th 2009, 2PM Kickoff at Komazawa Stadium (Setagawa, Tokyo) Attendance 12,538
GK 20 Shuichi Gonda
DF 33 Kenta Mukuhara
DF 4 Bruno Quadros
DF 15 Daishi Hiramatsu
DF 25 Yuhei Tokunaga
MF 28 Takuji Yonemoto
MF 10 Yohei Kajiyama
MF 18 Naohiro Ishikawa
MF 27 Sotan Tanabe
FW 9 Cabore
FW 32 Yusuke Kondo		 Starting Members
 GK 21 Yohei Nishibe
DF 25 Daisuke Ichikawa
DF 3 Naoaki Aoyama
DF 5 Keisuke Iwashita
DF 2 Arata Kodama
MF 10 Jungo Fujimoto
MF 7 Teruyoshi Ito
MF 16 Takuya Honda
MF 13 Akihiro Hyodo
FW 8 Takuma Edamura
FW 11 Kazuki Hara
57′ 40Tatsuya Suzuki (for Yusuke Kondo)
66′ 24 Shingo Akamine (for Cabore)
75′ 19 Yohei Otake (for Sotan Tanabe)		 Substitutes Half 20 Shun Nagasawa (for Teruyoshi Ito)
68′ 22 Genki Omae (for Jungo Fujimoto)
68′ 4 Kosuke Ota (for Arata Kodama)
6′ Cabore
61′ Naohiro Ishikawa
73′ Shingo Akamine (PK)		 Goals 83′ Genko Omae
34′ Kenta Mukuhara
58′ Yuhei Tokunaga		 Cautions 70′ Naoaki Aoyama
71′ Naoaki Aoyama
73′ Keisuke Iwashita
  Ejections 71′ Naoaki Aoyama

Report

For what may be the first time this season, Tokyo played 90 minutes of exciting, fast-pced, attack-oriented football and managed to absolutely decimate Shimizu S-Pulse in what was essentially a dead-rubber game for the orange legion.  Shimizu had locked up a berth in the quarterfinals already; a win would guarantee first place and a matchup with Nagoya Grampus, while a loss or draw could possibly knock the team down to 2nd and result in a tieup with Group A’s first place squad (which turned out to be Urawa.  Tokyo, on the other hand, controlled its own destiny and could make it to the second round (and win Group B) with a win.

The match ws a wild back -and-forth affair from the start; topped with an early goal by Cabore that gave Tokyo a rare first-half lead.  Though Tokyo (particularly Kajiyama) made many silly passing mistakes, the lead held and the boys in blue and red went into the locker room feeling pretty good about themselves.

The second half featured drama, intrigue, and a rare officiating decision that favored Tokyo.  16 minutes into the second half, Naohiro Ishikwa let off a ripping shot that would prove to be the game winner.  10 minutes later, Akamine was pulled down inside the box by Shimizu defender Naoki Aoyama, who began protesting practically before the referee pointed to the penalty spot.  With the Tokyo fans egging him on, Aoyama continued to protest and was eventually showed a red card for his trouble.  Akamine’s first attempt was blocked, but the referee gave another Shimizu player a yellow for encroaching on the penalty area and called a redo.  Akamine didn’t miss the second time and Tokyo steamed on to a 3-1 victory despite getting a bit lazy on defense with a 3-goal lead and a 1-man advantage (hence the ’1′ in the equation.  Gonda proved his skills by stopping a penalty shot late in the second half that would have made it 3-2 and caused heart rates to go up behind the Tokyo goal, and from then on it was merely a question of which songs to sing until the final whistle.

Having captured Group B, Tokyo will now take on Nagoya Grampus in the quarterfinals of the Cup.  The home leg will be July 15th at Ajinomoto Stadium (4 days after the teams meet in J1 play at the same stadium), while the away leg will be on July 29th.  The winner will play the winner of the Urawa-Shimizu series in the semifinals.

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Match Report: Nabisco Cup Group B Round 5: FC Tokyo vs. Montedio Yamagata

Published on June 4, 2009 in F.C. Tokyo Match Reports and J.League Nabisco Cup 2009 by Lantis. 0 Comments
J.League Division 1 Week #
First Half
0 – 1Second Half
3 – 0

Final
3 – 1
June 3th 2009, 7:30PM Kickoff at Kokuritsu Stadium (Shinjuku, Tokyo) Attendance 14,259
GK 20 Shuichi Gonda
DF 14 Hokuto Nakamura
DF 4 Bruno Quadros
DF 15 Daishi Hiramatsu
DF 25 Yuhei Tokunaga
MF 28 Takuji Yonemoto
MF 10 Yohei Kajiyama
MF 18 Naohiro Ishikawa
MF 27 Sotan Tanabe
FW 9 Cabore
FW 13 Sota Hirayama		 Starting Members
 GK 21 Taishi Endo
DF 14 Takuya Miyamoto
DF 22 Takuya Sonoda
DF 23 Hidenori Ishii
DF 13 Tatsuya Ishikawa
MF 16 Kim Byung-Suk
MF 19 Masaru Akiba
MF 5 Takumi Watanabe
MF 29 Tomoyasu Hirose
FW 15 Yu Hasegawa
FW 6 Kohei Miyazaki
29′ 33 Kenta Mukuhara (for Hokuto Nakamura)
71′ 19 Yohei Otake (for Sotan Tanabe)
76′ 24 Shingo Akamine (for Cabore)		 Substitutes 43′ 17 Kentaro Sato (for Masaru Akiba)
Half 20 Ryo Kobayashi (for Kim Byung-Suk)
76′ 7 Katsuyuki Miyazawa (for Takuya Miyamoto)
57′ Yohei Kajiyama
63′ Cabore
71′ Cabore		 Goals 3′ Tomoyasu Hirose
17′ Sota Hirayama
43′ Kenta Mukuhara		 Cautions 32′ Takuya Sonoda
44′ Takuya Miyamoto
51′ Kentaro Sato
  Ejections  

Report

For once, Tokyo fans were treated to a come-from-behind victory against Montedio Yamagata on a Wednesday night game at Kokuritsu.  Tokyo came out of the gates… poorly, to say the least, allowing a goal in the 3rd minute when the defense plain collapsed.  Tokyo spent the next 30 minutes or so plodding along before finally gaining some semblance of structure.

Whatever coach Jofuku told the team at halftime seemed to kick in, however, as the team struck back with a vengeance in the second half.  Our favorite player to bitch about, Yohei Kajiyama, came up big in the 57th minue with a beauty of a strike to tie the game.  6 minutes later Cabore displayed incredible follow-through effort in scoring the tiebreaker, and 8 minutes after that sealed the deal with his second goal of the game.

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