Japanese Players in Europe

Shinji Kagawa played most of Dortmund’s 1-0 win at Bayern. The win brought Borussia to within two points of Bayern, who have been in first place for most of the season. In Europe, Dortmund lost away 2-1 to Arsenal. Kagawa scored his first Champions League goal in stoppage time, but that will be scant consolation as Dortmund's hopes of progression are now hanging by a thread. They will have to beat Marseille by a big score and hope that Arsenal don’t ease up against Olympiakos in the other match despite already securing top spot in the group. Highlights here.

Keisuke Honda returned for CSKA after a three-month injury layoff in their 2-1 home loss to Rubin Kazan. Honda will be happy to have returned from a lengthy injury, but the loss undoubtedly dampened the occasion. He did not play in the midweek Champions League match, as CSKA completed a poor week with a 2-0 home loss to Lille. He woke up with pain in his just-healed knee, however the team doctors assured him that it was not an aggravation of his previous injury and that he would be back soon.

Hajime Hosogai played all 90 minutes of FC Augsburg’s 2-1 loss at Vfb Stuttgart. Shinji Okazaki started on the bench for Stuttgart but came on for Ibrahima Traore in the 74th minute.

Maya Yoshida and Robert Cullen both started Venlo’s 2-1 loss at FC Groningen, but Cullen had to come off in the 38th minute with an injury. The loss puts Venlo deeper into the relegation battle.

Finally, a bit of bad news to wrap up an underwhelming week for Japanese players in Europe. Ryo Miyaichi will be out until 2012, as his ankle injury will keep him out for 4-6 weeks.

I know this is a week late and a lot of this weekend’s matches have already been played. This update is for last week. I’m sorry for any confusion my tardiness may have caused. This week’s update will come in the next few days. Thanks.