Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Japanese Players in Europe

Shinji Okazaki scored for the third league match in a row, as Stuttgart beat Freiburg 4-1. Okazaki got on the end of an excellent cross from Martin Harnik in the 21st minute to make give Die Schwaben a 2-0 lead. It was his 7th goal of the season. Gotoku Sakai, on loan from Albirex Niigata, retained his place as the starting rightback, playing the full 90 minutes. The win lifted Stuttgart into 8th place as they aim for the European places. Highlights.

Robert Cullen scored his second goal of the season, as Venlo beat Heracles 3-1. Cullen came on in the 75th minute and scored in the 90th to secure the points for Venlo. Maya Yoshida played the entire match. The win brings Venlo to within 2 points of safety. The goal.

Shinji Kagawa returned earlier than expected for Dortmund, as the reigning Bundesliga champions beat Hannover 3-1 to extend their lead at the top of the table to 3 points over Bayern. He started the match and was subbed off in the 87th minute for Ivan Perisic, who promptly scored.

Speaking of Monchengladbach, Yuki Otsu made just his 3rd league appearance for the Foals, who drew 1-1 to Hamburg and dropped to third place. Otsu came on for Igor De Camargo in the 79th minute.

Ryo Miyaichi played the full 90 minutes as Bolton were smacked 3-0 away at Chelsea. The Wanderers were torn apart by a second-half onslaught from the unpredictable Blues.

Finally, Yuto Nagatomo played the full 90 minutes for Inter as they lost to Napoli. It was the 5th straight match in all competitions that the Nerazzurri have failed to score. Since the return of Wesley Sneijder, they have been in terrible form.

(Note: The picture at the top is not from the Freiburg match, but it’s just such a great picture of Sakai and Okazaki together that I had to use it.)

Look forward to the Uzbekistan match tomorrow, or later today depending on where you are!

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