Thursday, October 27, 2011

Usami Scores For Bayern!



Takashi Usami scored his first goal for Bayern in a 6-0 cup win over FC Ingolstadt 04 from Bundesliga 2. He came on for Toni Kroos in the 73rd minute and played on the right. He scored in the 90th minute, playing a neat one-two with Ivica Olic to get through on goal, and then sweeping a curling finish past the keeper. He also had a hand in the fifth goal, putting Rafinha in on goal, before the Brazilian saw his cross deflected into goal. A very good day for him. Highlights here.

Ryo Miyaichi featured in Arsenal’s 2-1 Carling Cup win over Bolton on Tuesday. He came on for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 73rd minute and, though he spent most of his time defending Arsenal’s one goal lead, he received praise from Wenger after the match for his commitment to the team effort. Well done Ryo.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Japanese Players in Europe



Shinji Kagawa scored in the 7th minute as Dortmund hammered Cologne 5-0. Incredibly the win moves the reigning champions into 2nd place, which is astonishing considering their poor start to the season. It was Kagawa’s 2nd goal of the season. Dortmund were excellent, and back to the form that saw them win the Bundesliga at a canter last year. Tomoaki Makino did not make it off the bench for Cologne.

Yuto Nagatomo played the entire ninety minutes as Inter beat Chievo 1-0. Thiago Motta’s lone goal was enough to earn Inter just their second league win of the season, and lifting them to 16th place. Yes, 16th.

Maya Yoshida scored again as VVV Venlo hammered RKC Waalwijk 4-1 on Saturday. However, they are still in the relegation zone.

Shinji Okazaki played 76 minutes in Stuttgart’s 2-2 draw with Nurnberg on Saturday. They are currently in 5th place in the Bundesliga.

Makoto Hasebe played all 90 minutes of Wolfsburg’s 1-1 draw with Hamburg. They remain in 11th place.

Hajime Hosogai played all 90 minutes of Augsburg’s 1-1 draw with Bremen. Augsburg remain in the relegation zone.

Takayuki Morimoto played 60 minutes before being subbed off in Novara’s 3-0 loss to table-toppers Udinese. He was booked in the 15th minute.

Masahiko Inoha scored in the 60th minute in Hajduk Split’s 3-0 win over Lucko on Friday. No, I did not watch this match, but good for him that he scored.

Takashi Usami played all 90 minutes of Bayern II’s 2-1 win over Hessen Kassel. I don’t know if he played well, but the win moves the reserves up to 14th in the Regionalliga Sud standings.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Japan 8-0 Tajikistan



Japan were outstanding. Let’s get that out of the way. Tajikistan weren’t great and they did not press the ball like they should have, but Japan were still very good. 8-0 is the result of excellent play no matter the opposition.

Mike Havenaar opened the scoring in the 12th minute with his first international goal. The goal was good, but the celebration was even better. The look of utter jubilation that he had after scoring for his country for the first time was heartwarming and reminded me of why I watch football in the first place.

Seven minutes later Shinji Okazaki scored. Intense pressure by Okazaki led to Tajikistan conceding possession, and then slick passing in the box by Kengo Nakamura and Shinji Kagawa, with a nice dummy from Havenaar left Okazaki with a opportunity to finish. This was the goal of the match.

Then sixteen minutes later Yuichi Komano scored. Again tidy passing in the box between Komano and Havenaar’s chest gave Nakamura an opportunity that was saved, only for the ball to be laced into the back of the net by Komano from outside the box. It was also his first goal for Japan. Everybody was getting on the scoresheet. Except for talisman Shinji Kagawa…

…who scored six minutes later. After some short passes with Nagatomo, Kagawa made a clever run and was picked out by Nakamura (again) and he scored with a first-time dink with the outside of his right foot. Another excellent goal. That was it for the first half.

If Tajikistan had planned damage limitation in the second half, they had to scrap that plan two minutes in when Havenaar got his second. His placed header off a Komano cross left the Tajik keeper with no chance. Then Kengo Nakamura scored in the 56th minute. It was a deserved goal for the midfielder who had created close to ten chances till then. Then Kagawa scored in the 68th. It looked like a cross that flew directly in, but in the post-match interview he said that it was a shot. Then Okazaki scored in the 73rd. A regular header at the back post. Then that was that.

This match could’ve been a trap. After a draw away in the most difficult tie of this round of qualifying, heavily-favored Japan returns home fully expecting three points from Tajikistan, who are only still around because another team was disqualified. Japan struggles to score in the first half against a dogged Tajik defense, before conceding a counterattack goal midway through the second half. Tajikistan holds off for the shock 1-0 win. Thankfully, this did not happen. Zaccheroni definitely had his team ready after a light friendly with Vietnam last week.

Tajikistan is not a bad team. They only lost to North Korea and Uzbekistan 1-0 each in their first group matches. Granted they were only still in qualification because Syria was thrown out, they are no San Marino. Japan was just very good.

Japan had 45 shots while Tajikistan had zero. It seemed as if Japan always had the ball, and when Tajikistan did have it, they couldn’t string two passes together. Kawashima didn’t touch the ball until towards the end of the first half. It was one of those games where you wanted to see everyone get on the score sheet. And you wanted the stars to get hattricks. Instead we had to settle for three braces.

Some points: The match was in Osaka, Kagawa’s hometown. It was great to see the fans cheer on their native son who rewarded their support with a fine display. It was also good to see Kagawa with some clinical finishes, something he has not been doing so far this season in Germany.

The Tajik players did not have names on the back of their shirts–they had ‘Tajikistan’. Whether this was to promote unity or just because they didn’t have individual shirts ready is not clear. But it was funny to see.

This was Japan’s last home game of the year. The next match is away at Tajikistan on November 11 followed by another away match at North Korea four days later. Four points from the two matches would see Japan progress to the fourth round.

Highlights.