Shinji Kagawa was the Japanese star this weekend, as he scored a goal and had two glorious assists. He has been criticized this season for his inconsistent play, but he was in top form in Dortmund’s 5-1 demolition of Wolfsburg. He set up Mario Gotze with a slick backheel for the first, then scored the second just before halftime. In the second half he set up Robert Lewandowski with a heavenly pass with the outside of his boot. Lewandowski did his best to miss the opportunity but managed to score anyway. While Makoto Hasebe was probably unhappy with not playing, he can take comfort in the fact that he was in no way responsible for Wolfsburg’s capitulation. Highlights here.
Hajime Hosogai scored in Augsburg’s 2-1 home loss to Bayern. Goals from Mario ‘The Luckiest Player in the World’ Gomez and Franck Ribery had Bayern 2-0 before 30 minutes had gone. Hosogai netted in the 59th minute to make things interesting, however the newly promoted side were unable to complete the comeback. Takashi Usami was an unused substitute, probably a reward for his continued excellence for Bayern II. Usami has scored five times in nine games for the reserves. Highlights here.
Shinji Okazaki started, got a yellow card, and was subbed off in the 64th minute of Stuttgart’s 3-1 loss at Mainz. All in all, not his best day.
Both Maya Yoshida and Robert Cullen started Venlo’s 0-0 draw with Excelsior. Yoshida played the entire match, but Cullen was subbed off for Michael Uchebo, who is wanted by Stoke. Transfer rumours!
A bit of bad news now, as Ryo was injured in Arsenal reserves 2-0 reserve win over Fulham reserves. He was taken off in the 30th minute with an ankle injury that will keep him out for a minimum of three weeks, according to reserve team coach Neil Banfield. This means he will not feature in the Carling Cup match against Man City. He did play well in his 30 minutes though!
Another injury note: Nagatomo’s calf is still hurt, so he had to pull out of Japan squad, and was replaced by Vitesse’s Michihiro Yasuda, who incidentally played all of Vitesse’s 1-0 loss to NAC Breda over the weekend.
Some good news to end the report: 20 year-old, 6 foot 5, Hiroshi Ibusuki was given a place on the Sevilla bench in this weekend’s match against Mallorca. Ibusuki has been pulling out trees at Sevilla II, scoring 7 goals in 12 matches, making him the second leading scorer in Segunda Division B group 4. Well done!!!
Some links: Here are two articles by the always excellent Yoree Koh on Japanese supporters traveling to North Korea for the upcoming World Cup qualifier. Here and here.
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