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!

Japanese Players in Europe

Borussia Dortmund maintained its two-point lead atop the Bundesliga with a 1-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen. The match was settled by a brilliant individual goal by Shinji Kagawa. After a poor start to the season, he has really hit form and, with Robert Lewandowski, has been Dortmund’s best player in the absence of Mario Gotze. He has now scored four times in 2012, leading Dortmund to top of the table and an undefeated record on the year.

Ryo Miyaichi made his English debut, playing the entire second half of Bolton’s 2-1 home defeat to Wigan. He was brilliant throughout and almost salvaged a point for the Wanderers, forcing a great save from Ali Al-Habsi. Manager Owen Coyle singled Ryo out for praise in his post-match interview.

Mike Havenaar played the entire match, as Vitesse lost 3-1 away to Feyenoord. Red-hot Man City loanee John Guidetti had yet another hattrick for Feyenoord who moved up to fourth with the win. Michihiro Yasuda was an unused substitute.

Shinji Okazaki scored once as Stuttgart smacked Hertha Berlin 5-0. The win lifts Stuttgart to 9th in the table. Makoto Hasebe and Wolfsburg are one spot ahead in the standings, winning 3-2 over Freiburg. Captain Hasebe played the entire second half. Meanwhile, Takashi Usami was an unused substitute as Bayern beat relegation-bound Kaiserslautern 2-0.

Both Maya Yoshida and Robert Cullen played as VVV beat Groningen 2-0, to climb further from automatic relegation. Yoshida played the entire match, while Cullen came on as a late substitute. Meanwhile, Yoshiaki Takagi maintained his place in the first team as Utrecht drew 1-1 Ado Den Haag.

Sorry for the long absence readers, I will be posting more regularly now.

Japanese Players Update

The blog is back! Sorry for the lack of posts over the past three weeks, I’ve been busy with finals and the holiday season. To make up for it I’ll be posting regularly for the next week and a half. First off, an update on how Japanese players have been doing over in the European leagues.

The star of the last month has undoubtedly been Yuto Nagatomo. The fullback scored in back-to-back games against Fiorentina and Genoa, both Inter wins. His goal against Genoa was a header, and at 5 foot 7 he was the shortest player on the pitch. Then, in the next game Nagatomo provided two assists in a 4-1 win over Lecce, giving Inter the trickery that they have missed as Wesley Sneijder has struggled this year. The win catapulted Inter into fifth place going into the winter break, incredible considering their terrible start to the season. Here are the highlights of Nagatomo terrorizing last place Lecce.

Shinji Kagawa is currently struggling with gastroenteritis and was forced to pull out of a charity match in Sendai to support earthquake relief efforts. However he did play well in the two matches leading up to the winter break in Germany. He scored in Dortmund’s 1-1 draw at home to Kaiserslautern. Then in Dortmund’s 4-1 away win against Freiburg, he set up three goals and was a constant threat throughout the match. For Dortmund’s first goal, Kagawa played an excellent one-two with Ilkay Gundogan before putting it on a plate for Robert Lewandowski. In the 59th minute, Kagawa played a ball between two Freiburg defenders to put Lewandowski through. The Pole opted to wait for support and then served it up for Grosskreutz who curled it off the far post for Dortmund’s third. Finally in the 70th minute, Kagawa put Grosskreutz through who then provided Lewandowski with a tap-in to finish the scoring. The win put Dortmund into second place on goal difference ahead of Schalke, and only three points behind Bayern. It was a good finish to the first half of the season for Kagawa, who at times was outshone by the likes of Mario Gotze and Lewandowski, but these performances will encourage him to improve further in the second half. Highlights for the Freiburg match are here.

December has been decent to Japan’s other Bundesliga star. Makoto Hasebe was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in Wolfsburg’s 2-2 draw with Mainz. The Japanese captain was carded twice in less than ten minutes to earn an early trip home. However, he was crucial in front of the defense in his next match, a 1-0 win over Stuttgart. Compatriot Shinji Okazaki watched the match from the Stuttgart bench as an unused substitute. He had a quiet month, with no goals in four matches.

Takashi Usami has had a good month in Bayern’s reserves, as he continues to destroy lower league defenses. He scored a goal in Bayern II’s 4-1 away win at Karlsruher II. Then he came on as a substitute in the first team’s 2-0 away loss against Manchester City.

Michihiro Yasuda had an excellent December with Vitesse. The Arnhem side went undefeated in four December matches, with three wins and a draw, conceding only once–in a 2-1 cup win over FC Eindhoven. Yasuda has been a vital part of a defense that has not conceded a goal in the Eredivisie for over 400 minutes. Vitesse has risen to 6th place during this stretch.

On the other hand, VVV Venlo continued to struggle in December and have entered the winter break second to last and firmly on course for relegation. Venlo won once and lost twice in the month, including a 7-0 loss away at Heracles. Maya Yoshida and Robert Cullen will hope for vast improvement in the second half of the season.

FC Utrecht had an equally torrid month, with one draw and two losses. However, Yoshiaki Takagi started all three of the matches.

Finally, Hiroshi Ibusuki scored three times in as many December games for Sevilla II. He now has eleven goals in 18 matches for the reserves, already one more than he had all of last season.

Look forward to more posts all of this week, including a year review of the national team and the first annual Japan Footblog Player of the Year Award!

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.

Japanese Players in Europe

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.