Olympic Football Roster Announced

Kenyu Sugimoto was a surprise inclusion.

The Japan Olympic football squad was announced today, and there were some surprise inclusions/exclusions. Here’s the squad:

Keeper: Shuichi Gonda, Shunsuke Ando

Def: Yuhei Tokunaga (overage), Maya Yoshida (overage), Daisuke Suzuki, Hiroki Sakai, Gotoku Sakai

Mid: Hiroshi Kiyotake, Taisuke Muramatsu, Keigo Higashi, Hotaru Yamaguchi, Takahiro Ogihara, Takashi Usami

Fwd: Kensuke Nagai, Yuki Otsu, Manabu Saito, Kenyu Sugimoto

Injury standby: Akihiro Hayashi (keeper-overage), Kazuki Oiwa (def), Takuji Yonemoto (mid), Ryohei Yamazaki (fwd)

The notable omission has to be Ryo Miyaichi. The most likely explanation is that Arsenal were not going to release him for the Olympics. However, the fact that they posted a note on their website about his inclusion in the preliminary squad, and the rumors swirling about his imminent loan move to Southampton, indicate that a) they were at least entertaining the idea of letting him go, and b) since he is moving on loan, his participation in the Olympics didn’t matter to them at all. So, if Arsenal were in fact okay with him being in the squad, then this is a ridiculous omission. Firstly, he played regularly for Bolton last season, in the most competitive league in the world. While he didn’t start every match, he came off the bench in the ones he didn’t, and at least got playing time in most of Bolton’s matches. This is more than some of the players chosen above him can say, playing in the J. League. Secondly, he is one of the most talented players that Japan have. The Olympics are the time to test out your talents, so take your most talented players.

Another omission is Yoshiaki Takagi who should’ve been at least a reserve. He started playing regularly for Utrecht at the end of last season, which should be enough to warrant a spot on the Olympic team. Yuya Osako, Mizuki Hamada, and Hiroshi Ibusuki were also omitted. Osako has been playing well for a an underachieving Kashima Antlers side this season. Hamada is an exciting central defender, but the JFA opted for overage players in that position. Ibusuki should’ve also been at least a reserve–he could’ve provided a plan b in the Andy Carroll mold.

The biggest surprise inclusion is Kenyu Sugimoto, who has four goals this season for Tokyo Verdy…in J.2. At 6 foot 2, he does provide that plan b, but clearly Ibusuki, with 20 goals in the Spanish third division, should get in ahead of him.

I will post about the potential starting xi in the future, but for now, what do you think?

Yoshiaki Takagi scores for FC Utrecht

Nineteen year-old Yoshiaki Takagi scored his first goal for FC Utrecht. The goal came in the 48th minute of Utrecht’s 3-1 win away at Roda JC. It was the final game of the Eredivisie season for both teams. Let’s see if Takagi’s good play for Utrecht will get him noticed and considered for a spot on the Olympic team. Highlight here.

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

This week’s Japanese hero is Maya Yoshida, who scored a stunning goal for VVV Venlo in their 3-3 draw with PSV. With his late winner against North Korea a couple of weeks ago, Yoshida is currently Japan’s hottest goalscorer. His Japanese teammate Robert Cullen played the full 90 minutes in the match as well.

Besides Yoshida, the Japanese contingency in Europe had another underwhelming week of fixtures. Shinji Kagawa played the entire 90 minutes of Dortmund’s 2-1 loss at Hertha Berlin, as the reigning German champions continued their poor start to the domestic season. In midweek, things were not as bad, as Dortmund earned a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal. Kagawa played the first 85 minutes before being replaced by Mohamed Zidan. Ivan Perisic got Dortmund a valuable home point with an outrageous volley in the 88th minute.

Yuto Nagatomo made his first appearance of the season, playing 62 minutes of Inter’s 4-3 loss at Palermo before being subbed off. He also played the full 90 minutes of Inter’s 1-0 Champions League loss to Trabzonspor on Wednesday. Yes, a truly rotten week for Inter.

A potential clash of Japanese players was avoided when Atsuto Uchida was an unused substitute during Schalke’s 2-1 loss at Wolfsburg, for whom national team captain Makoto Hasebe played the entire 90 minutes. Uchida did play in Schalke’s 0-0 Europa League tie at Steaua Bucuresti on Thursday.

Shinji Okazaki scored the first goal of Stuttgart’s 3-0 win over Hannover.

Youngsters Takashi Usami and Yoshiaki Takagi were both unused subsitutes for Bayern and Utrecht’s respective wins over the weekend. Usami was also on the bench for Bayern’s 2-0 CL win at Valencia on Wednesday. Keisuke Honda continues to be hurt. However, in a nice bit of news, Ryo Miyaichi has recovered from his injury and played in a reserve match, apparently providing a pretty backheel assist.

Japanese Players in Europe

Keisuke Honda started CSKA Moscow’s 2-2 draw with city rivals Spartak Moscow on Sunday but was forced off at halftime due to a knee injury. He was replaced by Pavel Mamaev. Despite Zenit St. Petersburg’s 5-0 win over Kuban Krasnodar which put the two sides level on points and Zenit with the superior goal difference, CSKA remain top of the Russian table due to a better head-to-head record.

UPDATE: Honda will miss two-three months due to this knee injury.

Atsuto Uchida played the entire 90 minutes of Schalke’s 1-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday. The victory put Schalke joint top of the Bundesliga with rivals Bayern Munich.

Shinji Kagawa played 81 minutes of Dortmund’s 0-0 draw with Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. He was replaced by Jakub Blaszczykowski. The result leaves the reigning Bundesliga champions in sixth place with seven points. Kagawa expressed his disappointment after the match, saying “I missed a good chance to score, it is really regrettable.”

Makoto Hasebe played 50 minutes of Wolfsburg’s 3-0 loss at SC Freiburg on Saturday. Shinji Okazaki played the entire 90 minutes of Vfb Stuttgart’s 1-0 loss at Hertha Berlin.

Yoshiaki Takagi was left on the bench for FC Utrecht’s 3-1 win over Roda JC. The match featured the Eredivise debut of Rodney Sneijder on loan from Ajax. He scored, while brother Wesley cheered from the stands.

Ryo Miyaichi picked up a minor injury during the week and was unavailable for Arsenal’s 8-2 mauling at the hands of Manchester United. The match was utterly cartoonish, with both teams spurning chances upon chances. 10-5 would have better reflected the quality of defending on display. It’s a shame Ryo wasn’t fit, because he would likely have gotten time, and maybe even a goal. On the other hand, he didn’t have to suffer what was undoubtedly a traumatic experience for Arsenal players.

Overall, it was an underwhelming weekend for Japanese players in Europe. Hopefully, they will feature more prominently after the international break.