Time Out

Hi there everybody. It has been a while, and again I must apologize for neglecting the blog. Truth is I have been very busy with my new project at japanesesoccer.net, and I really have little time left for Sanga only... Funny that I can't write now that I am "breathing" Sanga every day (I have been to all home and a lot of away games, in the meantime ), but at the moment I feel like writing more about the J.League in general. Provided the time, I hope I will be able to pick up with this blog, and in any case I promise I will write my traditional "end of the season" summary.

Thanks to those still coming around, and GO SANGA!!!

JEF Utd Chiba-Kyoto Sanga FC (Nabisco Cup), 2nd Half Highlights - Amateur camera (Good Quality!)

It looks more or less a repeat of the second half of the game vs FC Tokyo... A gazillion chances, but only a single goal, this time not even good enough to equalize. The way the attacks unfold seems very promising, but if we don't start hammering some ball in...

Yanagisawa's First Goal of 2009

Since the game was not broadcasted on TV and the clip is not easy to find on YouTube, I post it directly here. It is a very good quality video taken from the goru-no-ura, courtesy of tyas30222. Thanks!!

Kyoto Sanga FC - FC Tokyo 1-1 (Nabisco Cup)

Yanagisawa is back, and with him attacking soccer, runs, shots, chances and goals are back too. The second half today was really awesome, with Sanga players finally, attacking the ball, hassling, overlapping, creating chance after chance until the deserved tie.

Yuto was rested because of his broken nose, Lee Jong-soo is still away with South Korea and Kakuda and Hayashi got a day off. Kato Koken too had to come out after some decent 30 minutes (light injury?) and so it was a chance to see Teshima (some lightyears below Lee Jong-soo, by the way) and the two young Nakamuras, Taisuke and Atsuta, who both did rather well.

But, as said above, real joy today came from seeing Paulinho and Yanagisawa zooming across the attacking front, Diego playing as a real offensive midfielder (another assist for him), and the whole team storming up every time we stole a ball in the middle--and it happened a lot thanks to the very inspired Watanabe and Ando.

I should mention that Yanagisawa actually scored some FIVE minutes after coming in, while at the other end "Chicken-head" Mizutani made a couple of brilliant saves to deny FC Tokyo to kill the game on their rare counterattacks. In the end we had 23 shots!!

We had started badly, giving away a dumb goal on a cross that should have been cleared way before it got to Ishikawa, but gradually we took over the midfield, and from the 3oth minute we clearly dominated the game, leaving to the Tokyoites only the crumbs. It was a bit the reverse of the J1 game in Tokyo, where they had the ball most of the time, and I was sad only that celebrations at the end were mild, because the unwritten rules of Japanese Soccer say you go banzai only when you win...

Be that as it may, a very impressive game, and we finally got the idea of the value of this team when most of its effective are in place. All on a warm (or hot?) spring day, with 7,500 on the stands. Dominik came in late but he still bought me a beer as usual, so overall a wonderful day at Nishikyogoku.

Montedio Yamagata - Kyoto Sanga FC 0-0

Mmmmhhh... Bittersweet result. Clearly, considering the season so far, NOT to lose away is already a great achievement -- we got slapped 3-1 in Yamagata in March (Nabisco), remember? It was snowing!! 

However, we were so clearly superior to Montedio today, that it is a shame we couldn't slam one in. Hayashi and Diego lost an industrial quantity of balls, Toyoda missed an easy one and a ball was cleared on the line after a good direct shot from Watanabe. In the end we hit 18 shots, but two of the six Montedio missed were huge.

Mizutani is showing that he is more than just a decent keeper, and basically the defense and the two volante in front of them are doing the job. The problem starts with the top four players. Paulinho and Diego seem too often out of the game, Hayashi had another pathetic game, and only Watanabe showed what happens when a player actually dribbles away, beats a man and creates superiority. Too bad nobody could capitalize on that...

Dare I to say Sanga is one of the top-5 teams in Japan from the belt down... In the last four J1 game we raked up eight points, conceding only one goal in 360 minutes.

I think even a kid could see where the problem lies... Today Miyayoshi played 15 minutes: a sunbeam...? With three meaning less Nabisco games coming up, can we see some cojones, some attacking soccer and perhaps have some fun...?

Kyoto Sanga FC - Vissel Kobe 0-1 (Nabisco Cup)

Ok, back on planet earth, and with a bang. Not much the score, but the performance in general was really miserable. The evening was warm, me and my 10yo buddy Akira (see picture) had free ticket on good seats, I ordered a beer and a sausage... all perfect, except one thong was missing... a game of soccer!!

Both Kyoto and Vissel were pitiful, somehow a repeat of the game versus Nagoya: boring, with few chances, a lot of confusion and two teams that played very-very ugly soccer. Truth to be told, Vissel seemed a bit more genki, plus they were fielding some subs (we had the full squad... wow...). So I believe Kobe stole nothing. It could have gone either way, but if one had to win, well, they were a bit better.

The very sad thing for Sanga is that even thou we brought in some SIX forwards this season, our team CAN NOT put together an attack. Data on shots and crosses are miserable, and there is nothing we can do besides counterattacking, which means that if we go a goal down, we're screwed. In fact... Only thing to do is pray that Yanagi will be back in four weeks for real, as they tell us.

Besides Paulinho (and Diego, when he makes it to the eighteen...), we have NO attacking power. Toyoda has been a disappointment, undecisive and poor at soccer's fundamentals; Kim definitely not ripe, and Hayashi... well, I have lost the will to look for an adjective. Suffices to say that in the first half he received the ball twelve times, and we counted that he lost it eleven times. The only time he did not, he dropped it back five meters. In the second half he had some very good touches, then he finally won a dribble, went 1v1 with the keeper... and shot it against him, again. Total numbers for his season, so far? He played 15 games, no goals and two assists, including one assist, coming out of a wrong shot, that in any case did not count, as we lost that game (vs Jubilo)...

So we're finally out of the dumbest soccer competition in Japan (that's how the Nabisco Cup is called, once your club is eliminated--teehee), and I hope in the remaining three games we'll have to play anyway will finally feature somebody who wants to play for real. Today, Watanabe, for example seemed there only because he REALLY had to... Really hit on my nerves to see him lose the ball, and watch the opponent running away without fighting back...

We returned home in a gloomy mood, surrounded by people wearing anti-swine influenza masks. I heard one child on the train saying that at least now he can fart and nobody will stare at him. That was perhaps the best thing happened since the game started.

Kyoto Sanga FC - JEF United 2-1

Not sure I'll have the time to give a detailed description of another "Very Sanghy" game, but Paulinho did it. Goal #64 and 65, and we're back at the 8th place. Wow! I have vertigos...

Happy, Happy, Paulinho

Quite a remarkable couple of weeks for our ace Paulinho.

His goal against Marinos two weeks ago not only put our season back on the right track, but was his #63 with the purple uniform, meaning he has surpassed Teruaki Kurobe and he is now the all-time scorer in the history of the club. Obrigado!

Even better news yesterday... Paulinho's got a baby-boy!!! His name is Mateus, he weights 3286 grams and he and the mom are doing great! Be happy Pau!! You're a great guy, and you deserve it!! How about a goal (or two) versus JEF United to celebrate together? 

Here's MY New Stadium: Shin-Nishikyogoku!

It has been A WHILE since Sanga fans have discussed a new stadium. Too long. Ours, said in simple words, sucks. When I went to Kobe and Shizuoka, I wanted to cry, ne... Only Gamba has one worse than ours!!! 

Nishikyogoku has a HUGE track, the supporters terraces are so far away that (1) I wonder if the player can hear us; (2) When they run to us after a goal it takes them one minute and an enormous cost in terms of energy to get to us...

Plus, there is no cover and a jurassic display, still made of thousands of lightbulbs... It is all true!!

However, on the flip-side, ours is one of the most conveniently-located stadiums in Japan, just a short walk from a well connected train station, that is less than 15 minutes from downtown, and less than 30 minutes from the shinkansen. It is also surrounded by a decent amount of green, and not far from the Katsura river.

I don't really want to move, so here is my plan... ready?

Take down our glorious terraces behind the goals, scratch forever that horrible track, and turn the field around 90 degrees. Then, along the touchlines, build some straight stands, to make it look rectangular... as a soccer stadium should be! In this way we'd save a lot of money (half of the stadium would be already built), and we won't have to move from our wonderful location...!!

How would it look? Well, down here is the actual shape (bleurgh!!) and below is my Frankenstein's VERY ROUGH DRAFT, made by what would be left of our stadium (the "bakku-sutando" and the main stand), and some terraces I have "borrowed" (and painted purple) from Reysol's stadium. Not a Photoshop masterpiece, but it should give you the idea.

Well, I think it is quite awesome!

BEFORE THE CURE...

...AND AFTER THE CURE!!!

[J1 - 11th] Tokyo FC - Kyoto Sanga 0-0

Mmmmmmmhhh... Tokyo shot about 20 times, and Hirayama headed over the bar some 5... 6... 7 times? But still, I think Sanga defended quite well, and our defenders got most balls in the area, and when they could not, they anyway threw in the body, making it hard for the opponents to have a clear chance. Mizutani can't block a ball, but with the help of Masushima (super booed by his former fans for preferring Sanga) and the post, he kept a clear shot. One amazing save in the first half, the one he deflected on the woodwork. Bravo!

The problem as I see it is on the sides: Hayashi and Watanabe could not put ONE cross together in 94 minutes of game, and so our counter via vertical passes were easy to read for Tokyo's defenders. I wish Sanga would have at least one aggressive player on the sides. Both Hayashi (a couple of "uh?" shots today as well), and Watanabe play too much dandy-style. Away, it doesn't pay. After all, we got Paulinho back and we brought in Diego, Toyoda and three young forwards (kim played a few minutes today as well), but without Yanagisawa we're stuck where we were last season. Very few goals. We're at the moment ranked 16 out of 18 for goal scoring...

Well, with all the above said, today's was our first point away, with the dreadful white uniform on. Next week we awaits for JEF United at Nishikyogoku, and IF we can play that game as we did against Albirex and Marinos, we could complete a 7-pointer in three games, that would mean a lot for the table and for the morale as well.