It's been a couple of months and I'm trying to get the rust off so bear with me. I've been looking at the offseason and nobody really jumps out at me as a clear winner. Alot of teams improved in areas where they needed to, but left holes in other areas.
Its early but I'll go out on a limb with an early power ranking-
17. Sagan Tosu- I don't hate what Tosu did in the offseason, adding two really quality players in Yoshiki Takahashi (Vegalta) and giant centerback Kim Kun Hoan (Yokohama) who was being wasted at Nissan. I only put them here because I think they have the farthest to go in terms of getting their talent level on par with other J1 clubs and they haven'tdone that. Their offseason has been comparable to that of Avispa Fukuoka last year who added a couple of pieces but rolled with a squad that wasn't up to J1 par. Jubilo is a good indicator of their potential success. Montedio and Vegalta both won games against Iwata in their debutant campaigns and survived. Kofu lost their opener against the Shizuoka side and dropped to J2. We'll see how things shake out but right now I'm not optimistic.
17. Consadole Sapporo- I think they might have had a worse offseason, but I give them a slight nod over Tosu because many of their players have been in J1 before and I really like the Jade North signing. I also am a huge fan of manager Ishizaki, who turned around Kashiwa before leaving for Consadole. They have the potential to survive or be classically bad like Shonan Bellmare circa 2010. Who knows which team will turn out.
16. Albirex Niigata- A couple of years ago, Albirex was just under the fringes of being a real player in the J1 Championship scene, they were among the leaders in 2009 when they lost Pedro Junior to Gamba during the middle of the season. Kisho Yano? Gone. Takashi Kitano? Gone. Marcio Richardes? Gone. Nagata, Sakai, Cho Young Cheol, Chiba? All gone. There's a real talent drain going on in Niigata and eventually the team is not going to be able to surivive. The main problem for Albirex will be replacing the left side of their team with Cho, Sakai, and Chiba all leaving for other squads. Naoya Kikuchi is more than capable of filling in at centerback but losing a quality player in the hardest position to fill in Japan (left side back) is going to be a taller order. Kentaro Oi comes back from Shonan to compete for a spot while Alan Minero is brought in from Paulista to try and magically fill the role of new Brazilian goalista that Albirex seems to master at discovering.
15. Jubilo Iwata- Neophyte coach plus a combination of aging and young players kind of scares me. Hitoshi Morishita takes over for Masashi Yanagishita and has some concerns. So far the team has lost starting centerback Kenichi Kaga and midfielder/utility player Daisuke Nasu so far. Ryuichi Maeda and Yuichi Komano look to stay put for the time being but could be gone by summer. The team added an able centerback in Cho Byong Kuk from Vegalta but it seems like the team has taken a big step back from the 8th place finish.
14. Kawasaki Frontale- Possibly the team coming in with the most question marks, Frontale starts their life without Juninho. They brought in three Brazilian players, including Jeci, a 31 year old that hopes to lead a perennially weak defensive four. Koji Yamase, Junichi Inamoto, and Kengo Nakamura all put another year and more miles on their odometers.....how they hold up will be key. There is alot of talent up front but the duo of Yajima and Kobayashi have yet to prove they can score reliably over a 34 game stretch. Coach Soma is definetely under the gun this year and could possibly be the first one let go if things don't go well early.
13. Omiya Ardija- See GGOA for more views on Omiya!I have alot to say about them.
12. Sanfrecce Hiroshima- Hajime Moriyasu steps in for the big Serbian legend Petrovic and has big shoes to fill. After the relegation of 2007, Sanfrecce hasn't been a serious threat to the championship, but they have been a resectable top level team who plays an energetic, attacking style of play. Sanfrecce sees leading scorer Tadanari Lee head for Southhampton and second division English football while David Mujiri looks for work in other places. In comes the vastly underrated Naoki Ishihara who excels at quietly scoring goals. Kazuhiko Chiba comes over after playing for Moriyasu in Niigata in a move that seems to hurt Albirex more than help Sanfrecce. It's a little unclear how the centerback will fare as the centerman in a three back set which requires the central defender to direct most of the play from the back. I think it's a tough thing to ask a new manager to step in for a club legend and keep the ship steady. Schedule makers don't help the Sanfrecce cause.....Kashiwagi, Makino, and Petrovic all make an appearance for Urawa against their former squad.
11. Shimizu S Pulse- I'm not exactly sure how to rate the year that Afshin Ghotbi put out last year. On the one hand, he had managd to keep a team together that lost 7 starters from the year before. The other hand however saw the team filled with big names from Europe and various National teams in the Japan pyramid only muster one win against an elite team (Nagoya 2-0). The rest of their 11 wins came against teams in the 13 to 18 range. The defense, which allowed a mediocre tally of 51 goals, lost a good left side back in Kosuke Ota and a far less skilled centerback in the overrated form of Eddy Bosnar. The slot will be filled by either Calvin Jong a Pin, U-23 candidate Yutaka Yoshida, or Oita refugee Kang Son Ho. The problem I have with the team is more in the middle where name players like Shinji Ono and Freddy Llunberg reside. Nobody can question the bonafides of either man. The problem comes in the form of their less than reliable health. The backup prospects of Sugiyama and Daigo Kobayashi (combined for 22 games) paints a less rosy picture. The team is heavy on guys who are past their primes or not ready to shoulder all the load yet. Scary proposition.
10. Vegalta Sendai- The biggest surprise last year outside of Chiba had to be Sendai. After a struggle in their first year back in J1, Sendai used the inspiration of a huge disaster to propel themselves into a remarkable 4th place finish by playing lockdown defense and counterattacking whenever the opportunity arised. Asking the team to dupicate a remarkable 25 goals allowed is a bit much to ask, especially with the loss of Cho Byong Kuk. Cerezo centerback Taikai Uemoto comes in to take his place in what looks to be a downgrade. The acquisition of Wilson and his 3 goals from Chinese Super League side Shaanxi Badrong seems like an odd pickup as well. I think the biggest problem for the squad is going to be the letdown after playing on a mission for a tumultuos year.
Stay tuned for the top half of the power rankings
