There's always been something that bothered me about Yokohama that I never could quite put my finger on. Maybe it's the fact that there wasn't really any backlash for the club when they released Naoki Matsuda. It's not a slight against Marinos fans......they got it. There was some real outrage towards the manager and the club brass. The media and the league kind of played it off. When Matsuda died, it seemed like he never got cut from Marinos......like he just decided that he wanted to help Matsumoto Yamaga and he was really excited that Kazushi Kimura was leading the team to the title. Even though Kimura brought down the hatchet.
Or maybe its the fact that they get the "benefit of the doubt" on the field. From the games I watched, it seemed like the referees had installed the "Shunsuke Bubble" because he is a national treasure. Or the "Nakazawa bubble" because he is a national hero. So I looked at the stats and found that they were the second least adjudicated team in the league while receiving the second most free kicks in the league (second only to Nagoya Grampus.....defending league champs...not defending 8th place team). Compare that to 13th place Omiya who had similar offensive numbers but 156 less free kicks and you have to wonder.....if the roles were reversed, how much better would Yokohama be?
Maybe it's because it seems like Yokohama wastes alot of talent. Kazuma Watanabe was a bright young star for them two years ago. Kimura comes in and benches in favor of the one-dimensional Masashi Oguro. Sounds like a familiar story considering the team had the rights to Yasuhito Endo, Seigo Narazaki and Naohiro Ishikawa and let them go. FC Tokyo should be really excited about watching Andrew Kumagai play for them in 5 years.*
From the Flugels debacle to the absolute gutless collapse of the team after Matsuda's death, it seems like Karmically there should be some real suffering in Yokohama land. But there isn't. every year it seems like the team just flaunts it's disdain for cosmic justice.
Did I mention that their big signing for 2012 was Marquinhos? 36 year old, 7 teams in 9 years Marquinhos? To replace Watanabe?
Did I mention that? I'm not degrading the signing because he is well travelled or aproaching the end of his career....that's fine. He still seems capable of scoring and probably would have been a good signing for them last year instead of Oguro.
No......my problem with him is this. He left Japan. After a huge earthquake and a ton of disaster befell the town that he played for and the town that he had his most success at (Sendai and Kashima), he left a place where he made a ton of money and a team who was trying to solidifying itself as a J1 team, who went out on a limb and signed him after his former coach questioned his desire to play and his professionalism.
He decided it was too much to stay and went home. A very human thing to do and something I don't blame him for.
He left Japan and Sendai. And that's fine and understandable.
Just don't come back.......at least don't come back if you don't plan on playing for Sendai.
Marquinhos at 36 playing for Yokohama a second time? It seems wrong to me. Like you're poking karma in the eye. But what do I know?
The other signings were reasonable for depth, nothing overwhelming but nice pickups for the future. The best of the group is probably U-23 striker Manabu Saito, who comes back from a loan stint in Ehime. Saito had a respectable 14 goals in 36 games and usually was the only threat for the southern squad. A more publicized signing was that of U-23 sideback Yusuke Higa from Ryutsu Keizai University. He probably isn't ready now but will look to push young left back Takashi Kanai out of the starting spot and line up next to Nakazawa.
29 year old career J2 player Seitaro Tomizawa comes in to be an emergency backup at the centerback position. An odd choice for both the player and the team. Another longtime J2 starter, Kosuke Nakamichi comes into challenge for a starting spot in the center of the field. After a good 2010 helped Fukuoka to acheive J1 status, a disastrous 2011 saw Nakamichi leave Fukuoka and head back to Kanagawa. Yuji Rokutan also comes over from Fukuoka to presumably be the third keeper.
Competent but underwhelming X and O man Yasuhiro Higuchi comes in after Kimura was let go because of a failed promise to get the team into the ACL. Higuchi coached Omiya to a 13th place finish in J1 in his only stint in the top flight. He finished in the bottom half of the table in his stints at Montedio Yamagata (8th and 9th out of 13 teams in 2006 and 2007 ) and Yokohama FC (16th out of 18 teams in 2009). Higuchi is fine when things are going as planned, his problem comes when things go wrong. He was very cautious during his time at Omiya and was very averse to playing younger players. That's probably not a good sign for players like Ono, Higa, Saito, and Andrew Kumagai, but great for Marquinhos and Oguro.
I think the team will probably hover around the top again before losing steam and settling in the middle. I'm tempted to say they will fall to the bottom with the core aging another year, but fate (and the officials who remember yesteryear) never seem to let Yokohama stray too far south of mid-table. 2012 prediction? 9th place
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Tokyo Drift-Why the Gasmen aren't Kashiwa
Part two of my preseason report focuses on current J2 and Emperor's Cup holders FC Tokyo. There has already been alot of coverage focused on FC Tokyo, with publications like Weekly Soccer Magazine and El Golazo featuring new Serbian/Austrian manager Ranko Popovic. There's been alot of ink on the many transactions that the team has made in the offseason, including talented left back Kosuke Ota (Shimizu), dynamic striker (and former high school teammate of Sota Hirayama) Kazuma Watanabe (Yokohama), and crafty wing player Hiroki Kawano (from rivals Tokyo Verdy), to name just a few. Tokyo is already getting buzz as a "darkhorse" candidate for both the ACL spot and the title.
Lost amid a season in which former J2 champion Kashiwa Reysol swept to a title and Vegalta Sendai putting on an inspired 4th place run after the devestation of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami was the historic win in the Emperor's Cup.....a first for a lower division squad in the modern J League era.
They are an interesting story and rightfully deserve the print they are getting (unlike a certain Saitama team who are getting the lion's share of publicity this offseason), but they aren't Kashiwa. While I think it's likely the squad will finish in the top half of the table, I don't think they will be champs. Here's why.
1. Managerial Change- For the second year in a row, a promoted team has opted to switch gears and go with a new manager to start their J1 campaign. Toshiya Miura took over Ventforet Kofu in 2011 and drove them to the depths of J1. 20 games in, he was putting in resumes at Hello Work. Popovic comes in following a tough act. Kiyoshi Okuma had many flaws as a manager. He wasn't the most imaginative planner, he didn't really use or develop his younger players as much as he could, and he relied heavily on guys who weren't always focused on the (usually) inferior competiton in J2. But Okuma got the main job done. And he also got the squad the extra title to open up 2012. Popovic didn't.
FC Tokyo still has to deal with the transition from Okuma Tokyo to Popovic Tokyo. And it has to deal with the added expectations and burdens that come with being a cup holder. Popovic does this with a curtailed honeymoon period that naturally occurs with coaches who acheive promotion. Yoshiyuki Shinoda was allowed to go 13 games without a win at Fukuoka before management started thinking about changing things up. How many games can Popovic lose before things turn on him.
Nelsinho got half a season to evaluate what he had on his team, a year in J2 to clear out any dead weight or guys that didn't fit his system, and the power to bring in players who would play the way he wants them to play. (Captain Masahiro Koga, former leading scorers Minoru Suganuma and Franca, ansd starting sidebacks Yuzo Kobayashi and Yusuke Murakami all were jettisoned in moves that seemed bad at the time but ultimately made the team better). Popovic doesn't have that luxury. He was probably involved in the offseason moves but for the most part, this is still the Okuma/Jofuku squad from 2009.
2. ACL and Raised Expectations- It's hard enough to come back to J1, but Tokyo has to do it with a target on their back and the extra burden of travelling to Australia, Korea, and China. Tokyo starts the season with the ceremonial (and ultimately meaningless) Xerox Cup on the 3rd, flies to Australia for a game against Brisbane on the 6th, comes back for the season opener in Omiya on the 10th, gets a week to prepare for Nagoya for their home opener on the 17th and then faces another ACL foe a mere 3 days later on the 20th before heading to Kobe on the 24th. 6 games and two pretty big trips in an 18 day span to start the season is a killer for any team, much less one trying to reestablish themselves in J1.
FC Tokyo also doesn't have the luxury of sneaking up on anyone in 2012. The Emperor's Cup win eliminated any chance of teams overlooking the Gasmen. Kashiwa taking the title also didn't help......no J2 team with a decent payroll can be taken for granted as an easy win any longer.
3. Yasuyuki Konno- The one really dark cloud in an otherwise perfect offseason was the departure of National Team centerback and longtime squad leader Yasuyuki Konno to perennial title chasers Gamba Osaka. Arguably the best player on FC Tokyo, Konno leaves a line that still remains a relative strength. Yuhei Tokunaga is capable of sliding into the centerback spot with the acqusition of Ota. If he stumbles, former Jubilo back Kenichi Kaga is capable of filling in. In terms of personnel, there won't be a huge dropoff. Leadership is a far deeper hole to fill however. There is no natural leader to fill the role. Nao Ishikawa has been with the team the longest but seems to have annual struggles with fitness and form. Naotake Hanyu has an impressive resume but the last time he was front and center was Ivica Osim's awful Asian Cup campaign which saw the diminutive midfielder blubbering like a baby after Japan crashed out. Yohei Kajiyama seems to be disinterested half the time. Masato Morishige has been mentioned, but he is only 24 and his last two J1 campaigns saw his teams get relegated.
Kashiwa was able from Koga to a new captain because Nelsinho had control of the squad and the resume to back it up. It's not clear how much pull Popovic will have. Half a year at Oita and a stint in the JFL isn't the most impressive credentials so he's really going to have to win the locker room early and get a guy that wholly buys into his system to run the team on the field.
4. Donut Formation- FC Tokyo boasts alot of depth in many positions. U-23 keeper Shuichi Gonda and Hitoshi Shiota are probably the best one two punch in the J League and would both be upgrades to about 2/3rds of the teams in J1 as singular members. The back line has no real weak links, Ota, Tokunaga, Morishige, and Kenta Mukuhara are all quality players. The wings are three deep with Ishikawa leading a young and talented group of side attackers. Longtime goal poacher Lucas returned to help the team gain promotion last year and formed good chemistry with fellow Brazilian Roberto Cesar to form a formidible attacking line. Kazuma Watanabe and young Avispa returnee Kentaro Shigematsu come in to give Tokyo their most depth at the position in a long time. The one real problem area for FC Tokyo is the center midfield position.
It's presumed that Naotake Hanyu and Yohei Kajiyama are the starters. Both have their issues. Hanyu, probably better suited as a winger has arguably lost a step. He's a smart player but he's limited and at times struggled with J2 competition. Kajiyama, on the other hand has the tools to be consistently considered an upper eschelon defensive midfielder. the problem with Tokyo's number 10 is his attitude. Kajiyama has been criticized for mailing in performances against teams that he should be dominating. Linked with moves abroad in the past, it's hard to tell if he's fully committed to bringing a championship to Chofu. Yokohama import Ariajasuru Hasegawa has the size to play in middle but not the experience. Hideto Takahashi spent some time in the middle but has little game time in the top flight and Tatsuya Yazawa seems like a fringe J1 player at this point in his career. The one hope for the squad is that Takuji Yonemoto can find a way to put two years of devestating injuries behind him and claim the spot. Yonemoto is the best center midfielder on the squad, his injury was one of the big factors in the team dropping in 2010.
Ed note- Friend of Grotesque Simulation and On the Gas mastermind Ben Maxwell pointed out that Hanyu will in all likelihood not be the man next to Kajiyama when the season starts. I was going by the Shuukan Soccer Digest projected lineups but since 1. El Golazo put out the linueps of FC Tokyo's scrimmage against FC Ryukyuu and had Hanyu playing right side wing and 2. I trust Ben's opinion far more than SSD, I decided to opt for this addendum.
Tokyo has a fairly deep squad and talent in alot of positions. Looking at the past history of promoted squads since the league went to the single year format,with the exceptions of 2006 and 2008, at least one promoted team finished in the top half of the table
Best promoted squads
2011- Kashiwa-Champions
2010- Cerezo-3rd
2009- Sanfrecce-4th
2008- Kyoto Sanga-14th
2007-Kashiwa-8th
2006-Ventforet Kofu-15th
2005- Kawasaki-8th
With all due respect to Consadole Sapporo and Sagan Tosu, I think FC Tokyo is the best of the three. And it really won't be surprising to see them claim one of the top 9 spots in the table. The league looks like there is no clear front runner to start the campaign so it is possible that someone unlikely could steal the title.
There's just too much that Tokyo would have to overcome to repeat the shock win by Kashiwa. everything would have to break right for them to claim the title, and I think that's a bit too much to ask a debutant coach to do with a squad that has a very big flaw.
I think 6th would be a good finsih for them and something that the team should be proud of accomplishing if they manage to do it. They are pioneers on a couple of different levels and it will be interesting to watch them deal with the upcoming pitfalls and hurdles that await.
I just wish they didn't go with those godawful Adidas uniforms that remind me of the boring teams of their past. Lionel Richie and monochrome blue.......it's 2006 all over again.
Lost amid a season in which former J2 champion Kashiwa Reysol swept to a title and Vegalta Sendai putting on an inspired 4th place run after the devestation of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami was the historic win in the Emperor's Cup.....a first for a lower division squad in the modern J League era.
They are an interesting story and rightfully deserve the print they are getting (unlike a certain Saitama team who are getting the lion's share of publicity this offseason), but they aren't Kashiwa. While I think it's likely the squad will finish in the top half of the table, I don't think they will be champs. Here's why.
1. Managerial Change- For the second year in a row, a promoted team has opted to switch gears and go with a new manager to start their J1 campaign. Toshiya Miura took over Ventforet Kofu in 2011 and drove them to the depths of J1. 20 games in, he was putting in resumes at Hello Work. Popovic comes in following a tough act. Kiyoshi Okuma had many flaws as a manager. He wasn't the most imaginative planner, he didn't really use or develop his younger players as much as he could, and he relied heavily on guys who weren't always focused on the (usually) inferior competiton in J2. But Okuma got the main job done. And he also got the squad the extra title to open up 2012. Popovic didn't.
FC Tokyo still has to deal with the transition from Okuma Tokyo to Popovic Tokyo. And it has to deal with the added expectations and burdens that come with being a cup holder. Popovic does this with a curtailed honeymoon period that naturally occurs with coaches who acheive promotion. Yoshiyuki Shinoda was allowed to go 13 games without a win at Fukuoka before management started thinking about changing things up. How many games can Popovic lose before things turn on him.
Nelsinho got half a season to evaluate what he had on his team, a year in J2 to clear out any dead weight or guys that didn't fit his system, and the power to bring in players who would play the way he wants them to play. (Captain Masahiro Koga, former leading scorers Minoru Suganuma and Franca, ansd starting sidebacks Yuzo Kobayashi and Yusuke Murakami all were jettisoned in moves that seemed bad at the time but ultimately made the team better). Popovic doesn't have that luxury. He was probably involved in the offseason moves but for the most part, this is still the Okuma/Jofuku squad from 2009.
2. ACL and Raised Expectations- It's hard enough to come back to J1, but Tokyo has to do it with a target on their back and the extra burden of travelling to Australia, Korea, and China. Tokyo starts the season with the ceremonial (and ultimately meaningless) Xerox Cup on the 3rd, flies to Australia for a game against Brisbane on the 6th, comes back for the season opener in Omiya on the 10th, gets a week to prepare for Nagoya for their home opener on the 17th and then faces another ACL foe a mere 3 days later on the 20th before heading to Kobe on the 24th. 6 games and two pretty big trips in an 18 day span to start the season is a killer for any team, much less one trying to reestablish themselves in J1.
FC Tokyo also doesn't have the luxury of sneaking up on anyone in 2012. The Emperor's Cup win eliminated any chance of teams overlooking the Gasmen. Kashiwa taking the title also didn't help......no J2 team with a decent payroll can be taken for granted as an easy win any longer.
3. Yasuyuki Konno- The one really dark cloud in an otherwise perfect offseason was the departure of National Team centerback and longtime squad leader Yasuyuki Konno to perennial title chasers Gamba Osaka. Arguably the best player on FC Tokyo, Konno leaves a line that still remains a relative strength. Yuhei Tokunaga is capable of sliding into the centerback spot with the acqusition of Ota. If he stumbles, former Jubilo back Kenichi Kaga is capable of filling in. In terms of personnel, there won't be a huge dropoff. Leadership is a far deeper hole to fill however. There is no natural leader to fill the role. Nao Ishikawa has been with the team the longest but seems to have annual struggles with fitness and form. Naotake Hanyu has an impressive resume but the last time he was front and center was Ivica Osim's awful Asian Cup campaign which saw the diminutive midfielder blubbering like a baby after Japan crashed out. Yohei Kajiyama seems to be disinterested half the time. Masato Morishige has been mentioned, but he is only 24 and his last two J1 campaigns saw his teams get relegated.
Kashiwa was able from Koga to a new captain because Nelsinho had control of the squad and the resume to back it up. It's not clear how much pull Popovic will have. Half a year at Oita and a stint in the JFL isn't the most impressive credentials so he's really going to have to win the locker room early and get a guy that wholly buys into his system to run the team on the field.
4. Donut Formation- FC Tokyo boasts alot of depth in many positions. U-23 keeper Shuichi Gonda and Hitoshi Shiota are probably the best one two punch in the J League and would both be upgrades to about 2/3rds of the teams in J1 as singular members. The back line has no real weak links, Ota, Tokunaga, Morishige, and Kenta Mukuhara are all quality players. The wings are three deep with Ishikawa leading a young and talented group of side attackers. Longtime goal poacher Lucas returned to help the team gain promotion last year and formed good chemistry with fellow Brazilian Roberto Cesar to form a formidible attacking line. Kazuma Watanabe and young Avispa returnee Kentaro Shigematsu come in to give Tokyo their most depth at the position in a long time. The one real problem area for FC Tokyo is the center midfield position.
It's presumed that Naotake Hanyu and Yohei Kajiyama are the starters. Both have their issues. Hanyu, probably better suited as a winger has arguably lost a step. He's a smart player but he's limited and at times struggled with J2 competition. Kajiyama, on the other hand has the tools to be consistently considered an upper eschelon defensive midfielder. the problem with Tokyo's number 10 is his attitude. Kajiyama has been criticized for mailing in performances against teams that he should be dominating. Linked with moves abroad in the past, it's hard to tell if he's fully committed to bringing a championship to Chofu. Yokohama import Ariajasuru Hasegawa has the size to play in middle but not the experience. Hideto Takahashi spent some time in the middle but has little game time in the top flight and Tatsuya Yazawa seems like a fringe J1 player at this point in his career. The one hope for the squad is that Takuji Yonemoto can find a way to put two years of devestating injuries behind him and claim the spot. Yonemoto is the best center midfielder on the squad, his injury was one of the big factors in the team dropping in 2010.
Ed note- Friend of Grotesque Simulation and On the Gas mastermind Ben Maxwell pointed out that Hanyu will in all likelihood not be the man next to Kajiyama when the season starts. I was going by the Shuukan Soccer Digest projected lineups but since 1. El Golazo put out the linueps of FC Tokyo's scrimmage against FC Ryukyuu and had Hanyu playing right side wing and 2. I trust Ben's opinion far more than SSD, I decided to opt for this addendum.
Tokyo has a fairly deep squad and talent in alot of positions. Looking at the past history of promoted squads since the league went to the single year format,with the exceptions of 2006 and 2008, at least one promoted team finished in the top half of the table
Best promoted squads
2011- Kashiwa-Champions
2010- Cerezo-3rd
2009- Sanfrecce-4th
2008- Kyoto Sanga-14th
2007-Kashiwa-8th
2006-Ventforet Kofu-15th
2005- Kawasaki-8th
With all due respect to Consadole Sapporo and Sagan Tosu, I think FC Tokyo is the best of the three. And it really won't be surprising to see them claim one of the top 9 spots in the table. The league looks like there is no clear front runner to start the campaign so it is possible that someone unlikely could steal the title.
There's just too much that Tokyo would have to overcome to repeat the shock win by Kashiwa. everything would have to break right for them to claim the title, and I think that's a bit too much to ask a debutant coach to do with a squad that has a very big flaw.
I think 6th would be a good finsih for them and something that the team should be proud of accomplishing if they manage to do it. They are pioneers on a couple of different levels and it will be interesting to watch them deal with the upcoming pitfalls and hurdles that await.
I just wish they didn't go with those godawful Adidas uniforms that remind me of the boring teams of their past. Lionel Richie and monochrome blue.......it's 2006 all over again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)