The Saitama Derby that doesn't count

We tend to win the games that don't count for much. We're in the finals of the Nabisco cup, but we can't win our J-League game and find ourseleves fighting against relegation.

Now we have another Saitama Derby, this time it's only a training match and would you believe it the result is in our favour. The time when it doesn't count we win and the man who can't score in J-1 scores the only goal of the match. Ranko has been our consistant goal scorer in the Nabisco Cup but he struggles in league matches.

At the end of the day, yes the result doesn't matter (even though it's good to win), but it was good to see our fringe players play well. Hopefully some of these players will show their worth to team manager Hori.

This was the starting XI.

GK: Yamagishi
DF: Takahashi, Tsuboi, Spiranovic, Okamoto
MF: Kojima, Hara, Aoyama, Takasaki, Mazola
FW: Ranko

Fortnight of lows and highs

First up, apologies for my lack of updates; work has taken too much of my time and I think will continue to do so. I will do my best to blog here and an share my views. 

Secondly; what a fortnight it has been for the Reds. Started with a defeat in the Saitama derby which placed us in the bottom three (with only 5 games remaining), Petrovic announced after the game that he will not be managing the Reds next year but will fight to save the Reds from relegation. On Thursday it was announced that Petrovic along with first team coach Adrie Boger has been fired. Youth team manager Takafuni Hori will replace Petrovic as the team manager and youth team coach Amano Kenichi will be the first team coach until the end of the season (at least). This past Saturday Saturday, for the first time this year, we came from behind to defeat Yokohama F. Marinos (a team we haven't defeated in a while) 2-1. Finally Shimizu defeated Kofu on Sunday, which meant we are out of the "drop-zone" for at least this week. 

Am I happy to see Petrovic go? If it translate to wins, then yes. I felt as though we had lost our confidence over the past couple of weeks and all the signs were pointing to relegation. Our game against the Marinos didn't start off well and we even failed to convert a penalty. I was getting worried and it took two players who has been performing for us recently to give us the victory. Haraguchi was quickest to react after the missed penalty and Umesaki got the winning goal.

The thing that grabbed my attention the most though was the all-Japanese starting XI, something the Reds haven't done in a while. No Brazilians in the starting XI? There was Mazola on the bench but he didn't come on. The other international player in the squad who remained on the bench was Spiranovic.

This was the second J-1 match in a row that Spiranovic remained on the bench. He didn't see any action last week in the Saitama Derby (he just returned from Soccerroo duty) and again this week Hamada remained in the starting XI. Could this be a sign for what manager Hori has planned for next year? Spiranovic has been one of our consistent players this year and has formed a solid combination with Nagata in the heart of our defence. But if Spiranovic does leave the Reds, Hamada has played well this past fortnight in Spiranovic's place (I hope Spiranovic doesn't leave though). 

This is how we lined up against the F. Marinos.

GK: Kato

DF: Hirakawa; Hamada Nagata; Ugajin

MF: Keita, Umesaki, Naoki, Kashiwagi, Haraguchi

FW: Sergio

Subs

67min Ugajin > Takasaki

80min Umesaki > Takahashi

89min Sergio > Tsuboi

This weekend we play Kashima in the finals of the Nabisco Cup; where hopefully we will win ourselves a title. WE ARE REDS!

Can we win it all?

I know we're only talking about the Nabisco Cup here, I know in recent times it has been the "kiss of death" in terms of relegation and I know I've said that it's something we shouldn't be setting out sights on; but we need to win something. After defeating Gamba Osaka 2-1 against in the semi's, we're now only a win away from winning it and you never know, the confidence we gain by winning the league cup might translate to an improvement in our league performance?

One player playing well and making the most of his cup appearances is Umesaki, who scored the opening goal and "setup" the second (the second goal was an Umesaki shot which deflected of Sergio and was awarded to Sergio). When Umesaki was brought in from Oita at the end of 2007, many people predicted a bright future. But since then lack of playing time (particularly in 2008) and injuries over the last few years have derailed his progress.

Now though, it appears that his injury issues are behind him and has made the most of his opportunities. His opportunity in the Nabisco Cup is due to Genki away on international duty with the Blue Samurai, but I can envision Umesaki playing opposite Genki on the right flank.

Hamada had another solid outing playing in place of Spiranovic, which hopefully confirms his role as back-up to Spiranovic/Nagata at centre back, in turn hopefully it means seeing no more Nobu Yamada and Tsuboi in the heart of our defence.

This is how we lined up against Gamba.

GK: Kato
DF: Ugajin; Hamada; Nagata; Noda
MF: Keita; Kashiwagi; Umesaki; Richardes
FW: Sergio; Ranko

Subs
72min Kashiwagi > Kojima
82min Ranko > Takasaki
90min Keita > Nobu Yamada

Looking forward to the Nabisco Cup final against Kashima Antlers, which will be played at the National Stadium on the 10/29. Up next we play Miyazaki Sangyo-Keiei University on Wednesday in the Emperors Cup before we return to J-1 action against Omiya on Saturday.

ALL COME TOGETHER

 

The Osaka Fling.

Two matches, two competitions, two different results and I would have preferred if the results was the other way around. First match was on Sunday against Gamba Osaka, a J1 match, which we lost 1-0. What this means is that we are currently only 2 points above the drop zone and our chances of relegation is still very high. Not a comfortable position to be in, particularly if you are team manager Petrovic. I my pre-season expectation of a top-3 finish was extremely optimistic, but our current position is unacceptable.

We have the players there to be at the very least a mid-table club this season, but it seems that Petrovic just can't gel the team together. If it hadn't been for Genki, this season would already be gone for us. Petrovic has to go, he hasn't had the desired impact on the team; our attack seems to be disjointed at times and nothing just seems to be clicking together. This year could be the "changing of the guards", where its time to say good-bye to players like Nobu Yamada and Tsuboi and usher in the next generation.

So basically we're in survival mode in the J1, as long as we don't get relegated, it doesn't really matter where we finish this year. So our focus should be on winning at least one of the cups; the Emperors Cup would be preferable, but a league cup (Nabisco Cup) would be ok as well, which is where we did defeat Cerezo Osaka on Wednesday 2-1 to advance to the semi finals.

In the Cerezo game, Umesaki played a good game against, a full 90mins at that and our "cup specialist" Ranko scored again, this time the winner in the 83min. If only Ranko can transfer his goal scoring abilities to the J1. What fascinated me the most was seeing Hamada start in the place of Spiranovic (who's away on international duties) along side Nagata; and in my opinion he did a decent job. A good enough job to no longer see Nobu Yamada and Tsuboi in that position? I think so.

This is how we lined up

Vs Gamba

GK: Kato

DF: Ugajin, Spiranovic, Nagata, Noda

MF: Kojima, Kashiwagi, Naoki

FW: Richardes, Haraguchi, Ranko

Subs:

HT Noda > Yamada (Nobu)

64min Kojima > Umesaki

76min Ranko > Hara

Vs Cerezo

GK: Kato

DF: Ugajin, Hamada, Nagata, Noda

MF: Keita, Kashiwagi, Umesaki, Naoki

FW: Sergio, Ranko

Subs:

78min Kashiwagi > Kojima

84min Ranko > Takasaki

90min Naoki > Aoyama

Up next our Osaka fling continues, as we take on Gamba Osaka in the semi finals of the Nabisco Cup, but this time it will be in our backyard. Our internationals (Spiranovic & Genki) are still away on national team duties. WE ARE REDS!

Winner!!!

This year we haven't won games that many games, so when we do we can't take it for granted, because in all honesty we don't know when the next one will come. I'm hoping for it to come this weekend against Gamba, but realistically I don't know. It's not a good feeling as a supporter not being able to come in to a match with a winning expectation, it's depressing actually, but that's for another time an place. This blog is all about our victory on Wednesday.

What makes the victory all that much more sweeter, was that it was a "derby" game, which resulted in our neighbours being eliminated. Yes I know it's only the Nabisco cup and I have previously mentioned that winning the Nabisco Cup would spell relegation (as was the fate of Oita and FC Tokyo). But lets see it from a Reds perspective, after the last time we won the League Cup in 2003, resulted in an Emperor's Cup in 2005, the League and Emperor's Cup in 2006 and the ACL in 2007. Not too bad right? I'd be happy with that.

I'd also be happy to see Umesaki finally playing to his potential (as in not being injured); seeing him upfront playing opposite Genki gives us a more dangerous look. Another thing I'd be happy to see is more goals from Ranko. He hasn't started well for the Reds and I know people are already beginning to question him. As for me, I haven't really made up my mind yet; but if he can continue to score goals, like the two he scored against Omiya, then why not? We haven't had a "reliable" target man upfront since Washington. Yes Eji did his best, but he was no Washington. So hopefully Ranko can be just that for the Reds, he has the size, now he just needs to perform week in week out.

Two players I don't like to see week in week out would be Tsuboi and Nobu Yamada; Tsuboi came on at half time for Nagata whilst Nobu started at right back. I don't mind seeing them on spot duty and to be honest with you it was good seeing them play but they aren't what they use to be (Nobu wasn't really a defender to start off with). Is it coincidence that Urawa conceded a goal whilst both of them was on the field? (I know I'm looking too deeply into it.)

At the end of the day, we won 2-1 (4-1 agg) and we're through to the quarter finals of the Nabisco Cup to face Cerezo Osaka. So up next we play Gamba this Sunday (J1) and Cerezo on Wednesday; a week in Osaka for the Reds.

This is how we lined up against Omiya

GK: Yamagishi
DF: Yamada (No); Spiranovic; Nagata; Noda
MF: Keita; Naoki; Richardes
FW: Umesaki; Haraguchi; Ranko

Subs
29min Haraguchi > Mazola
HT Nagata > Tsuboi

61min Ranko > Sergio