* Not actually a shop

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

FC Tokyo Update - J.League to Resume April 23

#Post Updated at 10.25pm Tuesday#

Its now 11 days since the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck north-eastern Japan. In that time the death toll has risen over 9,000, with another 12,000 people still missing. I've never seen such unimaginable scenes of destruction, and my heart goes out to all of the victims. Football remains a secondary concern through all this, but this is a football blog....so I'm here to update the situation in the J.League, and FC Tokyo in particular.

We already knew that all fixtures for the remainder of March have been postponed, and whispers on twitter over the weekend indicated that almost all of April would be pushed back too. The last weekend in April was mooted as the most likely return date, but after lengthy discussions at J.League HQ today, and despite the massive logistical concerns they are still to work through, it was decided play in both J1 and J2 will resume on April 23rd, the "eighth" week of the season (as originally scheduled).

For FC Tokyo, the first game back will be a trip to Chiba on Sunday the 24th, to play JEF, the team I had second in my Pre-Season Power Rankings, and 3-0 winners over Kitakyushu in the first game of the season. Our first home game back will be the visit of Sapporo on Saturday, April 30th - and all that means that six games (Matchdays 2 - 7) will have to be made up during the course of the season.

Now that we've got that good news, here's a quick summary of what's been happening at and around FC Tokyo:

Monday, March 14, 2011

Quake and Tsunami Wreak Havoc - J.League In Limbo

Friday afternoon's Magnitude 9.0 earthquake, and subsequent catastrophic tsunami, has caused unfathomable damage to vast areas in north-eastern Japan. Iwate, Fukushima, Miyagi and Ibaraki Prefectures were battered, whole cities and towns were washed away, and the death toll could reach 10,000, according to reports. There is no way that any of us can comprehend what the people up north went through, and their anguish at lost or missing family members and friends must be heartbreaking.

Football is completely meaningless when compared to this utter devastation, and the J.League took the only possible decision it could and cancelled the weekend's games in J1 and J2. When football in Japan will resume is hard to predict, (updating at 3:35pm) but the J.League has decided to postpone all league and league cup fixtures for the remainder of March. Reported damage at stadiums in Sendai, Kashima (both J1) and Mito means those venues are likely to be out of commission for the foreseeable future, though.

Please don't think I'm trying to make light of the situation by talking about an FC Tokyo practice match - a totally insignificant event in light of what has happened - but after three days of watching the horrific and heartbreaking scenes, I needed to do something to get my mind off things... And so, having returned from Okayama, FC Tokyo played a practice game against Meiji University yesterday afternoon. (I didn't go to the game, have used information from the club website.)

FC Tokyo 3 - 0 Meiji University (4 x 35 min game)
Goals: Hokuto (32nd min), Roberto Cesar (89th, 121st)

This four "quarter" (just like Aussie Rules Football) game enabled each of our four keepers to play, while the full (fit) squad was utilised, with Kazumasa Uesato playing almost three full quarters and Roberto, Kenta Mukuhara, Tomokazu Nagira, Sotan Tanabe, Kohei Shimoda (at leftback) and trialist Jade North all playing the final two quarters, but there was still no sign of Yohei Kajiyama, Naohiro Ishikawa, Pedro Junior or long-term absentee Daiki Takamatsu. Most pleasing for me though is that, although he didn't start, Roberto Cesar got through 89 minutes, playing the full second and third quarters, and the first 19 minutes of the fourth, scoring twice, making it five goals in his last two (both games against university students to keep it in perspective).

Friday, March 11, 2011

Okayama v FC Tokyo: J2 Matchday 2 Preview

#This game, along with all others in J1 and J2, was postponed due to the Magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck vast areas in Japan's north-east last Friday.#

Sunday, March 6, 2011

FC Tokyo 1 - 0 Tosu

J2 (!) Matchday 1

Back to Ajinomoto Stadium, we beeped our way in with our new Socio smartcards, got the beers in, and shaded our eyes from the bright green astroturf around the pitch as well as the warm March sun.

There was a decent crowd in (21,408) and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra got us going. Despite the fact that it was still difficult to believe we were about to watch a J2 game, it was good to be back. And then the game started.

2011 started in much the same fashion as 2010 went, with a furrowing of brows over the Tokyo line up. Most pundits had expected something along the lines of what Ben outlined in his recent preview post, what with Pedro Junior, Ishikawa, Takamatsu, Yonemoto, Kajiyama and Gonda all out. But Big Bear pulled another one of his surprises by suddenly preferring young Hideto Takahashi, nominally a central defender, in the holding midfield role to new signing and J2 journeyman Roberto. Good to see the youngster get a chance, but it did beg the question of why Roberto was bought (and indeed Uesato) if not for precisely this kind of occasion, with both preferred central midfielders missing.

There was further scratching of chins when it was discovered that Otake would miss out on the right side of midfield, and in came the less creative Hokuto who we all thought was unfit, and who had played most of last season at left back. Otake must have joined Roberto and Uesato in the "gutted to find out I am effectively a third string player" camp.

Gas Talk - Episode 3

FC Tokyo started the 2011 J2 season with a 1-0 win at home over Tosu, and Graham and myself headed to an izakaya in Chofu (after a brief stop for a pint at Kenny's) to run the rule over the performance for Episode 3 of Gas Talk. Dan wasn't able to make it unfortunately (and because of that we forgot to mention the Tokyo Ska Para pre-game show), but after running through the team, Graham & I talked about what didn't work in the scoreless first half, and then where and how we improved in the second 45. We even give Tatsuya Suzuki some credit.....

The running time is 23 minutes, and you can listen on the player below, download directly by clicking on the link in the Gas Talk logo, or through iTunes (search "Gas Talk").

Enjoy.

Friday, March 4, 2011

FC Tokyo v Tosu: Preview

J2 Matchday 1

Three months have passed since that dreadful day in Kyoto, and FC Tokyo start out on the nine month-long journey back to J1 (hopefully, surely?) with a home game against original J2'ers Tosu. As I mentioned in Nine Months of ......, our first ever game in J2 was home to Tosu, and so it goes that the schedule-makers decided to have us start our second stint in J2 the same way. Along with Ehime hosting Sapporo, and five J1 games, we will raise the curtain on the J.League season, kicking off tomorrow at 2pm. As is my wont, I'll divide this preview into two sections:

US
You know all about the new faces, outlined here and again here, but only two of them, and only four of my Best XI from the second of those posts, 'New Faces, New Tactics?' are likely to start the opener, with fitness and conditioning problems keeping some key names sidelined, while Takuji Yonemoto is of course suspended.
Again putting my frankly dreadful Paint skills to work, here's how I expect we'll line up:


Oh yes, another Paint doozy for you there. This is the same XI that started last Sunday at Kusatsu, so I'll punt on Okuma starting with those players. We have history (albeit with Jofuku) of keeping things the same from the end of the preseason to the first game: last season the same XI that started our final friendly against Shonan kept their spots for the win over Yokohama.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Gas Talk - Episode 2

The venue was the same noisy izakaya, but the personnel slightly different for Episode 2 of the most popular FC Tokyo podcast in the world - Gas Talk! Graham was away, so Dan & I soldiered on in his absence, and there was a surprisingly decent amount of stuff to chew over, with the preseason not going as well as we might've expected, and the season starting on Saturday. I'm also offering a cash prize* to the first listener to count how many times I say "indeed" throughout this pod.

The rundown - 45 Minutes:
  • Part 1: A review of the pre-season - including an injury round-up, and the 1-1 friendly draw with Kusatsu on Sunday;
  • Part 2: (from about 11:00) We discuss Yuto Nagatomo's full transfer to Cesena, and the positives that come out of it for the club (plus the possible arrival of Jade North as a consequence);
  • Part 3: (from about 24:00) A comprehensive preview of the opening game of the season, at home to Tosu, this Saturday
Unfortunately there are some quality issues with background noise, and stereo sound at the beginning of Parts 2 & 3, and the end of the podcast, but that shouldn't detract too much from your listening experience. Speaking of which, you can listen on the player below, download the mp3 from archive.org by clicking on our fantastic new Gas Talk logo (with huge thanks to The Maestro Tim Brandy) or subscribe in iTunes by searching for "Gas Talk" (with massive thanks to The King of Tech Takeshi Furuichi).

We hope you enjoy Episode 2, and, as with Episode 1, feel free to comment on things you liked, didn't, and that you'd like us to discuss in future episodes. The next episode will be recorded straight after the Tosu game, and will hopefully be up on Sunday!


*no cash prize will actually be paid