2015 J.League

[nzfooty]

2015 J. League Cup

Urawa Red Diamonds 3 - 0 Albirex Niigata
Albirex Niigata won 5-3 on aggregate
0-0 at HT, 3-0 after 70 min... still not enough for Urawa

Nagoya Grampus Eight 2 - 2 Gamba Osaka *
Gamba Osaka won 10-9 on penalties

Kashima Antlers 3 - 0 FC Tokyo
Kashima Antlers won 5-2 on aggregate

Vissel Kobe 2 - 3 Kashiwa Reysol
Vissel Kobe won 4-3 on aggregate

Semifinals
Oct 7/11
Gamba Osaka v Albirex Niigata
Kashima Antlers v Vissel Kobe

Stage One winners Urawa got an absolute lashing in the first leg of the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup (League Cup) quarter-finals last night.
The second half of the season is not working out for them.

Albirex Niigata 5 - 0 Urawa Red Diamonds
FC Tokyo 2 - 2 Kashima Antlers
Gamba Osaka 1 - 1 Nagoya Grampus
Kashiwa Reysol 0 - 2 Vissel Kobe

[andyc24_uk]

What's people's thoughts on supporting your 'local' as in nearest club vs supporting a club actually from your city, even if they're miles away? I'm living just west of Tokyo for the next few months; Technically I'm in Kawasaki city, and there are Frontale posters all over the place here - however, I'm actually nowhere near their stadium, my apartment is pretty much the last building before the city boundary, and FC Tokyo and J2 Tokyo Verdy play about a mile away in Chofu... Leaning towards getting myself a Kawasaki Frontale shirt as I've heard good things about them being a proper community club, whereas Verdy are apparently a bit Franchise FC-like and I know nothing about FC Tokyo at all...

[eujin]

What's people's thoughts on supporting your 'local' as in nearest club vs supporting a club actually from your city, even if they're miles away? I'm living just west of Tokyo for the next few months; Technically I'm in Kawasaki city, and there are Frontale posters all over the place here - however, I'm actually nowhere near their stadium, my apartment is pretty much the last building before the city boundary, and FC Tokyo and J2 Tokyo Verdy play about a mile away in Chofu... Leaning towards getting myself a Kawasaki Frontale shirt as I've heard good things about them being a proper community club, whereas Verdy are apparently a bit Franchise FC-like and I know nothing about FC Tokyo at all...

I'd normally say support your nearest club, mainly because it's easiest and because city boundaries can change whilst football teams cannot. But if your taxes are going to another team then I think you get to choose. It's you that needs to make the extra journey.

I feel a bit bad living in Hanover and supporting Havelse who are just outside the city limits, especially when they play Hannover's reserves in the league, but somehow Havelse seem like a real community team whereas Hannover 96 II are just the reserves of a money-bags advertising hoarding. Not to mention that none of my taxes go to Havelse

[AfonsoPt]

What's people's thoughts on supporting your 'local' as in nearest club vs supporting a club actually from your city, even if they're miles away? I'm living just west of Tokyo for the next few months; Technically I'm in Kawasaki city, and there are Frontale posters all over the place here - however, I'm actually nowhere near their stadium, my apartment is pretty much the last building before the city boundary, and FC Tokyo and J2 Tokyo Verdy play about a mile away in Chofu... Leaning towards getting myself a Kawasaki Frontale shirt as I've heard good things about them being a proper community club, whereas Verdy are apparently a bit Franchise FC-like and I know nothing about FC Tokyo at all...

Well Fc Tokyo is fighting for a play-off spot in J-League and can reach ACL next year. Kawasaki Frontale is also one of the big teams in J-League but is not having a great season this year, despite they have one of the best strikers in J-League, Okubo. I like Frontale more than Fc Tokyo but this season Fc Tokyo has lot more chances to achieve big things than Frontale...

[paquebot]

Wiki page for Tokyo Verdy 1969:

In 2001, the club moved from Kawasaki to Chōfu, Tokyo and was renamed Tokyo Verdy 1969 to reflect the new hometown and the club's origins as Yomiuri FC Although Verdy made the move to increase its fan base and distance itself from its rivals, by this time Tokyo was already home to a J1 club in F.C. Tokyo. Despite a sharp increase in crowd numbers for Verdy, this was still well below those of F.C. Tokyo. Their new local rivals had been promoted to J1 in 2000 and had already captured a vast number of the supporters Verdy had been hoping to acquire.

With a history like that I would probably stay away from Verdy. (And this despite the fact that I often end up supporting teams in green.) Been a while since I heard much about FC Tokyo, but I remember never really liking them when I was watching highlights on Ganbare J-League. Kawasaki Frontale does seem like they have a great relationship with the community. Maybe go to one match for each team and see which experience grabs you the most? Just stay away from Kashiwa Reysol.

[eujin]

I was in Mitaka/Kichijoji, Western Tokyo, earlier this year and there were FC Tokyo flags up everywhere.

[nzfooty]

J. League - Second Stage

Results:

Code: Select all

Round 8
[Aug 20]
Kashiwa Reysol         2-0  Matsumoto Yamaga                7,385
  [Kosuke Taketomi 34, Daisuke Suzuki 70]
[Aug 22]
Ventforet Kofu         1-0  Vissel Kobe                     9,113
  [Baré 68]
Kashima Antlers        3-0  Montedio Yamagata              16,700
  [Mu Kanazaki 40, Caio 57, Yasushi Endo 74]
Urawa Red Diamonds     3-1  Vegalta Sendai                 33,932
  [Yosuke Kashiwagi 10, Yuki Muto 37, Zlatan Ljubijankic 75 –
   Ryang Yong-Gi 23]
Shonan Bellmare        2-1  Kawasaki Frontale              14,136
  [Yoshihito Fujita 11, Alison 76 – Yoshito Okubo 1]
Albirex Niigata        0-2  Sanfrecce Hiroshima            19,615
  [Tsukasa Shiotani 60, Kazuyuki Morisaki 85]
Nagoya Grampus         0-0  FC Tokyo                       19,011
Gamba Osaka            1-0  Shimizu S-Pulse                15,333
  [Patric 31]
Sagan Tosu             1-2  Yokohama F. Marinos            18,321
  [Hiroyuki Taniguchi 8 – Sho Ito 53, Fabio 65]

Round 9
[Aug 29]
Shimizu S-Pulse        1-1  FC Tokyo                       14,954
  [Chong Tese 50 – Kosuke Ota 70]
Yokohama F. Marinos    4-0  Urawa Red Diamonds             33,467
  [Shunsuke Nakamura 28, Manabu Saito 33, 59, Fabio 64]
  Vegalta Sendai       0-1  Albirex Niigata                14,573
  [Kosuke Yamamoto 90+]
Kawasaki Frontale      1-3  Kashima Antlers                22,632
  [Elsinho 84 – Caio 51, Mu Kanazaki 58, Shuhei Akasaki 90+]
Vissel Kobe            7-1  Sagan Tosu                     14,637
  [Kazuma Watanabe 34, 72, Leandro 45, 47, Takuya Iwanami 53,
   Daisuke Ishizu 58, Ryota Morioka 60 – Yohei Toyoda 26]
Sanfrecce Hiroshima    5-2  Nagoya Grampus                 13,916
  [Douglas 6, 52, 85, Hisato Sato 9, Takuma Asano 71 pen –
   Yusuke Muta 77, Kensuke Nagai 79]
[Aug 30]
Kashiwa Reysol         2-2  Ventforet Kofu                  8,002
  [Cristiano 27, Masato Kudo 42 – Takuma Abe 48, ? (K) 70 og]
Gamba Osaka            1-0  Shonan Bellmare                14,985
  [Shu Kurata 9]
[Sep 23]
Matsumoto Yamaga       2-2  Montedio Yamagata              15,412
  [Yuzo Iwakami 7, Naoki Maeda 86 – Diego Souza 35 pen,
   Kim Byeom-Yong 83]

Round 10
[Sep 11]
Urawa Red Diamonds     1-0  Kashiwa Reysol                 23,957
  [Toshiyuki Takagi 88]
[Sep 12]
Kashima Antlers        1-2  Gamba Osaka                    22,380
  [Yuma Suzuki 90 – Takashi Usami 29, 39]
Ventforet Kofu         1-3  Kawasaki Frontale              11,069
  [Baré 18 pen – Yoshito Okubo 12, Yusuke Tasaka 16,
   Kenyu Sugimoto 90]
Nagoya Grampus         0-1  Vegalta Sendai                 21,008
  [Hiroaki Okuno 79]
Montedio Yamagata      1-3  Sanfrecce Hiroshima             8,137
  [Diego Souza 35 – Mihael Mikic 39, Douglas 60, Takuma Asano 79]
FC Tokyo               3-0  Vissel Kobe                    22,328
  [Ryoichi Maeda 38, 69, 78]
Shonan Bellmare        1-1  Matsumoto Yamaga               12,230
  [Yoshihito Fujita 90+ - Jun Ando 16]
Albirex Niigata        1-1  Yokohama F. Marinos            25,336
  [Kentaro Oi 45 – Ademilson 64]
Sagan Tosu             0-0  Shimizu S-Pulse                10,501

Round 11
[Sep 19]
Ventforet Kofu         0-1  Kashima Antlers                12,131
  [Mu Kanazaki 64]
Vegalta Sendai         1-1  Shonan Bellmare                12,635
  [Ramon Lopes 25 pen – Yoshihito Fujita 47]
Kawasaki Frontale      6-1  Nagoya Grampus                 20,238
  [Yu Kobayashi 35, Yusuke Tasaka 43, Yoshito Okubo 45, 67, 90+,
   Elsinho 57 – Marcus Tulio Tanaka 75]
Yokohama F. Marinos    1-0  FC Tokyo                       30,999
  [Cayman Togashi 88]
Shimizu S-Pulse        1-4  Urawa Red Diamonds             19,232
  [Chong Tese 38 – Ryota Moriwaki 28, Shinzo Koroki 55,
   Yuki Muto 66, Yosuke Kashiwagi 90+]
Vissel Kobe            1-2  Albirex Niigata                14,471
  [Ryota Morioka 60 – Hiroshi Ibusuki 64, Kosuke Yamamoto 85]
Sanfrecce Hiroshima    0-0  Sagan Tosu                     18,625
[Sep 20]
Matsumoto Yamaga       1-1  Gamba Osaka                    18,052
  [Obina 7 – Shu Kurata 90+]
Kashiwa Reysol         0-0  Montedio Yamagata              10,520

Round 12 [Sep 26]
Montedio Yamagata      1-1  Vegalta Sendai                 13,737
  [Romero Frank 59 – Ramon Lopes 67]
Kashima Antlers        1-2  Urawa Red Diamonds             29,030
  [Yasushi Endo 3 – Toshiyuki Takagi 6, Shinzo Koroki 72]
Shonan Bellmare        1-1  Yokohama F. Marinos            14,046
  [Ryota Nagaki 70 – Sho Ito 54]
Shimizu S-Pulse        1-5  Sanfrecce Hiroshima            13,053
  [Chong Tese 64 – Douglas 19, Hiroki Mizumoto 24,
   Takuma Asano 75, 80, Yoshifumi Kasiwa 90+]
Sagan Tosu             0-1  Ventforet Kofu                  9,672
  [Baré 66]
Gamba Osaka            3-1  Kashiwa Reysol                 16,438
  [Hiroyuki Abe 34, 36, Takashi Usami 60 – Cristiano 54 pen]
FC Tokyo               1-0  Matsumoto Yamaga               36,671
  [Ryoichi Maeda 20]
Albirex Niigata        1-2  Kawasaki Frontale              22,573
  [Kosuke Yamamoto 6 – Yu Kobayashi 63, 74]
Nagoya Grampus         2-0  Vissel Kobe                    11,570
  [Marcus Tulio Tanaka 35, Yoshizumi Ogawa 53]

Stage 2 Table:

Code: Select all

 1.Sanfrecce Hiroshima        12   9  1  2  33-12  28 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 2.Kashima Antlers            12   8  1  3  21-12  25
 3.Urawa Red Diamonds         12   7  2  3  18-14  23 
 4.Gamba Osaka                12   6  4  2  20-15  22 
 5.FC Tokyo                   12   6  3  3  15- 9  21   
 6.Kawasaki Frontale          12   6  2  4  22-15  20
 7.Kashiwa Reysol             12   6  2  4  15-12  20 
 8.Yokohama F. Marinos        12   5  4  3  18-11  19
 9.Shonan Bellmare            12   4  5  3  14-12  17  [+]
10.Nagoya Grampus             12   5  2  5  17-22  17   
11.Albirex Niigata            12   4  3  5  16-18  15
12.Vissel Kobe                12   4  1  7  19-19  13
13.Ventforet Kofu             12   3  3  6   9-13  12
14.Sagan Tosu                 12   2  5  5  11-20  11   
15.Vegalta Sendai             12   2  3  7  14-20   9   
16.Matsumoto Yamaga           12   2  3  7  10-22   9  [+] 
17.Shimizu S-Pulse            12   1  5  6  11-25   8
18.Montedio Yamagata          12   0  7  5   7-19   7  [+]

Overall Table:

Code: Select all

 1.Urawa Red Diamonds         29  19  7  3  57-31  64  Championship (as winners first stage)
 2.Sanfrecce Hiroshima        29  19  5  5  62-28  62 
 3.FC Tokyo                   29  17  5  7  39-27  56   
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 4.Gamba Osaka                29  15  9  5  44-28  54 
 5.Kawasaki Frontale          29  15  5  9  54-41  50
 6.Kashima Antlers            29  14  5 10  48-37  47
 7.Yokohama F. Marinos        29  12  9  8  39-28  45
 8.Shonan Bellmare            29  10  9 10  34-36  39  [+]
 9.Nagoya Grampus             29  11  6 12  35-40  39   
10.Kashiwa Reysol             29  10  8 11  37-37  38 
11.Vegalta Sendai             29   8  8 13  41-40  32   
12.Vissel Kobe                29   8  8 13  36-38  32
13.Ventforet Kofu             29   9  5 15  21-35  32
14.Sagan Tosu                 29   7 10 12  33-52  31   
15.Albirex Niigata            29   7  8 14  36-51  29
-----------------------------------------------------
16.Matsumoto Yamaga           29   6  6 17  27-48  24  [+] 
17.Montedio Yamagata          29   3 12 14  21-43  21  [+]
18.Shimizu S-Pulse            29   4  9 16  33-57  21

Source: Andrei Balitskiy for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

[nzfooty]

2015 J. League Cup


Semifinals
Oct 7
Albirex Niigata 2 - 1 Gamba Osaka
Vissel Kobe 1 - 2 Kashima Antlers

Oct 11: return legs

QF


Urawa Red Diamonds 3 - 0 Albirex Niigata
Albirex Niigata won 5-3 on aggregate
0-0 at HT, 3-0 after 70 min... still not enough for Urawa

Nagoya Grampus Eight 2 - 2 Gamba Osaka *
Gamba Osaka won 10-9 on penalties

Kashima Antlers 3 - 0 FC Tokyo
Kashima Antlers won 5-2 on aggregate

Vissel Kobe 2 - 3 Kashiwa Reysol
Vissel Kobe won 4-3 on aggregate

Semifinals
Oct 7/11
Gamba Osaka v Albirex Niigata
Kashima Antlers v Vissel Kobe

Stage One winners Urawa got an absolute lashing in the first leg of the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup (League Cup) quarter-finals last night.
The second half of the season is not working out for them.

Albirex Niigata 5 - 0 Urawa Red Diamonds
FC Tokyo 2 - 2 Kashima Antlers
Gamba Osaka 1 - 1 Nagoya Grampus
Kashiwa Reysol 0 - 2 Vissel Kobe

[nzfooty]

Recent results:

Code: Select all

Round 13
[Oct 3]
Vegalta Sendai         1-3  Yokohama F. Marinos
Shonan Bellmare        0-1  Montedio Yamagata
Ventforet Kofu         0-0  Albirex Niigata
Matsumoto Yamaga       1-0  Shimizu S-Pulse
Sanfrecce Hiroshima    0-1  FC Tokyo
Urawa Red Diamonds     1-1  Sagan Tosu
Kashiwa Reysol         3-1  Nagoya Grampus
Vissel Kobe            0-2  Kashima Antlers
[Oct 4]
Kawasaki Frontale      5-3  Gamba Osaka

Stage 2 table:

Code: Select all

 1.Sanfrecce Hiroshima        13   9  1  3  33-13  28
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 2.Kashima Antlers            13   9  1  3  23-12  28
 3.FC Tokyo                   13   7  3  3  16- 9  24
 4.Urawa Red Diamonds         13   7  3  3  19-15  24
 5.Kawasaki Frontale          13   7  2  4  27-18  23
 6.Kashiwa Reysol             13   7  2  4  18-13  23
 7.Yokohama F. Marinos        13   6  4  3  21-12  22
 8.Gamba Osaka                13   6  4  3  23-20  22
 9.Shonan Bellmare            13   4  5  4  14-13  17  [+]
10.Nagoya Grampus             13   5  2  6  18-25  17
11.Albirex Niigata            13   4  4  5  16-18  16
12.Vissel Kobe                13   4  1  8  19-21  13
13.Ventforet Kofu             13   3  4  6   9-13  13
14.Sagan Tosu                 13   2  6  5  12-21  12
15.Matsumoto Yamaga           13   3  3  7  11-22  12  [+]
16.Montedio Yamagata          13   1  7  5   8-19  10  [+]
17.Vegalta Sendai             13   2  3  8  15-23   9
18.Shimizu S-Pulse            13   1  5  7  11-26   8

Overall:

Code: Select all

 1.Urawa Red Diamonds         30  19  8  3  58-32  65  Championship (as winners first stage)
 2.Sanfrecce Hiroshima        30  19  5  6  62-29  62
 3.FC Tokyo                   30  18  5  7  40-27  59
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 4.Gamba Osaka                30  15  9  6  47-33  54
 5.Kawasaki Frontale          30  16  5  9  59-44  53
 6.Kashima Antlers            30  15  5 10  50-37  50
 7.Yokohama F. Marinos        30  13  9  8  42-29  48
 8.Kashiwa Reysol             30  11  8 11  40-38  41
 9.Shonan Bellmare            30  10  9 11  34-37  39  [+]
10.Nagoya Grampus             30  11  6 13  36-43  39
11.Ventforet Kofu             30   9  6 15  21-35  33
12.Vegalta Sendai             30   8  8 14  42-43  32
13.Vissel Kobe                30   8  8 14  36-40  32
14.Sagan Tosu                 30   7 11 12  34-53  32
15.Albirex Niigata            30   7  9 14  36-51  30
-----------------------------------------------------
16.Matsumoto Yamaga           30   7  6 17  28-48  27  [+]
17.Montedio Yamagata          30   4 12 14  22-43  24  [+]
18.Shimizu S-Pulse            30   4  9 17  33-58  21

Source: RSSSF

[nzfooty]

2015 J. League Cup

Kashima won the return leg 4-1 (6-2 on agg) and Gamba won their match 2-0 (3-2 on agg).

Semifinals
Oct 7
Albirex Niigata 2 - 1 Gamba Osaka
Vissel Kobe 1 - 2 Kashima Antlers

Oct 11: return legs

Final on Oct 31 at the Saitama Stadium 2002.

2015 Emperor's Cup

Round 1 and Round results can be found here.

Round 3 results (all - in Japanese) and (some - in English).

[nzfooty]

October 17

Gamba Osaka 2 - 1 Urawa Red Diamonds
Kashima Antlers 3 - 2 Kashiwa Reysol
Shimizu S-Pulse 0 - 1 Vegalta Sendai
FC Tokyo 1 - 2 Shonan Bellmare
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2 - 1 Kawasaki Frontale
Yokohama F.Marinos 2 - 1 Vissel Kobe
Albirex Niigata 2 - 0 Matsumoto Yamaga
Sagan Tosu 0 - 0 Nagoya Grampus
Montedio Yamagata 0 - 1 Ventforet Kofu

Exciting stuff from Kashima Antlers - they not only won a thriller but are top of the stage 2 table on 31 points (together with Sanfrecce Hiroshima).

They will probably need to win the stage 2 league as they will probably not qualify with their overall record (would need to finish in top-3). If they do win stage
2 then the championship play-offs will be increased from 3 to 4 teams.

[AfonsoPt]

October 17

Gamba Osaka 2 - 1 Urawa Red Diamonds
Kashima Antlers 3 - 2 Kashiwa Reysol
Shimizu S-Pulse 0 - 1 Vegalta Sendai
FC Tokyo 1 - 2 Shonan Bellmare
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2 - 1 Kawasaki Frontale
Yokohama F.Marinos 2 - 1 Vissel Kobe
Albirex Niigata 2 - 0 Matsumoto Yamaga
Sagan Tosu 0 - 0 Nagoya Grampus
Montedio Yamagata 0 - 1 Ventforet Kofu

Exciting stuff from Kashima Antlers - they not only won a thriller but are top of the stage 2 table on 31 points (together with Sanfrecce Hiroshima).

They will probably need to win the stage 2 league as they will probably not qualify with their overall record (would need to finish in top-3). If they do win stage
2 then the championship play-offs will be increased from 3 to 4 teams.

J-League is on fire, big fight to reach the playoff:

Sanfrecce Hiroshima is battling with Urawa Reds to win the overall table and earn a spot in playoff final;
Kashima Antlers is fighting with Sanfrecce to win the 2nd stage;
Gamba Osaka is battling with FC Tokyo for the 3rd spot in overall table and a place in playoff.

[nzfooty]

I wasn't a big fan originally but the whole stage 1-stage 2 split in Japan has worked out to be quite fun.

Kashima Antlers lost on the weekend (to Shonan Bellmare). This means they have to win Stage 2 to get into the play-offs as it is impossible for them to get into the top-3 on the overall table.

Stage 2 table:

Code: Select all

Sanfrecce Hiroshima   +23  34
-----------------------------
Kasima Antlers        +11  31
Yokohama F. Marinos   +11  28
Gamba Osaka            +6  28

If Kashima Antlers fail to squeeze through through the stage 2 table, the play-offs will have only three teams: the top-3 in the overall table
(otherwise there will be four teams).

Through the overall table, two of the three top-3 spots have already been taken (Urawa were sure of a play-off spot as stage 1 winners anyway).

Code: Select all

Sanfrecce Hiroshima   +36  68 (Q)
Urawa Red Diamonds    +26  68 (Q)
Gamba Osaka           +17  60
-----------------------------
FC Tokyo              +11  59
Yokohama F. Marinos   +15  54

[paquebot]

I wasn't a big fan originally but the whole stage 1-stage 2 split in Japan has worked out to be quite fun.

Stage 2 of the J-League 2003 season probably goes down as one of the most exciting in end-of-season action that I've followed:

01 | 26 pts | Yokohama F. Marinos | +10 GD | Suntory Championship Qualifier
02 | 26 pts | JEF United Ichihara | +6 GD
03 | 26 pts | Júbilo Iwata | +5 GD
04 | 25 pts | Kashima Antlers
05 | 24 pts | F.C. Tokyo
06 | 23 pts | Urawa Red Diamonds | +10 GD
07 | 23 pts | Gamba Osaka | +7 GD
08 | 22 pts | Nagoya Grampus Eight

Final Round Results (Round 15):

Tokyo Verdy 0:2 JEF United (18' 0:1 ... 45' 0:2 ... JEF win, but needed to score at least 6 goals to finish top.)
Urawa Red 2:2 Kashima Antlers (6' 0:1 ... 32' 0:2 ... 76' 1:2 ... 89' 2:2 ... Say goodbye to the Stage 2 title, Kashima)
Yokohama F.Marinos 2:1 Júbilo Iwata (2' 0:1 ... 50' 1:1 ... 89' 2:1 ... Yokohama snatch the Stage 2 title from Júbilo despite playing the second half with 10 men.)

[MipoFanatic]

Interesting season. Shimizu S-Pulse relegated - one of the last original J1 clubs never to have been relegated to J2.

Kyoto Sanga not safe from relegation to the J3 yet! Surprising drop for them.

Nice to see Renofa Yamaguchi pushing for promotion to J2 in just their second season in the third-division.