Moved Again

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MOIST

We're Moving.

This will be the last post on the MOIST Xanga blog. As of today we are moving to a new, message friendly blog.

You can keep up to date with all the MOIST news and views at:

MOIST's new blog

One more time. That's:

Come visit.

Emperor's Cup 5th Round

5 : 3

Ichikawa 1, Own Goal 21                        Yusuke 71, Oshima 89

                       Nishizawa 98, Hara 100, Nishizawa 104                          Jiro 116

So, either way you look at it Shimizu scored 5 goals and the Marinos got 3. Sounds like a cracker, doesn't it? Wouldn't know, MOIST lacks a TV. Not that it would have mattered as, in this day and age when every J-League gets shown, the Emperor's Cup barely makes a ripple on the big screen.

MOIST could always have been a real fan and travelled down to Okayama for the....what do you mean, you don't know where Okayama is? That, you see, is the beauty of the Emperor's Cup. Grounds across the country are booked well in advance so that the country folk can see some of the beautiful game which MOIST thinks is a nice touch but, and this is probably where the JFA panic, wouldn't it make more sense to try and send relevant teams to relevant places?

In Japan most of the stadiums aren't owned by the teams and therefore the teams actually have to hire them for their games. The Kyoto vs Sanfrecce first leg playoff was shifted forward because the stadium was booked out for a high school sports meet the day after. Obviously this has a huge impact on arranging fixtures for a cup competition but I find it hard to believe that there couldn't be a better solution to the problem of having teams travel 4 hours by Shinkansen for no obvious reason.

Or maybe I'm just pissed off because we lost and the season is over.

J-League Week 34

0 : 0

And so the season league season fizzles out in what was, perhaps, a fitting finale to Hayano's year in charge, flashes of skill mixed in with comical imcompetence. There were signs of promise, mostly wasted by underperforming players, but signs nonetheless of a bright future. It will depend on who comes in and who leaves during the cold winter months.

Let's be honest from the start, Kobe deserved the three points here and only a combination of woeful finishing and penalty heroics kept them at bay.

It could have all been so different had Hayano not baffled the civilised world and played Yoshida out on the right. Of course, we will never know why he made this decision. Shimizu was nowhere to be seen, perhaps injured, perhaps rested, who knows? One of the things about supporting a J-League team is injury news isn't always forthcoming. But Mini Me was sat on the bench, obviously fit, as was Kota Mizunuma, more of him later.

Yoshida has had a pretty terrible season and this game was further proof of that. A number of times he was to be found free on the right, ball at his feet, with all the time in the world to pick out a good cross. How many times did he manage it? A couple of times less than one, at the last count.

Thanks to Okubo's love of the big space outside the woodwork the Marinos were able to go in at halftime all square. To the relief of the crowd, well, MOIST as least, Yoshida didn't emerge for the second half. Instead out trotted Mizunama for his third and longest appearance.

And, in the words of Bruce Forsyth, didn't he do well? Yes, he did. He ran, he harried, he chased, he tried. He also had a couple of very slim chances to score and was unlucky not to do better. But for 45 minutes he looked like he wanted to wear the shirt. On a day when Oshima had the chance to be sole top Japanese scorer in the J-League it was sad that Mizunuma was the one player who really stood out for effort.

And maybe therein lies the weakness of the team. MOIST, as you may very well not know, are Leicester City fans. Back in the glory days of Martin O'Neill a team was assembled of misfits, hasbeens and potentials. The one common factor amongst them? They would run their arses off for 90 minutes. They wouldn't let better teams play against them and they would overwhelm lesser teams. And it worked.

On Saturday it didn't really look like Oshima needed to score a goal for any reason and, let's be frank, he certainly doesn't have the skill level to create one out of nothing.

At the other end Tetsuya did all the right things and followed up his two great saves from the Albirex game with a wonderful penalty stop against Okubo. Okubo, by the way, was the man level on goals with Oshima and should really have eased ahead but was unable to find the back of the net no matter how simple the chances.

And so it ended. Roll on the Emperor's Cup.

J-League Table (after 34 games):

.	Team	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	G.Dif
1	Kashima Merde	72	34	22	6	6	60	36	24
2	Okama Bottlers	70	34	20	10	4	55	28	27
3	Gamba Osaka	67	34	19	10	5	71	37	34
4	Shimizu S-Pulse	61	34	18	7	9	53	36	17
5	Kawasaki Unkotale	54	34	14	12	8	66	48	18
6	Albirex Niigata	51	34	15	6	13	48	47	1
7	Yokohama F-Marinos	50	34	14	8	12	54	35	19
8	Kashiwa Reysol	50	34	14	8	12	43	36	7
9	Zubilo Inaka	49	34	15	4	15	54	55	-1
10	Vissel Kobe	47	34	13	8	13	58	48	10
11	Nagoya Grampus	45	34	13	6	15	43	45	-2
12	FC Gas	45	34	14	3	17	49	58	-9
13	Disney F Sea	42	34	12	6	16	51	56	-5
14	Oita Trinita	41	34	12	5	17	42	60	-18
15	Omiya Ardija	35	34	8	11	15	24	40	-16
16	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	32	34	8	8	18	44	71	-27
17	Ventforet Kofu	27	34	7	6	21	33	65	-32
18	Yokohama FC - Pride of the Marinos	16	34	4	4	26	19	66	-47

The Official Ryuji Kawai I Scored THREE Goals Beat That Goalscoring Chart

(J-League goals only)

14 - Oshima

11 - Koji

10 - Sakata

4 - Mini Me

3 - Yoshida, Ryuji

2 - Own Goal, Yuji, Hayuma

1 - Ueno, Naoki, Shimizu

The tee:

So, somehow Yokohama FC - Pride of the Marinos were able to win a game and what a game to win. The Champions of Asia, The World and the Known and Unknown Universe battled for 90 minutes against a collection of faded and jaded stars, one of whom can only kick the ball into his standing leg when stood in fornt of an open goal, and weren't able to even grab a draw. A fantastic end to the season. And, before you ask, no, I am not going to congratulate Kashima Merde. Well, not in public, anyway.

In J2 the Midori Mushi threw away the title and came up second after Consadole with Kyoto playing Sanfrecce for the prize of probably being able to beat us at the Nissan next year. Any chance we can baggsie Ueslie and Komano if Hiroshima slides into J2? No. Didn't think so.

Tune in tomorrow (maybe) for a MOIST Marinos Season Review.

This blog is brought to you in association with Sheva, the king of bars. Why not make your next beer a MOIST style beer? Visit Sheva a home away from home for the Marinos faithful. Sheva, the number 1 bar in Sakuragicho.

J-League Week 33

1 : 0

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Okama Reds	33	20	10	3	55	27	28	70
2	Kashima Merde	33	21	6	6	57	36	21	69
3	Gamba Osaka	33	19	9	5	69	35	34	66
4	Shimizu S-Pulse	33	18	7	8	53	33	20	61
5	Kawasaki Unkotale	33	14	11	8	65	47	18	53
6	Albirex Niigata	33	15	6	12	48	45	3	51
7	Kashiwa Reysol	33	14	8	11	43	32	11	50
8	Yokohama F-Marinos	33	14	7	12	54	35	19	49
9	Vissel Kobe	33	13	7	13	58	48	10	46
10	Zubilo Inaka	33	14	4	15	50	55	-5	46
11	Disney F Sea	33	12	6	15	51	54	-3	42
12	Nagoya Grampus	33	12	6	15	41	45	-4	42
13	FC Gas	33	13	3	17	48	58	-10	42
14	Oita Trinita	33	11	5	17	40	60	-20	38
15	Omiya Ardija	33	8	10	15	23	39	-16	34
16	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	33	8	7	18	42	69	-27	31
17	Ventforet Kofu	33	7	6	20	33	64	-31	27
18	For one week I love you	33	3	4	26	18	66	-48	13

The Official Ryuji Kawai I Scored THREE Goals Beat That Goalscoring Chart

(J-League goals only)

14 - Oshima

11 - Koji

10 - Sakata

4 - Mini Me

3 - Yoshida, Ryuji

2 - Own Goal, Yuji, Hayuma

1 - Ueno, Naoki, Shimizu

 

The tee: