JSoccer

25/07/2024

Stadium Announcer at Gamba Osaka v Real Sociedad on the Japan Tour 2024… concentrate!!!
See you on the other side!

25/07/2024

If a picture paints a thousand words... here's 8000 of them on Japan's first game at the Olympics! So far, so good, for my boys!

21/07/2024

Ryuho Kikuchi of Vissel Kobe has missed most of the last two years of his career with injuries. If he had stayed fit, he would be playing overseas, and quite possibly for the Japan national team right now... so... after coming on as right back (he is a centre back, but happy to play anywhere!) on 65 minutes yesterday, he proceeded to win challenges at the back, cause chaos up front, and eventually scored what seemed like the winning goal late in the game.

I am not ashamed to say I was jumping up and down on my seat - in the media area (!) - when he scored, and tears welled up in my eyes. The difference between a successful career and honours, medals, and more... or getting injured and having to drop down to lower levels, or worse, stop playing the game, find a new life, is all down to a strange slip on the turf, a (hopefully!) unintentional mis-timed challenge from another player, or studs getting caught in the turf and ripping your knee or ankle apart...

I was SO happy for my friend when he scored yesterday, that it almost didn't matter that in the 10th minute of added time, the opposition scored a penalty kick to gain a draw!

I can probably say my reaction to this goal was similar to the reaction of the man himself, as seen in these pictures.

No football, no life, no drama, no smiles, no tears!

Stay safe, stay fit, grow again Ryuho!
Pictures by Lionel Piguet for JSoccer Magazine and JSoccer.com

03/07/2024

Facebook (Meta) offer to “verify” my account for $14.99 per month. I finally found the price through an Internet search, as all the buttons I clicked on Facebook offering the service led to various pages telling me how, what I get, and much more, but I could not find any mention of pricing. Underhand sales of the worst kind! This from the organization that stated they would never EVER charge for Facebook use. No, they’ll just allow so many fake accounts and scams that we will all be paying to prove ours is actually a real account soon!!
I like to keep in touch, I like to see what others are doing but I - like many - do not like what Facebook does, or tries to do.
Stick with your friends here, but stay well away from Marketplace, or anything advertised, and don’t pay for anything offered by this uncaring, money-grabbing behemoth! You’re welcome.

01/06/2024

Testing - thinking of adding this to some of my "blank" football shirts / soccer jerseys as a "sponsor" across the chest!
Just checking how the file comes out in a "post".

06/05/2024

ヴィッセル神戸の大ファンです!
Two of Vissel Kobe’s biggest fans!

16/04/2024

Be careful out there - Facebook making it even easier for people to scam in groups! If you run groups, make sure you opt out - if you can find out how!

10/04/2024

HUGE referee error in Arsenal v Bayern Munich last night... but consistent with how this kind of thi g is handled all over the world. How often do you see a player "place" a ball for a free kick, then nudge it a few feet before "taking it" (ie. his second touch, and a foul - indirect free kick to opposition should be given)... I would love to see some kind of guidance given to referees on this situation, and players warned about that guidance, so we can stop seeing players take two (or more!) touches when taking free kicks... simple, solid rule - Law - and how to interpret it - would simplify the game.

And here is video of that handball - which the referee did not give as a PK! (And later, when asked about it, actually said that it was a "childish mistake" that he wasn't going to give a PK for!! Right, so was that slightly mis-timed tackle that was given as a red card, denial of a goal-scoring opportunity in multiple games over the weekend... the red-carded players didn't mean to make contact... or the player that handled on the line to stop the ball going in... that was a childish thing to do... they were all childish errors!

One can only presume that this referee will not be officiating again any time soon.

"The referee did not have courage (to give the penalty)" - Thomas Tuchel

20/03/2024

Football (soccer?!) fans:

BREAKING Offside Law NEWS
The IFAB
have agreed to test a new (return to the old "daylight between the players"?) Offside Law tweak where the WHOLE of the attacking player must be between the second-last defender and goal, when the ball is played.

No longer will it just be a finger or a toe offside!

14/03/2024

Japan national team squad selection for the upcoming matches...

𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗨𝗥𝗔𝗜 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘🔹
⚽メンバー発表⚽

𝗚𝗞
MAEKAWA (Vissel Kobe) #前川黛也 ヴィッセル神戸🇯🇵
OSAKO (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) #大迫敬介 サンフレッチェ広島🇯🇵
SUZUKI (Sint-Truiden) #鈴木彩艶 シントトロイデンVV🇧🇪

𝗗𝗙
NAGATOMO (FC Tokyo) #長友佑都 FC東京🇯🇵
TANIGUCHI (Al-Rayan) #谷口彰悟 アルラヤンSC🇶🇦
ITAKURA (Bor. M'Gladbach) #板倉滉 ボルシア・メン.🇩🇪
WATANABE (Gent) #渡辺剛 KAAヘント🇧🇪
MACHIDA (Union St.Gilloise) #町田浩樹 ユニオン・SG🇧🇪
MAIKUMA (Cerezo Osaka) #毎熊晟矢 セレッソ大阪🇯🇵
ITO H. (VfB Stuttgart ) #伊藤洋輝 VfBシュツットガルト🇩🇪
HASHIOKA (Luton Town) #橋岡大樹 ルートン・タウン🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
SUGAWARA (AZ Alkmaar) #菅原由勢 AZアルクマール🇳🇱

𝗠𝗙/𝗙𝗪
ENDO (Liverpool) #遠藤航 リバプールFC🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
ASANO (VfL Bochum) #浅野拓磨 VfLボーフム🇩🇪
MINAMINO (Monaco) #南野拓実 ASモナコ🇫🇷
MORITA (Sporting) #守田英正 スポルティングCP🇵🇹
SOMA (Casa Pia) #相馬勇紀 カサ・ピアAC🇵🇹
OGAWA (NEC) #小川航基 NECナイメヘン🇳🇱
MAEDA (Celtic) #前田大然 セルティック🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
DOAN (Freiburg) #堂安律 SCフライブルク🇩🇪
UEDA (Feyenorrd) #上田綺世 フェイエノールト🇳🇱
TANAKA (F.Dusseldorf) #田中碧 フォルトゥナ・デュッセルドルフ🇩🇪
KAWAMURA (Sanfrecce) #川村拓夢 サンフレッチェ広島🇯🇵
NAKAMURA (Lens) #中村敬斗 スタッド・ランス🇫🇷
SANO (Kashima Antlers) #佐野海舟 鹿島アントラーズ🇯🇵
KUBO (Real Sociedad) #久保建英 レアル・ソシエダ🇪🇸

🏆FIFA #ワールドカップ 26アジア2次予選 兼 AFC #アジアカップ サウジアラビア2027予選
🗓3.21(木) ⌚️19:20(🇯🇵)
🆚朝鮮民主主義人民共和国代表🇰🇵
🏟️ #国立競技場(東京)
📺 #日本テレビ 系列にて全国生中継

14/03/2024

Some of you aren't on Twitter / X and will have missed this superb post! So, you're welcome!

04/03/2024

Japan v Kyrgyzstan during lockdown... a surreal game, without fans. These pictures have never been used, shared, published before, and I hate to waste the work pf Lionel Piguet ... who took these for and JSioccer.com...
Celtic fans may like the images of Kyogo Furuhashi (though not sure Brendan Rodgers cares!), while Coventry City fans, these Tatsuhiro Sakamoto pictures - in the Samurai Blue - are for you. Bonus... future Leicester City star (?) Hidemasa Morita!
Coventry City FC
Celtic FC
Leicester City Football Club

28/02/2024

Live at 18.30 Japan ladies - Nadeshiko - v DPR Korea… 2nd leg… 0-0 1st leg.
DAZN!

25/02/2024

A couple of random memories popped up on my phone! Enjoy!

17/02/2024

Just what you always wanted, right?
J.League underpants!!
https://store.jleague.jp/search/-/-/2024HIPSHOP%E3%82%B3%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9C/?sort=2&sb=2024/20240216_jleague_hipshop&scid=we_ich_jos_mail_240216_jleague_2024HIPSHOP04

03/02/2024

Japan v Iran - all you need to watch the game! Just over half an hour to kick off!

16/01/2024

Ryuho KIKUCHI appreciated... and how the Japanese develop young players.

He was not a natural player in his youth. He was a student at Aomori Yamada - the current High School champions, and a powerhouse for the last 15-20 years or so. Their manager - Go KURODA - is a story in himself, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Kuroda

Kikuchi played football at school, but didn't dream of playing in the High School championships since he was in the 5th or 6th team at school.

Yes, with about 20 in each squad, Kikuchi barely made it into the top 100 of a high school team pool of players! This says a lot for the amount of good players that played for - and came to J.League from - the school, but also about Kikuchi's determination to become a footballer... or maybe he didn't expect it, it just happened?

After watching his fellow students win the High School championship, but basically cleaning their boots and carrying their kit bags, he went to Osaka University of Health & Sports (rough translation of name!) and continued to play football.

During his time at university he was selected to play in the 2017 University Games in Taipei. Basically a national team / world cup for university students... Japan beat Uruguay, Italy and Mexico on the way to a final, where they beat France! (Japan also went on to win the 2019 Universiade, thrashing Brazil in that final).

You can see where the young players currently shining in J.League and overseas came from... high school football is shown live on TV during December and January, when the tournament takes place and the final in 2023 saw a crowd of over 55,000. This story is digressing from Kikuchi, but I hope it's telling you something about youth football in Japan.

Going to university in Japan is not seen as a step down or delay in a career in football. The best players continue to play at a high level, while gaining an education / maturing in life. THE best players also sign either pre-agreements with J.League team or / and play as specially-designated players in J.League while still at university. This 2017 team included Kaoru Mitoma, Reo Hatate, Hidemasa Morita, Yasuto Wakizaka (note that all four of those later played for Kawasaki Frontale! Which goes some way to explaining their dominance in that period) as well as current J1 GKs Kojima (Albirex), Nagaishi (Avispa) and Obi Powell (now at Vissel Kobe).

It should be noted, now, again, that even in this Universiade tournament, Kikuchi was rotated in and out by an astute manager, but was now proving his worth as a solid defender, though still a little raw (but that's maybe why we love him!?).

Here are the Final (Japan 1-0 France) squad details (matchwinner by Ryo Jermain (now at Jubilo Iwata): https://www.jfa.jp/eng/national_team/university_2017/29th_Universiade_m/match_page/m6.html Kikuchi played the full game in the final and was now attracting some interest from J.League teams. but not much!

Our hero eventually secured a contract at J2's Renofa Yamaguchi. where he settled and improved his game, playing 35 games of a 42-game season, and scoring three times, while the team settled into an unimpressive 15th position. He had done enough to attract Vissel Kobe, though, and he began his career there in 2020, with 14 appearances.

The following season - 2021 - he became an automatic choice at centre back, with 37 complete 90-minute games played out of 38 J1 matches that season. He also contributed up front with five goals. 2021 and 2022 saw him gaining momentum with some consistent performances, though an injury-interrupted 2022 season saw him rack up only 24 games (four goals, too). He had come a long way from the "E" team at high school!

Then came tragedy. 2023 started with an injury that needed to be taken care of and he didn't start the first two matches, but came on as a late substitute in the second game of the campaign, against Consadole. He did enough, performance-wise, and proving he was fit, to start in the next game - against Gamba Osaka. About 20 minutes into the game he intercepted a ball in midfield, but landed badly on his knee. It was a non-contact challenge, that seemed innocuous at the time. He took treatment, did some on-the-spot sprinting on the touchline and returned to the field, but almost immediately realised it was not something that he could "run off". He left the field in the 24th minute, and never played again in 2023.

And so, this little anecdote about how Kikuchi was just another kid playing football in the 5th team at high school, has become more of a history! I make no apologies for telling you all about my close friend and one of the best players Vissel Kobe have seen in a few years (in my opinion!).

Of course, I'll be updating you on his progress...

Pictures (by Lionel Piguet for JSoccer Magazine and JSoccer.com) show Kikuchi playing against France in the Universiade final, and in action for Vissel Kobe, celebrating a goal...

Enjoy 2024 in J.League

12/10/2023

Speranza Osaka ( on Twitter) 2-2 AS Harima Albion ( on Twitter) Sept.23.
Lionel Piguet took the pics for and jsoccer.com
Thank you to the teams! Nice work Lionel Piguet!

11/10/2023

Japan national team squad numbers for current squad. selected for upcoming friendlies in Japan.

10/10/2023

Squad for upcoming Paris 2024 Qualifying (Round 2, in Uzbekistan)

23/09/2023

Nadeshiko Japan host Argentina in Kita-kyushu…

12/09/2023

Here we go again. Japan v Turkiye in Belgium kicks off in about 20 minutes.
An impressive (potentially, hopefully) reserve team - 10 changes from the team that thrashed Germany.

09/09/2023

Japan’s starting XI v Germany. You watching?

20/08/2023

How many goals did Japan women beat Spain by? But a post, a bar and missed PK meant Japan didn’t reach this final 😞
お疲れ様でした Nadeshiko Japan, and all the teams and officials.
Congratulations Spain.

14/07/2023

Into the Women’s World Cup with a (too?) comfortable 5-0 home win over Panama. Japan rested some bigger names, made plenty of changes, and cruised to victory. Not really challenged, but a high-scoring, clean sheet can’t hurt!

20/06/2023

Japan Samurai Blue v Peru Equipo Nacional del Peru in Osaka today … let’s go live and see what it’s like outside with three hours to go … on a school/work day!!

29/03/2023

Nadeshiko squad for upcoming Europe visit!

24/03/2023

Japan v Uruguay, kicks off SOON!

24/03/2023

New Japan ladies' away kit as they head to the 2023 Women's World Cup!

16/10/2022

Emperor’s Cup winners!! Ventforet Kofu!