Ardija reserve defender Tatsuya Kawahara, who has spent 2009 on loan at Thespa Kusatsu, will not have his contract taken up by the Squirrels for next season. The former Toyo University student never appeared for the Omiya first team and has only been selected once by Kusatsu.
Read more...The Yomiuri are reporting, here, that Ardija are likely to offer a contract extension to coach Jang Wae Ryong for 2010.
Read more...Well, I guess there's something to celebrate for the Squirrels after what has turned out to be the most tense couple of weeks of the season. Saturday's 1-1 draw with Kashiwa Reysol which confirmed Ardija's place in J1 for 2010 was not the best advertisement for J-League football - the first half in particular featured two teams playing too quickly and nervously to get the ball under proper control. Omiya started the second half much better, but an obviously determined Reysol fought back and put an at times shaky Koji Ezumi under pressure.
Nevertheless, Rafael made some good progress against a physical Kashiwa defence and when he chested the ball down for inrushing Hayato Hashimoto to fire home, it looked like this was to be the game's decisive moment. But barely ninety seconds later, with the Sun Kings desperate to find any possible gaps in the Squirrels defence that would allow them back into the match, Franca located precisely such a gap between Ezumi and near post and Kashiwa were level.
Ardija had only themselves to blame, as it must have been obvious that such a lapse in concentration would be punished by an in-form player. Nevertheless, despite the best efforts of Nelsinho and of the visiting supporters, Omiya held firm for the remainder of the ninety minutes. Hardly a classic - it was never going to be - and although Rafael will probably have nightmares about a missed chance just a few minutes before Hashimoto's goal, a draw was probably fair result. Of course, a draw is all that was needed.
There's a video of highlights from the key draw with Kashiwa Reysol online here.
Read more...J1 Game 33/34, Sat 28 Nov 09
Omiya Ardija 1-1 Kashiwa Reysol
1-0 Hashimoto 74'
1-1 Franca 76'
GK Ezumi
DF Hato
DF Kataoka
DF Neretljak
DF Tomita
MF Aoki
MF Hashimoto
MF Fujimoto
MF Uchida
FW Ishihara (Tokita 86')
FW Rafael (Fujita 85')
Subs not used
GK Takagi
DF Murayama
MF Seo
MF Saito
FW Ichikawa
Cards
Y Hashimoto 72'
Y Fujimoto 82'
OK. OK OK OK. Here's the deal. And it's a big deal. GGOA commenter and Oita Trinita fan Mischa is absolutely right. The Kyushu Turtles' form at the moment is so good that Omiya can't rely on getting so much as a point in the last game of the season - even if it is against the bottom team in the J1 standings. If the Squirrels want to stay up, the time and the place to confirm their place in the J-League's top division is 5pm on Saturday at Omiya Park. A draw in the Greatest Noda Line Derby Ever Seen On Planet Earth will keep Ardija four points ahead of Kashiwa Reysol and therefore in J1 for another year.
Kashiwa, though, have somehow managed to pull themselves back into contention. Three straight defeats against Jubilo Iwata, FC Tokyo and Montedio Yamagata seemed to have totally undermined the improvements which the team had made over the previous six weeks. But then coach Nelsinho somehow managed to coax from his players their biggest win of the season, sweeping aside a lacklustre Shimizu S-Pulse as controversial star man Franca chipped in with two second half goals. The same player also netted as Reysol followed up the defeat of S-Pulse by winning at an Albirex NIigata who are still fighting to finish in the top four.
You can only guess at how Yoshiyuki Kobayashi is feeling about this, but Nelsinho and the rejuvenated Kashiwa squad must be desperate for kick off. Ardija have to meet them head on, with intensity and energy and self-belief. Shin Kanazawa will be missing through suspension from the centre of Omiya's midfield again, although at Yamagata the defensive part of the Squirrels team functioned effectively enough in his absence. Jang Wae Ryong made changes to the attack, surprisingly relegating Rafael to the bench, but wherever the goals come from against the Sun Kings they have to come from somewhere. They have to.
Some motivational images for the Squirrels ahead of their showdown with the Sun Kings on Saturday. Mato Neretljak will surely want to keep a very close eye on the activities of Franca the Dancer in order to avoid a repeat of the last time that Reysol visited Saitama. And just to hammer the point home, as it were, we did concede an injury-time equaliser at Kashiwa which could be said to have put us into this mess.
The Sponichi website is reporting that Shimizu S-Pulse are interested in Ardija star defender Mato Neretljak.
Read more...So this Saturday's encounter with Kashiwa Reysol has come to be the most important game of the season for Jang Wae Ryong's under-performing Omiya Ardija team - having aimed for the sky pre-season, come the end of the year and the Squirrels are once again scrapping around in the gutter, trying desperately to avoid relegation. A draw against the Sun Kings will be enough to guarantee survival; a defeat and Ardija will go into the final game against a relaxed 'n' relegated Oita Trinita knowing that they simply have to win. Does that sound like a recipe for success to you?
As Agent Orange has pointed out, the presence in any Ardija line-up of Kohei Tokita has the tendency to render a statistical approach to matches null and void, but hey - what's a blogger to do in the run up to 2009's Big One? So here we take a look at the Sun Kings' recent form and their away results in the league throughout the year.
If any patterns can be said to emerge - and in all honesty, they really can't - it's that Kashiwa have a tendency to draw away fixtures against teams towards the lower half of the standings. Which is, you know, good. Like the Squirrels, Reysol are also an inconsistent team, as evidenced by their disastrous defeats by FC Tokyo and Montedio Yamagata being followed by sensational successes against Shimizu S-Pulse and Albirex Niigata. Anyway, here's how Kashiwa look:
Last six games:
DLLLWW
Last six away games:
DWWDLW
Away defeats this season:
Hiroshima
Nagoya
Gamba
Kobe
FC Tokyo
Away wins this season:
Jubilo
Kyoto
Urawa
Nagoya
Niigata
Friendly, Sun 22 Nov 09
Omiya Ardija 3-0 Yokogawa Musashino
1-0 Dudu 3'
2-0 Rafael 4'
3-0 Fukuda 89'
GK Takagi
DF Tsukamoto
DF Fukuda
DF Arai
DF Murayama
MF Saito (Nishimura 62')
MF Kanazawa
MF Dudu (Kawanabe 62')
MF Seo
FW Ichikawa (Park 71')
FW Rafael (Watabe 45')
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