Urawa Video Highlights

Read more...

Vegalta Sendai Video Higlights

Read more...

FC Tokyo Video Highlights

Read more...

Sendai Preview

So after all our moaning here on GGOA Omiya came away from FC Tokyo last weekend with a win, pulling themselves out of the relegation zone in the process. Milivoje Novakovic scored a cracking winner, Hiroyuki Komoto made his debut as substitute and helped shore up the defence as Tokyo pressed for an equaliser, while Yosuke Kataoka had the game of his life. With a home game to come on Saturday night against out of form Vegalta Sendai, are things actually looking a little rosier now in le jardin de écureuil? 

Well, yes and, to coin a phrase, nope. The Squirrels just about deserved the three points at Ajinomoto, Novakovic producing the game's one moment of real attacking quality as Kataoka performed his heroics at the other end... and what an unusual combination of words that is. But the distance between success and failure was very, very narrow: if FC Tokyo had had a bit more luck, a bit more incisiveness and someone else instead up front of the completely anonymous Edmilson, they could easily have won.

And if Zdenko Verdenik is relying on this Ardija back four to keep the opposition out, he's going to need Komoto to take a starring role... and a lot of luck. On the two other occasions Omiya have kept clean sheets since Verdenik took over, the defence worked astoundingly hard against a Sanfrecce Hiroshima side having a serious off-day, and then Koji Ezumi shone against a poor Shimizu S-Pulse. These things don't happen every week. Make no mistake about it, the Squirrels are still deep in a relegation fight.

But they actually might happen tomorrow. Novakovic's goal was a massive confidence boost for the squad and although the veteran Slovenian is some way yet from full match fitness, Yu Hasegawa has also found the target a couple of times in recent weeks. In other words it's possible that we might score against Vegalta Sendai, especially if the massively underachieving Cho Young Cheol remains on the substitutes' bench. 

Komoto meanwhile looks set to make his first start in an orange shirt, although there are dispiritingly large question marks over where he might be deployed. The former Vissel Kobe man is an experienced central defender and God knows there's a need for improvement in that part of the Omiya team; but then again we don't have a dedicated right back at all, and at FC Tokyo he came on for regular first choice left back Takumi Shimohira. Wherever he ends up playing against Vegalta, let's hope he's lucky.

Read more...

A First Chance To Say Super-Nova

J1 Game 22/34, Sat 18 Aug

FC Tokyo 0-1 Omiya Ardija

0-1 Novakovic 78'

GK Ezumi

DF Watabe

DF Kataoka

DF Kikuchi

DF Shimohira (Komoto 76')

MF Watanabe

MF Aoki

MF Kanazawa (Suzuki 87')

MF Carlinhos

MF Higashi

FW Hasegawa (Novakovic 65')

Subs not used:

GK Kitano

MF Ueda

MF Cho

MF Kanakubo

Cards:

Y Higashi 33'

Read more...

FC Tokyo Video Highlights

Read more...

FC Tokyo Preview

Enthusiastic for the remainder of the J-League season? You betcha. Here at GGOA Towers we just can't wait. And it's guaranteed to be an exciting few months for Squirrels fans. Goals aplenty? Mm, probably, in a sense. A roller-coaster ride? Well, not sure about the ups, but from here it looks like the year could end in a great big down. And it all starts with Saturday's game at FC Tokyo! Great! The team - er, one of the teams - that always seems to beat us!

They certainly beat us on the opening day, a relatively even match at NACK5 seeing Omiya fail to get past the impressive Shuichi Gonda, while at the other end Lucas' superb piece of snap shooting was enough to take all three points for the reigning J2 champions. So how are the eleven players that started for the Squirrels that day doing now? Let's take a look...

1. Goalkeeper Takashi Kitano has been injured for a good proportion of the year and seems now to be second choice behind Koji Ezumi. Oh.

2. Kazuhiro Murakami has either been playing out of position at right back, or injured. Ow.

3. Kosuke Kikuchi's confidence as a central defensive organiser appears totally shot. Bang.

4. Kim Young Gwon, never particularly impressive during has year and a half at Ardija, has been sold. Almost immediately after leaving Omiya he went on to shine for South Korea in the Olympic Games. Guh.

5. Takumi Shimohira has been an ever-present in the league, but... before we get too excited, let's remember that he came to Ardija having failed to become a regular in Gamba Osaka's defence. Ouch.

6. No matter who the coach, they all seem to appreciate Daigo Watanabe. He's still around, mostly being mediocre on the right-hand side of midfield. Zzzzz.

7. Carlinhos works hard and is always at least trying to create something, however uncooperative or immobile his team-mates might be. At the moment it's hard to look anywhere else for Player of the Year. Woohoo!

8. Takuya Aoki's hopes of playing for Japan in the Olympics disappeared long ago, but he's always in the middle for Omiya. Always.  

9. Cho Young Cheol may be the team's top scorer - with, um, four - but boy has he been disappointing for most of the time since his move from Albirex Niigata. Yeesh.

10. Underperformer of the Year is arguably Keigo Higashi, who has spent 2012 making Cho look like Lionel Messi. Still, he did pretty well for Japan in London. What's that you say? Keigo's big opportunity to get a transfer to Europe? Hmmm.

11. Rafael has gone back to Brazil. Bye bye.

And now the transfer window is closed, meaning that the current squad - including new loan signing Hiroyuki Komoto from Vissel Kobe - will be seeing us through to December. It might be too soon to expect Komoto to be propping up the middle of the back four against FC Tokyo, meaning that some combination of Kikuchi, Yosuke Kataoka and Yuki Fukaya will have the job of keeping out Lucas and Edmilson. 

Are we going to score? That mostly depends on the midfield's ability to create chances for a likely starting pair of Yu Hasegawa and Slovenian veteran Milivoje Novakovic, the latter set to make his first start in a Squirrels shirt. So hey, that's something to get excited about, right? I don't know what I'm moaning about really.

Read more...

Ljubijankic & Novakovic Intro Interviews

Brief English-language interviews with new Ardija signings Zlatan Ljubijankic and Milivoje Novakovic.

Read more...

Verdenik: The Stats So Far

Guess how Zdenko Verdenik has been doing since he took over as Omiya coach eight league games ago? Agent Orange has been busy constructing the table below, which shows how all J1 clubs have performed since the Slovenian's appointment at NACK5 in the middle of June. Ex-Ardija boss Yasuhiro Higuchi has had a fantastic couple of months at Yokohama F Marinos, undefeated and picking up an impressive sixteen points. Reigning champions Kashiwa Reysol have continued their resurgent form, firing in no fewer than 23 goals that includes four in Verdenik's first match in charge.

Having replaced their own coaches at around the same time as Omiya, Vissel Kobe and Albirex Niigata have both moved up the table, the Swans under new boss Masaaki Yanagishita now boasting the best defence in the division - a rearguard that has been further improved by the addition from Ardija of the experienced Shusuke Tsubouchi. Even Consadole Sapporo, rock bottom all season long, have managed good home wins against Nagoya Grampus and Vegalta Sendai.

And Verdenik's Squirrels? We're last in Agent Orange's table. We have the poorest form of any club in J1. Despite some glimmers of hope during a handful of matches in June and early July, we've actually got worse since the departure of Jun Suzuki - a fact reflected in our drop into the relegation places. One of the division's least able defences has grown weaker with the sale of Tsubouchi and Kim Young Gwon. 

Of the defensive players that remain, captain Kosuke Kikuchi seems for all the world a broken man rather than a leader, the crash and burn of his confidence exemplified by a humiliating own goal against Sanfrecce Hiroshima. In fact there's even an argument that game-but-limited Yosuke Kataoka might now be Ardija's best defender - an idea that would have been laughable in 2007 but is less than amusing in 2012. 

No wonder Squirrels fans have been overwhelmed with relief at the arrival on loan of Hiroyuki Komoto, the Vissel Kobe centre back who in the current squad appears to carry the Squirrels' hopes of J1 survival on his shoulders. Welcome to Omiya, Hiroyuki. No pressure.

1. Marinos 16pts (+6)

2. Kashiwa 15 (+10)

3. Hiroshima 15 (+8)

4. Nagoya 14 (+6)

5. Tosu 14 (+3)

6. Kobe 14 (-)

7. Urawa 13 (+3)

8. Niigata 12 (+2)

9. Kashima 12 (-)

10. Sendai 11 (+3)

11. Kawasaki 9 (-1)

12. Gamba 8 (-1)

13. FC Tokyo 8 (-3)

14. S-Pulse 8 (-5)

15. Jubilo 7 (-4)

--------

16. Cerezo 6 (-5)

17. Sapporo 6 (-14)

18. Omiya 5 (-8)

Read more...

Another Great Sunday Friendly

2x40 mins Friendly, Sun 12 Aug

Omiya Ardija 2-3 Meiji University

1-0 Kanakubo 14'

1-1 scorer unknown 28'

1-2 scorer unknown 38'

1-3 scorer unknown 57'

2-3 own goal 68'

GK Kitano (K Shimizu HT)

DF trialist

DF Fukaya

DF trialist

DF Suzuki

MF trialist

MF Ueda

MF Lee

MF Hashimoto

FW Kanakubo (trialist 54')

FW trialist

Read more...

Which Way From Here?

J1 Game 20/34, Sat 11 Aug

Omiya Ardija 1-2 Sanfrecce Hiroshima

0-1 own goal 24'

1-1 Ljubijankic 38' (PK)

1-2 Shimizu 49'

GK Ezumi

DF Watabe

DF Kataoka

DF Kikuchi

DF Shimohira 

MF Watanabe

MF Aoki

MF Kanazawa (Ueda 81')

MF Cho (Novakovic 79')

FW Hasegawa

FW Ljubijankic (Kanakubo 65')

Subs not used:

GK Kitano

DF Fukaya

DF Suzuki

MF Hashimoto

Cards:

Y Kanazawa 47'

Y Aoki 56'

Read more...

Losing A Must-Not-Lose Game

J1 Game 20/34, Sat 04 Aug

Gamba Osaka 3-1 Omiya Ardija

0-1 Hasegawa 52'

1-1 Leandro 64'

2-1 Leandro 65'

3-1 Kurata 71'

GK Ezumi

DF Watabe

DF Fukaya

DF Kataoka

DF Shimohira 

MF Kanazawa

MF Aoki

MF Carlinhos (Ljubijankic 66')

MF Watanabe (Kanakubo 82')

MF Cho

FW Hasegawa 

Subs not used:

GK Kitano

DF Tsubouchi

DF Suzuki

MF Ueda

MF Hashimoto

Cards:

Y Carlinhos 38'

Y Ezumi 62'

Y Hasegawa 64'

Y Ljubijankic 72'

Read more...

Gamba Preview

All in all another extraordinary week to report on at Omiya Ardija, ahead of what is shaping up to be a crucial match on Saturday evening at Gamba Osaka. It's an encounter which, while very important to both teams' hopes of staying in J1, is also very difficult to predict. Approaching the business end of a disastrous season Gamba are running out of time if they are to battle their way out of the relegation places, but have re-signed a proven J-League goalscorer in Leandro.

Meanwhile Omiya's form is up one moment and down the next, as exemplified by last weekend's thrashing at Kawasaki Frontale. And in Zlatan Ljubijankic and Milivoje Novakovic the Squirrels have signed forwards of their own, as they seek to secure their place in the top division for another season. But Ljubijankic went off after a mysteriously brief 20-minute cameo in a training match on Sunday and his fitness ahead of the trip to Osaka is unclear.

Newcomer Novakovic had his first training session as an Omiya player on Friday. A veteran of 33, his scoring record at both club and international level is better than of his fellow Slovenian Ljubijankic, alongside whom he has played for the national team: Novakovic boasts a resume that includes nineteen goals for Slovenia more than seventy for 1FC Koln in Germany. Impressive enough, and stats that suggest he could be a very dangerous weapon in the J-League, but Ardija fans will likely have to wait before it becomes apparent how Zdenko Verdenik plans to deploy his new assets.

They may choose to spend some of that time pondering the fragility of the Squirrels' defence - demonstrated with terrifying clarity during the second half at Frontale - and the fact that Verdenik has not yet done anything to strengthen this part of the squad. Indeed, given that Kim Young Gwon has left and not been replaced, there are now fewer options than earlier in the year. At times under their new coach Omiya have looked strong and resolute defensively, but on other occasions the discipline of the back four has disappeared completely.

No combination of players seems to convince on a consistent basis: Kosuke Kikuchi might usually be the lynchpin and decision-maker, but when such a key member of the team is so prone to lapses in concentration that expose his colleagues, it is hard to have confidence in Ardija's rearguard. It is also worth noting that the one defender Omiya have been linked with in the transfer market, Mito Hollyhock starlet Tsukasa Shiotani, this week joined Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Are we really stuck with what we've got? Is what we've got really good enough to survive another Ardija relegation scrap? The Gamba match counts as a must-not-lose fixture, as a victory for the Blue and Blacks will close the gap between the teams to three points. Can the Squirrels defence keep out a fired up and desperate Leandro, Yasuhito Endo and co? Has Zlatan Ljubijankic succumbed to injury almost before his Omiya career has started? All in all, Ardija once again go into a key game with more unanswered questions hanging over their heads.

Read more...

Zlatan Interview Clip

There's a short English-language interview with Zlatan Ljubijankic starting at 3m 18s of this clip from the Ole Ardija TV show.

Read more...

Trialists And Tribulations

Friendly, Sun 29 Jul

Omiya Ardija 1-3 Kansai University

0-1 scorer unknown 2'

1-1 Ueda 69'

1-2 scorer unknown 74'

1-3 scorer unknown 79'

GK Kitano (K Shimizu HT)

DF Kanazawa

DF Tsubouchi (coach Otsuka 58')

DF trialist

DF Suzuki

MF Ueda

MF Hashimoto

MF trialist

MF Kanakubo (trialist HT)

FW Ichikawa

FW Ljubijankic (trialist 20')

Read more...

GGOA Coach Survey: The Result

Fresh out of the worst result since he took over at NACK5, Zdenko Verdenik has received what amounts to a tentative thumbs up from Omiya supporters. The Squirrels went down 4-1 at Kawasaki Frontale, but a slim majority of readers voting in the most recent GGOA survey here on GGOA have indicated that they're happy that the Slovenian is in charge at Ardija.

60% of participants voted to the effect that Verdenik has done well - even though the Frontale result means that he has picked up only five points from six league games. In contrast, no voters at all said that they wishes that former coach Jun Suzuki was still in charge. Full results are as follows: 

Who should be Omiya coach?

1. Verdenik - he's doing a great job 60%

2. We should have got someone else 40%

3. I wish Suzuki was still there 0%

Thanks to all who voted.

Read more...

Second Half Slump Stuns Squirrels

J1 Game 19/34, Sat 28 Jul

Kawasaki Frontale 4-1 Omiya Ardija

0-1 Hasegawa 19'

1-1 Nakamura 45+4'

2-1 Kobayashi 47' (PK)

3-1 Kusukami 69'

4-1 Renato 71'

GK Ezumi

DF Kataoka (Kanakubo 83')

DF Fukaya

DF Kikuchi

DF Shimohira 

MF Aoki

MF Carlinhos (Ueda 77')

MF Watanabe

MF Watabe 

FW Hasegawa (Ljubijankic 73')

FW Cho

Subs not used:

GK K Shimizu

DF Suzuki

MF Kanazawa

FW Ichikawa

Cards:

Y Cho 33'

Y Kikuchi 46'

Read more...

Kawasaki Preview

There might not have been any actual matches to enjoy, but that doesn't mean Squirrels fans haven't had an interesting time of it since the 2-2 draw with Vissel Kobe at NACK5 a couple of weeks ago. And both the main events during that period could act as inspiration to Omiya ahead of Saturday's game at Kawasaki Frontale.

Transfer speculation has gone into overload since the departure from Ardija of Rafael and Kim Young Gwon, but Rafa's replacement is now confirmed and available for selection. It's anticipated that Zlatan Ljubijankic, signed from Belgian side Gent, will start on the substitutes' bench against Frontale. While it would be asking a lot of Ljubijankic to make an immediate impact - for one thing, he hadn't completed preseason training in Belgium - Omiya supporters will be forgiven for being desperate to see the Slovenian international in action.

It's been clear throughout the season that we need a new approach to getting goals and Ljubijankic represents Zdenko Verdenik's means of delivering a sharper Ardija attack. The big question will be who Verdenik will in due course select to play alongside the newcomer and the favourite at the moment would seem to be - and this was pretty much unthinkable at the start of the year - teenage striker Shintaro Shimizu.

After picking up an injury in training on Thursday it isn't clear whether Shimizu will be available to play against Kawasaki, but the youngster must be bursting to stake his claim for a permanent slot ahead of Yu Hasegawa, Masahiko Ichikawa and even the disappointing Cho Young Cheol. At Frontale, in the meantime, depending on Shimizu's fitness Hasegawa and Cho look the most likely partnership to start.

As well as the arrival of Ljubijankic, the other source of encouragement for Omiya came from a top quality performance by midfielder Keigo Higashi in Japan's sensational Olympic victory against Spain on Friday. Higashi put aside his poor league form to show discipline and creativity when matched up with a strong Spanish team, bringing one excellent save from David De Gea and setting up chance after chance for his team-mates. More broadly it was a display that underlined the high standard of football on offer in the J-League and Ardija's player was at the very heart of the Japanese team. 

Zdenko Verdenik meanwhile needs to get points on the board for Omiya and Kawasaki's recent bad run of results suggests that, with or without Higashi, Saturday's match is a winnable one. Like Shintaro Shimizu Carlinhos was injured in training in midweek but indications are that he may be fit enough to play. Zlatan Ljubijankic may be the longer-term solution but the immediate question is still, Where will the goals come from? 

Read more...

Higashi On Target As Olympics Near

Omiya midfielder Keigo Higashi is surely playing himself into the starting line-up for Japan's bid for 2012 Olympic glory. The Squirrels starlet added to his assist from the midweek friendly win over Belarus by opening the scoring in the first minute against Mexico on Saturday. If only he had done the same for Ardija even once this season. But never mind. It'll come, I'm sure. Anyway, the Young Samurai went on to win their last pre-tournament practice game 2-1.

Read more...

Kanazawa Nets In, Er, "Friendly" Win

Friendly, Sat 21 Jul
Omiya Ardija 1-0 Urawa Reds

1-0 Kanazawa 27'

GK Ezumi (K Shimizu HT)

DF Tsubouchi (Yamazaki 60')

DF Fukaya (Kataoka HT)

DF Kikuchi (Koinuma HT)

DF Shimohira (Suzuki HT)

MF Kanazawa (Oyama 60')

MF Ueda (Hashimoto HT)

MF Watanabe (trialist 60')

MF Watabe (Kanakubo HT)

FW Hasegawa (Cho HT)

FW S Shimizu (Ichikawa HT)

Read more...