Ljubijankic & Novakovic Intro Interviews

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

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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)

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16. Cerezo 6 (-5)

17. Sapporo 6 (-14)

18. Omiya 5 (-8)

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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

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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')

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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.

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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)

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The New Signing... It's Zlatan

Omiya Ardija have confirmed recent press rumours with the announcement that Zlatan Ljubijankic has joined the club from Belgian side KAA Gent. Ljubijankic, who will take squad number 11 at Ardija, is a 1m 86cm 28-year-old Slovenian international forward.

The basic facts of his career are that he began in his native country with the NK Domzale club in 2002, immediately helping them to win promotion to the top division. Ljubijankic went on to notch up 40 goals in 155 games for Domzale, the highlight being a championship win in 2006/07. Midway through the following season he moved to Gent, where he has found the net another 27 times in 125 appearances. A member of the Slovenian national side since 2006, Ljubijankic attracted wider attention when he scored in the 2010 World Cup match against the US in South Africa [see clip].

At Omiya he will of course be playing under a former Slovenia coach in Zdenko Verdenik, which presumably provides the reason for the signing being made in the first place. Ljubijankic also follows in the footsteps of Klemen Lavric, another Slovenian striker who turned out for the Squirrels with mixed results between 2006 and 2008.

So what can we expect from our new signing? Follower of the Belgian league Gary Niblock observed, "Zlatan's a striker by trade but often plays out wide. He's not a prolific goalscorer by any means but is good at link-up play. Target man would be his best role [and] I could see him doing well in Japan. Gent like to play a fast, high-tempo game so if he gels well with the coach and his team-mates [one-touch football] should be no problem for him."

It's true that Ljubijankic has a less-than-stellar scoring record, but the aim in bringing him to Omiya would seem to be to have someone as a focus for the attack who could combine with other players while maintaining the speed and momentum. Rafael could not do this consistently and has been shipped out; Yu Hasegawa may be big and he does have other skills but he is atrocious in the air. The opportunity is there for Ljubijankic to come in and be a new Squirrels hero.

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Kanazawa Sent Off In Friendly

Friendly, Sun 17 Jun 12

Omiya Ardija 2-2 Chukyo University

1-0 Ichikawa 24'

2-0 Ueda 26'

2-1 scorer unknown 41'

2-2 scorer unknown 65'

GK K Shimizu

DF Murakami (Otsuka 67')

DF Fukaya

DF Kim (Yamazaki HT)

DF Suzuki 

MF Ueda 

MF Kanazawa

MF S Shimizu

MF Watabe (trialist 61')

FW Hasegawa 

FW Ichikawa

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Ardija Appoint Suzuki Successor

After several days of speculation Omiya have confirmed the appointment as coach Zdenko Verdenik. The 63-year-old Slovenian comes to Ardija following the dismissal last week of Jun Suzuki, who led a goalshy Squirrels to a dicey-looking fifteenth in the J1 standings. He appears to have been the only candidate considered by the club. 

Verdenik's most recent post was a technical position at the Slovenian FA and indeed he has fulfilled several different roles with the association throughout his career, including that of national team coach from 1994 to 1997. He has coached clubs in both Slovenia and Austria, but perhaps surprisingly Omiya will be his fifth Japanese team.

From 1991 to 1993 Verdenik was in charge of Yokohama Flugels. He returned to Japan in 2000 and over a period of five years coached at JEF United, Nagoya Grampus Eight and Vegalta Sendai. His most notable achievement was a second-placed finish in the 2001 first stage with a JEF side that had ended sixteenth in the 2000 second stage.

In the assistant role at Omiya will be Takuya Inoue, until last week Ardija's youth coach but someone who worked with Verdenik at JEF. Meanwhile caretaker Takeyuki Okamoto will hold the fort for the Nabisco Cup games against Vissel Kobe and Shimizu S-Pulse. Verdenik is scheduled to take training from Monday 11th June, meaning that his first match in charge will be the J1 fixture at home to Kashiwa Reysol on Saturday 16th.

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All Credibility Is Re-established!

Friendly, Sun 08 Apr 12

Omiya Ardija 2-1 Meiji University

1-0 Ueda 8'

1-1 scorer unknown 60'

2-1 S Shimizu 86'

GK Ezumi 

DF Tsubouchi 

DF Fukaya

DF Kataoka

DF Suzuki (Miyazaki HT)

MF Ueda (Azusa HT)

MF Kanazawa

MF S Shimizu

MF Hashimoto (Kajiwara HT)

FW Hasegawa 

FW Ichikawa

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Excellent, Absolutely Excellent

Friendly, Sun 25 Mar 12

Omiya Ardija 2-3 Mito Hollyhock

0-1 Yoshihara 6'

1-1 Hashimoto 33'

1-2 Kanakubo 39'

1-3 Okamoto 70'

2-3 Kanakubo 73'

GK Ezumi (K Shimizu 63')

DF Tsubouchi 

DF Fukaya

DF Kataoka

DF Suzuki (Ichikawa 66')

MF Hashimoto

MF Kanazawa

MF Ueda

MF Watabe

MF S Shimizu

FW Hasegawa 

FW Kanakubo

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Kawasaki Friendly

Friendly, Sun 11 Mar 12

Kawasaki Frontale 4-1 Omiya Ardija

1-0 scorer unknown 2'

1-1 Kanakubo 31'

2-1 scorer unknown 39'

3-1 scorer unknown 55'

4-1 scorer unknown 89'

GK Ezumi (K Shimizu 63')

DF Tsubouchi 

DF Fukaya

DF Kataoka

DF Suzuki

MF Kanazawa

MF Ueda

MF Kanakubo

MF Hashimoto (Youth teamer 75')

FW Hasegawa (S Shimizu 61')

FW Ichikawa

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Ardija Slogan 2012

Here's a look at Omiya's slogan graphic for 2012 - not much different from 2011, in fact, and with a similar slogan too. GGOA's very own team of crack linguists have put their heads together and come up with the following as the optimum translation:

Declaration: Squirrels Climb Trees!

Not much more to be said about that, really. Hmmm.

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God, What's Hashimoto Doing In The Team?

3x45 mins friendly, Fri 17 Feb 12

Omiya Ardija 5-1 Tokushima Vortis

1-0 Hashimoto 12'

2-0 Hasegawa 41'

3-0 Watabe 52'

3-1 Kim 54'

4-1 Watabe 88'

5-1 S Shimizu 109'

First third

GK Kitano

DF Murakami

DF Kikuchi

DF Fukaya

DF Shimohira

DM Kanazawa

DM Aoki

AM Watanabe

AM Kanakubo

AM Hashimoto

FW Hasegawa

Second third

GK Kitano (Ezumi)

DF Murakami

DF Kikuchi (Tsubouchi)

DF Fukaya (Kataoka)

DF Shimohira (Suzuki)

DM Ueda

DM Aoki

AM Watanabe (Ichikawa)

AM Watabe

AM Hashimoto

FW Hasegawa (S Shimizu)

Third third

No information

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Young Ardija In Friendly Win

2x30mins Friendly, Sun 27 Nov 11

Omiya Ardija 4-1 Saitama University

1-0 Kanakubo 2'

2-0 Kihara 19'

2-1 scorer unknown 36'

3-1 Hayashizaki 52'

4-1 S Shimizu 60'

GK Ezumi

DF Kihara

DF Tsubouchi (Aoki 40')

DF Suzuki

DF Kikuike

MF Kanakubo

MF Ueda

MF Aoki (Hayashizaki HT')

MF Miyazaki 

FW Ishihara 

FW S Shimizu

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Marinos Friendly

Friendly, Sun 20 Nov 11

Yokohama F Marinos 4-2 Omiya Ardija

0-1 Murakami 18'

0-2 Fujimoto 22'

1-2 Ono 25'

2-2 Ono 45' (PK)

3-2 Hanato 76'

4-2 Watanabe 78'

GK Ezumi (K Shimizu HT')

DF Kihara

DF Tsubouchi

DF Suzuki

DF Murakami

MF Kanakubo

MF Ueda

MF S Shimizu

MF Miyazaki 

FW Ishihara 

FW Fujimoto

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Kashiwa Friendly

Friendly, Fri 04 Nov 11

Kashiwa Reysol 2-5 Omiya Ardija

1-0 Tanaka 14'

2-0 Hayashi 28'

2-1 Fujimoto 36'

2-2 Murakami 41'

2-3 S Shimizu 73'

2-4 Miyazaki 76'

2-5 Murakami 87'

GK Ezumi

DF Sugiyama

DF Tsubouchi

DF Suzuki

DF Murakami

MF Kihara

MF Kanazawa (Kanakubo 63')

MF S Shimizu

MF Miyazaki (Trialist 88')

FW Ishihara (Trialist 88')

FW Fujimoto

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Surely The Worst Friendly Result Ever

Friendly, Sun 16 Oct 11

Omiya Ardija 0-3 Yokogawa Musashino

0-1 Yamashita 23'

0-2 Hashiba 31'

0-3 Hashiba 39'

GK Ezumi (K Shimizu HT')

DF Kihara (Miyazaki HT)

DF Tsubouchi

DF Suzuki

DF Murakami

MF Kanazawa (S Shimizu 63')

MF Kanakubo

MF Lee (Kihara 65')

MF Fujimoto

FW Ishihara 

FW Rodrigo Pimpao

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Shonan Friendly

Friendly, Sun 28 Aug 11

Shonan Bellmare 1-1 Omiya Ardija

0-1 S Shimizu 62'
1-1 scorer unknown 64'

GK Ezumi
DF Sugiyama
DF Tsubouchi
DF Suzuki
DF Miyazaki
MF Kanazawa
MF Hashimoto
MF Kihara
MF Fujimoto
FW S Shimizu
FW Kanakubo

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All In All, A Great Weekend

Friendly, Sun 14 Aug 11

Omiya Ardija 0-1 Tochigi SC

0-1 trialist 24'

GK Ezumi (K Shimizu HT')
DF Watabe
DF Fukaya
DF Suzuki
DF Miyazaki
MF Higashi (Hashimoto HT')
MF Kanazawa
MF Watanabe
MF Kanakubo
FW S Shimizu
FW Ishihara (Kihara 45')

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