This Is How It Feels to Be Lonely.....Verdy 1- 2 Oita

Anybody there?

Moan Number 1
3,826 at Ajinomoto Stadium on a Sunday in the school holidays, weather was decent AND there was a cheap ticket offer.

Moan Number 2
Verdy lost again.

Moan Number 3
I forgot to go to the bank before the game and was unable to drown myself in overpriced beer throughout the game to dull the pain.

Redeeming Feature Number 1
Our old friend and closet Verdy No.1 Supporter Steve came along and bought out the club shop. For an Omiya fan he sure bought a big bag of Verdy goods.

(Semi) Redeeming Feature Number 2
Verdy`s Youth Team beat the whole of the J-League in the 2011 Adidas Cup. Verdy rule the youth leagues and these guys will eventually play for the first team. (For 5 minutes before being sold).

Redeeming Feature Number 3
FC Tokyo also lost. (clutching at straws now...)

Now here is an ever so sensible sensible/dull match report.
The game was an even affair with both teams struggling to mount any long periods of pressure or sustained attacking football. Verdy were to come straight out on the attack with Yuki Kobayashi going close with a free header over the bar in the opening minute but it was to be Oita who would score first with a crisp strike from Choi operating down the Oita left.
 Choi broke down the left, cut inside Mori and fired a perfect curler into the top corner from outside the box and over the despairing dive of Shibasaki. Initially Shibasaki seemed to be out of position but after seeing the video replay there was nothing he could have done. Quite simply a superb effort.
Verdy equalised soon after with Maranhao scoring his third of the season following excellent work down the right from Hiroki Kawano. Kawano recieved the ball in his own half, ran the length of the field, turned his marker inside out to leaving him on the floor and fed Maranhao for a low finish.
Both teams seemed to cancel each other out with real chances coming at a premium. Kikuoka was next forcing a smart stop from Shimizu in the Oita goal, diving to his left to bat away Kikuoka`s effort from just inside the box. Oita should have taken the lead just before the break with Shibasaki doing well to keep out a one on one with Nishi.
Into the second half and it was Verdy who made most of the running, keeping possession for long periods though unable to REALLY work the keeper.  Takuma Abe had a quiet game with just one or two decent runs though it was to be be Verdys top scorer who missed a golden chance to take the lead when shooting straight at the keeper from six yards from Maranhao`s pull back.
Oita took the points probably against the run of play on 74 minutes with a header from Maeda. Masashi Miyazawa`s free kick cleared the Verdy defence leaving an unmarked Maeda to stoop down and fire the header low past Shibasaki.
Oita hung on for the win and took a valuable 3 points back to Kyushu. Oita were probably a little lucky to take all three points but they took their chances whereas Verdy missed. The arse crack smokin, hairdresser worshippin`, 0.6 Horsepower ass wipes that they are.
Onwards and Camping Yet Again For 3 Days in Nagano this Timewards The Boys Camp On!!

Say YES I say and with a Mars bar just popped inside the rear waist band. Blokes are supposed to be blokes .

Hide The Cakes and Call For Back Up!!

Zeroing In On a Doughnut...Go On My Son!!

Due to the injuries Verdy have signed three new players and one old one. Ex Verdy Youth defender Ryo Nurishi (25) returns from the beach and FC Kariyushi in Okinawa. He will be hoping to add to his TWO appearances for the club. Yusuke Nakatani (32) comes in from Kyoto Sanga with a wealth of experience but without time on his side, University midfield signing Ryota Kajikawa (22) comes in from Kwansei Gakuin University and finally Arte Takasaki have let us have midfielder Yushi Akiba (25).
So, one no mark who couldn`t get in the side last time, one veteran from a team that currently are awful, one University signing which is fine and one JFL`er. Wonderful. I shall have to go and sit down I`m so excited.  

Nuts....Ehime 2 - 1 Verdy

Doesn`t need a caption really...

Another disappointing result for The Boys and a result that puts the brakes on Verdy`s gallop up the table. Once again as in April , Ehime were able to stifle the Verdy attack until well into the second half with Verdy never really managing to take a hold of the game.
The first half offered little in the way of entertainment, the first minute offering the best chance of a goal with Shibasaki making a horrendous meal of a backpass. Ishii pressured Shibasaki who had all the time in the world, Ishii came closer and Shibasaki completely missed the ball when trying to clear, Ishii took a shot the ball rebounded off the lucky Shibasaki to Saito who lifted his effort over the bar.
Maranhao got back to his usual "missing when clean through" trick today with the first of his two misses coming in the first 10 minutes, saved by Harihaga in the Ehime goal. Hiroki Kawano was restored to the line up and had a busy game, always looking to take on his man and he probably should have done better with a chested volley from Kikuoka`s raking pass. He also had a speculator come back off the joint after 35 minutes. An all round good comeback from Kawano. In the first half Ehime looked far more likely to score though neither side managed to break the deadlock.
Ehime opened the scoring just after half time with Manabu Saito once again scoring against the Greens. A fast break down the right saw the Verdy defence outnumbered and eventually the ball came across the edge of the box to the extra man Saito who made no mistake, slotting low past Shibasaki. Following this Verdy were able to mount a bit of pressure, Maranhao sending a header straight at Hagihara, he then went on to miss his second one on one with the keeper, missing the ball completely when shooting.......thankfully that was the last of the action for Maranhao with the welcome return of Kazuki "Goal Machine" Hiramoto. Hiramoto was given the last half an hour and did nothing wrong. He didn`t score but he was able to hold the ball up and tidily bring the other players in. More importantly he didn`t miss any open goals, one on ones, or fall over every time he got the damn ball.
Verdy were to get one back through Takuma Abe for his seventh of a breakout season for him. He had been anonymous for the whole game prior to his goal and he met Kawano`s inswinging free kick well for a powerful header from six yards. He`s a strange player Abe. He isn`t particularly fast, he isn`t particularly skillfull not in the Kawano sense of the word anyway, he isn`t particularly big or particularly powerful yet he keeps scoring. Left foot, right foot, headers, tap ins, long rangers, penalties. The lot. He has a knack at the moment of being in the right place at the right time and finishing his chances. Nice one Takuma!! So, Verdy were back in the game and looked to be the more likely to go on and win it. Until Yusuke Mori gave away a penalty on the edge of the box with 5 minutes to go. Definate penalty and yellow card for Mori to boot. Saito scored it and even with SEVEN minutes of injury time Verdy were unable to force an equaliser though Abe was again close with another header coming back off the bar in the final minutes.
Yusuke Mori was involved with some handbags with Saito at the final whistle and didn`t line up for the usual handshakes so seemingly something was going on there. Just as the action was starting the camera quickly cut to a crowd shot so I couldn`t really see much.  Maybe Saito knocked him out on a one inch punch as Mori didn`t line up for the handshakes but Saito did. Hope so!
Oita Trinita at Ajinomoto next and with a "Bring a Friend For Free" ticket promotion for Verdy Fan Club Members, hopefully a bigger than normal crowd to see it. Tokyo Nerdy will be there how about you??
Onwards and Upwards The Boys March On!!

Flick The Flying V`s..... Vortis 2 - 2 Verdy

The World`s Lowest "Let`s Rock!" leap. I can deffo jump higher than that.

The winning run came to an end in the most painful of circumstances at Tokushima with the Boys blowing a 2-0 lead with just two minutes of normal time remaining. Thankfully the run is over and we can now all go back to our seats and and get back to normal. Ah how I`ve missed the post game feeling of being stabbed in the head with a pencil.
Verdy were again quick out of the blocks with the Tokushima goal under all sorts of pressure from opening whistle to the half an hour mark. Kikuoka this week was operating on the left with Maranhao and Abe  playing as a top two. Ichikawa came in for Iio on the right and Fukuda came in for Mori at right back.
Most of Verdy`s pressure came down the left with Kikuoka at his best today having a hand in both goals. Tsuchiya had already had a goal bound header saved when Kikuoka opened the scoring direct from a corner. Kikuoka whipped the ball in low with a deceptive swerve on it which went out then came back in to utterly bamboozle Oh in the Vortis goal. This was on 17 minutes and Verdy were to extend their lead just five minutes later through a Kikuoka free kick headed goalward by Tokushima top scorer Sato for an own goal. At 2-0 Verdy and 30 minutes gone Verdy were in complete control and Vortis were yet to register a single effort on goal. However, over the next 60 minutes Vortis showed some of the mettle that has taken them to second in the league after sixteen games.
Vortis had a scrambled effort wide, Shibasaki was also alert to a low Sato effort on 37 minutes as Vortis cranked up the pressure towards the break.
The second half was an end to end affair with both teams trading half chances. Abe shot across the face of goal, Douglas blasted wide from 8 yards and it looked as though Verdy would hold on for the win. However, in the dying minutes the Verdy goal was under severe pressure with Eleziu smacking a free kick off the bar before scoring following another mad scramble; the goal arriving courtesy of a lucky second rebound off the bar straight to Eleziu for a power header home.
At this point, the only thing that was ever going to happen was an all out barrage on the Verdy goal and that is indeed how the story went. Vortis threw absolutely everything at Verdy and looked to have been robbed of a penalty with Tsuchiya clearly handling a shot with seconds to go. However, justice was probably done with a 95th minute equaliser. The ball again lumped into the box for a save from Shibasaki followed by an overhead cross and  header from 2 inches for Tsuda. An absolutely insane end to game which of course feels worse than a defeat. A complete sickener and a reminder of how life should be on the good ship Green.
Welcome back Tokyo Verdy!!! Onwards and Back To Normal The Boys March On!!

Are these yours?

Verdy 3 - 0 Gifu Highlights

Check Maranhao`s crap goal!! Thanks to Ultra Verdy for putting us on to the highlights.

Wrong Address....Verdy 3 - 0 Gifu

Shit Postman

The stats now read five games, five wins, 18 goals scored and probably the Worst Goal of the Season bagged by Maranhao this weekend. Gifu were there for the taking and duly showed exactly why they are bottom of the league with only two wins in fifteen attempts.

With Kawano still missing, Verdy lined up with Kikuoka on the right, Maranhao at the top of the diamond with Iio moving to the left. Takuma Abe was again given the lone striker role and celebrated his signing of a new contract this week with another goal and solid performance.

Verdy opened the game and almost immediately had the Gifu goal under pressure, with a screwed shot from Wada  and Maranhao missing the first of his THREE misses when one-on-one with the keeper. The stats will say that Maranhao scored in this one but the real news is what he didn`t do. Before he finally scored; three times he was clean through on the keeper and he missed all three. 

The first goal came on 13 minutes with Mori setting Iio free down the right with a superb weighted pass, Iio slid it across the six yard box for an easy finish for Abe.  Iio was to go off just 10 minutes later with what looked like hamstring trouble and will probably be out for a week or two. Fukuda came in and will hoping to get the nod next time out.  Ten minutes before the break Maranhao missed his second chance when through, again hitting his shot straight at the keeper and sailing his rebound over the bar. The  scene was again incredibly replayed just before the halftime whistle. Again, he was through but this time shot wide. He knew he was having a `mare as he slammed the turf in complete frustration. Gifu themselves had their best effort of the first half just after with Arai sending a speculator into the crowd from outside the box.

Maranhao was to eventually get his goal in comical circumstances. Tsuchiya played a ball to Kikuoka who in turn released Maranhao in the box. He went down in a heap looking for the penalty. The ref was unmoved so he stood up again and simply tapped the ball past the keeper. An absolutely crappy goal for a player who is having an absolute nightmare in front of goal. Maranhao is having big problems as he isn`t missing half chances; his problem is that he`s missing absolute sitters. The chances last night were gift wrapped, labelled and addressed correctly with guaranteed delivery to the back of the net. Maranhao unfortunately had the wrong house, couldn`t read the writing and dropped all of them into dirty puddles. Kikuoka wrapped the game up on an up and over free kick from the edge of the box after Abe was brought down in the 83rd minute, Yuki Kobayashi with a nice dummy to distract the keeper. Verdy were on top for 90 minutes, Gifu rarely able to pressure Shibasaki. 

Tokushima Vortis up next and a far stiffer test than anything we have faced in the last five. Let`s batter them!! Onwards and Summer Holidaywards The Boys March On!!

ENJOY!!

Baskin`!! Shonan 1 - 3 Verdy

Basking Shark.....Holy Moly I wouldn`t fancy "Exposing myself to pleasant warmth" in there even though it does look an easy swim from the mouth to A-hole.

Verdy win again, Abe scores two, Iio nets for the second game running and Verdy up to 7th place. Four games, a mind boggling (we are Tokyo Verdy remember) 15 goals and a charge up the table to boot. I am personally loving watching the games at the moment as I`m sure any other Verdy fan is.
Verdy are in dreamland right now. Goals going in from all angles and other teams falling over themselves to help Verdy win in the cases of Mito and now Shonan. The winning run will of course come to an end at some point but while it continues let us take a second to bask in it`s full glory. Tokyo Verdy are not Man United, we are not Barcalona and we are not Rangers or Celtic whereby we just have to turn up to win.  Verdy do not care about the "style" (are they joking?) in which we canter to the league title. To be even within a sniff of a second hand rumour of a title from a bloke in the pub would be fantastic. A Verdy winning run is something to be absolutely savoured as they haven`t come with any regularity in the last 11 years bar the season we went up with Hulk breaking net after net.
The latest bash up saw Verdy bring the points back from a stumbling Shonan side who will be kicking themselves for fighting their way back into a game only to give it away again. All the goal scoring action took place in an exciting first half at Hiratsuka Stadium. Verdy were first off the mark with Iio celebrating his re-call to the starting line up with a well taken effort from the edge of the box after only eight minutes. Shibasaki started the move finding Kikuoka who hit a sweet pass on for Maranhao and after a tussle the ball fell invitingly for Iio who made no mistake. The goal was probably a little against the run of play with Shonan continuing to pressure the Verdy goal after the score.
Verdy were to go two up after 30 minutes with a route one of a goal. Kobayashi hit an inch perfect ball fully 50 yards from well within his own half for Abe to run onto, he controlled it with one touch before smartly lifting it over the keeper. 2-0 and with Shonan`s miserable recent record, another hammering could have been on the cards.
However, Shonan were to pull one back just five minutes later with Kauru Takayama finishing a quick break that started from the right and finished from the edge of the six yard box. Shonan were back in the game but would drop the game through a soft penalty right on half time to leave Verdy with the wind in their sails at the break. Abe broke down the left and as he headed into the box in the left channel, the Shonan defender came across and clipped his ankle, the lightest of contact but enough to knock Abe down when heading nowhere dangerous. Very poor defending and as luck would have it the referee right on top to see the infringement. Abe himself stepped up to knock in his second of the night and finisher, coolly placing it to the keepers right. No blast and hope, a perfectly placed penalty from a player who has grabbed his opportunity in the starting line up with both hands.
The second half was always going to have a hard job to match the excitement of the first but overall Shonan probably shaded the opportunities but unfortunately (for them) they were unable to beat Shibasaki.
Verdy were on the recieving end of some poor refereeing tonight. The referee brandished four yellow cards for The Boys and at least two were absolute howlers. Both Abe and Mori recieved cautions  for fouls though on both occasions they clearly got the ball. Mori was absolutely enraged with his yellow and rightly so. Mori went in with a challenge winning the ball cleanly, the Shonan defender went down in a heap, the yellow came out and the defender sprang up like power ball as soon as the yellow card left the referee`s pocket. Completely annoying and I blame Shohei Takahashi. What goes around comes around right??
 FC Gifu are bottom of the league and next up to Ajinomoto so Verdy are absolutely ripe for a beating. The most ridiculous thing in the world (apart from 30 Million for Andy Caroll, betting on David Haye to beat Klitschko and expecting England to win the World Cup before 2066)  is EXPECTING Verdy to win. The best tactic is to expect them to lose and then you can`t lose. If they lose you are prepared for it; but if they draw or win then everything is rosy. So hears to a crushing defeat to Gifu! May they absolutely hammer us!!
Onwards and Baskwards The Boys Canter On!!

However, a Boob Scarf could be just the ticket in which to "Expose myself to pleasant warmth".