Verdy BATTER Mito!!!

At last something to cheer about folks!! 4-0 to the Boys this afternoon and a scoreline worthy of the performance. The Boys shook off the disappointment of the Venforet game with aplomb and sent Mito back to their basket red eyed, arses slapped and bottom lips a-quivering. Hiramoto FINALLY got to start up front and look at the result?? He was first on the board with a header at the near post which to be honest the keeper should have done better with. Cross came from Kikuoka who was to score the second just after half time after neat work on the edge of the box from Kawano to put him through. Again questions will be asked about the Mito keeper as he let the shot go "through" him.  Number three was to follow on a bullet strike from Shibasaki, (again set up by Kawano) from fully 25 yards out a corker into the top corner and finally to really rub salt into the wounds Naoya Saeki chipped in with number four again from distance to send the Verdy faithfull home delighted.
So where do we go from here?? Hiramoto must play from the start whenever possible as he is simply by far the most effective forward we have. With him in the team we have a striker who knows what he is doing. He might not score very often but you know when he has a clear cut opportunity he is the most likely to bury it. Kawano was also great today setting up three of the four goals though he did pick up a booking which (I think) rules him out of the next game. The defence has had a settled line up recently and it appears to be paying dividends. Mito had one or two good chances which they missed rather than the defence or Doi saving the day, but by and large they handled Mito`s limp attack with ease. 
On a more serious note, what is it with modernday footballers and accessories?? It was a warm 18 Degree sunny afternoon and yet the Mito "forward" Endo took to field in a pair of gloves (along with his regulation J-League `laccy band round the head to hold his wig in place). This is Ibaraki in spring not Hokkaido in winter!! Time was when you wore a generous handful  of Brylcream, a top, shorts, socks and boots with the ocassional pair of tracky bottoms for the goalie on particlarly cold afternoon.. These days its under armour, headbands, cycling shorts,ring coverers, neckscarves, tights, body stockings, knee supports, plasters on the nose, the list is endless.....the tights and gloves were started off by John Barnes in the 80`s at Liverpool and the `laccy band by some Italian bloke probably or maybe by Argentine coke fiend and best pal of Maradona; Claudio Cannigia. Who would have thought they would be responsible for the creation multi million dollar industries just from being a big woman and not going to the barbers?? From the smallest acorns grow the mightiest oaks indeed!!

Bonnie Taira....

Bonnie Tyler or Bonnie Taira?? Who will Kawakatsu pick for the Mito game?? I`d go for the Scottish mulleted warbler or as the French say "Les Mulleteer". Right so Bonnie Tyler to be paired up with Hiramoto, Kawano and Sheena Easton working the flanks. One Nolan Sister each for Tsuchiya and Tomisawa and some giant lard ass black American gospel type for Doi. May the best team win!!

Off with his leg!!! What??

What`s that Mr. Duggan?? Chop it clean off with a filthy, rusty  Hacksaw??....RIGHT off? Wrap it in newsapaper??? LetterPack 500 with tracking number you say???........YES and NO...... YES! YES! YES!! Because Taira Inoue is absolutely not cut out for J2.... but NO! NO! NO! NO! because it`s not his fault that he`s in a league above his level or at least his feet are in a league above their level. OK, Jim, cut his feet off but you can leave the legs.
It`s time to call in Kawaktusu`s number....what the hell is he doing playing Inoue up front on his own again?? The guy is powder puff to the extreme....no confidence, no ability to hold the ball and when through 1-on-1 with the keeper this evening.......JESUS F##########KKKKIN CHRIST!!!!!!  If you are bottom of the league and a chance comes along on a silver platter, with the waitress asking which hole "Sir" would prefer the goods blown into...you`ve at least gottta make the waitress earn a tip!!!  Also, what the hell was he doing trying to convert our best striker (last seasons 3rd best before Oguro and Hayashi left) Hiramoto into a bloody left back??  To be fair after Inoue`s nightmare of a half, he brought Hiramoto on and though he didn`t score, he looked like he might score another goal in the remainder of his career.
Game wise it was an entertaining affair with Verdy on the attack from the off.......albeit a couple of pityfull "shots"  from Iiio and Inoue. Inoue picked up a booking early doors from the lightest of challenges and this was to set up his lacklustre afternoon. The Venforet pairing of Maranhao and Kim looked dangerous throughout with some great interplay, a real handful for Tsuchiya and Tomisawa. The game was played at a good pace with opportunities coming and going and a golden opportunity for Inoue....after being put through by Tsuchiya he raced to the goal, no defenders anywhere near him, just the goalie to beat and "let rip" with a pea roller across the keeper that trundled tamely past the post. The word lame doesn`t even begin to describe the attempt. Embarrassing?? Shameful?? Nope, just normal for him........The second talking point of the first half involved Tomisawa and a blatant handball in the box, seen by everybody in the stadium and sitting at home.....apart from the referee. A lucky escape indeed. Half time came and at this point probably Kofu had had the better of the exchanges but we were still in it. Into the second half and Venforet took the lead with a simple 3 pass move. The Verdy reargaurd was sliced open to leave Kim with an easy header from the six yard box. Three quick passes, bing-bing-bing and Doi was picking the ball out of the back of the net. A slick move.
Hiramoto had come on at half time for Inoue and even though he didn`t do much, he at least gave a presence and kept the ball when it was played up to him. Inoue apart from his dreadful miss couldn`t hold the ball or pass to his own player. With Hiramoto, the options opened up as the ball wasn`t given straight back to the opposition. Verdy were to equalise in the 80th minute from Toshiyuki Takagi`s (another stonewaller this time seen by the referee) penalty to register his first J League goal. 1-1 looked to be the final score....but whereas last week we scooped 3 points in the last minute we were on the recieving end this week....and how much did that hurt!!?? Our own fault though, as if the opposition brings on a beanpole (Mike "3m" Havenaar) you`d think it might be obvious that the high balls might rain down into the box. They did indeed and Havenaar nodded one off the bar and no Verdy defenders had bothered to follow up on the rebound leaving a simple tap in for the Kofu striker. Schoolboy defending and kindergarton finishing cost us this weekend. You make your own luck and when we had our simple chance , Inoue fluffed it and when Venforet had two simple chances of their own, they scored, BOTH TIMES. Humph!!

Venforet Kofu

Come from an amazing area of Japan with some of the countries best onsens, mountains, food, hiking, walking trails for the not so energetic, scenery and general all round wholesome goodness. All within a single train ride from the giant stinkin` metropolitan, hellhole that is Tokyo in summer. It won`t be long before the heat will be turned up, the sweat will begin to pour, tempers will flair and the mountains will call. For the moment though it`s still cold and the wallet says I`m happy to stay home and watch the game on TV. Right, so Kofu?? Who are they??
They are seventh at the moment and probably punching at about their correct weight. They have recent J1 experience and will be looking to get back there seriously rather than dreaming about it like many other teams in the League. Will they beat us?? Or will Verdy`s hamster bite attack metamorph into a mighty Great Green shark, tearing flesh, limb from limb on a TV Eat-a-Thon?? The Hamster Attack is more likely and the Green Shark will probably turn out to be inflatable, take hours to pump up and ultimately look bigger and better on the box.....

From Riches to Rags via A Clockwork Bellend....WHAT A DAY!!

It was a trip to opposite ends of the Japanese football spectrum this weekend folks!! From the heights of a ding dong battle at the top of J1 to the depths of depravity and despair at the bottom of J2. So first up, the events at Saitama Stadium 2002. Quite simply put, for anyone who is a football fan either coming in from abroad or who is already here, be it for a short holiday or if you are starting a new job in Japan, be sure to make the effort and get along to an Urawa Red Diamonds home game. You will not fail to be dissappointed. Either love them or hate them (and let`s face it most non-Urawa fans hate them), you can`t help but be impressed by the atmosphere the Urawa fans generate in their home stadium. A cacophony of singing, shouting, chanting and booing for 90 minutes solid. Truly amazing and a depressing reminder of how Urawa are everything Verdy aren`t. There can`t be many more impressive experiences in Japanese football than watching and hearing the fans on the giant  north goal stand singing and jumping about  in unison. Truly amazing!!  More amazement was to come with the Urawa choice of  run on music...none other than the UK`s 1990`s premier chav boyband East 17 and "House of Love". It ranks up there with the shite that gets played at FC Tokyo by DJ Spunkbridge "The Poshest DJ on the Planet"  and that is saying something.... Whoever sorts out the music in the J-League needs to be told in no uncertain terms to sort it out!!
East 17 (pictured) one assumes before they got anorexia, ran themselves over with their own car, attempted suicide, were allegedly bummed ragged by their manager, had the middle of their wifes nose fall out through consuming cocaine for breakfast, elevenses, dinner, tea, supper and at 3 in the morning in her pyjamas.... and  finally before shooting themsleves out of the charts by suggesting that Ecstacy was not in fact only consumed by deviants, miscreants and low life but (quite correctly) by literally tens of thousands of "normal" people every weekend in the UK(including themselves). ......and now here they are back on the attack in Saitama Stadium 2002. Nice one boys and welcome back!! J-League wouldn`t be J-League without at least a touch of the proposterous after all.

A true winner with the Urawa matchday experience is the food. The only ground with kebabs as far as I know in Japan. Hot as hell and went down a treat with a couple of cold beers. As I`d said before I went to the game with loads of kids and wives etc. Even the hammered Japanese guy next to us couldn`t put a dampener on the enjoyment, though he got a hell of shoeing from his wife for upsetting the kids with his constant haranging of anything to do with Kawasaki and in particular Chong Tse. He must have asked myself and my Everton supporting friend about 15 times who we support in England. I told him time after time "Wolverhampton, they are near the bottom of the Premier League" to which he was "Ah OK!!" 5 minutes later....."Who do you support?" and so on and so forth. The clincher came near the end with " Ah Southampton isn`t it?? how are they doing? They are staying up this year, right??" A more utterly clueless guy you would struggle to meet!! Funny though.

The game itself was lively with Urawa scoring two quality early goals to set up what looked like a stroll to victory but Kawasaki had the chance to get back into it with a penalty which was well saved by the keeper. They went looking for another penalty on a dive by Reinardinho, well spotted by the ref who gave him a deserved booking for his trouble. I was hoping they would score the penalty to set up a grandstand finish but it wasn`t to be. I missed the final goal answering a call of nature.
Cos-play eh?? What`s all that about then? OK, I know kids like to dress up as their favourite anime characters and take photos of each other. An innocent enough pastime fair enough. But why would fully grown adults take it to a football match?? We were sitting near the front of the bottom teir of the stand behind the south goal and to our left were a group of what I presume were Urawa "ultras" not the hardcore ones I assume as they would all be in the north end in the "black patch" amongst the sea of Red. These guys were (again I assume);  The Wannabees. Anyway, I did wonder why they were all dressed alike. Didn`t really notice but then it dawned on me that about 10 guys were all wearing white jackets and black porkpie hats. One guy was one of the twats with the microphones trying to gee up the crowd. Annoying twat, this was the "oji-san, family, relax and let`s have a beer and watch a bit of footy" section. Even the drunk guy next to us started abusing him which was pretty amusing. He was standing on his chair facing the crowd like they all do, pissing most people off being the big "I AM". Mr. Clockwork Orange Leader; a cock handler of epic proportions. To paint the picture further, the north stand contained maybe 15,000 people all jumping up and down going batshit mental and loving every second of it. The south stand where we were, people were loving the game just as much but in a more relaxed atmos. There were about 20 people standing up at this end "led" by that TOOL!!
 Looking back, the presence of Ultra Bellend probably added to the day to be fair. Something I will definately remember from the day. All games need their characters be it good guys or knobends. We used to have "the guy with no teeth" at Verdy who hasn`t been seen for a couple years and there is a guy at Reysol who watches the game wearing nothing but a pair of yellow underpants, come rain, wind or shine.
Game finished and off we went back to Nerdy HQ for a few beers and to catch up with events from the game at Gifu.......well what a come down that was!!  From the heights of 42,000 in a state of the art stadium to 3,000 in a cow field. As soon as we switched on to the grainy coverage on my shitty video, the annoyance began to simmer... Why is that stadium so awful?? Why are Verdy so awful?? Why do we still have no strikers?? Why is this game so DAMN awful?? We won 1-0 with a grass cutter from the edge of the box from Iio in the 89th minute. The last sentence is all you need to know about that game. A more truly abismal display in ineptitude you will struggle to find this season. In theory I should be indeed be happy that we won but I`m not really. My team is shit and will never be the team that I just watched this weekend. "Just go and support Urawa" you might say, well this is the really annoying thing, I had a brilliant day but couldn`t give a hoot who scored, who won or lost.  Verdy are shit but they ARE my team and that is COMPLETELY DAMN ANNOYING!!!!!
Next stop on the 2010 Nerdy Awayday Tour, Omiya-koen for an Omiya match!! Stay Tuned!!

The Future is Bright The Future is Green!!

Good news on the National Team front, the Takagi brothers and Yuki Kobayashi have all been called up to attend an U-20 Training Camp in preperation for the 2011 U-20 World Cup this weekend. Exciting times for them, well done Boys!! Seems our Youth Squad is again doing the business, let`s hope the first team can follow suit.

Draw!!....and a Win!!

..is what the Boys got in a practice match at Verdy Grounds on Sunday afternoon, opposition was provided by Chuo University and the goal was knocked in by Inoue. Line Up:
1st half
GK: Shibasaki
DF: Wada, Iida, Takahashi, Hiramoto
MF: Minami, Saeki, Takagi [Yoshiaki], Takagi [Toshiyuki]
FW: Abe, Inoue
2nd Half
GK: Suzuki
DF: Wada, Iida, Ebisawa, Takahashi
MF: Saiki, Kobayashi (Yoshiaki), Inoue
FW:Adebayo, Hiramoto
Looks like Hiramoto is not entirely finished at full back with him playing the first half in that position, though it still looks likely. We have a plethora of average defenders so why convert a forward to add to the pile? 1-1 against University students who had probably been out "bonding" with it being freshman season, drinking piss weak beer, vomiting over each other and depositing the unmentionable onto crackers and into each others pockets until the wee hours on Saturday night. Let`s hope the Boys can get something sorted for the trip to Gifu at the weekend. A goal? Two goals?? Sorry, didn`t mean to be cheeky....
Played the Chuo Boys again on Wednesday, the reserves plus a couple of regulars won 3-1 in a game spread over 3 x 35 minute "halves". In your face Chuo University.