It really is happening. I can not see Urawa losing to Incheon at the moment. Incheon are on top of the table but they have looked a lot less convincing this season. Yoko made another good assist last night for them though. 【PRESS RELEASE】AFC Women’s Club Championship 2023 – Invitational Tournament the Final@REDSLADIES 🆚 Hyundai Steel Red Angels📅 Friday, May 10, 6:00 p.m.🏟 Urawa Komaba Stadium✅ https://t.co/KdfEpQSxa3#WELeague— WE League International (@WE_League_INTL) April 25, 2024
Nadeshiko League 1 H.T...Ehime 2-0 Viama Ehime had the ball in the net after 2 mins but it was ruled offside and that set the tone for the first 45 mins. They have probably had more attempts on goal in this first half than all the games so far. Murakami put the home side one up after 12 mins and Cap Yokoyama doubled the lead at 20 mins. Viama are getting more and more I'll tempered as the game is going on but Ehime seem to be growing more confident. Newcomers Matsuoka and Matano started as front two with Tago on the bench and so far it seems to work but this is Ehime and there's 45 mins remaining for a complete disaster to come.....Here's hoping not
Nadeshiko League 1 F.T....Ehime 2-3 Viama 45 mins was indeed time enough for Ehime F.C. Ladies to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory 51 min Matsuda equaliser 61 min PK Kakazu (one of those handball?? penalties) 73 min Saito scores the winner Ehime need a coach instead of a kindergarten teacher. (Example...goalkeeper has ball...two players nearby ready to receive the ball...looks up sees coach signalling from touchline...hoofs ball up the pitch...those two players are now just playing the attackers onside... very sad) You can't conduct a game of football from the sideline It may be the case that I am looking for someone to blame for today's loss but the more I see this individual 'interfering' with the game the more indecisive and disjointed the play gets.Just let the players play Edit...For non DAZN folks...Reds v Regina on Felipe Souza You Tube...Miki Ito just put Reds one up
Today's result: WE League Urawa (Ito, Endo) 2-0 Regina Beleza (Fujino 3, Kamiya, Kitamura, Hijikata 2) 7-0 Ohmiya Nadeshiko League Ehime (Murakami, Yokoyama) 2-3 Viama (Matsuda, Kakazu, Saito) Nadeshiko League 2 Tsukuba (OG) 1-0 Seisa Belle 0-0 Mie Kibi 0-3 JFA (Kimura, Itamura 2) DR Hiroshima (Hamada) 1-4 Izumo (Ferrer, Tomochika, Sumitoku, Okakura)
Tomorrow's games: WE League Albi vs Jef 13:00 Nagano vs Chifure 14:00 Inac vs Mynavi 15:00 Nojima vs Cerezo 17:00 Nadeshiko League Bunnys vs Speranza 13:00 Nittaidai vs Nagoya 13:00 Iga vs Nippatsu 13:00 Sfida vs Orca 14:00 Harima vs Shizuoka 15:00 Nadeshiko League 2 Fujizakura vs Imabari 13:00 Anclas vs Yamato 13:00
Hiroshima played alright, but they got exposed a bit on the wings for both goals. In the second half they decided to skip Urawa's midfield with long balls over the top. It kind of worked, but what I thought was more dangerous was when Hiroshima decided to play through the midfield and take on Urawa's midfield. If teams can get past one midfielder then there are a lot of attacking options. Urawa are obviously the best team in the competition, but their defence is probably their weakest link. It is still pretty good, but it looks a lot better than it actually is due to the midfield putting a lot of pressure on their opponent's midfield. The problem is there just enough good attacking teams to really bother them. On a side note, am I the only one who wonders about the size of Urawa players? If you look at them - excluding Shibata and Ito - they are all broad shouldered and have thick legs. They are genuinely big, strong women. I am wondering whether it is the gym work they do or is it a policy to recruit players with this body shape, or a bit of both? Has anybody else noticed this?
Urawa clearly went the way of Lyon, PSG and top Bundesliga clubs. Player selection process is nowadays focused on good athletic profile and "big frame". Coaches gonna allow for one or two players akin to Ito or Hasegawa on the starting XI... but that's it. It's not only Urawa though, I think this trend has already sunk into Japan footie (at least in the top). Remember when Menina beat Beleza in Cup couple years back? What I noticed was: there was hardly a difference in size (on average) between the youths and the pros despite the age gap. Players selection in Menina was already looking at that time into well grown youths (in height) who will grow even more in the future. Well... youth football does not discriminate against players because of its mandate to promote health through sports which is aimed at the widest possible audience. Unfortunately, professional sports follows a very different agenda. There is a reason why USA, Germany and Scandinavian NT's were successful at early years of women's football.
Fair enough. I get wanting a good athletic profile and focusing on speed and strength, but the "big frame" for me is what is a little worrying. I feel as if Urawa's players are getting bigger as they get older. This is not a bad thing per se, but I worry about knee injuries. The more a player bulks up the more stress they will put on their knees. I want to stress that I do not want anybody to get injured, but I tend to think about these things. Much in the same way I think about the knee injuries that seem to happen a lot to Nittaidai players. You are right about Beleza going after taller players, but they are nowhere near as bulky - excluding Fujino of course. My team Nojima when they play Urawa look like junior high school kids, because they are so small. I want them to keep playing small players but Nojima's midfield needs some players with a bit more bulk and power.
Wel... it's a known and rapidly growing issue that different coaches argue about. Some push their players to build more muscle mass in the gym, while others advise against it. Good management of players workload seems to be the key. Unfortunatelly pro football values results above all else. Still it all can work if club is investing in its roster. Heavy squad rotation and wise management can ease on players workload and cut the number of potential injuries. (Chelsea). On the other hand clubs with somewhat lesser means (or with big expectations) often hire risk takers or over ambitious coaches (Arsenal) who try to push the envelope to the limit.
Momoko Tanikawa scores again. Ny seger på Malmö IP! Vi tar med oss tre nya poäng från matchen! Vi tackar alla er som kom till Malmö IP och stöttade oss på plats idag ❤️💙#fcrosengård #fcrfamiljen pic.twitter.com/yLX2luNUdu— FC Rosengård (@FCRosengard) April 27, 2024
Narumi Miura played 89 minutes, while Manaka Matsukubo was subbed in at 62nd minute for NC Courage against Seattle Reign.
After 394 days Nojima finally get a win defeating the valiant Cerezo. Two goals were scored in extra time, which made for exciting viewing. However, I have been so used to Nojima losing I could not really get excited. I am kind of in shock right now, because it has been so long. Sakakibara played very well today for Nojima; when she is on she is really on. Nojima played quite well and probably should have scored more than two goals. I do not know if they will win anymore games for the season, but this result should give them some confidence to end the season strongly. They only have games against the bottom eight of the table, so they might do alright. Cerezo have a lot of good, young players, but they need to bring in some more experienced players. Wakisaka can not do it all, though she does give it a good try. If anybody from one of the European leagues or the NWSL is looking for a really good holding mifielder like Hasegawa - in some aspects she is better - then Wakisaka is the one I would be signing. I wonder if she wants to go overseas? I also watched the Elfen vs Nagano game. It was not enjoyable. Both teams are a bit lost at the moment. With injuries to Seno, Sonoda and Yumura Elfen have excuses, but Nagano do not. I still really like the way Elfen go about their football despite all the setbacks. It helps that their captain - Riko Yoshida - does not stop running.
Today's result: WE League Albi (Ishida, Takikawa) 2-1 Jef (Shirowa) Nagano (Kawafune) 1-1 Chifure (Sakuma) Inac (Tanaka, Narumiya, Tsujisawa 2) 4-1 Mynavi (Hirosawa) Tsujisawa seems to already surpass Aikawa and Kuwahara in the starting priority list. Nojima (Minamino, OG) 2-1 Cerezo (Yakata) Nadeshiko League Bunnys (Takahashi, Ohya) 2-2 Speranza (Sako, Minamiyama) Nittaidai (Watanabe) 1-2 Nagoya(Ezaki 2) Iga 0-3 Nippatsu (Gonno, Arai, Nanjo) Setagaya (Kaneko Mayu, Taguchi) 2-2 Orca (Urabe 2) Nadeshiko League 2 Fujizakura (Narisako) 1-1 Imabari (Suto) Anclas (Kobayashi, Murakami) 2-1 Yamato (Hamamoto)
What direction is womens footie going in Japan? With all these observations about....broad shoulders....thick legs....big frames What's the future to be.....bulldozer or 'ballerina' football? My preference is play usually involving 'dancing' past the opposition defence not barging through it It was just a thought Edit...congrats to Nojima...is this the start
So Urawa has become the "Bayern" of We League.. maybe this year the "PSG of Ligue 1" would be more appropriate
Tanikawa's goal: Momoko Tanikawa utökar ledningen till 2–0 mot AIK📺 Se matchen på Viaplay pic.twitter.com/sDe84nfXzj— Viaplay Fotboll (@ViaplayFotboll) April 27, 2024
Thanks to Felipe Souza I watched the game and it was really enjoyable. Albi put high pressure on Jef in the first 15~20 minutes resulting in touching the crossbar twice (3 times in the 1st half). Then Albi was finally rewarded with a goal. The 2nd half was even, and Jef managed to score a goal. But Albi pushed until the end and Takikawa put a nice volley in the back of the net. I don't know how Ishida played when she was at Nojima but she is a nice asset to the team. At the beginning of the season, I had doubts about Sonoda playing as a left back, but she managed to make me forget Kitagawa. Anyway, Kitagawa was not used with her best abilities. Some of us already talked about it on this forum. Kono, Ishibuchi, Miura didn't play today and were not even on the bench. I hope that they are not injured and it was just to rest them for the next 2 games (vs Beleza and Inac).
Yesterday, Miharu Kobayashi was on the pitch for the whole game in a draw between Napoli and Como. Napoli keep their 4 points advantage over last-placed Pomigliano. Highlights: Oh, by the way, Roma was resting on this week-end's match-day of the title pool, but you could have heard that anyway, because of Juventus' loss on Frdiday, Saki Kumagai (1st Italian title) and Moeka Minami (2nd consecutive Italian title) were crowned Champions in Italy with their team.
She's 18 and like Yanase (Regina) 3 years ago, she came from Fujieda High School right after being graduated. She joined INAC in February and is an U-20 member.