| Deluge Can't End Ardija Goal Drought |
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Sun 27 Jul, J1 Game 19
Omiya Ardija 0-0 Shimizu S-Pulse
GK Ezumi (7)
DF Murayama (4.5)
DF Leandro (6.5)
DF Kataoka (5.5)
DF Hato (5)
MF Daigo Kobayashi (6) (Hashimoto 87')
MF Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (5)
MF Saeki (6.5)
MF Fujimoto (6) (Lavric 80') (6)
FW Kota Yoshihara (4) (Morita 59') (7.5)
FW Denis Marques (4.5)
Subs not used
GK Aratani
DF Tanaka
MF Saito
MF Kanazawa
Cards
Y Yoshiyuki Kobayashi 4'
Ninety minutes. Ninety minutes of wet terror. Ninety godawful minutes of pain and suffering and waiting for something to happen. Ninety minutes.
In a battle of teams struggling to stay afloat, Shimizu S-Pulse and Omiya squared off in a rather chippy affair. Shimizu came in off a 3-0 pasting of Albirex Niigata, the third orange brother in J1. Three of their younger players, including newly appointed starter Kaito Yamamoto, were off on U23 duty so the less-than-full-strength squad was ripe for the taking.
Thins nearly went badly off the rails early on, however, when the human stomach muscle - stand-in central defender Yosuke Kataoka - mishit a clearance off the back of a team-mate and put it in a perilous position. This would happen a few times during the game. But tragedy did strike for the visitors in the fourth minute when Yoshiyuki Kobayashi badly mistimed his tackle on a slick pitch and fractured the ankle of sometime national team midfielder Jungo Fujimoto. Early reports are that Fujito has a fractured fibula and is probably done for the rest of the season.
Outside of a Yoshiyuki Kobayashi blast from long range and a couple of S-Pulse shots, there was a ton of back passing and handbags from both squads. Most guilty of killing offensive momentum were the tandem of Squirrels right back Yusuke Murayama and goalshy front man Kota Yoshihara who hesitated and quit on plays......again. On two open chances, Yoshihara managed to play himself offside on a breakaway with Chikara Fujimoto and then absolutely muff a wide open shot.
The second half was more of the same as Omiya came out to a deluge of Shimizu pressure. Naoya Saeki, Leandro and keeper Koji Ezumi were excellent in cleaning up messes, although at one point Leandro cleared a ball precariously close to edging in for an S-Pulse goal.
The most surprising performance was put in by substitute Hiroshi Morita, who immediately changed the game with his hustle and fight (words I thought I never would utter ). His finest moment was a tussle with Shimizu defender Kazumichi Takagi, in which Morita got his leg up high and flicked the ball to wide open Denis Marques. Unfortunately Denis misplayed the ball and ended up softly rolling it to Shimizu keeper Yohei Nishibe.
Slovenian striker Klemen Lavric was the next to come in and his presence was felt when he earned a free kick deep in opposition territiory. Shimizu treated the giant forward like a jungle gym, climbing over and grabbing onto him at will. His one moment of freedom produced a well-timed pass to the waiting Morita (now perched on the wing) who deposited it home for a goal.
But wait! Offside for the second time in two home matches against Shizuoka teams. S-Pulse capitalized on the quick call and pushed the ball up against the still-celebrating Omiya side. Only a nice save by Ezumi stopped what could have been disaster. Shimizu were then able to earn a couple of dangerous corners, which resulted in a fantastic clearance by Morita and a lucky bounce off the post. 0-0 at the end and one single point for the month of July. The break couldn't come soon enough.
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【2008/07/27 21:53】
2008 Match Reports
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| S-Pulse Preview |
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Shimizu S-Pulse visit Omiya Park on Sunday evening for the last in a series of six J1 matches that have been little short of disastrous for Omiya Ardija. Coming out of the long break at the end of June, Yasuhiro Higuchi's men were riding high in seventh place in the standings, just a handful of points off the top spot and having picked up a number of surprising - if occasionally somewhat undeserved - wins along the way.
But now, such is the close nature of the J-League's top division that four consecutive defeats have left the Squirrels in a far more familiar position: on the edge of the relegation zone and glancing nervously over their shoulders. If Ardija fans had a dream that, following the arrival from Yamagata of Higuchi, their team had suddenly been transformed into a truly competitive J1 outfit, that dream must surely by now have been shattered.
The reality is that Omiya struggled desperately throughout 2007 and with an almost identical team this year look set to be involved once more in a fight to avoid the drop. As has been documented on this site over recent weeks, there are simply too many under-performers in the side for this not to be the case. And to add to the concerns of an already nervy Squirrel Nation, midfielder Chikara Fujimoto confessed in midweek that team spirit had taken a major blow in the crushing 4-0 loss to Nagoya Grampus, with players arguing amongst themselves and blaming each other for mistakes instead of adopting a supportive approach to a difficult situation.
So with this less-than-encouraging backdrop to arguably the most important fixture of the season against an S-Pulse side immediately below Ardija in the table, the suggestion in the footballing press is that Higuchi would appear to have reverted to bringing toothless forward Kota Yoshihara back into the starting line-up alongside the Squirrels' key performer Denis Marques. Defender Daisuke Tomita is unavailable through suspension - remarkably, Omiya's first of the year - with Yosuke Kataoka likely to step in and partner Leandro in the middle of the back four.
Neither of these are a pieces of news that will put a spring in the step of Omiya supporters in the countdown to kick-off. But right now, praying for an S-Pulse off-day and for a piece of Denis Marques magic looks to be about the Squirrels' most realistic chance of success.
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【2008/07/26 13:41】
2008 Match Previews
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| Emperor's Cup Draw Made |
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After having ended up on the receiving end of some of the JFA's more eccentric ideas about where to stage Emperor's Cup matches in recent seasons, in 2008 Ardija are scheduled to play at Omiya Park in the Fourth Round of the competition. The exact date has yet to be finalised, although it will be on either Sun 02 or Mon 03 November, with the most likely opposition being J2 promotion chasers Cerezo Osaka. Win that tie and the Squirrels will again be at home in the Fifth Round, the seeded fixture grid suggesting that Nagoya Grampus may well be making a return trip to Saitama.
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【2008/07/24 21:29】
2008 News In Brief
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| A Win! Against A Bunch Of College Kids |
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Friendly, Mon 21 Jul
Omiya Ardija 6-1 Meiji University
1st Omiya goal - Sakurai 13'
Meiji goal unknown
2-1 Niwa 52'
3-1 Kawanabe 54'
4-1 Imai 69'
5-1 Tsukamoto 79'
6-1 Tokita 89'
GK Shimizu (Nobuhisa Kobayashi 45')
DF Tsubouchi (Higuchi 45')
DF Kawahara
DF Niwa
DF Tsukamoto
MF Aoki
MF Kawanabe
MF Tokita
MF Kawagishi (Arai 45')
FW Sakurai (Imai 45')
FW Ichikawa
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【2008/07/22 18:52】
2008 News In Brief
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| Rampant Whales Leave Squirrels Floundering |
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Mon 21 Jul, J1 Game 18
Nagoya Grampus 4-0 Omiya Ardija
1-0 Yoshimura 16'
2-0 Magnum 28'
3-0 Johnsen 48'
4-0 Sugimoto 88'
GK Ezumi (5)
DF Murayama (5)
DF Leandro (5)
DF Tomita (5)
DF Hato (5)
MF Saeki (5)
MF Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (5)
MF Kataoka (5) (Saito 45')
MF Fujimoto (5) (Hashimoto 76')
FW Daigo Kobayashi (5) (Lavric 45')
FW Denis Marques (5)
Subs not used
GK Aratani
DF Tanaka
FW Morita
FW Yoshihara
Cards
Y Murayama 27'
Y Tomita 44'
Yasuhiro Higuchi finally rang the changes and dropped under-performing forward Kota Yoshihara for Sunday's J1 match at Nagoya Grampus, fielding Daigo Kobayashi up front with a Denis Marques returning from a bout of ill-health. But despite the modification, Omiya Ardija were well and truly hammered by an impressive Nagoya team that to all intents and purposes looked to be in a division higher than the Squirrels, such was the difference in quality on view.
Although Higuchi's side were able to create some opportunities, they as usual squandered them. The closest Ardija came to finding the net was through a long-range strike from central midfielder Yosuke Kataoka in the first half and a Denis Marques shot that hit Whales net minder Seigo Narazaki in the second, while Grampus were clinical in front of goal. Keiji Yoshimura scored the first, curling in a shot from just outside the box just after the quarter-hour mark, and key midfielder Magnum made it 2-0 after Koji Ezumi fumbled a cross.
Trailing once again at half time, the Omiya coach replace Yosuke Kataoka and Daigo with Masato Saito and Klemen Lavric respectively - but just three minutes after the re-start, Norwegian striker Frode Johnsen struck home the killer third with Ardija's defence all at sea. Keita Sugimoto rounded off the scoring near the end to highlight the disparity between the teams.
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【2008/07/21 20:55】
2008 Match Reports
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| Nagoya Preview |
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There can be few worse fixtures for Omiya Ardija to be playing than Nagoya Grampus this holiday Monday evening. Since the re-start of the J1 season at the end of June, the Squirrels have - after a Denis Marques-inspired defeat of Tokyo Verdy - lost three consecutive matches to drop six places down the standings, being to a great extent outplayed by Vissel Kobe and Jubilo Iwata. Thursday saw a gutsier display at high-flying Kashiwa, but the Squirrels' lily-livered attack could not make up for one defensive slip-up that allowed Franca in to notch the only score of the game for Reysol.
With just one goal in 270 minutes of football, then, this is hardly the time for question marks to be hanging over the future at the club of Omiya's star performer this year. Denis Marques has made by far the most significant individual contribution to the team in 2008 - certainly of the out-field players, at any rate - but mysteriously did not figure at all against the Sun Kings.
Whatever the reality of the circumstances surrounding his absence, it is definitely true to say that the 27-year-old brings to the Squirrels' play a much-needed sense of imagination, flair and unpredictability. Given the extent to which Daigo Kobayashi and, arguably to a lesser extent, Chikara Fujimoto have underperformed, these are characteristics that Omiya can ill do without.
Last year, then-coach Satoru Sakuma's Ardija were fighting for their J1 survival when they travelled to Nagoya to take on the Red Whales - and were crushed 5-0, in one of the most disastrous performances by an Omiya side since the club gained promotion in 2004. Now, new Grampus boss Dragan Stojkovic has been successful in leading his team to the fringes of the title race and it must be that Yasuhiro Higuchi is up against it, if the Squirrels are to break their losing streak.
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【2008/07/19 05:21】
2008 Match Previews
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| Losing Streak Continues As Franca Strikes |
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Thu 17 Jul, J1 Game 17
Kashiwa Reysol 1-0 Omiya Ardija
1-0 Franca 78'
GK Ezumi (6)
DF Murayama (6)
DF Leandro (7)
DF Tomita (6)
DF Hato (6)
MF Saeki (6) (Hashimoto 81')
MF Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (6)
MF Kataoka (6)
MF Fujimoto (7) (Kanazawa 73')
FW Daigo Kobayashi (6)
FW Kota Yoshihara (5) (Lavric 61') (6)
Subs not used
GK Aratani
DF Tanaka
MF Saito
FW Morita
Cards
Y Murayama 58'
Y Leandro 86'
The Mighty Squirrels suffered a monumentally disappointing result in Chiba on Thursday night - their first ever loss to Kashiwa Reysol. With Yusuke Murayama restored to right back in favour of Terukazu Tanaka and Daigo Kobayashi starting up front, Ardija dominated the majority of the possession and really should have come away with a comfortable win rather than a 1-0 defeat.
The responsibility for the fact that this happy outcome did not take place mainly rests on the shoulders of one man - those of Kota Yoshihara, who had several opportunities to score but blew them all and ultimately Omiya's chances of getting anything from the game. The former Gamba Osaka man, who has netted just twice all season despite consistently being awarded a place in the starting line-up, had two great chances near the end of the first half.
One he put wide after being set up brilliantly by Daigo and the other ended up being struck straight at Sun Kings keeper Takanori Sugeno after Yoshihara was put clean through by an interception from Yosuke Kataoka. Daigo also created a good opportunity for Naoya Saeki in the early stages of the second half, but with no-one near him in the goal area the dog-owning midfielder skewed horribly wide when it seemed easier to score what would have been Saeki's first-ever Ardija goal.
But as the missed Omiya chances came thick and fast - Chikara Fujimoto almost lobbed Sugeno in the first half and substitute Hayato Hashimoto blasted one over from a Klemen Lavric knockdown near the end - sure enough, at the other end Franca stole in to chip a flat-footed Koji Ezumi and when that went in it was all over.
Many Squirrels fans commented that it was hard to believe that Reysol are now third in the table, but even so while Yasuhiro Higuchi's team should have steadied the ship by coming away with all the points, instead they are are now looking nervously over their shoulders.
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【2008/07/17 20:55】
2008 Match Reports
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