The J-Talk Podcast

J1 Matchday 33 was chock full of drama, and after a brief review of the ACL action from last midweek, Jonny and Ben run through the weekend's games involving the title contenders in Part 1, culminating with the huge Kashima vs Gamba Osaka game on Sunday (to 43:10).

Then in Part 2 our Tokyo Verdy correspondent Lewis White returns to the pod to chat about Verdy's vital win on Friday night, the season so far, and the future of manager Hiroshi Jofuku (to 1:03:12), before Jonny and Ben round up the other games, look ahead to the Levain Cup semi finals and Japan's games against Paraguay and Brazil.

Jon Steele and James Taylor are back with all the latest from J2. James kicks things off with a review of 9 games from matchday 31 (to 08:45). Jon takes over for a chat with James about Oita v Ehime (to 31:35), before moving on to general J2 news and Most Bravo Player (to 50:55). To finish, the co-hosts preview the biggest games coming up this weekend (to end).

 

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With two bumper matchdays in the top flight in the past week to review, Jonny and Ben were joined first by Yokohama FC correspondent Jon Steele, who then stuck around as F.Marinos correspondent Stuart Woodward made it a Yokohama-centric Part 1 after both sides won on Sunday evening. With six games left, which club will survive in J1, or could they both overhaul some of the dogfight adjacent teams struggling for results? Part 1 runs to 37:55.

Then in Part 2 Jonny and Ben run through the rest of the games, as the title race narrowed.

In this week’s JTET, James Taylor reviews all the action from J2 matchday 30, picks his Most Bravo Player, and previews the matchday 31 fixtures.

 

Thank you for your support of the J-Talk Podcast and J-Talk: Extra Time.

*Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod

*Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg

*Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

Jonny and Ben kick off the episode with a review of ACL action from last midweek (to 9:00), before diving in on the eight games played from J1 Matchday 30 on Saturday night, as Kashima moved back to the summit after Kyoto slipped at home. We rule a couple of big fish out of the title race, before moving on to all of the action in the dogfight (to 1:06:00). We then wrap up the pod with a look ahead to the next two rounds, played on Tuesday night and the weekend.

In this double episode of JTET, Jon Steele and James Taylor review all the action from the last two rounds of J2. First, Jon has a review of all 10 games from matchday 28 (to 13:35), then James reviews most of the games from matchday 29 (to 21:00). After that, the co-hosts discuss Omiya v Nagasaki (to 41:10), their Most Bravo Players and the J.League’s monthly awards for August (to 49:40). Finally, they look ahead to some important games at both ends of the table (to end).

 

Thank you for your support of the J-Talk Podcast and J-Talk: Extra Time.

*Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod

*Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg

*Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

Sean Carroll joined Jonny and Ben to give his thoughts on Japan's two friendlies in the United States, and the state of the J1 title race and relegation dogfight after the weekend's J1 Matchday 29 (to 56:25).

Then in Part 2, Jonny and Ben wrap up the remaining four games.

Jon Steele welcomes back a jetlagged James Taylor for the latest checkup on J3. The episode begins with a brief recap of Sagamihara’s Emperor’s Cup quarter final (to 02:45), before discussing teams near the top of the table: Nara (to 05:55), Kagoshima (to 09:15), Tochigi City (to 15:40), FC Osaka (to 20:40), and Hachinohe (to 29:25). Then attention turns to the bottom and the perilous predicaments of Nagano (to 37:20) and Numazu (to 40:20), before Jon lets James loose in Kanazawa Korner (to 47:00). Finally, there’s a look ahead to the round 27 fixtures (to end).

 

Thanks for your support of the J-Talk Podcast, J-Talk: Extra Time, and J-Talk: Short Corner.

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*Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

After Jonny and Ben begin the episode by rounding up the Levain Cup quarter finals (to 14:15), they were joined by first time guest Naoya Kanai to chat about Kawasaki Frontale's progression to the Levain semis and their season so far, before we moved on to Japan's scoreless draw against Mexico in Oakland, and looked ahead to the Samurai Blue's meeting with the USA in Columbus, also touching on similarities and differences between the J.League and MLS.

After Kyoto moved clear on top of J1 with ten rounds left, Jamie Meikle made a very welcome return to the pod to discuss Sanga's 5-0 romp over Okayama on Saturday, and what's gone so right in his side's remarkable campaign to this point (to 32:07).

Then Jonny and Ben round up the rest of the top flight results, beginning with Kashiwa's controversy-tinged home win over Fukuoka, and Kobe edging past Yokohama F.Marinos, before we discuss a couple of game-of-the-season contender goal-fests.