The J-Talk Podcast

Episode 468 - J1 Matchday 15 with Sean Carroll

We had the great pleasure of welcoming Sean Carroll back to the pod for his first appearance of the 2023 J1 season, to chat about the Japan squad for upcoming friendlies against El Salvador and Peru, all of the games from J1 Matchday 15, and some bigger picture topics in the top flight.

Our J1 review begins at the top this week with convincing wins for Kobe and Yokohama F.Marinos, and runs through to Gamba Osaka and Kawasaki perhaps turning a corner with victories as they look to push up the table.

J-Talk: Extra Time J2 Round 17 & J-Talk: Short Corner

The well-oiled machine that is the JTET team of James Taylor, Jon Steele and Mike Innes are back to review the latest action in J2 and the Emperor’s Cup. In part 1, James goes through 5 J2 games from round 17 (start to 05:40), and in part 2 Jon covers the other 6 (05:40 to 17:55). In part 3, James and Jon discussed 4 games in detail: Machida v Shimizu (17:55 to 26:45), Okayama v Gunma (26:45 to 34:00), Yamaguchi v Tokyo Verdy (34:00 to 41:15), and Mito v Kumamoto (41:15 to 51:00). They also took a quick look ahead to the round 18 fixtures (51:00 to 59:05). In J-Talk: Short Corner, Mike Innes takes a look at the fortunes of J3 teams in the first round of the Emperor’s Cup (59:05 to end).

Episode 467 - J1 Matchday 14

We begin our review of the weekend's top flight action at the foot of the table, as defending champions Yokohama F.Marinos (and the officials) piled on the agony for cellar dwellers Gamba Osaka, who now find themselves four points adrift at the bottom after a 2-0 home defeat (to 18:40), then its happier times for Yokohama FC, and Manny Padovan returns following the Fulie's third win in four, Saturday's 2-1 Kanagawa derby win over Kawasaki their first ever against Frontale (to 39:50).

Then we run through the other games from J1 Matchday 14, including Shonan's struggles and Sapporo's surge continuing against Cerezo and Kyoto respectively, and some more comedy own goals, before we finish with some picks from the coming round of games.

JTET - J2 Round 16 Review

Just in time for the weekend, Jon Steele and James Taylor review all of the key moments from a full round of midweek J2 games (played on Wednesday this week).

In Part 1, Jon runs you through six of the midweek matches, including a very pleasant afternoon for Yamagata, and what proved to be Naoki Soma's last game in charge of Omiya.

In Part 2, James covers the rest of the Round 16 action, including another win for imperious-looking Machida, and a silly penalty run-up in the Fujieda v Iwata match.

James also casts a keen eye over the upcoming Round 17 fixtures (all on Sunday 21st May).

Hope everyone enjoys this midweek mini-pod - we'll be back with a 'regular' JTET installment next week!

JTET - J2 Round 15 / J3 Round 10 Review

After another busy weekend of J2 and J3 matches, the JTET team whirrs back into action to bring you up to speed with all of the major talking points from Japan's second and third tiers.

On a J2 tip, James Taylor and Jon Steele join forces to cover all of the Round 15 action (Start to 14:30), and Jon sticks around to preview the upcoming Round 16 slate (14:30 to 17:20) - with all of the Round 16 games coming up on Wednesday this week, there's no time for any punditry this time!

To sate your J3 needs, Mike 'Die Mensch-Maschine' Innes has all of the latest news from the third tier in 'J-Talk: Short Corner' (17:20 to Finish).

James and Jon will return later this week to round up all of the midweek J2 action, and we should be back with a full-featured, punditry-focused pod next week! 

Enjoy the midweek games, and thanks for all the support!

Episode 466 - J.League Turns 30 with Alan Gibson

The J.League celebrated its 30 Year Anniversary on Monday, and Alan Gibson was the only guest we could call on to reminisce on the tremendous history of the professional game in Japan.

In Part 1 we discuss how far the league has come in 30 years, and what could be done to take it forward in the years to come, before running through the winners of the 'J30 Best Awards' (to 46:22).

Then we turn to matters on the pitch in Part 2. Alan chats about how Kobe have managed to turn things around after last season's struggles, and now top the table by five points after Saturday's win over Hiroshima, before turning to Gamba Osaka, who sunk to the foot of the table after Sunday's reverse at Urawa, before finishing with a state of the union address on J.League officiating (to 1:21:20).

Then in Part 3 we roundup the other seven games from J1 Matchday 13, including the two showpiece games at the National Stadium, and Yokohama FC hauling themselves out of the cellar.

J-Talk: Extra Time J2 Round 14 & J-Talk: Short Corner

In an attempt to recover from a hectic Golden Week on and off the pitch, Jon Steele and James Taylor met for a review of J2 matchday 14 and a chat about the state of the league so far.

 

In part 1, Jon reviews 5 games (start to 13:10), and in part 2 James takes care of the other 6 games (13:10 to 20:15).

 

In part 3 they worked their way down the J2 table, with some in-depth discussion of Gunma (to 30:10), Kofu (to 35:20), Iwata (to 39:10), Mito (to 44:10), Yamaguchi (to 52:30), and Omiya (to 1:04:40), plus brief comments on other teams along the way. They also previewed the derby-filled round 15 fixtures (to 1:12:10).

 

In J-Talk: Short Corner, Mike Innes rounds up the qualifiers for the Emperor’s Cup involving J3 teams (to 1:20:25) and looks ahead to round 10 of the league campaign (1:20:25 to end).

Episode 465 - Reds Rule Asia Again, Golden Week Wrap

Oops, they did it again! Urawa claimed the third ACL title in their history with a 2-1 aggregate triumph in the Final over Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, and Ralf Seidl returns to the pod to give us a taste of the atmosphere of the second leg at a rollicking Saitama Stadium (to 23:50).

Then we shift our attention to the eight games played in J1 Matchday 12 over the weekend, with several teams wrapping up a very 'Golden' Week. Others... not so much.

JTET - J2 Round 13 / J2 Round 9 Review

Phew, that was a hectic 'holiday' period (especially on the J.League beat)!

To help everyone catch up with a breathless midweek of J2 and J3 action, JTET is back and banging with Jon Steele and Mike Innes at the controls.

First of all, Jon looks back at the Wednesday afternoon J2 matches, comprising Round 13 of the season (Start to 15:15). 

There's also a brief-but-hopefully-useful preview of this Sunday's Round 14 games too (15:15 to 17:30).

After that, Mike 'The Magic' Innes has the J3 lowdown from a busy Wednesday and Thursday programme, which made up Round 9 of the third tier season (18:00 to 24:00). 

Mike also casts his forensic eye over this weekend's Emperor's Cup qualifying matches that involve J3 teams (24:00 to Finish).

We hope everyone had a nice Golden Week break, and enjoys this mini-pod! 

JTET will be back again (with a 'regular' episode) next week.

Episode 464 - J1 Matchday 10

Reds get the result they were after in Saudi Arabia, sleeping giants rouse from their slumber, movement in the top flight top four, and the rest of the J1 matchday - it's all in our new pod.

We begin with Urawa's battling draw away at Al Hilal in the first leg of the ACL Final, leaving it all to play for at Saitama Stadium this Saturday night (to 10:00), then move on to convincing wins on Saturday - that took them both out of the bottom six - for Kashima and Kawasaki (to 27:35).

Next its on to the top four, with Kobe still top of the pile, and Hiroshima now their closest challengers after the draw at the Nissan Stadium (to 45:00), before we finish with wins for FC Tokyo and Sapporo, and the draw between Kashiwa and Kyoto.