The J-Talk Podcast

Episode 438 - Ninth Time Lucky for Sanfrecce

More late drama in Japanese cup finals, as Dan Orlowitz guests to chat about Hiroshima finally breaking their cup decider duck. Having previously lost six Emperor's Cup and two Levain Cup finals, Sanfrecce stunned 10-man Cerezo Osaka in Saturday's Levain Cup decider with two goals in second half stoppage time from Pieros Sotiriou giving them a 2-1 win. Dan also talks about Iwata's transfer ban, and gives his thoughts on FC Tokyo's Player of the Season (to 40:00).

Then in Part 2 we discuss more late drama, this time in Saturday evening's Shizuoka derby (to 51:45), preview this Saturday's Matchday 33 (to 1:06:10), and hand out more Player of the Season silverware.

Rest in Peace, Masato Kudo. Our thoughts go out to all of Kudo's former colleagues and his family and friends at this very difficult time.

JTET - EC / J2 Round 41 / J3 Round 29 Review

This week on JTET, Jon and James collaborated on a full review of all of the  big J2 news from the last seven days.

They began with a chat about Kofu's incredible penalty shoot-out win over Hiroshima in the Emperor's Cup Final, then segued into discussing Okayama's home defeat against Akita that clinched the J2 title for Niigata, and promotion for Yokohama FC.

The boys then review Yokohama FC's thrilling home defeat against Kanazawa, before turning their eyes to Gunma's 5-1 drubbing of Iwate (a result that sealed Gunma's J2 survival, and confirmed relegation for Iwate and Ryukyu).

Jon then reviews the rest of the J2 action solo, before getting help from James to preview all of the games coming up on the final day of the regular season this Sunday.

After that, Mike 'The Magic' Innes is in position to cover all of the latest J3 events in 'J-Talk: Short Corner'.

This episode was recorded before the horrible news of Miyazaki striker Masato Kudo's untimely passing at just 32 years old, so apologies if the tone of the episode seems 'off' this time. 

We will do our best to give Kudo-san a full and proper tribute next week. 

Rest In Peace, Masato. Thank you for all the memories.

Episode 437 - Emperor’s Cup Glory for Kofu

One of the most remarkable stories in recent J.League history concluded on Sunday with Kofu finishing the job, beating Hiroshima on penalties to win the Emperor's Cup, the first major trophy in their history. James Taylor from J-Talk Extra Time returns to share his thoughts on Ventforet's terrific performance on the afternoon, and how they might go about tackling the ACL next year (to 31:35).

Then we look back briefly on last Wednesday's J1 results, when Iwata blew the title race wide open and gave themselves a fighting chance of staying up, and then look ahead to Saturday's Levain Cup final and Shizuoka derby, before handing out the first five J-Talk Player of the Season Awards.

J-Talk: Extra Time J2 MD40 & J3 MD28

The end of the J2 season is fast approaching, and there's still plenty to play for. James Taylor and Jon Steele join forces to analyse 4 games from J2 matchday 40 with implications for automatic promotion, playoffs, and relegation. There’s a roundup of the rest of the weekend’s games and a preview of the penultimate round of the regular season, plus a question from Alan Gibson and news of an interesting fixture coming up in Kanazawa. After that, Mike Innes keeps you up to date with everything J3-related in J-Talk: Short Corner.

 

00:00-09:55 Nagasaki v Tokushima

09:56-17:54 Kumamoto v Gunma

17:55-26:27 Kofu v Okayama

26:28-41:34 Yokohama FC v Oita

41:35-49:36 roundup of J2 MD40

49:37-1:10:10 J2 MD41 preview

1:10:11 to end Short Corner

Episode 436 - J1 Matchday 32

After Cinderella story Kofu made their way to the Emperor's Cup Final with a stirring semi final win over J1 giants Kashima last Wednesday night, James Taylor from J-Talk Extra Time guests to chat about how Ventforet have made it this far, and to preview Sunday's showpiece against Hiroshima (to 25:50).

Then in Part 2 we run through all of the action from Saturday's J1 Matchday 32, when Gamba Osaka kept Yokohama F.Marinos's champagne on ice with a shock 2-0 away win, and other dogfighters Kobe, Shonan and Fukuoka all notched huge wins.

JTET - J2 Round 39 / J3 Round 27 Review

Later than a Manchester United equalizer during the Fergie years, a new JTET episode is finally here!

This week, Jon Steele was joined by doyen of the J2 drop zone Richy Palmer for an in-depth look at the wrong end of the J2 table with just a handful of games remaining.

After a solo round-up of the rest of the Round 39 action (plus a mention for Omiya's midweek draw with Yamagata in their rearranged game), Richy helped Jon to preview all of this weekend's crucial games in Round 40.

After that, regularly-scheduled 'J-Talk: Short Corner' programming sees Mike 'The Magic' Innes cover all of the big news from J3 as the race for promotion to J2 heats up.

Apologies for the slow upload this week, and enjoy the show! 

PS. We haven't forgotten to mention Kofu's incredible passage to the Emperor's Cup Final - we'll talk about it in detail next episode!

Episode 435 - J1 Matchday 31

Jonny Nicol guests for a full review of Saturday's J1 Matchday 31, which saw Yokohama F.Marinos place one hand on the championship trophy after their cruise at Nagoya, coupled with Kawasaki's stunning defeat at Sapporo, saw them open up an eight point gap at the top.

We begin with results for the top three (to 46:40), then move down into the #RelegationDogfight, where Kobe and Kyoto notched massive 1-0 away wins, but there was more frustration for Jonny's Gamba Osaka.

JTET (J2 Round 38 / J3 Round 26 Review)

Back and banging once again, JTET brings you up to speed on all of the latest J2 and J3 news.

In Part 1, Jon Steele looks back on all of last weekend's J2 action (Round 38 of the season).

Then in Part 2, Jon was joined by J.League expert Sean Carroll for an in-depth chat about the state of play in the second tier: automatic promotion, Play-Offs and relegation dogfighting. 

Sean then helped Jon to preview the upcoming J2 fixtures for the weekend (Round 39).

Finally, as ever, Mike 'The Magic' Innes is on hand to cover all of the important J3 news in 'J-Talk: Short Corner'.

Hope everyone enjoys the show - thanks for all the support!

Timecodes:

Start to 22:00 - J2 Round 38 Review (with Jon)

22:00 to 32:00 - J2 Automatic Promotion Chat (with Jon & Sean)

32:00 to 45:40 - J2 Play-Off Chat (with Jon & Sean)

45:40 to 01:02:00 - J2 Relegation Chat (with Jon & Sean)

01:02:00 to 01:10:00 - J2 Round 39 Preview (with Jon & Sean)

01:10:35 to Finish - 'J-Talk: Short Corner' (J3 News with Mike)

Episode 434 - Solid Samurai Blue, but Who’s on the Plane?

After an encouraging international break for the Samurai Blue, we discuss Tuesday night's battling draw against Ecuador and last Friday's impressive win over the USA, and then try to piece together Hajime Moriyasu's squad for Qatar. How many of the 26 spots are already locked up, and which players might be left on the outside looking in?

Then in Part 2 (from 35:30), we review the Levain Cup semi finals (to 42:50), and look ahead to what should be an epic J1 Matchday 31 on Saturday.

An Audience with Alex - Kaita Hasegawa

In this episode Alex Bishop chats with Everton FC First Team Performance Analyst, Kaita Hasegawa. Kaita tells us all about his journey as an aspiring analyst. Originally from Japan, Kaita is a football analytics graduate of Liverpool John Moore's University and has gone on to work under renowned managers such as Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benitez.

An excellent and intriguing listen that details the career path of an analyst as well as a brief comparison of analytics in the Premier League and the J League. Enjoy!