The J-Talk Podcast

Our Yokohama F.Marinos correspondent Stuart Woodward guests on this week's podcast, after his side claimed a first victory of the Chaos Energy J.League Cup at home against Tokyo Verdy on Saturday (to 28:00).

Then in Part 2 Jonny and Ben round up the other four east games, highlighted by a first victory for Kashiwa and a stunning comeback by Kashima away at Urawa (to 43:30), then we run through the west slate, with a focus on Kyoto's brilliant late fightback at Hiroshima.

Stuart and Dan Orlowitz made a joint guest appearance on The Football Heritage Podcast, and you can access the episode via various means here.

In this week’s JTET, Jon Steele kicks things off with an update on the East groups, with a detailed and gleeful look at Yokohama FC’s victory over Tochigi City, picks a Most Bravo Player and a game to watch (to 19:00). Then, James Taylor talks about the West, particularly group-toppers Kochi United’s win against Kanazawa, picks his MBP and games to watch (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

After a brief ACL Elite and ACL Two review to begin the episode (to 6:20), Jonny and Ben welcome Tokyo Verdy correspondent Lewis White back to the pod to chat about Verdy's fast start to the Chaos Energy J.League Cup after their win on penalties over Machida in Matchday 3 (to 32:17).

Then we round up the other four games from the east (to 50:50), before moving through the west slate and finish the episode with a look ahead to Matchday 4.

Jon Steele and James Taylor return with a review of the big games from the 100 Year Vision League matchday 2. First, James discusses Tokushima’s win over Niigata in the West, picks a Most Bravo Player and a couple of games to watch (to 21:40). Then in part 2, Jon brings us up to date with the East, focusing on Omiya v Sapporo in detail, then elects his MBP and highlights some games to watch for matchday 2 (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

On this week's episode Jonny and Ben round up J1 Matchday 2 of the Chaos Energy J.League Cup, beginning with the four games from Sunday (to 25:00). They then move on to the five from Saturday (to 51:15), before they finish off the pod with Kobe's win over Nagasaki on Friday night, and a look ahead to upcoming ACL and J1 fixtures.

The J2/J3 100 Year Vision League kicked off at the weekend, so Jon Steele and James Taylor got together to discuss the big talking points from the opening round of fixtures. In part 1, Jon reviews the East groups, with a particular focus on Yokohama FC v Yamagata, then picks his East MBP and games to watch for matchday 2 (to 24:25). Then in part 2, James talks about Imabari v Kanazawa and Kagoshima v Miyazaki, discusses the postponements, picks a West MBP and games to watch (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

The Chaos Energy J.League Cup got underway over the weekend, and in Part 1 of this episode Jonny and Ben were very pleased to welcome new Hiroshima correspondent Robert Turner to the pod to chat about Sanfrecce's opening night win over Nagasaki, and his thoughts on their prospects this season (to 23:55).

Then in Part 2 your co-hosts round up the other four games from the west group (to 37:30), before moving on to Kawasaki's 5-3 triumph over Kashiwa on Sunday and the rest of the games from the east, before rounding off the pod with a look ahead to upcoming ACL and J1 fixtures.

Jon Steele and James Taylor return with a preview of the J.League’s half-season tournament for J2 and J3 teams. First, James runs through the tournament setup and prize money (to 04:45). Then Jon talks about Yokohama FC and Tochigi City from the East-A group (to 15:30) and Sapporo and Matsumoto in East-B (to 25:20). After that, James looks at Imabari and FC Osaka from West-A (to 33:50) and West-B teams Tosu and Yamaguchi (to 46:05). The boys finish with a discussion of the different ways clubs might approach the HYVL (to end).

 

Big thanks to Mike Innes for sharing his detailed notes on the J3 teams.

 

Thank you for your support of the J-Talk Podcast and J-Talk: Extra Time. We hope you’ll enjoy the HYVL with us.

*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

We wrap up our top flight previews with the final five teams from the east group, beginning in the capital with FC Tokyo (to 18:15), Tokyo Verdy (to 30:40) and Machida (to 44:40), before Kawasaki correspondent Neil Debnam joins us to chat about Frontale's interesting moves in the transfer market, and their prospects for The Chaos Energy J.League Cup (to 1:19:10).

Then Jonny and Ben preview Yokohama F.Marinos (to 1:33:35), take care of some housekeeping, and preview J1 Matchday 1.

Check out Neil's Frontale Rabbit blog, and Jonny's Top 50 Japanese University Players (link is to Part 2, here's Part 1), take your swing at J.League Fantasy (and enter our mini-league with code sjWwSZ9k), and try your luck at JPred for ultimate bragging rights!

We wrap up the west on this week's episode, and after celebrating Japan's triumph in the Under 23 Asian Cup, Jonny and Ben welcome Kyoto correspondent Jamie Meikle back to the pod to chat about Sanga's tremendous 2025 season, and to look ahead to their 2026 by discussing their dealings in the transfer market, key players and ones to watch, and our final thoughts on their prospects for the Chaos Energy J.League Cup (to 32:45).

Later Jonny and Ben follow the same pattern in chatting about Cerezo Osaka (to 48:50), Gamba Osaka (to 1:09:05), Nagoya (to 1:25:55) and Shimizu (to end), with those final three teams all under the stewardship of new managers.