203.6K
Downloads
850
Episodes
A weekly Japanese football podcast focusing on the J.League.
Episodes
Wednesday Jun 20, 2018
Wednesday Jun 20, 2018
Alan Gibson and Cesare Polenghi guest on this week's podcast, recorded right after Japan's stirring 2-1 triumph over Colombia in their first Group H game at the 2018 World Cup.
We begin the episode with a discussion on where this win ranks amongst the Samurai Blue's (admittedly small) list of World Cup victories, and then chat about the key selection decisions Akira Nishino faced following the three friendlies leading in to the Colombia match.
We then work our way through the key moments of the match, beginning with the Carlos Sanchez red card naturally, Japan not doing enough to ram home their advantage in the first half (where the Eiji Kawashima conundrum gets another airing), and then all of the positives that came out of the second half: the chances that came before the second goal; Yuya Osako's winner and what it could do for him confidence-wise in the rest of the tournament; and the assured way Nishino's team saw out the last 20 minutes.
After wrapping up the Colombia game (to 40:10), we then shift our focus to the next match, against Senegal, and discuss whether Nishino might consider a return to three at the back against The Lions of Teranga, or roll on with an unchanged side.
Follow my guests on twitter and the web:
Cesare - @CesarePolenghi
Alan - @jsoccermagazine
Wednesday Jun 13, 2018
Wednesday Jun 13, 2018
Following Japan's final two pre-World Cup friendlies against Switzerland and Paraguay, Shintaro Kano from Kyodo News guested on this week's podcast to review the two games and look ahead to the Samurai Blue's Russian adventure.
As we recorded immediately after Japan's 4-2 win over Paraguay, we begin with that game, and the questions it posed to Akira Nishino - with his supposed second stringers outperforming the lineups that suffered defeats against both Ghana and the Swiss. Did Shinji Kagawa and Takashi Inui do enough to make their case to start against Colombia on June 19, what is Shintaro's preferred central midfield pairing in that game, and what of the goalkeeping situation, with Eiji Kawashima failing to convince (to 29:10).
We then look back at the Switzerland game, with other selection decisions for Nishino also discussed (which Sakai at right back?) (to 42:30), before we finish with Shintaro's thoughts on the Halilhodzic to Nishino coaching change, and some players he was surprised to see not make the final squad of 23.
Follow Shintaro on twitter @shintarokano
Tuesday Jun 05, 2018
Tuesday Jun 05, 2018
Stuart Smith and Jon Steele return to the podcast for a discussion on Japan's squad for the World Cup, and the latest of our monthly J2 Specials.
In Part 1 we briefly review Japan's loss to Ghana and experimentation with three at the back in their final friendly on home soil before Akira Nishino named his squad for Russia, then run the rule over the 23 man group, focusing on the exclusions of Yosuke Ideguchi and Takuma Asano (to 30:50).
Then in our J2 Special we begin with the big risers in the table since our last installment, beginning with FC Gifu (with a tangent on 'triple punishment' for professional fouls in the box), and moving on to Kofu, Tokushima and Chiba (to 1:11:55). Then follows a chat on the four teams who have taken the biggest tumbles since Matchday 11: Tokyo Verdy, Kumamoto, Kanazawa and Mito (to 1:22:20), before we finish with the current top six, with a brief word on our All-time Japan XIs from The Guardian website right at the death - props to Ben Mabley.
Follow my guests on twitter and the web:
Stuart - @sushi_football
Jon - @J2KantoBites
From The Guardian - Choose your own All-time Japan XI
Wednesday May 23, 2018
Wednesday May 23, 2018
Scott McIntyre and Stuart Smith guest as we go deep on J1 and J2, and also Akira Nishino's first Japan squad.
In Part 1 Scott and I begin with Kosuke Nakamura's shocking injury and the farcical end to Kashiwa's win at Nagoya (to 12:20), then move on to Hiroshima looking human against Cerezo Osaka (to 18:40) and Kobe's big day out at home against Sapporo (to 23:40). We then round up the rest of Sunday's results and throw Kashima some love for their ACL heroics (to 28:40), before finishing with Saturday's three games and an extended chat on Yokohama because, well, it wouldn't be an episode of J-Talk without one (to 42:20).
In Part 2 Stuart joins us to chat about Nishino's 27 (plus Yuya Kubo?) for the Ghana friendly, and we muse on who will make the final cut of 23, with talking points including: Nakamura's likely availability for Russia post-concussion; the quagmire in central midfield; surprising inclusions and notable snubs; and the general lack of difference makers in what all three of us agree is a stale and uninspiring squad (to 1:18:20).
Then in Part 3 Stuart is cock-a-hoop after FC Gifu's superb away win over Omiya on Saturday (to 1:35:00), and the top of the table clash between Oita and Yamaguchi leads our wrap of the notable results from the second tier weekend.
Follow my guests on twitter (and the web)
Scott - @mcintinhos
The Asian Game podcast
Stuart - @sushi_football
Tuesday May 15, 2018
Tuesday May 15, 2018
Dan Orlowitz guests on this week's podcast as we review J1 Matchday 14, while we're also joined by new Nagoya correspondent Adrian Serna to discuss the (sorry) state of Grampus.
Dan and I begin our top flight wrap with Sunday's draw between FC Tokyo and Sapporo (to 12:20), before moving on to the juggernaut that is Sanfrecce Hiroshima (to 18:15).
Then Adrian joins us for a wide-ranging discussion on the dire situation at Nagoya (to 43:10), before Dan and I give props to Nagasaki - Grampus's conquerors on Saturday. We then chat about the managerial change at Kashiwa and round up the rest of the weekend's games before finishing with the Matchday 15 fixture list
Tuesday May 08, 2018
Tuesday May 08, 2018
Sam Robson from Football Radar guests to round up the busy Golden Week period of J1 fixtures, in which all top flight teams played four times in the space of 12 days.
We begin with 'Golden Week winners' - the teams who fared the best over the course of the four games (to 23:00) - before moving on to a few 'losers' - those teams who struggled during Golden Week, or wasted opportunities to build momentum after some early success (to 35:00).
We then take some questions from twitter, before moving on to runaway J1 leaders Hiroshima (from 56:00) - can they be caught?
A couple more bigger-picture twitter questions follow before we finish off by discussing early-season disappointments Urawa, Yokohama and Nagoya.
Follow Sam on twitter - @FRSoccerSam
Tuesday May 01, 2018
Tuesday May 01, 2018
Stuart Smith and Jon Steele return to the pod for this month's J2 Special.
We begin with struggling Kofu, who sacked manager Tatsuma Yoshida on Monday, and discuss their prospects under new boss Nobuhiro Ueno (to 14:35), then move on to happier topics - namely co-leaders Oita and Okayama (to 24:10).
Then Kofu's fellow relegated sides Niigata and Omiya come under the microscope (to 31:20), before a tangent on J2 'keepers (to 39:00) and other noteworthy teams/topics including Fukuoka, Kanazawa, Stuart's FC Gifu, Kyoto, Tochigi SC and Tokushima. We finish by picking out some games to watch during the two remaining Golden Week rounds of matches.
Follow my guests on twitter:
Jon - @J2KantoBites
Stuart - @sushi_football
Stuart's website - We Are Gifu
Wednesday Apr 25, 2018
Wednesday Apr 25, 2018
Sean Galbraith and Jon Steele guest on this week's podcast, as we finally move on from the sacking of Vahid Halilhodzic as national team boss, and return our full focus to the J.League.
And what a weekend it was. In Part 1 Sean recaps the J1 game of the season so far, the 4-4 thriller between Yokohama and Shonan, with familiar concerns about F.Marinos defensively still dominating discussion around Ange Postecoglou's team (to 34:45). Sean then gives us the lowdown on runaway top flight leaders Hiroshima, with Yokohama one of Sanfrecce's recent victims (to 40:40), before we recap the rest of the J1 Matchday 9 results (to 52:00).
Then in Part 2 Jon discusses Tokyo Verdy's win over Mito on Saturday, and some bigger-picture issues surrounding the Tokyo Greens (to 1:10:40), before we review the key results from J2 Matchday 10 (to 1:18:50) and chat about one of the feel-good stories of the second tier season so far - Kumamoto's surge from the relegation places at the end of 2017 to this season's top six.
Follow my guests on twitter:
Sean - @1amSage
Jon - @J2KantoBites
Tuesday Apr 17, 2018
Tuesday Apr 17, 2018
In this week's bumper episode, Scott McIntyre and Dan Orlowitz debate the JFA's decision to sack Vahid Halilhodzic so close to the World Cup, the week's J1 action is reviewed, and Dave Brooks guests to fill us in on Machida's impressive start to the J2 campaign.
In Part 1 Dan and Scott differ strongly on #HalilhodzicGate (to 32:35), before the three of us (all FC Tokyo supporters) discuss the Gasmen's decent start to the J1 season (to 47:20), after which we bid Dan farewell.
In Part 2 Scott goes deep on a number of J1 clubs. He's full of praise for Sapporo's strong start (from 49:26), then discusses at length the three teams currently in the relegation zone: Nagoya (from 56:15), Yokohama (from 1:00:05) and Gamba Osaka (from 1:08:50).
Then to round off this week's proceedings Dave chats about what's gone right for Zelvia so far this season, and looks ahead to a key stretch of games as they look to bounce back from Sunday's first defeat of the campaign in this topsy-turvy J2 season.
Follow my guests on twitter and the web:
Scott: @mcintinhos
Dan: @aishiterutokyo
Dave: @FellowZelvista
#AUDIO ISSUE# Unfortunately the 'pre-echo' is still a thing, you can noticably hear me talking over Scott several times, and while you may think that was a tactic to cut him off, I can assure you it wasn't, and is just a consquence of a tired Skype connection.
Tuesday Apr 10, 2018
Tuesday Apr 10, 2018
Sam Robson and Ryan Steele guest on this week's pod in the wake of the amazing decision by the JFA to sack national team boss Vahid Halilhodzic just two months before the World Cup.
In Part 1 (to 26:55) we discuss the factors behind the firing, and the choice of Akira Nishino to step in, before musing over some players who may come back into the Samurai Blue reckoning under Nishino's watch (from 18:20).
Then in Part 2 we review all of the games from the weekend's J1 action, beginning with Urawa's first win of the season, and Ryan gives his thoughts on the firing of Takafumi Hori (to 46:30). Sam and Ryan each give a surprising and disappointing team after six games, and those teams' games are the next we cover (to 1:08:00), before we wrap up the other games, with yet another refereeing controversy (or two) an unfortunate talking point.
Follow my guests on twitter:
Sam - @FRSoccerSam
Ryan - @Steelinho
#AUDIO ISSUE# I think our Skype connection got a little tired, basically from the start of Part 2 onwards, so you may notice a brief 'pre-echo' before Ryan and Sam speak, and that contributes to what sounds like me cutting them off, especially right at the end of the episode. Apologies.