S-Pulse 1-4 Niigata (preseason)

Barry writes  

S-Pulse 1-4 Niigata
Inukai 85 ------------------- Own goal 4
--------------------------------- Oi 44
--------------------------------- Lopes 72
--------------------------------- Okamoto 83

Nihondaira Stadium
Att 4142

Line Up

GK Hayashi

DF Yoshida
DF Hiraoka
DF Jong-a-Pin
DF Ki-je

MF Muramatsu
MF Sugiyama
MF Min-soo

FW Ito
FW Bare
FW Takagi

Subs Used

Kawai on for Muramatsu (HT)
Fujita on for Yoshida (HT)
Senuma on for Ito (HT)
Hattanda on for Min-soo (65)
Shirasaki on for Takagi (74)
Inukai on for Ki-je (77)

Videos

Taken off the TV, a Niigata view of the game.



And Inukai's header.

Into Our 6th Season We Go!

Barry writes

It took several friendly suggestions (and several more friendly reminders) on Big Soccer from other English language J. league writers to give it a go. But it was only after a 1-0 home win back in April 2008 that we, with some reluctance, finally took to the blogosphere.

After three cup finals, several t-shirts, three books, articles on various football sites, and having been lucky enough to get acquainted with the top brass at S-Pulse, I'm genuinely able to say it was a life changing decision.

The blog has given form to the UKU as a home stadium does a football team. Twitter may have taken over from message boards, and is where a lot of our news can now be first found, but as we head into our sixth season (our 9th as S-Pulse supporters), this page is going nowhere. The visitors we get (yes, that means YOU!) make sure of that.

With you beautiful people in mind, we'll endeavour to make this year our best yet. It's a pleasure every time someone introduces themselves as a reader, and I love seeing from where the visitors to the site come from. Our last ten are from corners of the globe as wonderfully diverse as Canada, Germany, the US and Croatia. Welcome to the site and thank you for reading - we're all brothers in S-Pulse!

Looking back over old postings, some make me cringe, some give me goosebumps. Most of all I can't help recalling that old Fat Boy Slim song. We've come a long, long way together. Through the hard times and the good. I have to celebrate you S-Pulse. I have to praise you like I should.

The J. League is still so new, S-Pulse are still so young. We've got it all in front of us. Bring it on.

Who is the J. League's Most Successful Team? 2012 Update

Barry writes

It's that time of year again! By which I mean the off season, where we have to fill the days until the action restarts. Today's offering is an update of our most successful team ranking. Points are accumulated as follows, with continental cups counted, but show-piece super cups not.

League title: 3 Points
League runners up: 1 Point

Cup win: 2 Points
Cup runners up: .5 Points

A new criteria this year is relegation. You can't ignore a team finishing among the worst three in the division, nor spending time playing at a lower level. So this will now count as follows:

Relegation: -1 Point
Time spent in lower division: -.5 per year

So lets add in last year's trophy distribution, deduct relegation points and see how we stand. This year's spell in J2 for G. Osaka and Tokyo Verdy is counted.

1) Kashima Antlers 41.5
2) Jubilo Iwata 23
3) Yokohama F. Marinos 18
4) Urawa Red Diamonds 13.5
5) Tokyo Verdy 12.5
6) Gamba Osaka 12
7) S-Pulse 11
8) Nagoya Grampus 9
9) Kashiwa Reysol 5
- ) FC Tokyo 5
10) Kawasaki Frontale 4.5

Relegation points hit Tokyo Verdy and Kashiwa hard, but it certainly adds a bit of balance, and I think is a fair addition to the criteria.

Kashima extend their lead further with another cup win, and S-Pulse add a further .5 after our big day out in November. League winners Hiroshima are yet to climb into the top ten, and their two relegations and two years spent in J2 will hold them back for a little while yet.

So there we have it. Tune in again time next year to see who ranks as the most successful team in the J. league!

A French S-Pulse Follower's Fandom

Barry writes

Tichmall, native of France one of our regular commenters, is also the owner of an impressive collection of S-Pulse shirts. Covering every season since our inception in 1992, the only shirt missing is 2007's. Take a look at a whole lot of orange! Great to see such fandom around the world for our team, and brilliant to know there are people pulling for us from so many corners of the globe.

Mabushii!

As we've seen, these shirts don't come cheap, so true devotion from one of our global supporters and overseas ambassadors for S-Pulse. If I ever bump into someone in a Shimizu shirt in some far flung corner of world, the beers will be on me.

Pre-Season SDT Cup: S-Pulse 1-0 Iwata

Barry writes

S-Pulse 1-0 Iwata
Muramatsu 7

Ashitaka Athletics Stadium
Att 5477

Line Up

GK Hayashi

DF Yoshida (63)
DF Hiraoka
DF Jong-a-Pin
DF Ki-Je

MF Muramatsu
MF Sugiyama
MF Min-Soo

FW Ishige
FW Bare
FW Takagi

Subs Used

Senuma on for Ishige (78)
Hattanda on for Takagi (90)
Ito on for Bare (90+3)

Report

S-Pulse yesterday claimed the occasionally-played SDT Cup with a 1-0 win over Iwata. The line up is a look at what we can expect in the coming season. New signings Min-Soo and Bare started, with the Brazilian spearheading the attack. However, it was Muramatsu who grabbed the decisive goal early on. You can expect Jubilo to be a solid defensive unit this season, so this wasn't a bad result, all told. We seemed to create a decent number of chances and with a bit more sharpness could have had a couple more.

I was otherwise engaged, so as for the overall performance, I'll hand over to the boss for his comments and you can check out the highlights for yourself. Next week we welcome Niigata to Nihondaira for our final pre-season game before the season kicks off up in Saitama on March 2nd. See you there? No you won't. Sumpu Marathon the next day, so my first game will be the home opener against Marinos. Anyway, those highlights we were talking about:

2013 Fixtures

Barry writes

2013 League Fixtures 

Here they are, the full fixtures for the upcoming season. A little delayed as I was away this weekend, here they are:

第1節     3/2 （Sat) 16:00  (A) Omiya Ardija (Nack Stadium)

第2節     3/9 （Sat）14:00  (H) Yokohama F. Marinos

第3節     3/16 （Sat）16:00  (A)  Shonan Bellmare (BMW Stadium)

第4節     3/30 （Sat）13:00  (H) Sanfrecce Hiroshima

第5節     4/6（Sat）14:00  (A)  Sagan Tosu (Best Amenity Stadium)

第6節     4/13 （Sat）17:00  (H)  jubilo iwata

第7節     4/20 （Sat）13:00  (H) Cerezo Osaka

第8節     4/27 （Sat）17:00  (A)  Urawa Red Diamonds (Saitama Stadium)

第9節     5/3 （Fri）15:00  (H)  Albirex Niigata

第10節  5/6 （Mon）14:00  (H)  Kawasaki Frontale

第11節  5/11 （Sat）17:00  (A)  Ventforet Kofu (Chugin Stadium)

第12節  5/18 （Sat）19:00   (A)  FC Tokyo (Ajinomoto Stadium)

第13節  5/25 （Sat) 14:00  (H)  Vegalta Sendai

第14節  7/6 （Sat）19:00  (A)  Nagoya Grampus (Toyota Stadium)

第15節  7/10 （Wed）19:00  (A)  Kashima Antlers (Kashima Stadium)

第16節  7/13 （Sat）18:00  (H)  Oita Trinita

第17節  7/17 （Wed）19:00  (A)  Kashia Reysol (Hitachi Stadium)

第18節  731 （Wed）19:00  (H)  FC Tokyo 

第19節  8/3 （Sat）19:00  (A) Albirex Niigata (Big Swan)

第20節  8/10 （Sat）18:00  (H)  Shonan Bellmare

第21節  8/17 （Sat）19:00  (A)  Cerezo Osaka (Kincho Stadium)

第22節  8/24（Sat）18:00  (H)  Urawa Red Diamonds (Ecopa Stadium)

第23節  8/28 （Wed）19:00  (H)   Kashima Antlers

第24節  8/31 （Sat）19:00  (A) Oita Trinita (Oita Bank Dome)

第25節  9/14 （Sat）(H)  Nagoya Grampus

第26節  9/21 （Sat）(A)  Yokohama F. Marinos (Nippatsu Stadium)

第27節  9/28 （Sat）(H)  Ventforet Kofu

第28節  10/5 （Sat）(A)  Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Big Arch)

第29節  10/19 （Sat）(H)  Sagan Tosu

第30節  10/27 （Sun）(A)  jubilo iwata (Yamaha Stadium)

第31節  11/10 （Sun）(A)  Kawasaki Frontale (Todoroki Stadium)

第32節   11/23 （Sat）(H)  Omiya Ardija

第33節  11/30 （Sat）(A)  Vegalta Sendai (Yurtec Stadium)

      第34節  12/7 （Sat）(H)  Kashiwa Reysol


Some picks for me include the derby, the away of which is being hosted at the tiny Yamaha Stadium! Initially it may seem a surprise for jubilo to give up on Ecopa, but when you look at their dwindling crowds there of late, and the fact the last few derbys there have seen roughly the same number of away fans as home, you can't blame them for attempting to regain some kind of home field advantage.

Aside from that, Nagoya away at the immense Toyota may have to be done again. Yokohama FM this year will be at the much smaller Nippatsu Stadium, a far better viewing experience than the Nissan, and Oita Trinita away during summer holidays looks tempting. Less than a month before the big kick off, roll on 2013!

2013 Nabisco Cup

The league cup shapes up as follows:

第1節     3/20 （Wed) 13:00  (H) Ventforet Kofu

第2節     3/23 （Sat）13:00  (A) jubilo iwata (Yamaha Stadium)

第4節     4/10 （Wed）19:00  (A)  Kawasaki Frontale (Todorki Stadium)

第5節     4/23 （Tue）19:00  (A) Omiya Ardija (Nack Stadium)

第6節     5/15（Wed）19:00  (H)  Shonan Bellmare

第7節     5/22 （Wed）19:00  (H) Yokohama F. Marinos