Wednesday, December 1

Urawa vs. Vissel Preview

Our final and most important match of the season will be played this Saturday at Saitama Stadium against Urawa Reds.

Urawa's current position of 9th in the table means that 2010 was an absolute disaster for them. The manager has been fired and this match will be his farewell - to both players and fans. Urawa Reds will officially be a mid-table team at the end of this season, but they could finish anywhere between 10th and 7th depending on the result of this and other matches.

For us, this match means everything. We must win and Kyoto must not lose to FC Tokyo for us to survive. To be honest, I don't know how Kyoto feels about this situation. Maybe they would like to see a Kansai rival go down with them, maybe not. Who knows.

We will not be able to field the same team as last week because Tanaka is suspended for his red, and Okubo is still out. This is the lineup I would like to see.

Tokushige,Ishibitsu, Kitamoto, Komoto, Mogi, Mihara, Miyamoto, Botti, Ogawa, Yoshida, Popo
Subs: Enomoto, Gakuto, Kobayashi, Park, Edmilson, Morioka, Tokura

Believe it or not, Tanaka is quite difficult to replace right now. We do not have another quick, central midfielder. So I've opted for Miyamoto to play in the holding role, giving Mihara and Botti a bit more freedom to move forward. Moreover, Miyamoto can also drop back into defense when needed, for example, when Ishibitsu or Mogi bomb up the flanks. Should Popo, Yoshida or Ogawa prove ineffective, Mogi can move into a forward role with either Gakuto or Kobayashi covering the back. I would take this option over risking an out of form striker from the bench.

C'mon Vissel!!

5 comments:

KobeSamurai said...

Like the line-up - yes MUST win and I amy be at Kyoto sticking my thumbs down at FC Tokyo ... for now ...
I am doing an article called Views From the Street for the Japan Times to be published next Tuesday (if all goes to plan), which consists of me asking people what they thought was the best moment of the season in J.League.

Usually I do it "on the street", as it were, but I have had this idea of getting people like you - obviously passionate about the game - to send me something via email and, I HOPE I can use the logo of your site instead of a head and shoulders picture as is usually done. of course, if you prefer to be named and pictured, that's fine,also and, just in case the Japan Times editor does not accept my idea and wants a name and a picture instead of a web site name and a logo, please do send a name and a picture of yourself, head and shoulders (not too close, not too accurate is OK, they prefer one with space around it as opposed to a passport-style pic, so they can crop it, anyway).

They ask me for 10 or so quotes and only use 6 or 7 so no promises in the end, but if you wish to contribute, please send me a quote by email, along with a name and a picture, as well as the web site name you'd prefer to be quoted and a logo if you can. Either or, both, whatever. I'll do my best to get some web sites publicizes in the Japan Times, but will get some quotes from people who know and care about the game anyway, for sure!

The quote should be a simple 25-30 words approx. and might be edited!

Thanks for your time,
Alan kobesamurai@gmail.com

JEF VIKING said...

Hello friend.

First, excuse me for my english, i'm from Spain, and english wasn't my native languaje.

This is one of the more importants matches of Kobe's history. Since 2009, i follow Vissel Kobe since Spain.

Actually I'm a very very fan, and today I'm specially nervious.

I read you blog all weeks, congratulations for give us information about we team. Thank you very much.

Now, I'm making a Vissel Kobe blog in spanish languaje, if you like, you can add me in your blog list. I will make the blog since the 2011 season, if the team go to J-League, of course I'll make the blog, because i love this team.

My pronostic for today:

Urawa Reds 0-2 Vissel Kobe
Kyoto Sanga 1-1 FC Tokyo

JEF VIKING said...

Excuse me, my blog address is:

http://vissel-kobe.blogspot.com/

Thank you very much.

Red Orca said...

Congratulations Jay. A brilliant result fro Vissel. Let's hope Mikitani keeps Wada as manager this time.

Barry said...

Wow. Simply, wow. Massive congratulations on your great escape! Enjoy it and I'll see you at Home's next year!!