[J2-R5] Avispa 1-0 Yokohama

Second victory in a row, but more important is, that was our first home-victory in 2009!
The 10,229 fans had to wait long, but Yutaka Takahashi scored the one and final goal in the 86th minute.

Starting 11
GK: Yoshida
DF: Yamagata, Tanaka, Nagira, Nakajima
MF: Jogo, Wellington, Suzuki, Okamoto
FW: Takahashi, Okubo

Bench: Rokutan, Niwa, Miyahara, Kurobe, Yusuke

Goals
1:0 - 86' - Takahashi

Subs
69' - Okamoto -> Yusuke
84' - Suzuki -> Miyahara
84' - Jogo -> Kurobe

Cautions
-

Attendance
10,229

[J2-R4] Tochigi 0-2 Avispa

Finally...
We won our first game of the season in the historic National Stadium in Tokyo against Tochigi SC with 2:0.
The team needed the win very badly and finally they took the three points.
Avispa scored the O&O-goals in 1:30 min. Tetsuya Okubo scored his first goal of the season after a counter attack and a great dribbling from Takahashi.
Hideya Okamoto, who came from Gamba on loan, scored the 2:0 with a long shot from the left corner of the box.

Starting 11
GK: Yoshida
DF: Yamagata, Tanaka, Nagira, Nakajima
MF: Jogo, Wellington, Suzuki, Okamoto
FW: Takahashi, Okubo

Bench: Rokutan, Niwa, Miyahara, Kurobe, Yusuke

Goals
1:0 - 66' - Okubo
2:0 - 67' - Okamoto

Subs
76' - Okubo -> Kurobe
81' - Takahashi -> Yusuke
85' - Tanaka - > Niwa

Cautions
46' - Yamagata

Okubo's goal


Oka's goal

Takahashi's Goal vs. Mito

[J2-R3] Avispa 1-2 Mito

Oh dear oh dear ....
We lost the home-game against the drangons from Mito HollyHock, so we are still waiting for the first 3 points in 2009.
We have big problems with dead-ball situations, because the two goals from Mito came from a corner- and a free-kick.
Daiki Niwa replaced Tomokazu Nagira after his red card in the last game against Thespa.

Starting 11
GK: Yoshida
DF: Yamagata, Tanaka, Niwa, Nakajima
MF: Jogo, Wellington, Suzuki, Hisanaga
FW: Takahashi, Okubo

Bench: Rokutan, Nagano, Miyahara, Kurobe, Yusuke

Goals
0:1 - 18' - Kim Tae-Yeon
1:1 - 27' - Yutaka Takahashi
1:2 - 63' - Takuro Kikuoka

Subs
57' - Hisanaga -> Yusuke
73' - Takahashi -> Kurobe

Cautions
70' - Tanaka
89' - Wellington

Attendance
6,111

Now we only have one out of realistic nine points in the first three games.
I don't want to talk about a crisis so early, but if we don't win against the new boys from Tochigi on Wednesday evening, there will dark cloudes over Fukuoka.

Thespa-Avispa - Goals

Nakajima is Avispa's best

Accourding JsGoal.com, Defender Takanori Nakajima was Avispa's best player in the first two games.
JsGoal put him into its J2 Best 11 in both games.
One of Nakajima's crosses hit the post against Toyama and he was one of the best at the 3:2-lost against Thespa Kusatsu.

Let's hope he can repeat his performances against Mito tomorrow.

Nakajima played the full 180 minutes in the new season and received one yellow card.

[J2-R2] Thespa 3-2 Avispa

Avispa lost the second game of the season against the Onsen boys from Thespa Kusatsu with 3:2.
we came back after a 2:0- and a 3:1-behind with goals from Hisashi Jogo and Teruaki Kurobe, who scored a goal ater a year again. The red card of Tomokazu Nagira broke our neck and we couldn't score one more goal for a point.

Starting 11
GK: Yoshida
DF: Yamagata, Tanaka, Nagira, Nakajima
MF: Jogo, Wellington, Miyahara, Hisanaga
FW: Takahashi, Okubo

Bench: Rokutan, Kugisaki, Nakaharai, Kurobe, Yusuke

Goals
1:0 - 14' - Ken Tokura
2:0 - 32' - Jun Tanaka
2:1 - 41' - Hisashi Jogo
3:1 - 54' - Nozomi Hiroyama
3:2 - 73' - Teruaki Kurobe

Subs
55' - Miyahara -> Yusuke
58' - Hisanaga -> Kurobe
81 - Jogo -> Nakaharai

Cautions
33' - Takahashi
66' - Nagira
76' - Nagira
89' - Nakajima

Capital Adventure Vol. 2

According to dokool's Aishiteru Tokyo, can be found at J-Sites and Blogs on the right side, Hokuto is injured to the cartilage in his left knee.
He get injured in a practice game before the season operner.

"AT" reported that he should be back in mid march to the first Nabisco Cup match.

[J2-R1] Avispa 0-0 Toyama

The season opening didn't turn out so well for us.
With a 0:0 against new member Kataller Toyama, we gave 3 "easy points" away.
Yoshida saved a PK in the 18th minute.
But don't worry, there are 50 games ahead ;)

Starting 11
GK: Yoshida
DF: Yamagata, Tanaka, Nagira, Nakajima
MF: Suzuki, Wellington, Jogo, Okamoto
FW: Takahashi, Okubo

Bench: Rokutan, Kugisaki, Nakaharai, Miyahara, Kurobe

Subs
62' - Suzuki -> Nakaharai
73' - Jogo -> Miyahara
81' - Okamoto -> Kurobe

Cautions
17' - Yoshida
39' - Tanaka
74' - Takahashi

Attendance
9,102

I think we will play better when Hisanaga is back.
He was really missed at this game.
Okubo and Takahashi had chances but couldn't find the net.

PREVIEW FOR 2009

2009 season transfer
IN:
GK Eita Kasagawa (promoted from youth team)
DF Makoto Tanaka (Transferred from Jubilo Iwata)
DF Kazuki Yamaguchi (Drafted from Fukuoka University)
MF Wellington (Transferred from America MG)
MF Yuji Miyahara (Transferred from Ehime FC)
FW Alex (Transferred from Batatais FC)
FW Yutaka Takahashi (Transferred from Roasso Kumamoto)
FW Hideya Okamoto (On loan from Gamba Osaka)

OUT:
DF Mark Rudan (Transferred to FC Vaduz)
MF Ufuk Talay ( Transferred to North Queensland Fury)
MF Takanori Nunobe (Retired)
MF Shingo Honda (Released)
MF Hokuto Nakamura (Transferred to FC Tokyo)
FW Mike Havenaar (End of loan from Yokohama F-Marions)

My view on the transfers
The major signings in this pool are ex-international Makoto Tanaka and Yutaka Takahashi, who played an outstanding last season at Roasso.
He could do really well with Tetsuya Okubo.
The no-name brazilians must show their skills on the pitch. Wellington seems like the replacement for Talay in the centre of the midfield.
Hideya Okamoto played alot in the pre-season games and can play as a forward and in the midfield. I'm sure we will see him quite often this season.
The big loses are Hokuto, Nuno and Mike. I'll miss Hokuto, but i'm sure Jun Suzuki will replace him more than well. In Takahashi we found a more than a good replacement for Mike and Nuno will be missed as our Motivator and "Daddy" of the team.

Preferable starting 11
4-4-2: Yoshida - Yamagata, Niwa, Nagano/Tanaka, Nakajima - Suzuki, Wellington, Jogo/Kudo, Hisanaga - Okubo, Takahashi

My view on the team
We didn't change much, but the forwards let us hope for a year with many goals. Okubo and Takahashi could be score close to 20 goals again this season. The strength of Okubo is that he's a working forward, who goes to midfield to catch the ball. But goals are nothing without a good defence. The center back positions with Niwa and Tanaka don't look so bad. If Tanaka will be a starter, he should be the voice in the defence. Niwa, who came from Omiya in the end of the season, is a really talented denfender who can learn alot from veteran Tanaka. The back wings with Yamagata and Nakajima are also pretty solid. Especially Yamagata should be one of the saver ones in 2009 again after 82 games in 2 years.
All eyes will be on Jun Suzuki this year. The youth-international should be ready for his first full season after some great performances in 2008.
Wellington should replace Talay in the centre and control the ball. Hisanaga and Kudo are verterans who will bring danger from the wings.
The team doesn't look so bad, but all the parts have to work together to become a serious promoter and that didn't work the last two years.

Player to watch: Jun Suzuki

Supporters
Avispa's fans are really enthusiastic. Level 5-Stadium is one of the stadiums with the best visited in J2, so the fans made a + of 550 fans.
It isn't much, but hey, we are better than Sagan and that is all what count for an Avispa Fan.

Where will they finish?
Avispa got a good squad, but the other teams are also very strong this year e.g. Cerezo, Vegalta, Tokyo, Sapporo... all teams are a tiny bit better than Avispa.
With a real good run and hoping of mistakes from the top-contenders, Avispa would have a chance to make it to J1, but the chances are low ...this year.

Avispa 1-3 Oita Trinita

We lost our very last pre-season games against Kyushu's big ones Oita Trinita with 1:3 (0:1. 1:2,0:0)
The playing-time was 3 x 45 minutes


Starting 11
GK: Yoshida
DF: Yamagata, Tanaka, Nagira, Nakajima
MF: Suzuki, Wellington, Jogo
FW: Takahashi, Okubo, Okamoto

2nd half
GK: Yoshida
DF: Yamagata, Tanaka, Nagira, Nakajima
MF: Suzuki, Wellington, Jogo
FW: Takahashi, Okubo, Okamoto

3rd half
GK: Rokutan
DF: Miyamoto, Niwa, Nagano, Kugisaki
MF: Oyama, Miyahara, Nakaharai, Hisanaga
FW: Alex, Kurobe

Goals
0:1 - 39' - Suzuki
0:2 - 22' - Ueslei
0:3 - 25' - Ueslei
1:3 - 35' - Hisagana (PK)

Subs (2nd and 3rd half)
16' - Jogo -> Miyahara
23' - Okamoto -> Hisanaga
30' - Wellington -> Miyamoto
30' - Okubo -> Kurobe
15' - Miyahara -> ?
29' - Miyamoto -> Yamaguchi
29' - Kurobe -> Yusuke

Believers and Realists

The voting about where we will stay after 2009 is over and you voted like this:

1st or 2nd - 3 votes - 30%
3rd - 1 vote - 10%
4th to 6th - 4 votes - 40%
7th to 10th - 2 votes - 20%

You seems pretty realistic, because the most votes went for 4th to 6th place.
I didn't vote, but i would go for 4th to 6th too.
It's also good, that we got fans which believe in the promotion and to be true....aren't we all believers? ;)