Tag Archives: Goals

NATHAN BURNS MOVES TO JAPANESE SIDE

Australian football star Nathan Burns has moved to a Japanese side, reports confirm.


The player opted out of likely deals in Australia to move to Japan where he would feature for Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

“I am honoured [to join] Sanfreece Hiroshima, which is one of the most successful clubs in Japan,” a statement credited to the player is on the club’s website.

Burns is expected to help the J-League side with their ambitions. The club confirmed the move for the 29-year old on Thursday. He was recently released from the deal he had with FC Tokyo but there were reports of offers in the A-League where he was expected to move to.

JAPAN’S WC QUALIFYING CAMPAIGN GOING STRONG

Asian soccer powerhouse Japan thrashed Thailand 4-0 on Tuesday to get their third successive victory in the AFC World Cup qualifiers. They are now set to top Group B with the result.


Former Manchester United star Shinji Kagawa scored the first goal in the first ten minutes before his namesake Shinji Okazaki doubled the tally in the 19th minute. After the break, Yuya Kubo made the scorers’ list with his effort in the 57th minute. Maya Yoshida made it four in the 83rd minute.

Japan have earned 16 points, three points more than Saudi Arabia who follow closely. Saudi Arabia are meeting Iraq on Tuesday. Australia are in third place after defeating United Arab Emirates 2-0.

Thai manager KiatisukSenamuangdecided to play the centre back TanaboonKesaratin defensive midfield but it did nothing to limit the onslaught of the Japanese. he made several changes to the team that started the match. KoravitNamwiset, PeerapatNotchaiya, AdisakKraisorn and WattanaPlaynumwere drafted in the War Elephant’s lineupbut the 2002 World Cup host had a potent attacking side that prevailed.

50-YEAR OLD SCORES IN JAPAN

Japanese football witnessed yet another record, as Kazuyoshi Miura became the first player over 50 years to get a score in the country’s football league.


The player scored for Yokohama FC in the game against Thespa Kasatsu. Miura’s goal made all the difference, earning the team maximum points in the Division 2 clash.

The former Japan international said he had “the vibes of a goal” and that he was just trying to stay positive before he netted. The player broke his previous record as the oldest goalscorer in J-league history as he held the record at 49 years, three months and 24 days. He has now set the new record at 50 years and 14 days.

He renewed his deal with the club in January, amidst strong speculations that he could retire. He has an amazing record, netting 55 times in 89 games for Japan.

Miura started his professional football career in South America, playing for popular Brazilian club Santos. He played there in the late 1980s before moving to Italy to feature for Genoa and Dinamo Zagreb in the 1990s.

U-16 JAPAN START COPA UC WITH DRAW

Japan National U-16 Team, so-called “00 Japan”, started their COPA UC 2016 campaign on Wednesday 14 by drawing to U-17 UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA.


The opponents are one of the best clubs in Chile, winning countless domestic youth championships. According to the tournament regulations, the U-17 players of the club are participating this time.

The match was held right after the tournament’s opening ceremony. In the great environment with almost 800 fans in attendance including a large group of Japanese supporters, the U-16 Japan squad kicked off their first match.

For ’00 Japan’, it was the first official international match since they lost to Iraq in the semi-final of the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016. Despite the fatigue from a long trip from home, the squad, especially their frontline, displayed some impressive football.

The opponents composedly moved the ball around and showed their toughness and physicality time to time to dodge Japan’s pressure and prevented the Japanese side from creating chances. As they gradually started to control the match, a passing mistake by Japan in the 13th minute led to a threatening pass into the space behind their defenders.

Japanese players should be more aggressive

Japan’s coach VahidHalilhodzic believes that the Japanese players need to become more aggressive if they want to progress.


He said that the players show too much respect to their opponents and this is what is hindering their progress on the pitch.

Japan has made a poor start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, and there is intense pressure on VahidHalilhodzic to deliver results. There are also talks in Japan about replacing the coach, and they have given him a few more games to turn the results around.

However, VahidHalilhodzic believes that he is doing his job and that it is time for the players to do theirs. He said that the Japanese players are far more respectful of their opponents and that they are not assertive enough on the ball.

He said that the team should develop a winning mentality and that they should always come on the pitch to win games. He believes that the Japan team has some good squad, but it is up to the players to learn how to unlock their potential.

Vahid Halilhodzic says he would like Team to Concede Least

Vahid Halilhodzic says he would like to see the ‘goals-conceded’ tally of his team to remain nil in the Syria match as well which would mark the end of round no. 1 of AFC qualification for the Samurai Blue.


Japan’s net is yet to be shaken by an opposition team so far in world Cup qualification matches which is an incredible record. No team in any AFC group has had so many clean slates in a row.

And, it’s not that they have achieved the record through a defensive play. Their ‘goals-scored’ tally is over twenty which means they have scored in abundance and not to forget that the first match they had played was a scoreless draw. So, all these goals have come in 6 matches only.

To score at a rate of more than 3 goals per match is only possible if a team is pushing on the attack and Japan has surely done that. In fact, in the latest fixture versus Afghanistan, they were even more fearless with every defender looking to move forward and still, it was a clean slate.

On asked of Afghanistan game, Halilhodzic said, “With all due respect to the opposition, from what we had seen of them playing them the last time, we thought we could be ruthless without worrying too much about our backline.”

The Japanese Football Coach Observes American Football

American football gets a Japanese coach who will be part of the off-season program of the Indianapolis Colts.


This team has been undergoing change in its coaching staff. The changes are taking place in the off-season. The new coaches are working at the OTAs to help the team improve as the new season comes up. Mutsumi Takahashi is a Japanese coach who has come in to learn more from American football and help out the team as well.

Takahasi initially played as a linebacker. He is one of the few players who are born in Japan and had participated in Arena Football League. He played here for five years. He also participated in highest levels back in Japan. He now takes the role of coach for Kobe University Ravens, who are based in Japan.

The African champions have selected Michel Dussuyer as their new coach

Ivory Coast became the champions of Africa after defeating Ghana in the finals of the 2015 African Cup of Nations in a match that had to be decided in a penalty session.

The African champions experienced going through a managerial change as HerveRenard decided to step down from coaching Ivory Coast earlier in May as he went on to take charge of the French club Lille.

When HerveRenard left his managerial post in Ivory Coast, a 59 man shortlist was announced by the Football Federation of Ivory Coast as the African Nation was on the search for a new manager that could replace Renard.

This shortlist was later cut down from 59 to only 5. These 5 potential managers were: Henry Kasperczak, Michel Dussuyer, Patrice Neveu, Paolo Duarte and Frederic Antonetti. With the exception of Frederic Antonetti, every other manager has already had experience taking charge of African nations.

Japan are already favourites to reach the World Cup 2018

Japan are already favourites to reach the World Cup 2018 even before the qualification campaign is yet to begin.

The national team may have been disappointing at the previous World Cup, but they have so far look extremely good under the management of Vahid Halilhodzic. The Bosnian watched his team get a 4-0 win over Iraq in a friendly match. This friendly is a good preparation for the team ahead of the World Cup qualifiers against Singapore. This is the first qualification match and a good result is an important aspect. The national team will also be hoping to put behind the disappointing quarter-final exit at the Asian cup.

The fact that the team managed to beat semifinalist at the Asian cup – Iraq – so convincingly, even if it was a friendly match, is something that provide will a lot of boost. Keisuke Honda opened the scoring and Tomoaki Makino chipped in with another goal all inside 10 minutes. This immediately put the pressure on Iraq, who completely folded in response. Shinji Okazaki came up with the third goal for Japan before substitute Genki Haraguchi also joined in the fun. It was a great game and one that could potentially see Japan make a strong start to the World Cup qualification.

Claudio Ranieri was 4 Months Manager of Greece Team

Claudio Ranieri lasted 4 months in charge of the Greece national football team before being sacked which probably is one of the fastest periods of time in which a manager has been sacked in modern times. However, there is somebody else who has been sacked very quickly as Javier Aguirre was removed from his managerial position in Japan after claims and allegations involving the Mexican manager were announced and confirmed.

Javier Aguirre took charge of the Japanese national side during the summer of 2014 but was sacked after it was discovered that Aguirre was involved in a series of match-fixing scandals.

“The reason for the cancellation is that we want to avoid any influence to the national team on their preparation for World Cup and we want to avoid those risks,” JFA chief KuniyaDaini said as he revealed that the contract of Javier Aguirre and his relation with the Japanese national team was cancelled.

The Japanese Football Association did not want to have any connections with Javier Aguirre who was being involved with match-fixing allegations back when he was in charge of Zaragoza a few years ago and this was the main reason on why the Mexican coach was sacked.