New kit and players unveiled!

I’ve just got back from Marinos Town after checking out the new strips for this season! After several years of Nike made jerseys the club has once again come back to it’s roots in uniform terms and is now in the hands of our much beloved kit supplier, Adidas.

So, what do the new strips look like? take a look for yourselves!

The new first team squad roster has now been updated to mirror our new squad additions:

1 – Enomoto
2 – Amano
4 – Kurihara
6 – Ogura
7 – Hyodo
8 – Nakamachi (MF from Avispa)
9 – Oguro
10 – Ono
11 – Saito (FW back from loan at Ehime FC)
13 – Kobayashi
14 – Kano
16 – Higa (DF from Ryutsu Economics University)
17 – Matsumoto Rei
18 – Marquinhos (FW from Athletico Mineiro but previously Vegalta)
19 – Moriya
21 – Iikura
22 – Nakazawa
23 – Matsumoto Sho
24 – Kanai
25 – Nakamura
26 – Aoyama
27 – Tomisawa (DF from Verdy)
28 – Kumagai (MF from F.Marinos Youth)
29 – Taniguchi
30 – Rokutan (GK from Avispa)
31 – Suzuki (GK from F.Marinos Youth)

So there you have it! New Kit, new players, new coach, and all new sponsors! Here’s hoping we can turn our fortunes around this year then!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Its been a tumultuous year for Japan and our club saw more ups and downs than a Mexican’s honeymoon mattress but now it’s all over and done with, we can all look forward to a new season without Coach Kimura and hopefully that elusive 4th star to go on our jerseys!!

I know we sloped off a bit towards the end but thanks for all the support and encouragement and we look forward to seeing you all in the stands again this season! VAMOS!

HAPPY 2012!!

Brendan, Blake, and Nick.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas indeed!

Actually, Christmas came one day early for the Tricolore faithful as we managed to secure a place in the semi-finals of the 91st Emperors Cup thanks to a fine save from our number one custodian, Hiroki Iikura!
After a scoreless 90 mins of natural time followed by a goalless 30 mins of extra-time, the dreaded Penalty shoot-out beckoned for our boys as we faced a dangerous Nagoya Grampus side in their backyard at the Mizuho Athletic Stadium. Well, they were without Kennedy and Tulio which probably helped us a lot but when it came it to PKs we were definitely the underdogs as we were shooting against former NT keeper, Seigo Narazaki whilst Nagoya were taking potshots at Iikura, a young keeper with no experience in penalty shoot-outs in a competitive game.

Yesterday, however, it would seem that Naoki Matsuda himself was looking down upon us from the heavens as he gave us the bit of luck we needed to ensure that Iikura read Nagoya’s 4th shot perfectly by leaping down low to his right to palm the ball wide of the post and give us a precious chance for glory.
Up next was Takashi Kanai who stood up to take the all important 4th shot on goal with what must have been the weight of the world on his shoulders as he nervously put the ball the ball down on the penalty spot. Taking a deep breath, Kanai gracefully jogged up to the ball and drilled it low into the inside left post before coming away with a beaming smile of satisfaction and relief plastered on his face.
The pressure was now on Nagoya as they sent in Ecuadorean striker, Danilson to draw level but the pressure proved to be too much as he hooked the ball wide of the post to secure Yokohama’s spot in the Semi-finals versus Kyoto Sanga of J2!

Here’s the match highlights:

..and here’s the Penalty shoot-out in full!

Next up, Kyoto Sanga at Tokyo Olympic Stadium on the 29th!! See you all there! VAMOS!!!

F.Marinos Starting line-up:
Iikura, Kobayashi, Kurihara, Nakazawa, Kanai, Ogura, Moriya, Hyodo, Nakamura, Ono, and Watanabe.

Substitions:
Moriya → Matsumoto Rei (62), Watanabe → Matsumoto Sho (93)

Goals (Penalties): Nakamura, Kurihara, Kobayashi, and Kanai.

Spluttering and wheezing across the finish line…

Deary deary me… It’s been both an eventful and uneventful couple of months with myself and Blake being under the hammer with work to the point where neither of us have managed to make to any games coupled with what seems to be a gradual slowdown of momentum on the pitch where our beloved boys in Tricolore are concerned.

Of course, it’s nigh-on impossible for either of us to speculate the reasons as to why the gradual drop of form has come about as we’ve just been doing the same as everyone else with each passing week; checking the scores in the evening. In fact, we’ve got just as many questions as the next guy. Questions like “Why is Ono warming the bench so much?” and “Why is Taniguchi now starting up front almost every game?” Naturally, there is probably some very good reasons behind all of these of ponderings but whatever they are, they’re not immediately obvious to those of us that are stuck at work.

After such a promising start to the season I think we all truly believed that a top 3 finish and ACL qualification were in the bag but after the sudden loss of Naoki, followed by an untimely injury to the heart of our midfield, Shunsuke, we soon found ourselves dropping points in games that we both were dominating or creating the higher number of chances in.

Today’s game against Kashima Antlers is the final game of the season, and due to a sudden stroke of luck, I will actually be able to attend the game after 2 long months of missing seeing our boys in action. As such, I will hopefully be able to shed more light on whats been happening on the pitch after seeing the team play first hand again.

Whatever happens today though, let’s just hope we can finish with a win! Come on boys!!

VAMOS!!!

Yokohama F.Marinos vs Vegalta Sendai Photo Gallery

This gallery contains 21 photos.

Another week and another batch of photos from our pal, Mr. Tomohide! Enjoy!

Yokohama F.Marinos 1-3 Vegalta Sendai

In what would turn out to be a pretty disastrous weekend of football for all of the top 4 teams, the F.Marinos perhaps came away with the most disappointing of scorelines as we blew a one goal lead in just over 2 minutes to finish up on the wrong side of a 3-1 drubbing…

Yokohama F.Marinos vs Gamba Osaka Photo Gallery

This gallery contains 18 photos.

Despite the slightly disappointing result, we had a great night out joined by our Soccer Writer chum, Nobuyuki Tosey, and also our newly acquainted friend from California, Fidel Hart! (Be sure to give them both a follow!) Naturally, our budding … Continue reading →

A look back over the past 2(ish) weeks…

First, allow us to apologize for the lack of updates over the past fortnight. It’s been an exhausting period at work for myself and Blake has been occupied with the Rugby World Cup back in his native New Zealand to the point where even his wife has to book an appointment to speak with him!

Anyways, you don’t want to hear about our personal woes as you all come here for football updates regarding our beloved Tricolore and, in our absence, we’ve pulled a mostly positive batch of results out of the bag…

Shimizu S. Pulse 0 – 0 Yokohama F. Marinos

1 point from a dull draw in an away game at Shimizu was a fair result from what can only be considered as a lost opportunity for some players looking to make their mark in the absence of talismanic midfielder Nakamura

Yokohama F.Marinos vs Cerezo Osaka Photo Gallery

This gallery contains 23 photos.

It was wet and slippery but our pal, Mr Tomohide was there with his trusty camera in tow to capture the atmosphere in the stands. Enjoy!