Kawasaki Frontale 5-0 Ventforet Kofu

Frontale maintained their free-scoring pre-season form with a 5-0 drubbing of J2's Ventforet Kofu on Monday.

Renatinho, who scored two from the penalty spot on Friday, notched up two more today - the first yet another PK and the second following up after a decent initial shot from Kurotsu.

Chong Tese was next on the scoresheet, taking over spot-kick duties from Rena. And Taniguchi made it four with a trademark header from Tasaka's corner kick delivery.

With an aggregate scoreline of 14-1 from their pre-season fixtures so far (and with the likes of Kengo, Juninho and Inamoto still to return to the fold), there should be a fairly positive mood in the camp.

That said, it's hardly been the toughest schedule. And it's a little concerning that their first real test will come in a game that actually matters (in the ACL against Seongnam Ilhwa next Tuesday).

Scorers:
RENATINHO 11' (pen.), 15'
CHONG 18' (pen.)
TANIGUCHI 45'
ANONYMOUS TRAINEE 157'

Kawasaki Frontale 3-1 Yokohama FC

Frontale have returned to the marginally-warmer climes of Miyazaki for the second of their pre-season training camps.

A practice match against J2's Yokohama FC took place on Friday morning. Over two periods of 45 minutes followed by two periods of 30 minutes, a brace of penalties from Renatinho and a late strike from rookie Hidenobu Takasu gave Frontale the victory.

Scorers:
RENATINHO 38' (pen.), 62' (pen.)
TAKASU 126'

Kawasaki Frontale 5-0 Kanto Gakuin University

A plucky Kanto Gakuin University XI went down 5-0 in a friendly of four quarters at Frontale's training ground on Saturday. (No box score for this one...mainly because I can't find a logo for the opposition...and it's only a friendly).

The students faced a Frontale A-team (barring injuries and internationals) for the first two 35-minute periods and a B-team (including several trainees) for the latter two.

Stand-out performances were said to come from Taniguchi, Tasaka and the exciting 19-year-old, Kyohei Noborizato.

Another pre-season fixture has now been added against Senshu University on the 19th February, with further opponents yet to be decided for the 28th.

Scorers:
KUROTSU 30'
TANIGUCHI 32'
NOBORIZATO 67'
ANONYMOUS TRAINEE 71'
KUSUKAMI 136'

Kawasaki Frontale v HOYO Atletico ELAN

Pre-season friendly: Mon, 1st February 2010

	1 - 0
KIKUCHI 59'

Venue: Nishikibaru, Miyazaki

Frontale's first practice game of 2010 was a soggy encounter against HOYO Atletico ELAN of the Kyushu League.

The playing conditions were so poor that only two of the intended four 35-minute periods could be played. But a team featuring a mixture of youth and experience splashed their way to a 1-0 victory.

Update: Despite the HOYO website claiming that the score was 2-0, the official Frontale site has now confirmed there was just a single goal - with Kosuke Kikuchi the unlikely source.

Kawasaki Frontale v Kyoto Sanga FC

Pre-season friendly: Sat, 28th February 2009

	4 - 3
CHONG, et al.		? ? ?

Venue: Todoroki Stadium

Bit hesitant about posting this result as there's been no official confirmation on either club's site. But what the heck - it's only pre-season.

Sponichi reports that Chong Tese was amongst the scorers, but other than that (and the scoreline) the game is shrouded in mystery. If anyone knows more, please enlighten us.

There are also rumours that a reserves game against Sanga on Friday (27th Feb.) ended up 1-1.

Bit bored of this warm-up nonsense now. Still, just 4 days til the main event kicks off versus Kashiwa Reysol!

Kawasaki Frontale v Montedio Yamagata

Pre-season friendly: Sat, 21st February 2009

	3 - 2
JUNINHO 08' TASAKA 101', 134'		HASEGAWA 35' KIFUJI 118'

Venue: International Seaside Entrance Plaza, Miyazaki

Kawasaki Frontale v Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Pre-season friendly: Fri, 20th February 2009

	2 - 3
VITOR JUNIOR 38' SUGIURA 124'		KUWADA 8' MAKINO 35' YOKOTAKE 73'

Venue: Seagaia Event Square, Miyazaki

Kawasaki Frontale v Omiya Ardija

Pre-season friendly: Tue, 17th February 2009

	0 - 4
		ICHIKAWA 21', 33' FUJIMOTO 44' LAVRIC 84'

Venue: Undo Koen, Miyazaki

Kengo and Shuhei Terada were welcomed back to the Frontale fold with a 4-0 spanking at the hands of Omiya Ardija on Tuesday afternoon.

Back in sunny Miyazaki, a near full-strength side conceded their first match of the 2009 pre-season - and with some style. Still, I'm a firm believer that if you're going to get embarrassed by J1 opponents, better to do it when it doesn't count.

The line-up looks a little strange on paper, with Mori and Yamagishi playing either side of Terada and Ito in a back four. Yusuke Tasaka up front with Chong Tese and Kurotsu is also something of a novelty. But the midfield of Kengo, Taniguchi and Vitor Junior is certainly what you'd expect to see starting against Kashiwa next month.

I suppose you could also point to Aizawa in goal instead of Kawashima as a weakness, but I'd hazard that it was the experimental defense that brought about the one-sided result.

A B-Team was also in action with two 45-minute games against J2's FC Gifu and Hoyo Atletico Elan of the Oita Prefectural League. The Gifu game was lost 1-0, but they managed to overcome the Oita amateurs 2-0 with Noborizato and Kimura getting their names on the scoresheet again. Yokoyama continues to feature in midfield...watch this space!

P.S. If you're in need of a good chuckle, check out the latest offering from the hilarious Agent Orange on 'Go! Go! Omiya Ardija'. Amidst all the vitriol there's even some words of praise for the Frontale faithful (well, the Japanese ones at least!).

Kawasaki Frontale v Shonan Bellmare

Pre-season friendly: Sat, 14th February 2009

	2 - 0
ANONYMOUS TRAINEE 105' NOBORIZATO 108'

Venue: Todoroki Stadium

Frontale maintained their 100% pre-season record with a 2-0 victory over J2's Shonan Bellmare on Saturday.

All the post-match talk surrounded young Kyohei Noborizato who registered his first goal as a professional player. And, by all accounts, it was a fairly dazzling effort.

The 18-year-old midfielder signed from Kagawa Nishi High School at the end of last year and was set to star in the national high school championship in January before injury ruled him out in the early stages.

Instead it was Kashima Antlers' recent acquisition Yuya Osako who went on to take the limelight in that competition and become labelled as Japan's brightest young prospect. But with both players opening their professional accounts this weekend the press has been quick to draw comparisons between the two.

Slightly dubious as to what stock should be put in this kind of press hype. Personally, I'd like to know more about Anonymous Trainee - he sounds like a real talent!

Kawasaki Frontale v FC Tokyo

Pre-season friendly: Wed, 11th February 2009

	4 - 1
KUKINO 11', 40' KUROTSU 46' KIMURA 139'		KONDO 104'

Venue: Todoroki Stadium

Another game of four quarters, although this time 35 minutes each as opposed to the half-hour chunks against Nagasaki (just in case anyone was wondering whether Yuji Kimura was the only man still playing when he scored in the 139th minute!).

Played behind closed doors, this match saw more of Frontale's second-string frontmen sharing the spoils and staking their claims to those all important spots on the subs' bench in what will be a packed 2009 schedule.

Kukino's already registered a few J.League goals in seasons past, and Kurotsu's obviously a well-established member of the team, but it would be nice to see Kimura get a chance to show what he can do at the top level this year. He's shown remarkable potential with some of his perfomances in the Satellite League and will hopefully have ample opportunity to impress Sekizuka this pre-season.

One other point of interest is that Tomonobu Yokoyama has been listed as playing in midfield for both pre-season games so far. Is Sekizuka looking to shore things up at the back by converting the young centre-back into a holding midfielder? In the few games he played last season he certainly looked very comfortable on the ball.

Kawasaki Frontale v V-Varen Nagasaki

Pre-season friendly: Fri, 6th February 2009

	5 - 0
TANIGUCHI 11' CHONG 31' TASAKA 36' YAJIMA 61' SUGIURA 67'

Venue: Nishikibaru, Miyazaki

Don't know if Frontale have been brushing up on Roman numerals over the winter holidays, but they contrived to stick V goals past V-Varen Nagasaki (recently promoted to the JFL - Japan's 3rd division) in their first pre-season outing of 2009.

The game was played over 4 quarters with most of the squad getting a run out. There was no Kengo, Kawashima or Terada (due to their involvement in the Japan squad set to face Australia on Wednesday) and both Juninho and Renatinho were rested. However, Vitor Junior played the first half and Chong Tese got his name on the scoresheet before jetting off to join the North Korean squad for their World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia.

Nice to see new-/old-boy Yajima notching one up so quickly. Hopefully he'll be able to put some pressure on last season's front three and make sure they're earning their places in the starting line-up.