Kawasaki Frontale UK (川崎フロンターレ)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

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16 Jumpei KUSUKAMI

Friday, March 13, 2009

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Todoroki development gets the go-ahead

Thursday, March 12, 2009

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Kawasaki Frontale v Tianjin Teda

AFC Champions League - Group H: Wed, 11th March 2009

	1 - 0
RENATINHO 16'

Venue: Todoroki Stadium
Attendance: 12,125

On a cold, damp Wednesday night Frontale stuttered to victory in their opening ACL encounter with China's Tianjin Teda.

Group H's other two teams, Central Coast Mariners and Pohang Steelers, ground out a goalless draw, leaving Frontale top of the table. However, the prospect of a trip to Todoroki will hardly have them trembling in their boots after this rather ring rusty performance.

Sekizuka sent out the same team that started against Kashiwa on Saturday, Yamagishi still featuring at right-back. And for the opening 15 minutes they bossed the game, showing the kind of movement and control of which we all know they're capable.

On 16 minutes Frontale's dominance was rewarded. Vitor Junior beat two defenders and whipped in a cross from the left which Renatinho, leaping gazelle-like, angled inside the far post.

At this stage you'd have been forgiven for thinking a rout was on the cards. But the visitors, to their credit, had other ideas and began to expose some of their hosts' vulnerabilities.

Marshalled by former Italian international, Damiano Tommasi, Tianjin started to get stuck in to the Frontale midfield. All too soon, passes were being rushed and possession ceded in increasingly dangerous areas. This in turn led to the kind of rabbit-in-the-headlights defending that plagued much of last season.

Encouraged by this shift in the balance of play, Tianjin pressed forward. But for all their possession in and around the Frontale penalty area they only really had one good chance - a free header that was directed wide.

Half time gave Frontale the opportunity to regrow a pair and they showed much stronger resolve in the second half. The balance of power shifted back to the home team and, as the visitors began to tire from their first half efforts, Frontale's front men saw more and more of the ball.

However, as so often, it was the final ball that repeatedly let the side down. And, apart from one glorious opportunity for Chong Tese to add some sheen to an otherwise anonymous performance, there were few clear openings.

It was encouraging to see the downcast faces of the players at the end of the game. They know they're better than this performance attested and hopefully they'll be able to show that starting with the away trip to Kobe at the weekend.

Still not convinced by the Yamagishi experiment. Defensively both Mori and Yamagishi are suspect, but at least Mori knows what he's doing coming forward on the right. Yamagishi had ample opportunity to show what he can offer offensively, but he continues to look like a fish out of water. The defense looked far more stable when he was replaced by Murakami at the end, although by then, it must be said, the opposition had run out of steam.

The defense was also helped by the arrival of Yokoyama in midfield for the last 10 minutes. This lad has a bright future.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

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Kawasaki Frontale v Kashiwa Reysol

J.League Division 1: Sat, 7th March 2009

	1 - 1
CHONG 77'		SUGANUMA 50'

Venue: Todoroki Stadium
Attendance: 17,841

Saturday afternoon saw a return to business as usual at Todoroki. This had all the hallmarks of your typical home game. The visitors sat back and looked to pinch a goal on the counter attack. The Frontale front men huffed and puffed but ultimately struggled to blow Kashiwa's house down (despite their defense looking decidedly un-brick-like).

There were a few new haircuts on display, which is always nice. And, perhaps most notably, a new position for Yamagishi at right-back. It seems somewhat counter-intuitive for a player who excels on the left wing to be put in at right-back, but a little experimentation is never a bad thing.

Missed the first half hour of the game, but from the highlights it looks like Reysol created the only real chances of the first half. Franca had an effort cleared off the line by the freshly-shorn Igawa and Kawashima needed to be at his best to block a close range effort, albeit from a very tight angle.

Unsurprisingly, Kashiwa looked to be having most success on Yamagishi's side. However, their lead shortly after the break resulted from a raid in behind Ito. A decent cross from the bye-line was met by the head of Suganuma, leaving big Eiji with no chance. (I don't want to start the season unfairly targeting any individuals, but Yamagishi was nowhere near Suganuma when he steered his header into the net. Would Mori have been any closer? Probably not.)

Forced to throw caution to the wind, Frontale started creating some clear-cut chances of their own. Juninho and Chong Tese both looked dangerous, if a little wayward, and Kengo, whose passing had been fairly erratic thus far, started to find his range.

With a quarter of the game left, Sekizuka tried out his next experiment, bringing on Yokoyama to allow Kengo to take up a more advanced role. It was probably the ineffective Taniguchi who was due to be replaced, but a reckless challenge from an over-enthusiastic Vitor Junior (who was awarded a yellow card but deserved a red) moments prior to the substitution may have changed the manager's mind.

Within 10 minutes the change had the desired effect. With Yokoyama sitting in front of the back four, Kengo was now a constant threat around the Reysol penalty area. And it was his deflected shot that fell kindly for Chong Tese to level things up.

As the clock ran down Frontale continued to pile on the pressure and probably created enough opportunities to deserve all three points. It was just a combination of poor finishing and bad luck that kept Kashiwa in the game.

Kengo almost beat the entire Reysol defense but his mazy run was foiled at the edge of the 6-yard box. A succession of corners saw various chances go begging - the best falling to Ito who blasted over from 10 yards. Kurotsu, on for Renatinho, stuck a boot out when he should really have left an easy finish for Juninho. Thrilling stuff, but no cigar.

If this game came in the latter stages of the season you'd say it was 2 points dropped, but as a first outing it was fairly encouraging - the second half at least. There's no denying that last season's problems are still in effect, but with Sekizuka back in the driving seat the seeds of progress appear to have been sown.