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Steven

Ex-Leicester City player news

By Steven, in Leicester City Forum

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Cujek

Guest Cujek

Posted
Posted
On 12/12/2017 at 10:07, kushiro said:

Yuki Abe's adventure is over. By winning the Asian Champions League last month, his team Urawa Reds qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup, which has just started. If they'd won their first game (v Al Jazira of UAE), they would have faced Real Madrid in the semi-final later this week. But they lost 1-0. Still, it was worth it just to find out that Al Jazira means 'the island', and so does the alternative spelling Al Jazeera, the TV station.

 

 

I'm going to shoehorn into this post a few bits of news from Japan, some of which have a tenuous (at best) connection to Leicester, but it's been a fascinating few weeks so here goes:

 

The World Cup draw was the big news, with Japan being drawn in a group with Colombia, Senegal and Poland. Pretty tough. If they get through that, England might be there opponents in the last 16. Shinji v Harry Maguire, anyone? Except, of course, Shinji's chances of making the squad seem pretty slim at the moment. Colombia will be quite pleased if he's absent after the cracking header he scored against them at the last World Cup:

okazaki_diving_header.jpg

 

 

There was an amazing end to the J-League season. Remember the feeling of being five points clear at the top with a handful of games to play? Well, this is how the race for the title between Kawasaki Frontale and Kashima Antlers played out:

 

IMG_1039.jpg

 

As you can see, in this particular two horse race, the chasing team (Kawasaki) got their noses in front on goal difference on the last day of the season, winning 5-0 while their rivals could only draw. Kashima would have scraped a 1-0 win and won the title had it not been for a very smart refereeing decision. They had one of those well-planned corner moves where one forward's job is to subtly block the run of a defender so he can't track the movement of another forward. It worked perfectly, the only problem being that the ref was wise to it (unlike, for example, Kevin Friend on Saturday, who failed to spot the foul on Jeff Schlupp that left Jermaie Defoe in space to score for Bournemouth at Palace). 

 

Further down the table, rumoured Leicester-target Chanathip Songkrasin continued his good from for my local team Consadole Sapporo, as they finished a very respectable 11th. If he does join us he'll be the smallest player in the Premier League at 5 foot 3. Here he is with Jay Bothroyd, who has had a truly sensational end to the season.

IMG_1035.jpg

 

It feels weird to have Shinji at Leicester, and an Englishman at my local club here, as if it were some kind of student exchange programme. Bothroyd is old enough to have scored at Filbert Street, for England under-21s against Mexico. A goal, by the way, that I captured on film, in a photo that makes up for in nostalgia value what it so clearly lacks in basic photographic competence. That's the double decker in the background! 

IMG_1057.jpg

 

OK - I'll round off this rambling round-up with a question. Apart from Bothroyd, how many other players that scored at Filbert Street are still playing professional football? (Wish Paul Taylor was here to give us an answer).   Edit: Realised that I mentioned one earlier in this post - Jermaine Defoe, who also scored in that U-21 game. Any others?

Why is Shinji not getting in the Japan team?

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kushiro

kushiro

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Cujek said:

Why is Shinji not getting in the Japan team?

Bizarre, isn't it?  I'll copy and paste a post from the Leicester Internationals thread from last month:

 

Okazaki is all over the newspapers this morning. Along with Honda and Kagawa, he's been left out of the squad for Japan's forthcoming friendlies with Brazil and Belgium. Predictably, the omission of the 'Big Three' is causing something of a sensation here. 

 

'They didn't play well last time so I'm leaving them out', explains boss Halilhodzic, and although the door has been left open for them to fight their way back in before next June ('They need to find their old form'), it looks bleak for all three at the moment. Okazaki and Honda were left out of last month's friendlies too, but the asumption was they'd be back after new faces had been tried. This looked even more likely after Japan struggled in those two games, but now not only have Honda and Okazaki not been recalled, but Kagawa has also been left out. 

 

Halilhodzic gambled in Japan's big WCQ in September - relying on new faces for the crunch game against Australia - and it paid off handsomely, with newcomer Yosuke Ideguchi the star of the show. No doubt that convinced him it was time to ditch the 'old' faces (Kagawa is 28, Okazaki and Honda 31).

 

IMG_1014.jpg

 

 

So that was on November 1st. 

 

Then two weeks ago, Japan suffered a truly humiliating pummeling at home to South Korea, who looked like world beaters as they crushed their old rivals 4-1. It was part of an East Asian football tournament for which only players in the domestic leagues were called up (so Shinji's absence was a given), but the mood here has changed. Rather than 'yeah - let's go with the next generation!', the feeling has become 'Er - maybe we should actually choose our best players.'

 

Whether or not Halilhodzic will respond to those calls is another question. He is as contrary as they come, and seems to enjoy getting under the skin of the Japanese reporters who are constantly pressing him about these matters.

 

By the way, maybe we should continue this discussion on the appropriate thread (it was my faullt in the first place for chucking in random stuff where it didn't belong - and my not knowing how to quote to a different thread that has stopped me switching already).

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MadKaw

MadKaw

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1 minute ago, Blue Fox 72 said:

Kisnorbo?

Yes... He coaches Melbourne City's Womens team. There was a double header, W league followed by the A league between Melbourne City and Western Sydney, on NYD. Paddy was right into it, he was up and down all game, kicking the ball for the players from the box, and then kicking the esky over when they missed a shot. Was good to see. :-)

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Costock_Fox

Costock_Fox

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, toddybad said:

Not exactly news but something I didn't know until now.

 

Which football players appear on the cover of Definitely Maybe?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jan/03/which-football-players-appear-on-the-cover-of-definitely-maybe-oasis?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

 

 

10 hours ago, Blue Fox 72 said:

Kisnorbo?

Wow, who knew?!?

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Tuna

Tuna

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Posted

Watching MOTD, just saw Matt Oakley standing next to Paul Tisdale in the dugout for the West Brom game today...looks like he's stayed on at Exeter as Coach/Assistant.

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Wasyls Pec Deck

Wasyls Pec Deck

Posted
Posted
On 03/01/2018 at 11:14, toddybad said:

Not exactly news but something I didn't know until now.

 

Which football players appear on the cover of Definitely Maybe?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jan/03/which-football-players-appear-on-the-cover-of-definitely-maybe-oasis?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

 

Not sure how I haven't noticed that. Great find!

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