Qatar have been able to begin the competitive round of games for the new season in style. In the team opened up the World Cup 2022 qualification and AFC 2023 Asian Cup preliminary qualification games in style. The team was able to overcome Afghanistan with a 6-0 victory at the Al Sadd Stadium. Even though this is not one of the locations for the World Cup 2022 stadiums, it still holds a key role in the Qatari football space. After recently winning the Asian Cup in January, Qatar were hosting the first home match and it was extra special as a result.
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said that his team is ready for the Asian Cup that will be held in the United Arab Emirates in January. He was speaking after his team last friendly game against Kyrgyzstan. Japan managed to win the game by 4-0.
The win means that Japan is now undefeated in 5 games since their new manager Hajime Moriyasu took charge of the team.
Former Barcelona and Spain international midfielder Andres Iniesta believes that he has made the right decision to move to Japan in order to play for Vissel Kobe. He said that he feels at home in Japan and that he has been welcomed really well by his teammates as well as the fans.
Indeed Andres Iniesta has enjoyed a good opening to his Japanese career and has scored two goals so far this season in the Japanese league.
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.
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.
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.
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 J League with its mission to increase the Japanese football level has also promoted the flow of the game using the professional football medium. Another objective of Japanese league is to foster the growth of the sporting culture in Japan.
Three of the Japanese football league teams successfully reached to the pitch on 20th April 2016 in the fifth day of the AFC champion’s league group stage. The team FC Tokyo was defeated in a 3-0 loss to Jeonbuk Motors, the K- League champions. The former midfielder of Cerezo Osaka, Kim Bo-Kyung along with Ko Mu-yeol managed to score the opener and also helped Lee Jae-sung on the second goal by making it 3-0 in the stoppage time. Tokyo is now in need of away victory at Binh Duong of Vietnam so as to achieve the round of 16.
As far as the Urawa Reds are concerned, they made their appearance in the tournament after eight years with a draw at Sydney which remains the highest in the group. The results in numbers have eliminated Guangzhou, the current champions from progressing in order to ensure that there is an entry of the new Asian member at the FIFA club world cup this year. Sanfrecce Hiroshima has joined Gamba Osaka in the exclusion pile with loss of 1-0 at Shandong Luneng. However, the defenders of the Japanese football team have surrendered a goal to none other than Diego Tardelli and have been assured a third place finish position in group F.
Liverpool finished the 2014-15 Premier League season in a very disappointing fashion as Brendan Rodgers and his players lost the last match of that season in what was an underwhelming match against Stoke City which saw Liverpool losing 6-1. Liverpool had to settle with the 6th spot of the Premier League in this season.
Nonetheless, even with this disastrous campaign that Liverpool went through in the past edition of the Premier League, the owners of the Premier League club still decided to keep Brendan Rodgers as the manager of the English squad but the pressure is starting to build on the Northern Ireland coach as the club has spent big in this summer and Rodgers has to make a successful season with Liverpool or his time in Anfield might be running out.
Liverpool has not been shy in this summer transfer window and has spent a fairly large amount of cash in signing new players with the Brazilian player Roberto Firmino who arrived to Anfield for a transfer fee of £29 million and Christian Benteke also came at a hefty price as €32 million was needed to secure the services of the Belgian forward. That’s a total of €61 million for just 2 players.
With so much cash being spent, if Brendan Rodgers is not able to fulfill the expectations of the fans and of the owners of Liverpool, it’s very likely that he will be sacked from his managerial role in Anfield.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is backing his former striker, Didier Drogba, to be a major success in the MLS.
The striker is on the verge of joining an MLS club with both Chicago Fire and Montréal Impact interested in his services. Both clubs will be getting an ageing striker on an extraordinary wage packet, but Mourinho believes that Drogba is fully worth this respect. The 37-year-old striker may be on his last legs in terms of playing football, but the contribution that he makes to the squad is invaluable according to Mourinho. In fact, the Portuguese manager has gone as far as saying that he would make Drogba as his first signing at each of his clubs.
The Ivory Coast international was a major factor in Chelsea keeping the trophy hunting going even during the dark at times at the club. The club has gone through more than 10 manages the last decade, but the players have been the constant aspect. Drogba was a major factor in keeping the team united in the hunt for trophies. Without the influential figure of the former Marseille striker, the blues may not have achieved the success. Drogba decided to leave Chelsea after just one season due to the lack of regular football.