Akemashite Omedetou!

Akemashite Omedetou (Happy New Year), readers! Well, I haven't blogged in waaay too long, but I want to let you know that the blog, and its author, are still alive. My life outside the blogosphere has been scrambled eggs lately and I've been neglecting my writing duties. Fear not, the blog will be back in full force soon.

As most of you probably know by now, the World Cup draw took place in December. Japan was drawn into a group with the Netherlands, Denmark, and Cameroon. A tough group, but not an impossible one. Most football pundits are calling Japan the wooden spoon of the group, and are "sure" that the Oranje will advance to the Round of 16 with either Denmark or Cameroon in tow. Let us hope to prove them wrong.

The first match for Japan will be against Cameroon, and will also be the most important. 3 points won't come easy, as Samuel Eto'o will be difficult for our backline to contain. The Cameroon match takes place on the 14th of June. The Netherlands are up next five days later and will be the biggest uphill climb of Japan's World Cup. When we played them in the friendly last year, we gave up 3 goals in the final 1/3 of the match and lost 3-0. In order to win, we must almost certainly score first, and will most likely need more than one goal to secure the W. The last match of the group stage, and hopefully not the last match of the WC for us, will be played against Denmark. Denmark only lost one game in their qualifying run, against the Hungarians in their last match. By then, they had already secured a spot in the World Cup and the result should not be looked at as a weakness on their part. The emergence of Nicklas Bendtner, the Arsenal striker, as a World Class goal scoring threat sharpens the attacking edge that the Danish bring, and Denmark will not fall easily.

In terms of what has been happening with transfers of Japanese nationals, there has been a lot of speculation, but not much happening. Tulio was rumored to be heading to Europe with Dutch top club FC Twente, coached by former England manager Steve McClaren, but ultimately stayed in the J. League and only transferred from the Reds over to Nagoya. In my opinion, a weak and "too safe" move by Tulio.

There was also speculation that Keisuke Honda would be transferred out of lowly Dutch club VVV-Venlo and join a top flight Premier League team like Liverpool or Everton. In the end, Honda did move out of the Eredivisie but ended up in Russia, not England, for CSKA Moscow. While I am not particularly fond of the decision, as I have been dying for a Japanese player to make it in England for years, there are some benefits to his move. First, one would question whether the Russian league is actually a step back from the Eredivisie. While this I will leave for the Dutch and Russians to debate, at best, I think the Russian league is at par with the Dutch but not miles ahead like the Premier League or La Liga. CSKA Moscow, however, is a much better team than Venlo, and Honda will gain experience playing against the best European clubs in the Champions League. Also, while Honda probably would have warmed the bench at Liverpool, he should be able to secure a first team spot with Moscow quite easily, keeping him fit for the World Cup. On a final note, it is believed that CSKA Moscow dished out a whopping 9 million euro to acquire him. Which, as far as I know, makes Honda the most expensive Japanese player in the world.

VVV-Venlo hinted that they had contacted and were luring in a Japanese replacement for Honda's anticipated departure. The name was Shinji Kagawa, a 20-year very gifted midfielder for J League 2 side Cerezo Osaka. Kagawa has already played 10 matches for the senior side, and is touted as one of Japan's brightest players for the future. Ultimately, Kagawa decided to stay with Cerezo, at least for now, but its good to hear that another one of Japan's young guns are already thinking about making the Euro trip.

Finally, we'll touch upon the future of Takayuki "the Shining" Morimoto. Taka has been linked to Manchester United for the past couple years now, and it seems that they have not given up on swallowing him up. There is speculation that Taka is not ready to make the "big jump" yet, and understandably as I can't really see Taka supplanting Rooney, Michael Owen, or even Berbatov any time soon, and would probably play mostly for the ManU reserves. Still, what a thrill it would be to see Taka in the red jersey. Fiorentina has openly suggested their interest and as the season progresses I am sure many more teams will announce their intentions as well.

Again, apologies for not posting sooner, I had a good blogging vacation but am back with rested typing fingers. Leave a comment or send me an e-mail and let me know how you felt about the World Cup draw, Honda's move to Russia, or if you want to share some ridiculous New Years party story.

Cheers.