Kashiwa Reysol

It was a back in match day 10.

Kashiwa were the only top six side to lose.

On Wednesday, Machida were the only one of them to win.

They went top with a thumping win at Shimizu, while the previous leaders, Hiroshima, were humbled at Nagasaki.

FC Tokyo and Kashiwa drew at Ajinomoto Stadium.

Kobe stumbled away at Kawasaki, and Kashiwa blew a very late lead at Kyoto.

Yeah, absolutely fascinating stuff and very, very on point for the G League for such a turnaround within the space of about four or five days.

I guess your FC Tokyo and Kashiwa Raisal, a nil-nil draw is not particularly great on the surface, but given everything else that went on in the match day, not too shabby at all for both of them.

And Kashima also edged a 1-0 away at Kong'an, Hanoi.

On Wednesday, Kashiwa obliterated Port FC with five first-half goals and eventually cruised 5-1 at home.

And Kobe claimed a terrific 2-0 home win over South Korean powerhouse Jeonbuk.

Then on Thursday, Machida won their ACL2 game 1-0 at Tumpin's Rovers of Singapore, right at the death.

But if I've got it right, there are nine teams who are still in the Levan Cup and the Emperor's Cup.

So

it's the four of the ACL teams, Vissel, Kobe, Kashima, Antlers, Kashiwa, Reysol, matching at Zelvia.

And then five teams who are not in the ACL, which is Sanfrecci, Hiroshima, Urawa Reds, Yokama, F. Marinos, Kawasaki, Frontale, and Cerezo, Osaka.

You know what's interesting? Messi is the inevitable comparison for Yamal, but he cites Neymar as his hero.

And actually, a 19-year-old Neymar, the same age Lamine is now, scored a very similar goal for Santos against Kashiwa Reysol in the Club World Cup semis.

Santos, by the way, then got drilled 4-0 by Messi and Barcelona.

Uh, and that was the day that Neymar thought to himself, "I better join these guys." A couple years later he did, and a young Lamine grew up watching that MSN team with Neymar and Messi.

Seven, DHFC.

Eight, Kashiwa Reysol.

Nine, Kyoto Sanga.

10, Jeonbuk.

But overall it looked like a, um, yeah, a fixture list in the early stages where Sanfrecce could make some hay, and indeed they have done that.

A- as we said back at the start of this section, they've, uh, they've now moved up to second in the table, a point behind Kashiwa.

So yeah, I mean, the, uh, the, the fixture list has been fairly friendly to you, uh, up to this point.

And indeed the, the next four rounds-

A lot of, uh, what we say, winnable games coming up.

Mm.

As you've, you've kind of touched on, Robert, that after the international break you've got, uh, in four weeks in a row FC Tokyo away, Kashiwa away, Vissel at home, Antlers at home.

[laughs] It's a-

And I saw both teams end the match with 10 men each.

Jeonbuk beat Kashima, Kashiwa Reysol, uh, 2-1, and then Port FC lost 1-2 at home to Vissel Kobe.

Uh, yeah, I'm just gonna jump straight into Kyoto Sanga for a minute here.

Uh, for those who don't really follow the J League, uh, you can have a maximum of five foreigners.

Al-Gharafah, uh, will play against Esteghlal.

Um, As-Sab against Al Hilal, and Al-Ittihad Shara- against Sharaba Al Ahli in the west side.

In the east side, uh, we have Newcastle Jets hosting Gamba Osaka, Kyoto Sanga against Rachabury, Pohang Steelers against JDT, Shanghai Port against, uh, Daejeon, Buriram United against Beijing Guoan, um, Hanoi Police against Kashima Antlers, Vissel Kobe against Jeonbuk, and then Kashiwa Reysol hosting Port.

Um, are we ready for our favorite competition, the ACL 2?

And very much like my value pick, it's early in the weekend card.

Friday, 11:00 a.m. UK time For Kashiwa Reysol versus Vissel Kobe.

Uh, now Kobe won in my charity slot on the sh- on the last show, and I'm going to back them again this week.

They're top of the league, so top of the J1 League.

They've scored 12 and conceded just five goals.

Um, this'll be a tough game though.

They have to travel to second place, Kashiwa Reysol.

They're only a point behind them on 18 points.

And then, Johnny, the fourth round lost.

of the first round was played on Saturday, and I don't think it's possible to have two more contrasting results than Machida 0, Kyoto 0, Machida winning 5-3 on penalties, and Kashiwa 5, Gumboro Osaka 4.

After extra time at Hitachi Dai.

Squeaky bum time at the Hitachi Dai all over the shop, Johnny.

By the way, on the Seamus and Kenshin Yuba tip, Johnny, I think by about the 102nd minute of the game, Seamus was very anti-Yuba.

But seven minutes after that, he was ready to campaign again.

for Yuba to be the mayor of Kashiwa.

So, yes, obviously swings and roundabouts with football fandom.

Interesting.

14 minutes off the bench for Eli Adams as he's back in action with Gambra Osaka losing 5-4 in extra time to Kashiwa Reysol.

And in America, Chief, we've seen Portland Thorns have only one win in their past four as they're beaten 4-2 by Boston Legacy.

Mackenzie Arnold playing 90 minutes, making four saves.