Emperor's Cup

And also Makoto Mitsuda, we talked about in...

in preseason, um, we thought he'd be a key player, but other than some minutes in the Emperor's Cup game, he's not really been seen and Gamba could really do with him, do with him back.

So if he's fit, I'd like to see him back at Gamba if you've got no use for him.

So any, any update on either of those players?

It's not particularly lucrative career in this country.

So if there's, if there's money available elsewhere, you know, As sad as I would be to see him go, he kind of has to take it, doesn't he? And then regarding, who did you say, Mitsta? Mitsta, yeah.

Yeah, so he played in that game, the Emperor's Cup, wasn't it? And we haven't seen him since, and I'm kind of disappointed with that.

When I was talking to you guys in pre-season, you were really talking him up, and I thought he'd play alongside Koizumi behind a striker, and we'd have like a... two creative players there which would be amazing to have that kind of outlet and just yeah I really thought that's what was going to happen but then when you've seen Watai come back into the squad in the last two games he's played very well especially in the game against Kyoto and uh yeah so I think he'll be there there's also Yamauchi sits in that position but he's he's got to be better than Yamauchi I mean Yamauchi is fine but I think his uh His willingness to take on a man far outweighs his ability to take on a man, you know.

Yeah, J3 teams have had a very busy opening month.

We've not even had a month, I think, of the season with the League, obviously, but also Emperor's Cup and the Van Cup matches as well.

I'm very excited to talk about J3 because it's been a very interesting start to the season.

How are you?

They started with two big wins as well.

Not quite as big as Gifu's, but a 4-1 win at home to Nara, a 4-0 win at home to Tottori.

And then they beat International Pacific University 2-1 in the first round of the Emperor's Cup.

Drew two all the way to Matsumoto.

Alright then, so we mentioned the new keeper.

He made his league debut after starting in the Emperor's Cup in midweek.

His fellow Brazilian, the forward Everton Marseilleau, did the same.

He also started on Saturday night.

Leo Seara will be the jury's player of the round.

I think a dominant display for a dominant team.

And then, yeah, Verdi, as you said, but Morita, I think he came back in the Emperor's Cup maybe.

And then he was definitely a month or at least a month ahead of what we expected.

Okay, let's go to Japan.

They had the Emperor's Cup midweek.

We see Machida with a 3-0 win over Gruella in the Emperor's Cup.

Teddy Yangi off the bench and just knocks another one in for fun, doesn't he? Continues his run of goals, three goals in four games.

Mitch Duke also got some game time off the bench.

But they're still unbeaten in the league.

So well done.

Steve Korica's Yokohama FC Marinos won 1-0 again against Fukushima in the Emperor's Cup.

... at the, uh, the JFA and the J League.

So, um, for listeners, this midweek, so all the games on Wednesday, August the 26th, is round two of the Emperor's Cup.

Now, there's plenty of, uh, J2 teams involved.

Uh, too many for us to probably list, uh, y- you know, in, in any meaningful way.

Uh, both of them also had sort of slightly disappointing, well, uh, more than slightly disappointing in Iwata's case, um, half seasons.

So I think that's, that's a game that I'm, I'm particularly interested in.

Um, and also, not only are there Emperor's Cup games this Wednesday, but next Wednesday some teams have got Levain Cup games, and some have got them the following Wednesday with J2 in between that.

So, so a lot of, um, pressure on, on, on managers to, to manage their squads, and also a lot of pressure on players as well to, uh, to perform, uh, more often than usual or risk losing their place.

Yeah, I mean, Popovic, I think he's, he's already...

I think he saw, m- looking ahead to the, the Emperor's Cup tie this midweek as a, as a chance to, to build up a bit of good feeling.

Uh, it's kind of clutching at straws.

I mean, uh, this...

Um, I mean, I, I watched the, the, the Gamba game, the Gamba-Okayama.

I saw the highlights of, of your game and the other games.

I just checked the, the lineups, and it was very interesting to see there was a, you know, some teams went with quite a few overage players or gave kind of r- players returning from injury so- some minutes, or potentially preparing some players for action on, on, uh, like, players who hadn't played yet this season for, for action in, in Wednesday night's Emperor's Cup.

Um, whereas other teams just went completely under 18.

And just finally, it's probably worth reminding people like me and James who were a bit surprised by this.

But the Emperor's Cup...

Round 2 is taking place next Wednesday August the 26th.

I think there are 16 ties in total.