Tianjin Teda 0 at Nagoya Grampus 0 (AFC Champions League Matchday 4) - April 18, 2012

After watching F.C. Tokyo dismantle Beijing Guoan on Tuesday night, I took the Shinkansen to Nagoya on Wednesday to see another Chinese team visiting Japan in AFC Champions League action. This time it was Nagoya Grampus hosting Tianjin Teda in what was expected to be another win for a J.League side.

Mizuho Athletic Stadium

Grampus plays half of their games at Toyota Stadium, a very cool and modern venue located in Toyota City, which is where the famous car maker also happens to be. Built in 1997, it has a retractable roof and seats 45,000, but unfortunately for local fans, it is nearly an hour from Nagoya. To keep them happy, the club plays the other half of their games as well as their ACL matches at Mizuho Athletic Stadium, which is in Nagoya proper.



This is a much older venue that was built in 1941 and holds 27,000 fans. It is separated into a main stand and a back stand and you cannot move from one to the other. I prefer the cheaper back stand but all seats here are just benches (below), so if you want to sit in relative comfort, it will cost you. My ticket was 3,000 yen, while those in the main stand ran either 5,000 or 6,500 with another small advantage of being covered.



The food is mostly in front of the main gate (below) and there's quite a nice selection as well, with about 8 trucks serving a variety of Japanese dishes. My favourite is the miso kushi katsu, breaded pork dipped in miso sauce (a Nagoya staple). At 3 sticks for 400 yen, it is very reasonable, but you have to eat it quickly before the bread gets too soggy from the miso.



Before halftime, you can exit the seating area and wander outside, so I would recommend that you find a seat in the back stand and then mosey on over to the main gate to get your food.



There is nothing else here really. The Nagoya fans, like all in Japan, are pretty serious and despite a small attendance of 6,006, they made noise all game long. It's too bad they had little to cheer about.



The Game

The two teams met in the previous match in Tianjin and Nagoya won easily 3-0, so I expected another waltz in the park. Nope. Nagoya was missing three top players, including Australian national Joshua Kennedy and Japanese defender Tulio, so they had their work cut out for them. The first half was rather slow and neither team could build any momentum, with the best chance falling to Teda who lobbed one over Grampus goalie Seigo Narazaki (Japan's #1 keeper) only to see it bounce off the top of the bar.



The second half saw Nagoya start to take control and they were rewarded with a penalty in the 13th minute. The Tianjin players surrounded the referee from Hong Kong to protest but it was to no avail. Keiji Tamada lined up the spot kick and sent it wide left (below), much to the chagrin of the locals.



Tianjin used the miss to start their attack and they had a couple of strong shots that Narazaki handled well. As the clock wound down, Nagoya pressed for the winner, spending most of the last 10 minutes attacking the Teda net, but they could not manage to score, wasting two fantastic  chances when their shots missed badly. When the final whistle blew to end the 0-0 draw, the disgruntled fans moaned noticeably but still politely applauded the players when they came to the sideline to bow.



I've never seen a scoreless draw before in all the games I've gone to and I hope that is the last one I have to endure.



Next Up

Tonight I will be at the Nagoya Dome to see the hated Giants and the Chunichi Dragons in Central League action. Tomorrow I'll see the Dragons' minor league team taking on Fukuoka in an Western League match.. These are my last two games in Japan, at least while I live here, so I hope they are more memorable than tonight's snoozefest.

Best,

Sean

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Beijing Guoan 0 at F.C.Tokyo 3 (AFC Champions League Matchday 4) - April 17, 2012

Last year, F.C. Tokyo won the Emperor's Cup, gaining them admittance to the 2012 AFC Champions League competition. This is the Asian equivalent of UEFA's Champions League and although it doesn't rate nearly as highly, it does provide some interesting games for local fans. Tokyo was drawn into Group F along with Australian champs Brisbane Roar, Korean runners-up Ulsan Hyundai, and Beijing Guoan, who finished second in the Chinese Super League last season.

Each team plays the other at home and away over 2 months from early March, resulting in six games each. The midway point was hit two weeks ago with Tokyo and Ulsan leading at 5 points apiece from a win and two draws. Tokyo had visited Beijing then, coming away with a point from a 1-1 result and the return match was held yesterday in Ajinomoto Stadium, a venue I had yet to visit. With time running out on my life in Japan, I decided to take advantage of the midweek contest and headed to west Tokyo to check out both the stadium and the game.

Ajinomoto Stadium



One of the city's hidden jewels, Ajinomoto Stadium was originally called Tokyo Stadium before becoming the first venue in Japan to sell its naming rights. It is located a short 5-minute stroll from Tobitakyu Station on the Keio line, which is about a half-hour west of Shinjuku. The stadium currently hosts F.C. Tokyo in the first division and Tokyo Verdy in J2.



The stadium was opened in 2001 and surprisingly wasn't used in the 2002 World Cup despite holding over 50,000 fans when full. Having two larger stadiums in nearby Yokohama and Saitama was the primary reason for this, but one has to question the logic of building another huge white elephant in the distant countryside of Oita when this would have been more than sufficient. It was the training ground for the Saudi Arabia team that year though and a plaque notes as much just outside the main gate.



As you approach the stadium, you walk up a set of stairs to the main gate, where you will find the ticket windows off to your right. There are two categories of games but ticket prices don't differ by more than 500 yen. My advice is to get the unreserved home seats at 2,500 yen which give you the whole lower deck in the back stand to choose from.



If you prefer the upper deck, it will cost you an extra 1,000 yen, a surprising twist on the usual pricing policy. The benefit of sitting up top is that the entire bowl is covered by the roof, while only the last three or four rows in the lower sections are similarly protected from the elements. This is supposed to be a multipurpose facility and as such, the seating area is somewhat far away from the pitch even though there is no running track currently separating them (below). Most fans prefer to sit in the upper rows of the lower bowl as the angle from down low is not that good.





Before you enter, you might want to wander around the stadium and take note of the countless plants along the walls (below). I don't know why they are here but someone has a tough job watering them. There are also lots of trees in the area including some cherry blossoms trees that were just coming off bloom.



The very spacious concourse circles the outside of the stadium and this is where you will find a decent variety of concessions. Fried food dominates, with a rolled taco one of the relatively rarer finds. At 300 yen, it's not much but it whets the appetite for heartier fare such as the fried chicken and draft beer combo for 800 yen. Avoid the kushiage (deep fried meat on a stick) as they dip it in sauce before giving it to you and by the time you reach your seat, it is a soggy mess. That's too bad because at 100 yen per stick, it would normally be a bargain.



As this was a Champions League game, only 9,537 fans showed up, about half the average for a J.League match here. Unlike Europe where the Champions League is big business, these international club competitions don't get much respect here in Japan, which surprises me. I personally appreciate the opportunity to see a team that I would not otherwise be able to witness live and can't understand why the Japanese think differently.



Despite the low attendance, those supporters who did make it out were loud and proud and kept chanting throughout the game. All of them were wearing the club's signature blue and red striped kit and it made for a cool sight. I'd love to see this place sold out but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.



There are video scoreboards at each end that showed replays. Otherwise there is little of note. It is a very nice stadium, but as is often the case here, purely functional, without a lot of bells and whistles.



After the game, your best bet is to head east to the city. There are a few eateries between the stadium and the station but they are generally just chains and not worth your time. Two stops away from Tobitakyu is Chofu, a reasonably-sized suburb that might be interesting if you've seen the rest of Tokyo. For visitors though, Shinjuku is the better destination, with Golden Gai the late night spot if you are of such a mind.

Overall, Ajinomoto Stadium is worth visiting simply because it is a very cool structure. It is certainly too big for its current purpose, but I always enjoy seeing a game where fans are not crammed in like cattle. The supporters here are good and the atmosphere doesn't suffer much with a smaller crowd, so if you notice an FC Tokyo (or Tokyo Verdy) game here when you are in town, make an effort to check it out.

The Game

Tokyo began attacking from the outset and had a couple of quick chances. In the 7th minute, Hyun-Soo Jang was fouled and the free kick was chipped forward from about 25 metres out. Kazuma Watanabe leapt to head it just past a diving Sen Hou and off the inside of the post and into the net (below, Watanabe is #11).



Tokyo continued to press and had a few close calls while the visitors were only able to muster a single scoring opportunity which was easily saved by Hitoshi Shiota.

It looked like Tokyo would maintain their one-goal advantage but they managed to score another during the single minute of extra time. Watanabe dribbled into the box from the right side and lobbed a pass across to a wide-open Yohei Otake who headed the ball into the empty net at the strike of halftime.



That pretty much decided things, but early in the second half, F.C. Tokyo added an insurance marker. After Takuji Yonemoto was stretchered off due to injury, Tatsuya Yazawa came on as a substitute. His fresh legs were evidenced a few minutes later when he received a ball down the left flank and darted across the box, hurdling a tackler (above) and chipping the ball past Hou for the third and final goal of the game (below).



The rest of the affair was of little consequence. Beijing put the ball in the net near the end, but it was correctly ruled a "late" offside. In soccer, there is a rule that you can be offside as long as you are not part of the play. In this case, the eventual scorer was offside when the pass was made to another forward. If that player had scored after receiving the pass, the goal would have been legal, but he passed to the offside man and the flag immediately went up.

A fairly entertaining game for Tokyo fans as their club showed good technical skills throughout the match. With the win, Tokyo move first in the table with 8 points and need just 1 point from their remaining two games to clinch a spot in the quarter-finals. Highlights are here.



Notes

The AFC Champions League has 8 groups with A to D representing West Asia and E to H the eastern part of the continent. Not surprisingly, there are few competitive nations at this level, and both Japan and South Korea have teams in each of the four groups in the east, while China and Australia have 3 teams apiece. A squad from Thailand (who beat J.League champs Kashiwa Reysol last month) and Uzbekistan round out the field.

There was a small group of Beijing supporters, perhaps 50 in all. I felt for them, knowing how painful it is to travel to another country to watch your favourite team only to have them come up empty (this is a reference to my journeys to see the Leafs lose on the road in several NHL rinks).



One of Guoan's players is named Wang Xiaoling. This becomes Wang XL on his jersey. Hey, I never promised to stay away from juvenile humour!



Next Up

I'm in Nagoya where I will see another AFC Champions League game tonight featuring Nagoya Grampus and Tianjin Teda from China. The following two days will see me attend both a major  and minor league Chunichi Dragons game. I'll being updating as usual here before taking a break for the big move, so check back often.

Best,

Sean

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Asian Championship Doubleheader - November 13, 2010

In a rather interesting coincidence, two sports held their continental championship games in Tokyo on the same day. Suffering from a lack of live sports recently, I decided to check out both matches.

Game 1 - Chiba Lotte Marines 3 SK Wyverns 0 - Japan-Korea Club Championship

Between 2005 and 2008, the four Asian baseball federations (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China) held a tournament in Tokyo to decide the Asian champion. It wasn't particularly exciting as the Japanese team won each year, while the Chinese teams managed nary a victory in the round-robin. The series was cancelled in 2008 and replaced by a single game between the Japanese and Korean champions, won by the Yomiuri Giants last year. This season, the game was moved from Nagasaki to Tokyo which turned out to be fortuitous as the Japanese champion came from nearby Chiba which certainly helped attendance.

Originally, I wasn't much interested in this game as I expected a fairly easy victory for Lotte against the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) champ SK Wyverns, who finished their season nearly a month ago. But my girlfriend's father is from Chiba and seemed interested in going, so I scored some brownie points and invited him along.

The game itself was one-sided as expected, although the final score was just 3-0 for Lotte. The Wyverns' starter was Ken Kadokura, who pitched 13 seasons in Japan for a number of teams and had a brief tryout with the Cubs last year. At 41, he is well past his prime and only lasted 2 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs on a bases-loaded single to Ikuhiro Kiyota in the second.

Meanwhile, Lotte sent Yuki Karakawa to the hill and he was great, yielding just 2 singles and 2 hit batsmen in 5 innings. He retired the last 10 men he faced and the Marines followed with 4 relievers each recording a perfect inning. Which means the Wyverns had 22 in a row set down to end things.

PL top batter Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who may end up in the majors next year.

Japan Series MVP Toshiaki Imae added a monster homer for Lotte in the 5th to account for the final run in a game that lasted just 2:45, thanks to the Wyverns swinging at nearly everything. Only the last batter of the game went to a 3-ball count as the 5 Lotte hurlers needed just 102 pitches to dispense of the 31 Wyvern batters. In contrast, Lotte took 8 walks and saw 164 pitches for their 38 hitters - that's a full pitch more per batter (4.3 to 3.3) which is a substantial difference. I thought this might indicate that Korean baseball is faster than Japanese, but a look at the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) homepage shows an average game time of 3:08, which is still pretty long.

Interestingly, out of SK's 21 outs that came from batted balls, only one was hit to the left side of the field. The other 20 were either groundouts to first, second, or the pitcher (12), infield pops to the right side or the catcher (4), or flies to center or right (4). Maybe one or two balls were hit hard all day as they couldn't adjust to the Marines' quality pitching, particularly the off-speed stuff. It wasn't pretty to watch and you had to feel a bit for the Wyverns' fans who had made the trip only to see their team handcuffed all day long.

Coincidentally, Lotte is a Korean company that has a large presence in Japan. The KBO has a team called the Lotte Giants, so perhaps in the future both Lotte teams can battle it out for Asian baseball supremacy.

Before the last pitch.

For the Marines, it was their second Asian title as they won the inaugural Asia Series as well. What I find most interesting is that they didn't win the pennant in 2005 either, finishing second to Softbank, but taking the playoff series 3 games to 2 over the Hawks. In that respect they are like the Florida Marlins, a team that hasn't won a pennant but has two championships regardless. At least the Marines keep their team together after they win though.

Stupid Fan Award

One of the latest trends to hit Tokyo is for people to walk around dragging suitcases behind them. But they are not going to or coming from the airport, instead, they use these as clunky carry-alls. The sheer stupidity behind needing a big, heavy piece of luggage instead of a purse is incredible, especially in a space-deprived city such as Tokyo. Seriously, what do you need to carry around that requires a suitcase? They take up space on the train and slow you down as you meander the streets, which slows me down too when I'm stuck walking behind you. It is my newest pet peeve in a country where common sense seems increasingly rare.

Anyway, at the game yesterday, a nearby fan brought her suitcase into the dome! Seating there is cramped to begin with, and there is no leg room for something that large. Of course, you can put it in the aisle, but that just makes going up and down more difficult for everyone. So she wins the stupid fan award for this game.

Game 2 - Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 3 Zob Ahan 1 - AFC Champions League Final

After a short dinner near the Tokyo Dome, I headed over to National Stadium to catch the Asian Champions League final. I'd normally write some background but the AFC provides a fantastic media packet which gives all the info you'll need.

Seongnam fans

The game was well-played by both teams, but the Korean side from Seongnam was a little better than their Iranian rivals, Zob Ahan from Isfahan. The Koreans had several more chances and the majority of the play was in the Zob Ahan end.

Zob Ahan defender clearing the ball

After a fairly quiet start, Seongnam got on the board in the 29th minute when tournament MVP and Australian national Sasa Ognenovski scored off a goalmouth scramble. The rest of the half saw the Iranians defending for the most part, but it wasn't until early in the second stanza that Seongnam added to their lead. A corner kick was headed to Byung Kuk Cho who headed home in the 52nd minute.

I thought that would do it, but Zob Ahan scored a brilliant goal on a rush just over 10 minutes later. A great crossing pass allowed Igor Castro to drive the ball at net, which Korean keeper Sung-Ryung Jong parried away. But it went straight to Mohammad Khalatbari who expertly lobbed a header over Jong and into the back of the net to make the final half-hour quite exciting.

The sideline is obscured by the advertising when you sit down low

Zob Ahan found life after that and had a few chances but couldn't manage an equalizer as Jong made a few key saves. Then with 7 minutes left, Seongnam's star Mauricio Molina (above taking a free kick) let go a hard shot that was saved by Shahabaldin Gordan but the rebound went to Cheol Ho Kim who slotted home the clincher.

Dejected Zob Ahan players before a late free kick

For Korea, it was their second straight title after Pohang Steelers won last year. Ultimately this day showed that Japan is easily the best baseball country in Asia while Korea still maintains soccer supremacy. It was certainly interesting seeing these two sports back-to-back. It's rare for me to say this but the soccer game was much more entertaining than the baseball game as the teams were more evenly matched and the pace was quite quick. As well, I was able to choose my seat and tried sitting near the field which offers a different perspective than I am used to.

Next Up

In just over two weeks, I depart for the big 5-week trip home, but before then I'm going to check out a J League game in west Tokyo next Saturday and then some Top League Rugby the following weekend. Check back for updates on those games and more.

Best,

Sean

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Football Filings

I'm still in London and saw a bit of cricket yesterday - look for a post on that shortly. For now, it's been a busy week in the world of soccer and I want to give a few quick updates on some of the news that matters to me.

European Football Sucks Less

A year ago, I wrote a post titled "Why European Football Sucks" which detailed how the top teams in the top European leagues are always the same. The season is just about over and a quick look at the tables shows little change. But there was one big difference: in the English Premier League, Tottenham Hotspurs took 4th place while Liverpool dropped to 7th. Spurs will now enter the Champions League qualifying later this year while Liverpool will be in the Europa League.

Things are largely the same in the other leagues. In Spain, Barcelona leads Read Madrid by a point with one game left as these top two teams remain unchanged. Italy sees perennial favorites Inter topping the table with Roma 2 points back and AC Milan a distant third. At least Juventus has fallen, allowing Sampdoria and Palermo a chance at Champions League glory with one weekend left. Scotland again sees Rangers on top with Celtic 2nd while Bayern Munich has regained the title in the Bundesliga after finishing second to Wolfsburg last season. The defending champions fell to 8th, while last year's 4th-place finishers Hertha Berlin dropped to bottom of the table and have been relegated to the second division. Finally, France sees Marseille take the title for the first time since 1992. So there has been a few interesting moves, but nothing along the lines of Montreal's run in the NHL playoffs or Phoenix challenging for the NBA title. So European football still sucks for the results, but just a little less this year.

Fulham Loses Europa League Final

The highlight of the European soccer season for English fans has been Fulham's surprise run to the final of the Europa Leauge, the second-tier competition run by UEFA. The final was held tonight and unfortunately Fulham lost to Spanish side Atletico Madrid 2-1 after extra time. What's interesting is that Atletico were not in the competition when it began last July. They were added to the round of 32 after finishing third in their group in the Champions League. For some reason, UEFA rewards this failure with a spot in the Europa League. The eight Champions League teams that finish 3rd join 24 sides that have fought through a difficult group stage. Naturally these Champions League washouts are better than the Europa League teams and often win the competition, as happened this year. Fulham had already defeated Juventus and Wolfsburg; it's too much to ask them to have to defeat 3 CL squads to win a European title. C'mon UEFA - stop rewarding teams that lose in the Champions League and let's have a true second-tier competition!

Korea Dominates AFC Champions League

The AFC Champions League just held their round-of-16 games and Japan is noticeable by its absence. Not a single J-League club has made it to the quarterfinals. Kawasaki Frontale and Sanfrecce Hiroshima were dropped in the group stage while Kashima Antlers lost 1-0 to defending champions Pohang Steelers and Gamba Osaka were beaten 3-0 by Seongnam. In fact, all 4 teams from East Asia are Korean. I think this could be a turning point for Asian soccer - Japan may be on the downswing while Korea ascends. The upcoming World Cup will be an interesting test of this theory.

The bright side to having all the Japanese teams eliminated is that tickets to the final in Tokyo in November will again be easy to get.

Best,

Sean

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Henan Construction 1 at Singapore Armed Forces 2 - AFC Champions League, Group G, Matchday 5 - April 13, 2010

After a week of relaxation in Kota Kinabalu, I returned to Singapore to visit friends and check out a meaningless game in the AFC Champions League. If you've followed the blog, you know about this tournament which emulates the UEFA Champions League with eight 4-team groups. For the second year running, the Singapore Armed Forces team had made it to the group stage, but they had yet to secure a win. Tonight they were hosting Henan Construction, a team from the Chinese Super League.

The game was played at Jalan Besar Stadium, shown above. It would be my third match watched here, making Jalan Besar my most visited soccer venue outside of Tokyo's National Stadium. Today's tickets were $10 (about $7 US) but once inside the stadium, you were prevented from moving to the other side. I had entered on Henan's side, so if I wanted to sit with the Singapore fans, I would have to exit the stadium and walk around outside - I guess they wanted to prevent the wanton violence that marks this competition. It was pretty silly but I didn't care where I sat. As it turned out, many fans made the same mistake and given that it was raining hard, they didn't want to make the trip outside, so we had a mixed crowd anyway.

The Game

The two teams were in Group G, along with Gamba Osaka and Suwon Bluewings. When play started, Henan had an outside shot of catching Gamba - they needed Suwon to win the other matchup tonight. But it was not to be; Gamba won 2-1 on an injury time goal and Henan was eliminated. SAF was already knocked out, so the game turned out to have no meaning at all in the big picture.

Croatia's Ivan Lovric heads at goal - it was saved by Henan's keeper Zeng Cheng

The rain had made the pitch wet and the first half was predictably dull and sloppy. Each team had maybe one chance and after a dreary 45 minutes, it was still 0-0. The rain stopped for halftime, but dutifully returned as the players made their way back to the field. I had low expectations for the second half, but Henan came out strong and had a couple of early chances. Their finished was poor though and the ball routinely sailed over the net.

Japanese Taisuke Akiyoshi readies a free kick for SAF

In the 64th minute, SAF had a free kick that appeared to be going wide when it was headed back into play by a Henan defender. A volley was pushed away by Henan keeper, right onto the boot of Singapore national team member Daniel Bennett who drove it home to give the home side a shock 1-0 lead. Henan wasted little time in coming back, finally showing some solid finishing as Yu Le slid home a cross to tie the game in the 71st minute. But the Singaporeans were not to be denied and 6 minutes later, Erwan Gunawan rose high to head home a corner kick and it was 2-1 for SAF.

Henan spent the rest of the match pushing forward but they couldn't break down the SAF defense, who were in prevent mode. When the whistle blew, the Singaporean fans rejected joyfully. A Singaporean team had finally won a group stage game in the AFC Champions League! It might not sound like much but it's big news here. Just a small step as the S League tries to gain respect in Asia.

Overall, this was a much better game than I expected. These teams played to a scoreless draw in their previous meeting and after the first half finished goalless and both teams were officially elminated, I thought we were due for a lackluster second half. But the players felt that pride was at stake, and although Henan was the better team technically, they had two weak defensive moments that cost them the match. It was good to see a historical result and will be worth following the tourney next year to see if a Singaporean team can challenge for a spot in the knockout portion.

Historic finish

Next Up

I'm flying back to Japan on Thursday and will watch the Tokyo Apache take on the Saitama Broncos in bj League action on Saturday. The game is being played at a new gym near where I live, so it's a must see. After that, I'll catch up on my F1 posts, and try to watch a minor league game or two. In May, I'm still hoping to get to the West Coast to see the Blue Jays visit Arizona but arrangements still need to be made. As always, updates here first!

Best,

Sean

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Formula 1, AFC Champions League and other updates

Schedule Changes

OK, so the tentative Sports Road Trip schedule has seen some changes over the past couple of weeks. My week-long trip to Western Japan has been postponed, and I've had to cut back on my baseball extravaganza to California and Arizona (more on that in a later post). There are a couple of reasons for these changes.

First, the trip to Florida, the surprise trip to Canada and then the jaunt in Thailand and Manila meant that I was out of the country for 41 out of the first 80 days this year, which has not put me in good stead with my girlfriend. The second reason is that she is changing jobs, and has a couple of weeks of free time. For some odd reason, she wasn't intrigued with my idea of a two-week long MLB trip to the West Coast, so we are going to visit Singapore and Malaysia instead.

But don't worry, the sporting gods have smiled on me still. Turns out the Formula 1 Malaysian Grand Prix is in Kuala Lumpur on April 3rd and 4th, which is something I've been meaning to see for some time. I'll also catch an AFC Champions League game between the Singapore Armed Forces and Henan Construction on April 13th.

Japanese Sports Updates

Speaking of the AFC CL, the competition began last month and tomorrow is already the third match-day. Melbourne Victory is visiting Kawasaki Frontale in a battle of 0-2 squads. The loser likely will be eliminated from the knockout stage, but it's not a game that excites me greatly, so I won't be attending. There are three other Japanese teams in the group stage, with Kashima Antlers the only one picking up wins. They are 2-0 while Gamba Osaka has two draws and Sanfrecce Hiroshima have yet to notch a point. So it could be a quiet round of 16 here in Japan.

The J League started a couple of weeks ago and there's not much to report there. I hope to get to some new stadiums this season, but the schedule makes it difficult to combine more than a couple of games in a weekend. It's just not worth the money or time to travel to Osaka to see two soccer games and nothing else.

Of course, baseball is a different matter, and the Japanese baseball season began for the Pacific League over the weekend, while the Central League starts this Friday. The minor leagues are underway as well, so I might try to catch a game or two when time permits, but having seen all the local stadiums last year makes this season a bit less compelling. I do hope to see some of the minor league stadiums in the Western League, but that schedule is not as road-trip friendly with only 5 teams.

Finally, a quick update on the bj League, Japan's pro basketball circuit. I saw games in 3 cities at the end of last year but obviously have not had much time to revisit the Tokyo Apache or other teams. The league still has a couple of months to go, so I'm planning to attend a couple of more games and perhaps some playoff action depending on who makes it.

Self-Indulgent Time

As you can see by the above updates, Japan has a rich and varied sports scene. But I don't spend as much time going to the games as I should. There are two main reasons for this.

The first is that I'm much more interested in doing true road trips. I prefer having a car and being able to see several games in different stadiums and cities over an extended period. It's not difficult to watch the local teams every day, that just takes cash, time, and an understanding partner. But I find that it gets boring after a while and I need some variety.

The second is that traveling in Japan is not cheap and not that easy. The bullet train is expensive and local trains are time-consuming and their fares can add up quickly. The sports venues are often quite far apart and not necessarily easy to get to on public transport. Hotels here are small and not that cheap either. So the best bet for road trips here is a short weekend with two or three games in a concentrated area, particularly if there's a travel package that can be found. I'll be looking for opportunities to do so in Hiroshima, Sapporo, and Nagoya later this year.

For now, the next month will be quiet, with just the Singapore and Malaysia trip on the schedule. After that, I should get busy again. I'm still set for two weeks in Arizona, Nevada, and California in May, as well as some time in Minneapolis and Kansas City in July. Finally, there will be a Christmas trip to Ottawa and the World Junior Hockey Championship in Buffalo around the New Year. It promises to be a busy season of road trips, so hope you can ride along.

Best,

Sean

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AFC Champions League Draw

Earlier this week, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held the draw for the 2010 Champions League. Considering that the final was held just a month ago, these guys don’t waste any time getting ready for next year.The top 3 J1 clubs (Kashima, Kawasaki, Gamba Osaka) are automatically included, as will be the winner of the Emperor’s Cup. There’s also four teams from China and South Korea, and as the groups are drawn by area (16 teams from East Asia, 16 from the West), each Japanese team will play one Korean and one Chinese team.

The remaining 4 teams include two from Australia’s A League, one from Indonesia, and the winner of an upcoming playoff between teams from Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.

The draw was not good to Kawasaki, who will face Australian champions Melbourne Victory, Chinese Super League winners Beijing Guoan, and K-League runners-up Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. For me, it’s a chance to plan some soccer road trips. I’ve never been to Beijing, so perhaps I can venture over when Frontale visits. The schedule is not set yet (although the game days are known), but I’ll be watching closely to see where I might be heading early next year.

Best,

Sean

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AFC Champions League Final - Pohang Steelers 2 vs Al Ittihad 1 - November 7, 2009

I've written about the Asian Champions League before, so I won't go into the details again here. The final was set for Tokyo's National Stadium, likely in anticipation that one of the two finalists would be from the J League. Although all 4 Japanese teams made the knockout tournament, the draws were not favorable to them. First Kawasaki knocked off Gamba Osaka only to face Nagoya in the quarters. With Kashima losing to FC Seoul in the round of 16, the J League was guaranteed just a single team in the semi-finals. It turned out to be Nagoya, who were thumped 8-3 on aggregate by Saudi side Al Ittihad. Meanwhile, Pohang Steelers from Korea advanced after defeating Qatar's Umm-Salal 4-1 on aggregate.

More on National Stadium

Although I visited National Stadium for Tuesday's Nabisco Cup Final, I didn't have much time to walk around. I rectified that today, spending about a half hour wandering. The stadium has two levels on the back stand, but only one in the main stand and end zones. You can complete the circuit on the lower level; the concourse does become slightly cramped behind the end zone seats. There's very little on the upper level concourse, just a few food and drink concessions. There's also a shortage of garbage cans, so at the end of the game, they are overflowing. In the States, most people leave their garbage at their seat, but here in Japan, most people try to throw it out when they leave. So it doesn't take long for the garbage can to fill up when there's not enough of them. I don't know why they just don't add a few more trash cans.

On the lower level, the main stand is where all the cool stuff is: displays, handouts and the like. Yesterday they had jerseys from all the competing teams which was neat. It's strange that they don't set up anything on the back stand since there's about twice as many seats there, but most people seem to enter by the main stand and then make their way around.

View from the middle of the back stand

There are plenty of food concessions, although I think they might change depending on the event. I didn't notice any sort of speciality items; it was mostly just Japanese fast food.

Overall, there's nothing particularly impressive about the stadium; it's a testament to functional design. Still, it's hard to believe it's 50 years old - it's still in good shape, and definitely worth visiting if there's a soccer game in town.

The Teams

Al Ittihad are based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and won their place in the Champions League by finishing 2nd in the Saudi Professional League in 2007-08. They went undefeated through the entire group and knockout stages, scoring 29 goals and yielding only 9 in their 11 matches. Their captain is Saudi Nation

I've known about this team since they won back-to-back Champions League titles in 2004-05. The latter victory garnered them an appearance in the 2005 Club World Championship, where they finished 4, losing in the semi's to eventual champion Sao Paulo.

Their most famous player is Mohammed Noor, who has played with the Saudi National team at the two previous World Cups. He scored a hat trick in the first game against Nagoya and has totalled 4 goals in the competition.

Pohang Steelers qualified by winning Korea's version of the FA Cup in 2008. They went undefeated through the group stages as well, including a critical victory over Kawasaki Frontale to take the group title. After a 6-0 thumping of Australian side Newcastle, they lost a 3-1 decision away to Uzbekistan side Bunyodkor in the quarter-finals. Needing a big win on the home leg to advance, the Steelers managed a 4-1 win in extra time to make it to the semi's, where they swept Umm-Salal. They tallied 22 goals while giving up only 8 during their 11 games.

They won back to back titles in 1997-98 but haven't done much internationally since then. Their top scorer is Brazialian Denilson, who had 7 goals in the tournament, good for 3rd overall.

The Game

I had no idea what to expect in the game today. Judging from the stats, I expected both teams to be fairly good on defense but to also attack quite a bit. So something had to give.

It didn't take Al Ittihad long to gain a chance. In the first minute, Pohang keeper Hwa-Yong Shin went wide to get a ball but overran it, giving Hicham Aboucherouane a chance from just off the goal line, but he sent it into the side netting.

The first 10 minutes were generally controlled by Al Ittihad; their crisp, quick passing forcing Pohang on the defensive. But the Saudi side couldn't find the magic opening and the half then degenerated into a lot of midfield play as both sides tried probing attacks with little success.

The highlight of the half was Aboucherouane rocket-like free kick from 35 yards out which Shin barely managed to deflect over the bar.

Zaid punches one away

In the first minute of the second half, Al Ittihad continued their assault as Amine Chermiti headed a ball that beat Shin but bounced off the crossbar and just beyond the reach of Noor, who had an empty net. Chermiti missed again a few minutes later when he was alone in front of the net, and Pohang countered. Denilson was fouled about 8 yards outside the box, setting up a great free kick opportunity. Byung Jung Noh took the kick and sliced a perfect low drive that went through the Al Ittihad wall and into the corner of the net past a diving Mabrouk Zaid. A shock goal and the Steelers had the lead.

Zaid saves an easy one

Nine minutes later, Pohang had another free kick, this time from the far right side. Jae-Sung Kim lofted one in and defender Hyung-Il Kim rose high to head it by a motionless Zaid. Kim fell to the ground with joy, while the Steelers fans went into a frenzy at the picture-perfect goal.

But Al Ittihad was not to be counted out. Just eight minutes later, Chermiti's header forced Shin back, where he was able to palm the ball down. Unfortunately, it landed at the foot of Noor, who blasted it home to cut the lead to 2-1 (all the goals are found on this video with ecstatic Korean announcers).

The last 15 minutes were all out as Al Ittihad tried to force extra time, but they were unable to find the equalizer and at the full-time whistle, Pohang's players celebrated their title.

Pressure on the Korean defense

Attendance was a decent 25, 743 consider no Japanese team was in it and the Giants were winning the Japan Series at the same time. Both sides had their supporters there, although naturally the Koreans had a larger contingent. To even things up, somebody was handing out plastic bibs that resembled Al Ittihad's uniforms - a cute idea.

Steeler Supporters

All-in-all, a great game, particularly the second half. These sudden-death matches bring out the best in both teams, and it's a lot of fun to watch them give it their all. Many might think this a meaningless title, but there was no doubt that the Steelers were overjoyed to lift the trophy. I look forward to this tournament again next year, and may try a road trip outside of Japan to catch a game or two.

Best,

Sean

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