J2 - First half of the season review

1. Sanfrecce Hiroshima
League-leaders Sanfrecce have been absolutely dominant this season, with just 3 losses so far and a 13 point gap to the 2nd placed team with a game in hand. They look to have 1,5 foot in J1 next season already, and it would take a complete break-down for them not to finish in the top 3. They have by far had both the best offence and defensive record so far this season. Their main strenght lies in attack though, with Japan NT FW Hisato Sato spearheading their attack. In the back-line, they’ve lost Kazuyuki Toda to JEF, but have plenty of cover with Japan U-23 NT players as well as arguably the best defender in J2, Ilyan Stoyanov. They will surely finish 1st.

2. Cerezo Osaka
Cerezo were as equally a big pre-season favorite for promotion as Sanfrecce were, but compared to them they have been a big disappointment. They’ve struggled alot with injuries and suspensions this season, but even thouh they got pretty good cover most places alot of the players are in-experienced and fairly young by age. If say, a key player like Maeda in defence or Germano in midfield are out the team have had a tendency to fall apart. They’ve had a rough period recently, but got 2 strong results in a row now and seems to be back on track. That means they’re still in 2nd place, and they should be good enough to maintain that position for the rest of the season. Looking at player-material, only Sanfrecce can match them on paper. The young hot-shots Shinji Kagawa and Yoichiro Kakitani have both played alot this season, but where as Kakitani are still without a goal Kagawa has been a dominant figure in the Cerezo-squad, won the MVP several matches. The new striker Careca haven’t had the best of seasons, and will probably be off-loaded when the season ends.

3. Sagan Tosu
Sagan curently lies in 3rd place, which is quite surprising considering they’ve only scored 28 goals in 25 matches. They’ve made it a habit of winning 1-0 , and alot of their success are a result of their good defence. They doesn’t have the biggest squad though, and are very prone to injuries of key-members. Sagan’s star striker Yoshihito Fujita have had a decent season so far, although he sat out the first 2 months with an injury. Sagan might hang on for 3rd or even surpass Cerezo for 2nd, but both Vegalta in 5th and Shonan in 6th looks stronger on paper, so it’s gonna be tough. They need to start scoring more goals atleast if they want a top 3 finish.

4. Montedio Yamagata
Montedio are one of the more positive surprises so far this season, and are just 1 point behind Cerezo in 2nd now.They had a marvellous run with 7 back-to-back wins, but have fallen off the pace a bit now. They had a similar run last season, only to go 13 matches or something without a win afterwards. They’ve had their 2 on-loan star strikers Yohei Toyoda ( Nagoya) and Rychelly ( FC Tokyo) injured for most of the season, but the replacements have done a fantastic job filling their shoes, shooting them to win after win. Both are back now though, which gives the coach a luxury problem deciding whom to choose. It’s doubtful Montedio will manage to stay this high though, but they should be able to improve on last year’s 9th atleast.

5. Vegalta Sendai
Vegalta have a had a decent run so far, and are very much in the promotion-race still. Along with Cerezo, they are the biggest favorite for the 2nd place behind Sanfrecce, but it’s more likely they will have to battle Sagan and Shonan for 3rd. Vegalta has opted to go all-japanese this season by signing no foreigners, and so far it’s given results. Vegalta’s biggest weakness is the lack of a goalgetter though, and currently they’re relying on the veteran striker Hirase to score goals. Hirase have never been a clinical striker, but he’s done a fairly good job so far. MF Kunimichi Sekiguchi have been in scincillating form this season, and an early candidate for J2 Player of the Year 2008.

6. Shonan Bellmare
Shonan were by many viewed upon as Sanfrecce and Cerezo’s biggest challenger for the J2 crown, but so far they’ve been a huge disappointment. But if they win their match in hand, they are only 2 points behind Cerezo in 2nd, so it’s not hopeless. But Shonan’s play hasn’t been too impressive, and their defence has been much weaker this season than last year. Perhaps the biggest reason for that is that the former brazilian NT player Jean has been out for most of the season, allegedly with an injury ( although I’m not sure). He was the rock in the Shonan defence, but this season they’e conceded alot . Up front Lincoln and Adiel has been in good form, but both are temperamental types and often has to sit matches out due to suspension. I don’t think Shonan will be able to finish in the top 2 atleast, but they are a serious contender for 3rd. More likely they will finish just below though, in 4th-6th place.

7. Thespa Kusatsu
Thespa are by far the most positive surprise so far this season. They’ve been really hard to beat. They had a poor start to the season, but in the last 18 matches they’ve only lost 3 times. They are just a few points behind the top 3, but to be honest they are over-performing and it’s highly unlikely they will manage to keep the momentum for the rest of the season. Their biggest strength surely lies in defence, and only Sanfrecce have conceded less goals this season. As they are hard to beat, they were that at the latter stage of last season too, they might manage to keep the other teams behind them, but it’s unlikely they will finish any higher than 6th. Still, already a huge improvement from earlier seasons.

8.Avispa Fukuoka
Avispa are the biggest disappointment so far, and Pierre Littbarski’s men have had a difficult time out there. That’s probably just as much Littbarski’s fault as the players, as Littbarski clearly isn’t much of a competent coach. Avispa’s player material aren’t too bad really, but they’ve looked horrible for most of this season. Their form has improved a bit lately though, and they are only 10 points behind Cerezo in 2nd. So a top 3 finish are still within reach, but it’s doutbtful Avispa will manage that. Only 2 teams have conceded more than Avispa this season, and Littbarski were actually sacked, only to be re-instated cause the club lacked the funds to hire a new coach. I don’t think Avispa will be able to climb much higher on the table this season, and probably should start focusing on next season instead.

9. Yokohama FC
Yokohama FC were relegated from J1 last season, but haven’t showed any signs of J1 quality this season. They’ve changed out pretty much their entire squad since last year though, and looks mediocre by even J2 standards. They’ve only won once in the last 11 matches, and are in generally bad form at the moment. They haven’t lost too many matches though, but I don’t think they will able to finish within the top 10 this season. Kofu are likely to surpass them, and either Gifu or Mito should be able to do so as well. Yokohama’s Anderson scored tons of goals early on, and won matches for them on his own. He’s been a shadow of himself in recent matches though, and much of Yokohama’s future success rely on him to get going again.

10. FC Gifu
Gifu have done quite well in their first ever season in J.League, and currently lies in 10th place. They looked really good in the early stages of the season, and were at a time the highest-scoring team in the league. They’ve struggled more to find the net lately, but still managed to come up with some impressive results. Gifu sucks at home, but have proved a very tough team to beat when they play away. They play a very positive kind of football, and should be able to defend their 10th place I think, which would be an impressive position to finish at for a newly-promoted team.

11. Ventforet Kofu
Kofu are, like Yokohama, one of the relegated teams from J1, and like Yokohama they’ve been really poor this season. They are just 1 point behind Yokohama though, and looks strongest among those 2 teams. Kofu’s biggest problem have been scoring, and only Ehime and Tokushima have scored less. However, Kofu just signed to promising brazilians that debuted last match, and both of them looked quite good actually. One of them even got on the scoresheet, so perhaps Kofu’s goalscoring problems are finally over. They are out of it this season though, but should be able to climb a few places. Defensively it’s not been too bad.

12. Mito Hollyhock
Mito are one of the more colourful teams in J2, and probably the hardest team predict. They plays some really good matches from time to time, and manages to come up with some impressive results. But more often than not, they lose matches they ought to have won, especially against smaller teams. Mito has a reputation of being a giant-killer, and like Cerezo’s coach Culpi stated after playing them, Mito would be fighting for a top 3 finish if they managed to play as well as they’ve done against the big teams more often.Perhaps it’s the thought of playing stars and bigger names that ignites a sparkle within the players to perform better,but if they managed to do that against teams like Ehime and Gifu too they would be much higher They’ve improved alot since last season though, and could be able to finish within the top 10 if they manage to keep their form.

13. Ehime FC
Ehime are perhaps the most ”boring” team in the league, without any real profiles, and with a somewhat dull playing-style. They got one of the smallest fan-bases in the league, and are situated on Shikoku along with Tokushima. Ehime never goes on any big win streaks, or loses several matches in a row, and the only constant about them is that they get varying results.They should be able to hold atleast Roasso behind them, as well as neighbours Tokushima.

14. Tokushima Vortis
Tokushima are very much the opposite of Ehime, and have gone on losing streaks several times this season. Once in poor form, they seem to struggle to get back on track. They had a good period early in the season, but have looked poor in their latest matches. They recently lost their star striker Seydou Doumbia ( who even got his international debut for Ivory Coast earlier this season) to swiss side Young Boys. A huge loss to the team, as he were undoubtedly one of the best players in the league. Without him Tokushima looks pretty poor up front, and with a poor defence as well they are not likely to get too many points. It seems to be a dog-fight for the wooden-spoon against Roasso, and with Tokushima ” winning ” it the last 2 seasons, it might look like they will take it 3 years in a row.

15. Roasso Kumamoto
Roasso were expected to be the better among the 2 newly-promoted teams, but Gifu has been by far the best team so far this season. Roasso have looked poor for most of the season, and only on occasion managed to compe up with some nice results. Their most important player has been FW Takahashi, who twice this season has scored a hat-trick. On-loan striker Satoshi Nakayama from Gamba has been a little disappointment, and only scored a few goals this season. Roasso has had a few injuries in defence, and particularly the loss of former Lyn Oslo player Ji Ho Cha has been fatal. This is a learning-year for Roasso, and even though they should be able to avoid the last-place, they are probably focusing more on next season.