2011-03-26 Charity Match: Gainare Tottori 2-4 Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Updated 2011-03-27)

TAKAHAGI Yojiro (centre) scored twice (photo from March 2010) - stefanole

Sanfrecce won a charity match against J2′s Gainare Tottori at Tottori Bird Stadium. TAKAHAGI Yojiro scored a pair for the purple archers, with SATO Hisato and newcomer MIZUMOTO Hiroki netting one each.

2009-11-28 Fagiano Okayama 0-1 Ventforet Kofu

Ventforet's MATSUHASHI Masaru guides the ball into the Okayama net - stefanole

Although I have been planning on going to see Fagiano play for a while now, their poor performances and odd scheduling habits (Sunday evening football, anyone?) have meant that we’ve always been busy doing other things. Once I found out that there would be a rugby Top League game the next day though, we made sure to keep the dates free for a weekend watching two of Football’s various codes in action.

2009-11-03 Mitsubishi Mizushima 0-3 Gainare Tottori (Gainare’s road to J2, part two)

Kone HAMED (centre) after scoring Gainare's first goal - stefanole

Official match report

A rogue fixture scheduled for the Culture Day national holiday saw me and Claire take local trains from Okayama to Kasaoka on the Sanyo main line. Kasaoka is the last stop in Okayama prefecture before you enter Hiroshima prefecture, and it is not a particularly attractive town. It is however the home of the JFL’s ‘lovable losers’ Mitsubishi Mizushima, which made it important enough to warrant a visit.

2009-10-25 Gainare Tottori 2-2 Arte Takasaki (Gainare’s road to J2, part one)

TANAKA Yasuhiro (right) shoots for Takasaki as Tottori's HASHIUCHI Yuya looks on - stefanole

Last Sunday saw me and Claire take another road trip, this time to Tottori. Our destination was the Tottori Bird Stadium, where we were planning on watching Gainare Tottori take on Arte Takasaki. More than that though, we were here to watch as a small town struggles to achieve its dream of reaching the J-League.

2009-10-03 Vissel Kobe 1-1 Kyoto Sanga

Kobe and Kyoto face-off during a corner - stefanole

My Flickr set for this match is here.

The first weekend of October saw me and Claire make our second sporting trip to Kansai. Our destination was Kobe, the stage for a match billed as the “Kansai Derby” as the home side took on neighbours Kyoto.

September Update: 89th Emperor’s Cup and Chugoku League 2009

The 89th Emperor’s Cup began in earnest last weekend, as the first round proper was played across Japan. As I reported in a previous article, amateur and semi-pro teams across the country have been fighting it out across the country in the past few weeks in local competitions to decide who will be the representative for each of the 47 prefectures, plus one representative from the Japan Universities’ Football Association.

2009-08-09 to 12 [Youth Football] Balcom BMW Cup 2009 (平和祈念広島国際ユースサッカー２００９)

Promotional poster for the competition

The Balcom BMW Cup 2009 concluded last Wednesday, with Sanfrecce Hiroshima Youth running out eventual champions. The close-fought competition saw Sanfrecce Youth and a Hiroshima High Schools Selection face off against Chivas U17 (Deportivo Guadalajara of Mexico) and Ajax Cape Town U17 (South Africa) in a round-robin format.

2009-08-09 [Chugoku League 1] FC Ube Yahhh-man 1-8 Sawaga Kyubin Chugoku SC

FUKUGAWA celebrates his goal for Sagawa - stefanole

And now for something slightly different