Jonny and Ben welcomed Scott McIntyre back to the pod to review all of the drama at both ends of the table from that mental Matchday 37.
Kobe's late, late equalizer at still relegation-threatened Kashiwa leads us off, before we discuss Hiroshima's home romp over Sapporo, and Machida staying in the title hunt with their win over Kyoto (to 43:10).
Next we head down the table to the battle to avoid 18th, before we wrap up Part 1 with the other games from Saturday, including that epic 5-4 Kawasaki win over Tokyo Verdy (to 1:13:45).
Then in Part 2 Scott sticks around as we hand out eight more team Player of the Season awards, and conclude with any other business.
The jay talk podcast. Hello and welcome to the jay talk podcast Ben Maxwell and Johnny nickel with you and Johnny we know J one is unrivaled for late season drama but to this past weekend took things up a notch if that was possible a match day 37 has left us with so much to play for at both ends of the table next Sunday. How are you? Yes still feeling a bit dizzy from doing all the math last night working out all the permutations and yeah but luckily we've got an excellent guest on this week so we'll be able to check all the calculations triple check all the calculations so yeah there's plenty to discuss and I'm looking forward to getting into it so how about you know I hear you're battling a bit of a cold you're doing okay. Yeah not too bad every twice a year when the seasons change from warm to warm to cold and cold back to warm I tend to succumb but yeah battling on and actually my head still spinning from trying to watch three games at the same time on the zone on Saturday. I don't know how Sam used to do it he used to watch nine games at a time and then 30 minutes after full time I used to have full match reports on nine games for the patrons to check over but yeah just trying to get three my attention was really difficult on Saturday but yeah we've come to almost to the end of the road in this 2024 J1 season and joining us to recap match day 37 and look ahead to a bumper final day it's our old friend Scott McIntyre at Scotland and welcome back to the pod how are you? Hello Benjamin very good it was great to catch up with you guys but the Yokohama film first I saw Johnny for the first time I've got to say I got a surprise so I didn't know what I thought John was going to look like but I didn't know I didn't know it was that but not in a bad way maybe in a good way maybe Johnny was more handsome than I expected then I know what you're like you're you're still the same as you were 10 years ago you know that's right yeah that's a podcast in it all in itself no but it was great and the event was great and yeah yeah really good job in terms of putting it on it was great to catch up with yeah a lot of old people and a lot of familiar faces some new faces and yeah it was a great day I did get a bit late but it was a great event and a great night after most definitely yeah again as much of that as I can remember but yeah absolutely tremendous to have you there and yeah we're just checking off the boxes of people who were there or who were part of the the guest list on the day and yeah it was as I say great to have you with us and yeah as we've said previously hopefully it can be the start of many more live events like those that to come in the future all right then so yeah this match day 37 was certainly something we've got big games to talk about at both ends of the table and some of them some of the games of course impacted both ends of the table including the the game at Hitachi Die where Kashua hosted Kobe so much on the line in this game the title was in Kobe's hands as they took the pitch against Kashua who themselves were desperate for a win that would seal their survival and Scott after Kolsky can also headed in Kohitessuka's corner in the fifth minute to give race all the lead it looked like they were going to cause one of the biggest boilovers in J1 history because of Visel's response was very labored to say the least yes yeah first thing I mean it was just a shame that I mean that circumstance is dictated that we had Hiroshima on the day after yeah which yeah I mean yeah it's all hypothetical and you never know how things may have played out but it certainly played into Hiroshima's hands the way that it was going but yeah in terms of this game I mean you know we've spoken so often at this point of the season as well what happens with teams at both ends of the table whether you need a you know a positive result to maintain momentum or whether you know you don't want to drop points and then you're getting fearful about that and it's just yeah it's just remarkable how yeah how year after year these yeah these kind of collapses within games and within blocks of games happen and Kobe were were pretty poor here and my particularly the first up but they had no they had no reason not to be because they rotated their entire team in midweek in the Champions League so you know they were on a regular week to week schedule but in terms of just you know I mean both teams were playing for something right obviously cash were needed points to try and survive Kobe needed the points to keep things in their own hand which ultimately it is it is anyway but but the intensity of the two teams was was what was really curious to me because it's something that we haven't seen for for race all for much of the season but certainly the first well the first period of the first half in particular they were they were hustling and they were harrying and there was no time on the ball for Kobe to play into it forced them to go wide it forced them to go long which is not something that they did particularly well either and it was I mean race all were in control early on then you know things went a bit crazy with Diego kind of elbow is going everywhere I could make Muto lost his good looks right at the end but but yeah it's just a curious thing where you have a side going for the league title on the side aim to survive but they could probably drop points more so then call there could you know in in that regard but one of them was was playing with the you know the real intensity of we need to get this result and the other wasn't and yeah and for a long time it looked as though it would have been touched that hung on I'm sure we're going to get to the VAR decision and and that whole discussion in in a moment as well but that was obviously where things swung but yeah yeah I mean like you said it it sets things up really ideally with with both ends now you know you would think race or maybe okay in terms of the goal difference and obviously Kobe no win and it's still done as well so in the end it's not a terrible result for either because both still control their destiny going into the final day but yeah if I if I was if I was a Kobe fan if I was the Kobe coaching staff I would be wondering what went wrong with that intensity and just you know simple misplaced passes well I think Hudson said put two or three you know over the touchline under little pressure Augie Howard playing that kind of deep lying a crucial role where he needs to keep the possession moving and passes ticking over successfully was not good at all so yeah whether whether it was a mentality thing I'm I don't know but yeah Kobe was certainly not at their at their usual selves particularly over the first time yeah and Johnny you've spoken about Kashi were playing up or down to the level of their opponents and I mean as a contrast we've spoken about in recent weeks it appeared that Kobe had well they had it in their hands going into this game because they had held their nerve much better than Hiroshima had to to this point in the in the latter stages of the season but you know as Scott said there Kobe just they were very very flat and very very poor for for large stretches of this game and yeah it is still in their hands going into the final round but yeah you you definitely be feeling nervous if you're a Kobe supporter based on on that 90 minutes well and plus what was it the second half so be some went into like 18 minutes or something so yeah you certainly were put through the ringer by your club on Saturday afternoon and as we'll come on to yes they they ultimately got the point that kept the title in their hands but yeah I certainly wasn't expecting that sort of a wobble from them after the way we saw them close it out last year and yet the the way that handled things up to this point yeah I think as you post that I lose it to me that the draw is not is not a disaster for V-cell the title is still it's still in their their hands but that the nature of the performance might might be I mean I wrote the first thing I wrote my notes was it's that the Battle of Hitachi died because obviously there's a bit of bad blood between these two teams after I think the Cyto injury last year and I think it was a Yuruki got injured in the first game this year and was a bit of tip for ta online it seemed like right from the word go they were both waiting to sort of tear into each other and any time Diego went up the V-cell players were desperate to tell the referee is elbow had gone somewhere near a player and I think both both sides were given it a bit and yeah it was it was very physical very very stop start and he spent that played into Cassius hands especially after getting that early go from from the set play and I think that there's a stat after about 20 minutes it was at five shots to zero for Cassius one that they really had that the better of the of the start and yeah I mean as we said I think we said last week get Cassius I can play up or down tip to the level of the opponent and they sent it up in the ninth one one draw of the season I'm convinced they could have went to Anfield yesterday and got a one one draw performed with a 97th minute penalty equaliser or something after a decent Cassius performance but yeah can you get going in I think you know it's easy to see with hindsight but can you get into the last five minutes with Cassius winning winning one nil and yeah I don't think anyone in the stadium actually expected it to finish that way and as I'm sure you're about to tell us that that's not how it finished well yeah I mean to be honest as I said I was watching three games at once on the on the one screen I would have minded if the zone switched off this game because for large stretches it was pretty poor and yeah Kobe as I said were very flat and were not really worth watching for most of this game but they had to rouse themselves and they finally did in the last five minutes Yuyo Osaka saw a snapshot on the turn saved by Kenta Matsumoto and then yes the the games major flashpoint came in the 88th minute I mean this ultimately has not had a say in the the final score line but it was a massive incident when Hotari Yamaguchi said the ball from midfield to the right hand edge of the Kashiwa box race old offender Diego jumped with Yoshinori Muto and won the header Muto stayed down initially but then got to his feet as play continued only to slump to the floor again seconds later with a bloodied mouth and a fat lip after the ball was bullied high and wide by Yamaguchi so after almost two minutes the referee was summoned to the monitor then a minute and a half later he returned to award Kobe a penalty for presumably that raised arm by Diego that caused Muto that caught Muto rather and Diego also was shown a second yellow card and sent off and that that final act there might have had an impact on what happened deep into stoppish time but yeah I mean opinion was definitely split in our line group of our patrons many thought this was extremely soft and no need for this to be awarded for a you know a simple aerial challenge others were of the opinion that well Muto was all but in the face so that's a penalty yeah very very interested to see how you guys broke it down and what your opinions of it were Scott did you think it was a penalty and did the referee and Vargate it right probably yes and yes but my main concern with this is just how long these things are we'll get to them we'll get at the second one in a minute I mean that that yeah I mean that's just absurd you know the time and then you know Johnny mentioned that the rhythm of the game was kind of fractious as it was anyway but when you know particularly at the crucial point in the game we knew of these constant you know stoppish is impossible to build any kind of a rhythm what yeah I was we didn't really get any close up shots of the thing but obviously something happened to yeah to to Muto's face I actually thought of first he might have lost the tooth you know you kind of got the the shots and there's blood blood all over the place and stuff so and you know I mean Diego had been pushing the envelope you know from from early on in the first half anyway so you know I think as much as anything else is probably an accumulation of issues that led to it but yeah if there's contact with the head which there appears to be then then yeah I think it's it's difficult to argue that the decision was wrong yeah I mean to be honest I actually watched this game in full after the fact so I knew it had been a red card and with that in mind seeing the incident I didn't really see any anything wrong with it was a second yellow and it scots quite quite rightly pointed out I think that Diego was a target I think for the VCL players to wind up from from the start and I think they're very successful at doing it and making the referee aware of what what he was doing every time he jumped up for the ball so yeah I think a bit of an accumulation and yeah I mean Osaka was kind of Chris Waddell attempt made a mute point anyway but I didn't really have any any doubt that it should have been a penalty but what about you Ben yeah again looking back at the replay I could see why it was given yeah it's such a shame that yeah just takes the what momentum that was in the game completely out of it by yeah the the the lengthy delays first in calling the referee over in the first place and then for him and Vartu to come to their final conclusion but yeah I guess this we're probably upsetting half the people in our line group by saying that we all agree that it we should have been given but yeah I guess that's the conclusion that we've all come to and then minutes later after the dust had settled after the referee awarded the penalty and sent Diego off after it took him time to trudge off the pitch of course Osaka stood over the spot kick that would have drawn Kobe level and proceeded to sky it into row Q so I guess justice done for those who disputed the penalty decision so with that missed penalty race I'll remain safe and the title was out of Kobe's hands until in the one hundredth minute go talk to sake I lofted a race all clearance back into the box Osaka headed down rickato hit or say shot was saved by Matsumoto a race all player tried to hack clear but the ball pinball wizard around for a few seconds and it sat there for moto to tuck home he started wheeling away in celebration only for the linesman's flag to go up for offside and spoil Kobe's celebrations or so they thought that replays clearly showed Osaka was on side moto was off but it was away from the play so after an almost four minute of art of our check this time the goal was given moto ripped off his shirt and sprinted round like a madman well Johnny I'll come to you first on this far decision and I know they have to make sure they get it absolutely right but surely that should not have taken four minutes in this instant I mean you know I'm no student of the laws but I could see on the the first replay that this was going to be given yeah I think in kind of compounding it was the for like seven minute delay we just said earlier between the Diego elbow and the penalty going over the bar and I think the zone had I think the 99th minute before they worked out how much additional time there was and there was more keep down on top of that it was just yeah it was a bit farcical like obviously we were talking about it in this kind of climax to a season but if you're you know if you're trying to get someone into into football I think maybe puzzled like what's going on why is it taking so long to to work this kind of stuff out and yeah I think it's been pointed out that the right the right conclusion was was reached in the end and moto did his best to bridge the gap of it kind of connect more natural celebration after the goal by running about shirtless and I think you've also you've spared his blushes and you didn't mention it was our own friend you go tap stitch in it trying to hack the ball clear and the great off call got into moto and yeah unfortunate there but yeah I think I think I yeah it might be back in a rare case I was all agreeing with it with the BAR judges here which was maybe it's a bit disappointing for some of the listeners but I don't know Scott are you do you agree it's the right decision well what would you make of it yeah you of course of course it was and and you could have seen that on the first or second well okay you maybe you need to check okay both players would come up maybe it was two players from officer officer position did they interfere with the player okay yes no boom and then we move on with it but it's just after I started particularly in Japanese football but it just seems so when I was down in Columbia at the under 20 women's World Cup and that was the first tournament where FIFA trialled the video support system which is it's basically each coach gets so there's no the other each coach gets two challenges which they can call and yeah I was a bit skeptical about that at first but watching it there and then they did it in the under 17 women's World Cup and the Dominican Republic recently as well and I think it went really well on both occasions if you're successful you keep your challenge if you're not you lose one and and maybe this is the way that yeah that that we're moving I think yeah I think they were quite pleased with with those trials so we could see it in other tournaments going forward and and yeah maybe that's a way to to kind of um oh yeah I don't know with VA our getting yeah getting involved endlessly in in everything go back to yeah somehow more simpler times and and let the the coach has to put the challenge in but the players can signal on the field obviously they're closer to it if they think this challenge should be made and yeah I don't know maybe there's merit in that system but yeah it just doesn't take in in such an important match it's such an important stage of the season to have yeah the the the ending of it kind of just continually interrupted is not a good look yeah for for football so whether the yeah whether the officials need to get things done quicker or whether we needed yeah maybe they'll have a look at this new system I don't know but yeah it was a it was a shame but yeah there we are does that challenge system involve only like goals and off sides around goals Scott or can they also appeal for like potential red cards dangerous tackles or anything anything they like yeah yeah so similar to the similar to the criteria now for the uh so yeah mistaken identity red card yellow card that kind of stuff as well yeah right okay interesting stuff yeah um I imagine if that gets introduced widely it'll take Japan a long time before they get around to giving it a crack but um yeah certainly sounds like an interesting idea for the future but uh yeah that very very late equalizer from kobe was not the final act of the game as I said it's a second half stoppage time stretching to the 18th minute before the referee finally blew up but yes it finished one one and yeah that meant that kobe have the title back in their hands and that was going to be the case regardless of what Hiroshima did on sunday will come on to them very very shortly um and I guess yeah kushua have to pick themselves up they're still not technically safe although their goal difference advantage over 18th placed Iwata would mean they would have to suffer an extremely heavy defeat coinciding with the Iwata winning by several goals on the final day for them to be in any real jeopardy of going down and now Niigata much in much more danger than kushua are heading in to the final day but um yeah what an occasion it turned out to be as he touched it I after um yeah so much of it was uh yawn inducing stuff but uh we we finally got um some real incident in the game as we said though such a shame it was delayed by so much um yeah via indecision and um well yeah we've uh now got it in the history books and um just before we move on Scott you you ever so slightly earlier mentioned uh kobe's much changed team in the ACL elite last Tuesday against central coast mariners you were one of about 12 people in the away end at the novira stadium and even featured on the tv after um central coast first goal went in I think you were chatting with Alan Gibson in the away end and the camera panned to a small group of supporters that you were a part of so um yeah I know they are your team from back home so it must have been really cool for you to see them in the flesh playing in the ACL in Japan yeah yeah for sure you know because um yeah mariners are um are a small team from a small community with the I think the easily the smallest budget um so yeah to see them in the in the in the chapters he is is exciting full stop and yeah to be able to get to see them up here was was even better it was actually bucketing down that night but that's yeah a fortune that the roof closed um at core bed but yeah it was it was a great night and there was yeah like he said only a dozen or so whatever but you know fans that have actually traveled you know all the way across from from Australia for this game one guy came with a giant backpack of hats that he was um he was handing out to everyone and another guy was um was of Scottish um persuasion and didn't quite realize who Idi Gucci was until I pointed it out to him and then he was a rangers fan and you know the subs were warming up right in front of where we were and he was absolutely um yeah he was giving it to Idi Gucci in English who you kind of looked up and and had a smirk at him on the on the way back but yeah you know maybe I don't know we can get into talk about the ACL later on but yeah Kobe doing it easy I'm pretty sure they're gonna send the BTM out again this this midweek um as well um but yeah I mean you know it's hard not to progress from the way that things are but it's looking good certainly for the the Japanese club so far and Hiroshima of course you know marched their way through the through the ACL too as well so yeah good um it's all good stuff on the continent for the Japanese clubs hopefully the next cycle of the Club World Cup we can get more than one Japanese club there I should say on that as well because it may escape you next Friday is the um uh sorry this Friday is the draw for the for the Club World Cup actually so yeah Reds will be uh in that pot and um see who they uh end up with very good very good all right so you mentioned Hiroshima there Scott and you also mentioned earlier the fact that yeah that once again they had to play after Kobe they were in ACL 2 action in the Philippines on Thursday night uh Sun Fritche so yes their home game against Sapporo was the only one in J-1 played on Sunday so after Kobe's draw and as we'll come on to next Machita's somewhat fortunate win over Kyoto on the Saturday Hiroshima knew they had to win or draw at home against Sapporo who were relegated before they kicked a ball in match day 37 after Kashi was drawn on Saturday yeah Hiroshima needed a result of some sort to keep their own title hopes alive they were coming off three straight league losses Johnny but they made a dream start when Mutsky Kato fired in a first time in the eighth minute after a Sublime Cross in from the left by Shunki Higashi yeah this is the dream start for Hiroshima after that that horrible run they've had domestically like you said to get the early goal and then to get the fans fans right behind them and also with yeah you're never really sure what how the the result would affect support I mean they knew they were basically down anyway but you know kind of getting that news that they are definitely down you'd have to think like I know nearly probably given that a decent crack but as we can as the game progressed and it got they got further and further behind I think it it became quite quite a procession because you know support didn't live anything to to play for and I think that that first goal was was a one of about two or three I think in this game where a team took a quick free kick and then kind of progressed to play up and then a team was going to sit slightly asleep as Hiroshima were a bit for for the equalizer which no it wasn't you know it was it was against the run to play but it wasn't completely against the run of play but I think you know the two big incidents happen can either side of half time if it goes into half time at 1-1 then yeah it can nervousness as like 50 minutes to creep into the stadium around the fans in the dressing room but you know having having like a goal at that going right on half time the place is jumping and then it can come back out that they're in front and then yeah support or as they've been so many times this this season I think they were the the Rome worst enemies or Komura I think had a bit of a nightmare to be honest the whole the whole game was a short back pass and they gave away the penalty in 3-1 and after that I think yeah that that's when it becomes apparent support don't live anything to play for and it really could have been could have been anything after that and I think Hiroshima fans that they'd be happy to see you know that the kind of legendary players like oh yeah man cash you are that they got a bit of a run out oh yeah look like he was he was blowing up a bit after a couple of minutes on the field so you can see why he was on little later on but you know to a fantastic service for Hiroshima and yeah I mean for people like us doing a podcast it was a it's for the result the result you wanted to set up the fantastic final final day indeed indeed but yeah fair dues to support because they did battle on as the first half progress and yeah as you mentioned Johnny Musashi Suzuki did equalise for them just before the break and yeah you do wonder how much Hiroshima nerves will have jangled if they had have gotten to the break at just 1-1 and then yeah maybe taking a while to break through in the second half but he got she set up the opener and then he put Hiroshima back in front in first half stoppage time when his free kick from deep on the right 35 yards from gold bounced across the box and went in at the far post and yes once they got their noses back in front there was no let up from son Fretche tall guy Aslan put them two goals up from the spot 10 minutes after the break and a late Pieros saw Tedu brace added gloss to Hiroshima's wind and salt to concert all they wounds and yeah it finished 5-1 and as Johnny's a Johnny's mentioned Toshihiro Oyama and Yoshifumi Kashua were given late substitute runouts by Michael Skibber in their final home game unfortunately for Sapporo Scott they return home for their final league game and their goalkeeper Takanori Sugano is suspended after giving away the penalty that Aslan put away 10 minutes after the break yeah that was his fourth yellow card of the season Sugano so he won't be able to play in I'm sure what would have been his final J1 game of his career so he's gone out on a bit of a dap squib here but yeah the bigger story obviously is Hiroshima and then keeping pace in the title race after having such a difficult time of it obviously in recent league games so for them and their supporters a great way to finish their home league campaign yeah fantastic and and I think particularly like both those tutorial goals were well taken late on as well it's been a problem position for them for a long time and you know they've tried Passiencia they've tried Douglas Vieira they've tried now I'm Sottirio so yeah I mean it's not really relevant with only one match to go here but you know it's a position that they need to sort the next year so maybe this is given yeah some kind of consideration for for who should be the man leading the line tolgae Aslan it was obviously down in Australia the early last year so I saw a lot of him um as well as our standing player down there and and he's continued to form here um as well and yeah like you never really got a sense with Sapporo going in knowing that they were um or already relegated there was never really a sense that this was going to go any other way and and an early goal and then a quick response to the equaliser and then um yeah the second half was a progress was basically a procession I think the XG was over well over three in this game as well so um yeah a good performance one that they had the advantage of knowing that they needed to get against a team that was was freshly relegated and it kind of went the way that you expected and it set things up very nicely for much either to go and win on the final day of the season yeah well wouldn't put anything past J1 so yeah we might be celebrating as there'll be a title on a Sunday evening who knows all right speaking of Matrida yes they are still in title contention after match day 37 they hosted Kyoto at the Guillain Stadium and again well a long similar lines to the Kashiwa Kobo game for large stretches this was a slightly difficult watch but yeah there was a lot on the line obviously for Zilvia. Yuki Soma had a shot saved a close range by Gakuji Ulta in the first 20 seconds but with the 20 minutes left these two were involved in the major flashpoint of the game when the Soma's cross from the left was deflected and floated above the goal line um heading towards the net. Ulta um palmed it tried to palm it away but instead only got fingertips to the ball it bounced down on the line and spun in off the post so Matrida were fortunate on that instance about 10 minutes previously that had some horrible luck when Henry Mochizuki shot from just beyond the penalty spot hit Ulta's left hand post ran along the line hit the other post ran back across the line and ended up in Ulta's arms um a lucky let-off for Kyoto there but yeah about 10 minutes later um Zilvia were somewhat fortunate I think to get their winner but again it makes it a three horse race on the final day Scott they're very much the outsiders but well we knew that coming into the season that they were uh they're going to be outsiders so they wouldn't have it any other way and the fact that they've rebounded from some pretty dreadful results in the last month or six weeks and made it to the final day with the with title aspirations still alive makes their season even more remarkable doesn't it? yeah yeah I think like everyone was writing them off a couple of um match days ago but but they're back and the way that the jailit tends to go it's it's absolutely reasonable to to think that they'll actually go on and do it on the final day um yeah they've done it um they've done it in their own um kind of brutal um uh soviet um style of um football which has been unwavering I I just wonder if there's yet not a discussion to be had about some of the changes that they made in in mid in mid season of whether or not that's helped them I mean you know they played four for a while now they've gone to the the three they brought Shirasaki in where there probably wasn't an area of um of concern for um things were moving on quite nicely there and since he's come in I don't know if they had quite that rhythm um in in the center of the park as a matter of fact I don't even know if Selma obviously was injured very very as was Nakayama so how much of yeah how much of these changes maybe you know they got to a point in the third okay we were in this position we didn't expect to do we kind of got to do something but whether or whether or not that something was um was interrupting what had been built because as we know with these teams these um these corridor teams from his time in the high school as we've spoken in preseason it's um it's a process to getting to the point physically where you need to be and it's a process mentally as well to to get where where you need to be and I just don't know if yeah if that dip um around the summer wasn't due to maybe yeah maybe there was a case to say let's keep what we've got and keep it keep it moving instead of trying to interrupt it with two three new signings it came in and then he went through that weird period where he's playing Nakashima for for some reason up front um who's as mobile as a three of us um combined and and yeah some some weird kind of selection decisions particularly in the final third as well um Nars been in the team out of the team he's he's switched um the wide players from this side and that side is kind of rotated through the defenders now back to the three um with with Jung coming back in so it was working so well for the first um yeah for the first half of the season I don't know if you needed to you know they weren't wholesale changes but they were they were subtle ones and I just wonder if it didn't interrupt the rhythm um without they're on but um yeah you know nobody yeah as you said at the start of the season nobody could have imagined that you would be um at this point heading into the final day it's day of the season um it's it's it's been a fantastic year it's been um it's been a fantastic campaign and um yeah they'll look good in J2 in 2026 because you can just see it I mean you can just see it falling apart right next year because the the intensity um the intensity yeah physically and you know speaking to the people who've been in and around the thing the the physical intensity the mental um intensity I think it has the potential to really break um players and break teams pretty quickly you can do this in high school where you're cycling um this is my early um season uh tip for next year that much later are going to really struggle because in in a high school setting you can do it your cycling plays in and out every two years um but you can't do it consistently um with senior professionals so yeah let's see what happens I'm here but I'll give you an early tip that I think um I think they're really going to struggle next year all right well yeah well wait and see um obviously yeah we don't want to um we don't want our matricters obvious supporter listeners switching off at this point of the podcast but uh yeah I mean certainly second year syndrome might bite them uh pretty hard next year Johnny uh but for now yeah their supporters can enjoy and they can dream after this um somewhat fortunate victory but I guess yeah they do deserve credit for keeping you on going and um yeah ultimately they got their somewhat lucky winner and um yeah it takes them to the final day with it all to all to do and all to play for yeah it's so an article today that was talking about how how it could all just change it you've been using that the back three that the past couple of weeks and that that really helped them here and then I watched the game and I kind of thought it was a bit of a bit of an arm wrestle that really could have gone either way because you know you mentioned the the mochizuki shot that somehow didn't go in but I think Elias hit the bar and then it rebounded and I think Toria Kalad his head are headed off the line in the first half and yeah yeah it could have easily ended up no-no or won them to Kyoto I think I think match it I mean they did have the better of things they did more shots they'd more possession and obviously they they'd more to play for I did really like mochizuki down the right wing back as opposed to right back I think the defensively is quite weak um but yes it's a fantastic way for from actually to um to finish off this this gave you gave you campaign and I think we've I've done the math that you know the deep v-cell and san fredhee to lose in them to win in kashima which I mean yeah most other leagues know that's not going to happen I think in J1 that is eminently possible you could have the first ever season in J1 and title winners and if that happens at the worthy champions we wait and see that they've definitely generated a lot of a lot of talking points across the year and yeah I'm not I'm not going to make any bold predictions about about next season but um yeah I've it's been very interesting I think this year to have a have a teammate match it out essentially come from from nowhere and go straight to the top of J1 and challenge and do things a bit differently so yeah I'm very very interested to see how how that game goes at the the kashima soccer stadium next next week absolutely and speaking of teams coming from nowhere and winning J1 Johnny I'm sure you remember the last time three teams were still in the running for the title on the final day of the season it was back in 2014 of course we're not counting the two stage seasons and yeah what the league table looked like before the end of different stages this that and the other but yes heading into the final match day in 2014 Gumbar Osaka and Urawa both had 62 points and Kashima had 60 of course this was in a 34 game season back then listeners and yeah to talk about and just to fill you in on yeah what can happen on the final day and late in the season in terms of pressure when teams need victories on the final day of that season Gumba were the only team to get anything from their game they could not beat bottom team Tokushima but their Neil Neil draw was enough to give them the title because Urawa lost 2-1 at home to Nagoya and Kashima lost also at home 1-0 to Totsu so late season pressure I can do funny things to players and yes even teams with nothing to play for well they've got nothing to lose so they can literally go and express themselves and yeah on that occasion it went right down to the wire and all three teams basically cracked the bed so we will see what happens this coming Sunday because with one round left to go Kobe have 69 points and a goal difference of plus 22 Hiroshima are a point behind on 68 their goal difference is plus 31 and Machida have 66 points and a goal difference plus 22 the same as Kobe in the final round Kobe host Shawnan who are 15th in the table fourth place Gumba Rosaka host Hiroshima and yes as Johnny's mentioned Kashima who are 5th host Machida and yeah on paper it would look like Gumba and Kashima don't have much to play for themselves Johnny let alone 15th place Shawnan but fourth place can I just say they do oh you're sorry you're gonna go yeah yeah we're just about to say yeah yeah indeed indeed so yeah they do have continental continental prize to play for Johnny as spot in the ACL two the next season so yeah Gumba and Kashima have their own motivation let alone trying to deny Hiroshima and Machida the title respectively yeah I think it's another kind of string string to v-cells board that you know but winning them for a couple of last week is not only a title for them it also means that you know if Gumba won them first cut then Gumba would be in the ACL for next year and Kashima would have no chance so v-cell winning it means that Kashima and Gumba are both going to be properly going for it against their two title rivals so that they're almost like a kind of evil villain with a plan that's not revealed before the end of the final shootout in the in the movie so but basically from my math which which may or may not be correct and hopefully is correct as long as Gumba equal Kashima's result then that they will finish fourth that they're above them just now and however if Gumba lose and Kashima win or draw then Kashima would overtake them and and yeah also if Kashima if Kashima end up drawing and then Gumba can do whatever they like I mean I'm kind of thinking about what you were saying there about 2014 that that would make complete sense if two of the two of the title challengers were to lose and one of them was to draw and I mean sure of Kashima playing Kobe and the winner takes the title and if it's a draw match it out if they won we'd lift the title you basically couldn't have a better ending to the season with was forced and fifth involved and having something to play for and all the games are at the same time and I'm going to be at the sweetest stadium I know that the Wi-Fi connection is sometimes not good with its sold out so hopefully I can keep track of what's going on but yeah it's gonna be absolutely yeah fantastic final day of the season I've seen the so Kobe lift them first comes I'm not I'm not too keen in watching Sam Fred to lift the J1 title at the sweetest stadium but yeah it made me the best team win I don't know Scott do you have any anything or do you want to you know pitch your tent on one team is going to win well unfortunately if you either you've got Wi-Fi issues I'm going to be in the Cambodian capital and put on pan ahead of the the ASEAN championship starting that same evening with a Cambodia hosting Malaysia so I'm I'm not quite sure yeah what my Wi-Fi is going to be like but I'm I was kind of hard joking but but I I really think that Machida can do it to be honest because I mean it's it's it's simple mathematics because if they catch Kobe obviously they'll go ahead of them on a Goldie from so that's that's not an issue straight there and so if um if Kobe and and he Washington lose which is absolutely um yeah not out of the realms of possibility they win boom it's done um and um and I'm also kind of serious in thinking that I'll go down to J3 the year after so I'm really serious because you you you just can't do this we've seen your professionals what he's done this year and and he's got them he's got them because because he's done what what basically no one's done since the 80s because you you can't generally um operate teams in this way um anymore um and and that will lead to burn out so I think it's a great chance for them to win um and yeah and then a great great chance to fall next year but um yeah it's it's fascinating of course fourth and fifth in play and and all the action at the other end um of the table as well so yeah once again you know the Jay League is really delivered a fantastic um final day and um yeah I think Machida will win okay well that so that means that yeah Cobay and Hiroshima would both have to lose for that to happen um Sean and yeah yeah Sean and look like they're um well the the easiest of the three opponents that the top three have but again they have previous on the final day of course they relegated and Nagoya the one and only time that grandpa's went down to J2 so yeah they don't mind upsetting apple carts on the final day Sean and um yeah if uh I'm gonna throw to you Johnny but if I had to yeah I would expect at least a draw for one of Cobay and Hiroshima so yeah sorry Scott I don't think Machida um will do it it would be fascinating and fantastic and amazing if they did but um yeah I think for for both of the top two to lose I think that's asking a little bit too much um and yeah just never goes to script in J1 but this might be one of the times it does so yeah for me I know Cobay certainly did not make um believers out of too many people that the way they went about it on Saturday but yeah I think they might just about have enough to squeak past Sean and ultimately that will be enough it won't matter what Hiroshima and Machida do behind them and my my barbershop buddy is finally going to get a run in this team and um and he'll um he'll score a half trick don't worry about that you're already out okay all right well yeah you get to go last Johnny what do you think is going to happen on the final day? Luckily I was actually thinking this way anyway so it's not contrived or anything but I think v-cell and Machida both lose and Sam Fretch you'd win the title based on a draw with Gamba oh wow that would be yeah that would be like 2014 two teams lose and one team draw um yeah I'd yeah it's it's really hard to call isn't it because Sam Fretch you played Gamba at home three times I know one of them was a pre-season game but it was kind of like a it was similar to intensity to a real game in that they haven't beaten them they were one draw on two losses and Gamba are fourth so essentially our title continues it's the hardest game you could play um so it's tough for them to win and Machida going to cash him out I'm sure you must as if you would love nothing more than a bit of shad and Freud and stick it to them um and v-cell I think yeah it all comes down to the start I think if if Seanan get the first goal which are quite good at doing in recent weeks then the nerves will just go around that stadium it's got a very very very tough game if v-cell score in the first 10 minutes then I think yeah it might be a very boring boring afternoon um but yeah I'll go for for Sam Fretch you to to nick it with a draw with with everyone else uh wet in the bed all right tremendous stuff um yeah so well the three of us have gone for three different outcomes so there you go listeners um make sure you're tuning in on a Sunday afternoon at two o'clock there's also some huge games at the foot of the table as has got mentioned earlier we've already talked about race hole in there well heartbreaking draw at home against Kobe but that is actually well it's still benefited them in the um the overall relegation dogfight picture because the draw there um has taken them above Niigatanel on goal difference and um yeah as I mentioned earlier they would have to suffer a heavy defeat and Iwata to win by several goals uh yeah that's regardless of what Niigatanel to do on the final day um so yeah race hole are sitting prettier than they were at to kick off on Saturday but Iwata have kept the the fight going until the final day they came from a goal behind to beat FC Tokyo late on 2-1 at home on Saturday afternoon FC Tokyo took the lead eight minutes into the second half through a terrific Soma Anzai header from Okago Higashi cross but Yaski Kimoto the Tokyo defender was shown a straight red card for a dogzo 13 minutes from time a couple of minutes later the resulting free kick taken by Ricky away Hara was headed in by Matias Peishoto with the 10 minutes left for 1-1 and then a um an initial decision of a free kick in the D for Handball against Hautaka Nakamura was changed to a penalty for Iwata after the ref was called to the monitor and a Jubilow legend Hiroki Yamada in his final home game before for the club rather before retirement scored the penalty to seal a 2-1 victory for Iwata Iwata's cardiac kids have done it again they uh of course they lost their last two games 4-3 at home but this time they made a successful comeback and the three points have kept them alive um Scott we talked about the contentious penalty in the Kobe game um this one was yeah edge of the box stuff I never know what's in and what's out the entire ball have to be in or can only part of it be in this that and the other um obviously a difficult one to take for a Tokyo support of uh for the overall picture of the league you know it's one I don't really mind um you know Iwata can have their uh can have their win and it keeps them interested until the final day so I don't know what you thought about that and the game as a whole but yeah another forgettable afternoon for FC Tokyo yeah yeah I mean Tokyo I think in in some ways it's kind of going through the motions now to get through to the end of the season get a new coach in place um let's see what happens with the squad so and over and all the things that um we went over post your Oklahoma festival um that night like you said it's great um to see um Jublow stay alive um yeah I've got some some kind of questions about um some of the decisions that have been made um in yeah with the selection stuff as well I think what we've seen from um from Matias Pei Shoppel I think is one of um one of the better but he's not unless let's get this because he's not on Yuki Kukita level but he's one of the um he's one of the better strikers in the league for mine um certainly what he displayed uh in the first month or six weeks of the competition and he hasn't started since when I don't know since maybe the middle of the summer um which um yeah particularly in a team that that needs goals and every time he comes on whether he's scoring or not he you know he's obviously tall he offers a different kind of um tactical conundrum for teams to solve um compared to to Jermaine so it's yeah it's beyond me um why yeah why um mr. Yakuji can't find a place for him in the team because I think if he if he had have stuck with him and that was always going to be the issue how to you know solve that that issue we've maybe got three plays into two but now since he's gone back to this um this one it's been basically Jermaine and and that's it and you brought Pei Shoppel one when you need you know moments like this and and again he's delivered for them on this stage so yeah it's just a bit confusing why he hasn't perhaps seen more action but yeah it's um you know I think we we heard from Klomowski um you know post-match saying that you know late on they were up against a desperate team and and maybe just got you know a little bit overrun in terms of yeah the the intensity that they played with late on and and here we go down to the final day and again it's it's a little bit criminal what's going on with Niga that's to be in this position as well and um we'll get them in a minute also but yeah the the the the constant shuffling of of their team there I don't think has helped them either so both both of these coaches at Jiblo and Nigaatu I think have a have a lot of questions to answer about the way that they've handled um yeah team selections throughout the season and and and and it's I think a large reason why that they're in this situation where they are now fighting for survival on the final day the season indeed and yeah Johnny I don't know if you expected a bit um Scott and I to kick up a bit more of a stink about that penalty decision or not but I mean yeah at the end of a a long season and um yeah a season that most FC Tokyo supporters want to wipe from their memories as quickly as possible I think um yeah we'll uh we're happy enough to hurry what to to have their moment and um yeah we'll wait and see if they can um yeah keep it up on the final day because they still have an awful lot to do and the odds are very much stacked against them but um yeah as Scott's mentioned Nigaatu are in real difficulty here and they have wobbled uh well that's putting him on it they've absolutely slumped towards the end of this season and that continued against your team Gumba Rosaka at the big swan on Saturday afternoon uh Gumba claimed a one-nil win to stay ahead of Kachima in the race for fourth and Kolta Yamada a player yourself Alan and I spoke quite a bit about on last week's episode he headed in a kesuke Kurokawa cross in the 18th minute and that ended up being the difference between the sides but your goalkeeper Junichi Mori certainly was quite busy and made terrific saves to preserve Gumba's lead so especially in the first half so yeah you would have been quite relieved I imagine to make it through to half time in the ascendancy and then I think things are a bit more comfortable for Gumba after the break this is a funny game it's kind of you know Gumba the season obviously results have gone mine was better than the last season and if you're thinking about how to kind of kick on like from where they've been and they could have edged on the periphery of the title battle to actually entering it next season I think that this give a kind of example where I think the first 20 minutes Gumba were much better than Niigata and it looked like a top 14 playing a bottom 14 I think they cut through them a couple of times with a couple of chances before Yamada scored and then they just sort of retreat into this kind of no man's land but they're not really threatening and creating many chances of their own and they're generally keeping the opposition off but as you said they do still give up two or three kind of big chances and you have to rely on Ichimori's excellence I mean with that said I think over the over the 19 minutes Niigata I think were created with 10 shots and if anyone just watched the highlights I think three of them came right at the end of the the first half there was a bit of a flutter of them and the second half was obviously the bit of the scare at the end when Niigata hit the post but that I mean that was I think that takes a bit of luck for that to go and he's taking it on but it's quite far out and it's quite a bit of an angle and in general yeah that the second half was a bit of a non-event for large parts other than I think Hashimoto had a few decent corners again and he was one of the players that kind of caught my eye but kind of coming back to what Scott said earlier about Niigata I've got a bit of my gamba supporters hat on you know when I saw the starting living both myself and I think some of the gamba fans are on Twitter were actually you know quite quite happy to see the likes of like Tani Gucci and Otar on the bench and Yuji Ono who was a kind of inside half for gamba playing is the main center forward with with Hasigawa who's who's really good in J2 with Kofer but hasn't really caught fire with Niigata so yeah they've come on later to know really effect and it's a really damaging result for Niigata isn't it Scott? Yeah absolutely and you know they have as they always have they they have some really good young/youngish players particularly one that I've liked throughout the year is the defender Inamura Hayato who on the ball is an excellent player in terms of his distribution in terms of pushing forward into into advanced areas and he can play in tight spaces and he's the kind of player that you could see with the with the development in two three years he could be in the national team frame but I think he's still it's his first year of professional football and and he's still not quite there defensively and and he cost them a couple of times in this game I know Deng's leaving I don't know if he's fully fit or not but but just selections and he's he's persisted with him quite a lot throughout the season where you see there's a script Scott sorry can I just interrupt because he's actually he's still at university but they've managed to play him quite a few times right right so he's not actually a professional yeah but it's his first year at that at this level and I think yeah he's got such a lot of quality you know on the ball but but it's the off the ball stuff it's worry and and he is cost them at key points throughout the season when he's been in you know he's he's had a run of you know he's in for two three matches and then he's not out and you know that may be connected with the with the studies on whatnot but there's a few of those kind of plays as well what they're doing with um with the Danilo Gormas as well um in and out of the team not getting a run and this is the thing that has been the hallmark of this team and I think last time I was on with you guys I've brought this up as well I just don't know how um you know there's there's merit to trying to want to balance the squad and juggler squad and juggler playing minute so that you you keep the squad as a whole happy but I think it's um yeah it's just far too inconsistent Jinokomura is another one as well who like when when he's played is it really really good really creative one of their better alice then he's he's out of the team again for spells then he's in but he's on the bench and he's not starting and the whole rotation up front with the strikers and and you guys touch on in the in the cup final as well where you're rotating your your keeper for the for the biggest game so it's whether this is Matsuhashi not being confident enough in terms of his um his capabilities to manage the squad and keep everyone happy in which case he shouldn't be in the frame for the kind of jobs that um the yeah that he's been he's been flying around for um I just think a lot yeah I honestly think a lot of the problems are down to him um and this this constant shuffling of the pack where you can't get combinations working you can keep everyone happy you know by giving them two games every three weeks but you can't build um consistency and and if you are going to go with the youngsters then play them regularly as much as um as much as you can so for me a large part of um yeah the struggles that they're going through and like call me for example like what's going on at this one of the better players I have and like you know he's in and out of the team with his constant nonsense as well nagakura was like unplayable for you know the mid part of the summer and then he's out of the 11 again so um I just don't get it and yeah I put a large part of um the problems that they're going through right um at the feet of of Matsuhashi and no doubt he's going to have a completely different 11 again going into this final you might bring koto arbe back you know you just never know what will happen. Indeed indeed well yeah nigga to finishing with uh not with a wet sail they're finishing like damp squibs after yet another game uh match day without a victory uh in match day 37 and so yes we have three teams vying for the title at the top of the table we have three teams trying to avoid 18th place and the third relegation spot uh down at the wrong end of the table so kashua have a 41 points and a goal difference of minus 11 they're 16th nigga to our 17th and currently safe also on 41 points but their goal difference is minus 15 and the Iwata remain in 18th spot in the table they have 38 points and a goal difference of minus 18 so it goes without saying Iwata have to win to uh to keep this interesting on the final day Iwata are away at bottom club tosu who interestingly could finish above Sapporo if they win and the Sapporo um draw or lose on the final match day so um I guess this fourth and fifth is still in play in 19th and 20th is still in play uh as well speak of 19th place Sapporo they host kashua and the uh home finale in j-1 for considole and yes nigga to travel to urawa who will be talking about shortly as well so I don't think we want to put the kiss of death on anyone do we guys so yeah we'll just let this play out it's obviously heavily stacked against Iwata as if nigga or or and or kashua get a point then uh yeah Iwata are down regardless of what happens with them and so we can we can we just say though the teams are involved in this in in the other end of it other teams that i think i'm right saying have conceded far and away the most goals in the league right in Sapporo and toss it so is it yeah i i just don't you can see Sapporo at home beating kashua by four goals sure nothing to play for final match that's Mischa plays this on the other right you you can see it and equally you can see a toss this side that is so open shifting three or four against jubel over there get pay shot though uh in in the 11 i don't know i can i can see a world again where where this goal difference can be can be overturned it's only what is it seven the the swing between jubelow and racer yeah that's right yeah i don't i don't know i can see maybe nigga to surviving somehow and then and then yeah i don't know that that maybe that goal difference is somehow over because it's the exact two teams in terms of the opposition you know the games are going to be open you know it's going to be open and we've tossed it and you know it's going to be open with Sapporo so if things go bad early on yeah who knows Sapporo could absolutely turn one over on on race all and then you know obviously teams are going to be following what's going on at the other venues maybe the wind is uh in the sails and yeah yeah there's there's no reason why jubelow can't be tosses three four kneel absolutely no reason whatsoever so yeah i don't know you know it seems yeah it seems insurmountable but the way that the schedules it you know tossed up those those two particular teams in toss and Sapporo like i think i think anything's on i think as you saw in the the j2 playoffs last weekend if if a team has to score a goal and get behind then it can start being like a snowball running down a mountain and you end up with like three kneel and four four one away victory so yeah they're definitely the first two to fifteen twenty twenty five minutes in those two games or do i think something to watch to see if there are any goals yeah sure thing i mean yeah i'm all for the drama yeah i just didn't want to anybody to uh yeah predict somebody to go down and uh but yeah i'm i'm sure there will be a massive amounts of drama and yeah it could completely flip on the final day but uh yeah we'll wait and see so much to believe for at both ends of the table and we mentioned that gumba are battling with kashima to finish fourth so we'll begin our roundup of the other games with the kashima's win against Tereso Osaka atlas one two kneel away with both goals coming inside the first 15 minutes uh shoe morocca and then uh yuma sazuki scoring volleys of different types but uh both neatly finished and that was just a third win in their last 12 league games for kashima but yes it kept them in the hunt for fourth and they've not won at home since early august so they'll look to finish on a high they'll look to end the machita's title hopes and they'll look to hopefully finish fourth themselves we'll see how they get on on the final day against title chasing machita just it ran up a couple of other games before we finished with the two barn burners from a saturday fukuoka beat urawa one kneel at home in shigetoshi hacebe's last home game in charge in charge of vispa uh kazia connoza tremendous strike from 25 yards five minutes before half time was the difference between the sides uh red sub shion honma one of uh scott's favorites uh he glanced a bundled effort wide from inside the six yardbox in the third minute of stobbish time as uh reds uh failed to equalize at the death and um somewhat unfortunate for michlangarak his uh home j-1 finale was would not play to the toy to stadium of course it was played at fc gifu's nagara gawa stadium and um yeah nagoya got spanked by tosu to the tune of three goals to nil uh vikintas slivka scored early on in the eighth minute hikaru nakahara's first of the afternoon followed two minutes later um with the nakahara applying the icing on the cake 20 odd minutes into the second half i could make a joke about the nagara gara stadium um being a familiar venue for home teams losing three goals to nil but uh that would be cruel so i won't make that joke and um yeah johnnie anything you wanted to say on the the combatants in these three games before we uh finish with the the two games that featured the uh the most goals in the match day i mean pro pore the service or kashima was obviously the the humus is a key uh set celebration so saluting the seros or fans and then in his postmaster interview i think he said the word my friend said that miss me sogi which i believe is associated with yakuza who served her time in prison um but i don't know if he is something against kansai because he you know he's incident with patrick at gamba and he can get booked for celebrate in front of the Kyoto fans uh again what one of my friends said it's maybe because kansai people don't hold back in their opinions about people they don't like um but that was yeah kakashima it's a result of the kenyonyol before it started and um but yeah after kakashima scored us two early goals yeah there was always going to kind of finish with not too many other other goals i think for quokka udawa um yeah that that i brought home a horror miss i think you know if you asked red spans to to start the campaign it would probably be that and uh the what the goal against machida wouldn't we need to push the player off the ball and they got the goal disallowed and then considered equalizer right after that i think i think red just want this season to be over with as soon as possible and then you know grandpa star is a dreadful result okay it's torso just after announcing that has to gab his contract to be extended yeah um was at one point in the last five games they're filmed to score four of those um i think this is the first time in the in the bottom but bottom half since 2019 they've won the van kat but in the league it's not it's not looking good i mean rumors are moved out from malho saia and much truth is in that remains to be seen but yeah dreadful afternoon for them and toaster have actually picked up for them i think since since being relegated but um i don't ascribe did you have anything tat about any of those those games i've got a lot to say on fookwalk it generally is my um adopted hometown for the past couple of years um but maybe we can save that for pre-season um yeah next year because yeah they they should be doing a lot better than them where they are the the thing that i um yeah again we probably don't have the time to get into it but um i particularly like um homare tokura the um the young cashmere striker who um has had only limited opportunities um this year i'm seeing about this today in terms of this season is this one of the um one of the poorest seasons that we've seen in terms of youngsters really coming in because yeah i think in pre-season you know yeah guys like him and there was a bunch of others with potential around the league to to really break in and and um and be the next breakout stars but this is one of the yeah i think one of the poorest seasons in terms of everyone seems to have right back who's broken through this season yeah yeah no yeah no you're right none or as as done well i actually really like your rocky second air as well um wrestling is a good play um but you know but yeah the right backs aren't going to be you know signing for a Premier League side in the second you might be going to Leicester according to the the rumours yeah yeah but you know in terms of the the sexy playmakers i i don't think we that we've seen the youngsters kind of burst onto the scene that we have in previous season so so yeah so hopefully we can um and and for a rower it can't be um overstated how important this club world cup um actually is it's a massive thing there's huge prize money on the line um all the best clubs in the world i don't know how on earth um they're going to figure the schedule for reds um next summer because they're going to be i guess either side you might need to block six weeks off for that tournament so um the not in the Levant cup i think there's someone answering me the right right just skipping the early stages anyway right so um yeah so you know in in terms of Japanese football you know we we talk about wanting to have success on the you know the second tier um level the first tier level but this is the real deal you know you're on the global stage and and the strength of the league is going to be judged by the 12th place team that we're currently sending so um so hopefully that and and i and i expect they will um strengthen really um impressively to make sure that um yeah that they do well let's see what the draw throws up this friday but um yeah i think it's really important to mention that this is the first time um basically ever that you know that we've sent a club team to a tournament of this magnitude um and it's really really important that that reds get their um act into gear and yeah make sure they give a good showing of themselves at that competition yeah all right so yeah we'll wait and see who reds draw on friday as the scott's mentioned all right we've got two games left to go let's save the highest scoring one for last so next we'll go to the lemon gas stadium for a Kanagawa derby shaunan hosted yokahama f marinos for the home team bell mari akito Suzuki and shofakuta both got into double digit goals for the season either side of anderson lowpez's 24th of the campaign for f marinos but after fakuta had what he thought was his second of the game 20 minutes from time ruled out for offside by var there was a late sting in the tail for the home team uh june amano equalizing in the 89th minute and the young matais won it for the visitors f marinos in the fourth minute of second half stoppage time so the final game was an absolute barn burner at arginomoto stadium tokyo verdi hosted kawasaki and it was the final home game of verdi's triumphant return season to j-1 but they were caught cold as a frontali went two-nil up inside 25 minutes thanks to a pair of shin yomata goals the first from the penalty spot verdi hit back to 2-2 with goals either side of half time from tomoyamiki and hiroto taniguchi then the kawasaki kicked two goals clear again with sai van verma's kirken say that name again sai van verma's kirken and marcino scoring either side of the hour mark but taniguchi completed a remarkable hat trick the first for a defender in j-1 history and i don't know that to be true but i'm guessing it has to be with his goals in the 71st and 83rd minutes as verdi made it 4-4 only for yomata to one up him by netting his hat trick goal his 19th of the season taking him joint third on the j-1 goal scoring chart in the fourth minute of stoppish time and a brilliant first-time strike from the edge of the box it was as well so a late season romp 5-4 at arginomoto stadium a remarkable game johnny and um well yes pump it into my veins absolutely love it yeah it's as far as i can tell yomata was involved in seven of the no no i was saying give it the same point i think it was eight it was absolutely waffle he was directly responsible but i think it was three of the goals it's things that they say like because i i saw it was posted on on um on social media that on sofa score given them 10 out of 10 we're sure that they don't they don't marks they don't give marks against for certain things like waffle yeah like non-existent marking from set pieces kicking the ball directly to tanny gucci yeah i'm sorry it's still your thunder but yeah that that that that also must be a record the percentage of yeah seven or eight go of nine goals and he was involved in them all brilliant going forward i think i'd be trying to hide them somewhere in corners wherever the the next coaches it has to be if it's to be believed and yeah i think you know this is this was end of season fair there was some pretty waffle defending i think tuna shima for the first one mattias for the second one yeah yomata after that i think for for frontali supporters in in utros would be quite happy jofu kur i think you won't be pleased because i think this this loss combined with with gambang cash now um winning means that they can't get in the ACL but i think anyone outside of verdi or outside of jofu kur's office maybe would be yeah they would say yeah absolutely fantastic effort for for verdi so i don't i mean scott do you have anything to add to that and then put please feel free to take over for the the the shonen and marino's game nah i just yeah i was going to make the exact same point on yomata but in in you know and and maybe this is a again because he's a curious case right i mean he's scored all his goals but again he hasn't been a regular starter for since the end of the summer i think he's maybe started less than fifty percent of the games and you just wonder like some of these not like man alive yeah he he was dreadful like in terms of the the defensive something and he directly cost them the goals that that he's that he's getting back so it was um yeah real real rocks and diamonds um from them um yes jeez shonen i don't know a couple of um yeah then i don't i just don't know what to make of shonen either a few of these young players have got real potential i i don't know if i'm such a rep for for some of them but that's you know this persistence in playing it kind of modestly talented 21 year old central defenders who may actually be central midfielders is um not maybe working quite as well um as it could have been in other circumstances and then marino's um yeah you just got a fear you know if they lose um if they if they lose those three kind of players up front what's what's going to happen to them next year you know when um you know at least i'll be well placed in terms of the the champions again yeah these these obviously are two teams in marino's infrontali that could very well go you know quite far in in the eastern zone of the ACL as well which um yeah you know kind of operating as a preseason journey those those last couple of matches um next year but yeah birdies birdies had a very good um season without being without being particularly spectacular they're they're kind of much of a light um for me not um not not completely brutal but um yeah they're not especially um dazzling either so it was yeah it was fantastic to see there um is this that they scored four goals in a game this season probably not but um if if it was yeah three of them coming from a defender it's kind of the way that um that jofus has got them playing fair play to him i don't know if they're particularly exciting to watch but um yeah that's been in terms of points accrued uh a great season for them disappointing for marino's disappointing for frontali and and shawn un survived for another year with some exciting young players that will no doubt um move on i'm all yeah i have to keep replacing them but but yeah yeah i'm not i'm not not sure about any of these four teams have had the kind of seasons that i would have hoped heading into it and yeah let's see what happens in the ACL for the big two indeed any warning signs flashing about birdie if it's possible second season syndrome scott or you think they've got plenty left in the tank for a similar sort of campaign next year or do you think um they might come back to the pack a little bit and sixth where they are now and uh well not guaranteed to finish but likely um to finish at least six or sevens is um kind of a watermark for them to shoot for you next year yeah i mean maybe it depends on what they do with the fawns or something i'm right in saying that it's only is it only potatoes that that's basically the the only fawn that they've got playing and he he may well be on his way so um it's always one of these things i said okay listen we've had a good year what what do we need to do we need to get in you know three um Brazilians or whatever and and what that impacts them but i think if they did the right positions with the right players it could really help them because um you know and and they've had the advantage of almost no injuries as well you know i'm fuking your martyrs been out for a bit but they've they've basically had the same 11 um consistently for for a large part of the season when he moved things tactically and he moved things selection wise around the summer he had a first half consistent one and a second half consistent one um and and and that's been to the advantage i just wonder around these front three you know um if they've got kind of a quality to well i don't think they do to to kick on and and really make it so if you were going to invest in yeah whether it's a quality um local player or or probably more likely say you know a number 10 and a number nine these is pretty much wedded now to this three four two one so if you had you know a real creative player and a real finisher in those kind of roles um there's no reason why they're they're solid in midfield the wing backs um a solid if they can hang onto Matthias uh office one of the better keepers in the league and and they're reasonably good defensively as well so i think if they yeah if they could get a real you know creative 10 and and and and a kind of clinical nine yeah there's no reason why they couldn't kick on and do even better next year all right fascinating stuff and yeah well done to Verdi for the what's uh come so far for them this season yeah six in the table with a game to go is absolutely tremendous in their first season back in the top flight in well over a decade all right then so that's all the 10 games from match day 37 rounded up we will take a very quick break and then we will hand out some player of the season awards and uh yes some other business from the last week or so that we'll touch on welcome back and now it's time to hand out some more silverware we're going to run through eight different teams and uh award players of the season for each of them and uh scott's going to play a little game here and try and guess um at least a couple of the the nominees that we've plump for before we put our heads together and give these awards out so the first club up is Kyoto and they're a little bit of a special case this year but um yeah who do you reckon we've plump for from uh Sanga Scott well as a um marinist fan I surely hope it's um Marco Tulio one of our um stars from last season before he moved up to the lead but I mean this award is going to Rafael Elias you probably don't even need to vote on it um I would think yes so so I mean surely the two Brazilians uh I mean how many of you got five on the list there are four in total for Kyoto okay well yeah obviously they're two um Rafael Elias and Marco Tulio that should not be any discussion I wouldn't think I hope it's not Tai Chiara well he was one of them yes he enjoyed a good second half of the season which redeemed him I think but yeah his first half was sorely lacking yeah yeah yeah oh and and Rafael and Marco are two of the others right surely yes that's right and I said a special case because we don't usually um give a player of the season he's only coming halfway through yes he's only made 15 appearances and only started 12 games so we normally would not um even consider him Johnny but so I think that's why a player like Hara was on your shortlist but um yeah I think we have to make a special case it well that's where my vote's going and I think Scott's is is no doubt as well um yes and and Jamie um Jamie Mikkel said it as well when I got in touch with him yeah basically Kyoto would be mired in the relegation dogfight were a lot for the impact that Elias has had so um it sounds like me and Scott are with Elias and I can't imagine you disagree yeah yeah it's it's yeah I think it's the first time we played uh we played an exception but everything you say I agree with you know if it wasn't for him they'd probably be in the bottom three um I think he's earned himself in an early holiday with uh um he got a yellow card against match though so you won't be playing with the final final day of the season but yeah with with 12 starts he must be the the player with the least amount of starts to ever win this award for any team since we started doing it yes who is the fourth nomination one of these um wispy central midfielders which is a very very large man in in Gaul with so goose um yung really it was to be he's been dropped for the last three games this yeah before you went before you put this nomination list out well where was Tulio he wasn't part of the squad in on the weekend so extended yeah well there you go okay can't be trusted yeah bad temperament all right yeah yeah okay marina there you go let's move on to Kawasaki now this is a tricky one for you Scott because you're not only going against Johnny's list but you're also going against Neil Debnam because um Johnny's initial list was edited after consultation with Neil so four names was pruned down to three and only one survived the initial cut so we have a short list of three who do you think they are well I mean Yamada has to be one obviously he is um well I don't know because it's Kawasaki are a weird case because they obviously with the the continental involvement and whatnot as well like they constantly rotated the squad and they and they're like tuck i's been injured for a bunch of the time moshima was back and then injured players have been in out of the squad so yeah geez i don't know it's hard to get a consistent three to be honest um why don't i'm just digging in terms of players they've actually played um i don't know touchy bananas has played kind of regularly um Sasaki maybe as a as a left back who's um ended up playing fairly well um in the same place yes Sasaki is one of them might be one um and then yeah geez i don't know i mean yeah Marcy Neil maybe as the other i don't know yeah i would have had Marcy Neil in he was one of Johnny's initial names but he didn't make the cut after we got in touch with Neil so uh Jung was the third name that made it through to the uh the final round of consideration so Shin Yamada 19 league goals in 37 appearances uh third best in the league joint third best with Ryoja main Junceon 19 conceded there you go yeah let a lot slip no doubt about that uh Junceon Ryoong 28 appearances in goal for frontali in the league and Sasaki Sasaki yes as played every game but won this season um yeah Neil i think was throwing his hands up in the air on sad saturday evening because he would have gone for Jung but he i think he realises that Yamada has to get it with his uh 19 goals considering the way that frontali defended even though yes Yamada was at fault for some of these goals that Verdi scored himself um Yamada certainly gets my vote 19 league goals as he's burst onto the scene is a tremendous return um Johnny who do you vote for yeah i think i think it has to be Yamada i think as i said last week with Ryoja main you know if you scored 19 goals in your teams now i have a great season i think it's hard to take the award off you and as good as in as versatile as Sasaki's been in i like Junceon as well in goal but you know frontali's defending and goal the goals against tally is is extremely poor um so yeah i can't really make a case for either of them over over Yamada despite some of his defensive flaws at the weekend but yeah 19 goals he's only started 20 games he scored six important goals off the bench so it has to be Yamada for me how about you Scott Yamada Sasaki or Jun who is he how old is Yamada is he he went to universities he must be with 24 i think yeah right so he's not that young there yeah no i agree yeah in terms of this um in terms of the options that we've got available like i said yeah we you know fixed your pile up and injuries and and whatnot they haven't they have another consistent 11 you could have given it to um Ryoja Oshima on the basis of the four games that he played because um yeah geez what a player man if anyone could ever ever keep him fit but i think yeah in this situation it's it's clearly Yamada all right so we've shown a bias for the strikers in the the first two teams we've done on this episode and Scott hasn't considered goalkeepers at all so we'll see if uh that continues on through the remainder of the teams next to to Fukuoka with the thanks to Daniel Hawkins for his input and four nominees here again Scott but once again um keep in mind that in some instances where um stuck for choice and there are a lot of players are kind of a much of a muchness so there aren't necessarily four players that stand out for Fukuoka over the course of the season but um yeah these players have done enough to at least merit a nomination yeah geez i mean it's it's been a it's been a massive a season as well um again it just goes to show imagine if this um suit wearing EPs wearing Japanese coach didn't have a falling out with um with one of the best strikers in the league early on um because Zahadi could have been anything in in in this league but he yeah of course he didn't play um how many how many you got on the list three or four yeah four yeah well i mean Connor's obviously one and then i would think yeah geez i mean there's there's been hardly anything going forward and the front kind of guys have been aside from Connor being in and out you know and Sathos had a run kind of Morris had a run Wellington's had a run the Iranian lunatics had a run um but to walk us for that a favor she gave me is probably not good enough uh so that and the wing backs have been injured all season as well so i guess we're going back to the to the back somewhere but the but those two have in my gosh in those so i mean it has to be two central defenders doesn't it growly and i don't know maybe my and growly something like that my is there yeah yeah and and one of the one of the defenders but it's a cash you know yeah plus your own growly yeah one of those yeah and it's a heady there because he he did start with six goals in his first eight games and has nine goals so he made the list as well yeah and if he didn't have a if the coach didn't for whatever thing decided not to pick him um yeah i mean he's he's top of the list and that's another it's another um reason why it's great that the that the suit wearing earpiece wearing guys out of town and um for guelka for guelka have the for guelka should be one of the great jailing teams that every i said this to you guys um during our meeting man like everything is set up it's the best city in japan like hands down like players want to come here lifestyle is great the the the support is like later but there um the stadium when you finally get there up on top of the hill you can see the planes coming and going it's it's like it's beautiful the city's been like everything is set up for for guelka to be like one of the jailies great success clubs and they've been mired down by this boring suit wearing earpiece wearing guy who's like just dragged him into mediocrity for years so yeah so hopefully um the the great rise of um of of this bestards next year um but but i mean this is um this is obviously connor right we're obviously all going the same way here yeah i'll let i'll let you go next on it yeah yeah but with with the caveat that i've already brought up here he always looks so good that you should be better but yeah definitely five goals and sorry six goals and two assists for connor this season it has to be he has to be my my mvp youtube and yeah i agree but i agree with you there johnny yeah i i want more from him these days he's established at this club now and hopefully uh the new manager whoever he is can unlock him and get more out of him because i mean the two assist number is not good enough for a player of his quality who is so good over a set piece and um in general play he can flit around the pitch and do whatever he wants i mean yeah six goals is a personal best for him here in j1 so happy to see him reach that mark on the weekend and yes i agree with you both that he's should be the winner of this award but um yeah i think there's still a lot more to come from him and hopefully um he wins this in a cantor next year yeah can i i just say for me like connor is a number ten right and he's been playing as one of these kind of tens but the emphasis has always been on on the wide rolls and delivery from wide i i yeah well hopefully now that this guy's gone hopefully we'll get in because i i think this squad is is well set up to a four two three one where you exactly play connor as the ten you've got options as the nine you've got natural fullbacks like four of them they're all there already and and you've kind of got you know okay maybe you can upgrade or win here or there but but kind of it was like you can do a job on the left you can play kind of more on the road or maybe that's one of the roles that you get but then you've got connor free up to be the central playmaker in the team and let everything run through him like they've got two good central defenders i've got grateful where it's like this is a squad that i think someone comes in boom boom four two three one play connor the thing here and and two three kind of key additions maybe uh and an extra wing and i think i think the squad is like it it's not far from being there already you know but just this dao kind of way that he's constantly played with his three central defenders and the creative players you've got you're limiting playing irisaki as a goddamn like wing back for half the season it's just nonsense man so the squads in my opinion like already set up for whatever four three three four two three but but somewhere where you're going to make connor the central playmaker get a good coaching change things tactically and i think they could have a really good net year next year yeah all right sounds like we need to put our heads together and get you to uh yeah start hosting a anavisper podcast as part of the jay talk podcast network for for next season could be well yeah we'll put our heads together and think up a vakachi name for a for that new podcast the weekly wasps there you go yeah i always think i would have to start with an a but yeah okay i like your wordplay there terrific stuff all right we'll uh average of ispa that's what it's been up to this point yeah hopefully they can they can kick on under their new coach next year now this next team nagoya um johnny i don't know we let us skip a team because uh i mean there's there's three nominees here and i don't know we might end up giving a career achievement award here um you can definitely guess who one of the nominees is scott um what about the other two we only have three we can only stretch to three for nagoya yeah yeah we'll like you like it's only she's obviously one of them um yeah jeez the words i mean again it has to be you could probably take your pick it's i guess it's in agaki but you could make an argument for she how she is maybe one of the others um and then maybe morishma as a third yeah sure i'm from mikuni in defense because oh i gotta say what what mikuni no no he's played board games and most of the others and morishima for me falls into the carnal the carnal role of not not being as good as he should be so and yeah it has to go i said lots of nice things about mikuni so we we're at for him but if you want ladies confusing him with mikuni world the uh the stadium this guy man this guy's one of the worst of men is the league for a round for me all right so i i know shawn shares my opinion on mikuni next time you get shawn on you ask me about this guy you're obviously not voting for him then so i think we need to choose between inagaki and langa rak um uh yeah talking about bad defending with shiniamata i mean inagaki presented the ball to tosu for their their second goal on saturday i mean that obviously doesn't um detract from his season as a whole but yeah again uh six goals in 35 games for inagaki and the joint top scorer at the club with kenskina guy this side of affairs indeed it's been a season to forget fauna goya no doubt about that uh michlangarak eight clean sheets in the league as he uh bids farewell to grandpa's after such a successful time at the club and uh well yeah i'll go first for all time sake i'll give it to mich um certainly hasn't hit the heights of the recent seasons but yeah his defense um he's certainly missing a certain shinosuke nakatani who has uh pulled up several trees for gumborosaka this year so yeah overall langa rak's had a a weaker product operating in front of him so i guess we should be fairly pleased with the fact that he's got eight clean sheets at all um so yeah he's my vote uh johnny inagaki or langa rak um yeah i was i was tempted when yeah when scott was complaining about me kunya was looking in the that the makana i can i can't not with drampus couldn't the mascot as an alternative to me i attempted to go for go for him but um yeah i think what life time achievement award for for langa rak he's not been at his best but yeah there's no one really in that the list that takes takes my fancy but what about you scott three first three for langa rak so talking about recruitment man you know that's on this 27-year-old columbian hose uh shawel karabali hasn't seen like the pitchman oh yeah like what i don't know if he's going on i think he's injured after a while maybe that explains it but he played like one random game i think in in like the end of so um but yeah like michan and obviously um you know a bit of a curiosity or whatever but he took some big pens you know in in that kind of cup run as well but you know you're not getting gold it was um the the vote for their penalty tag but but yeah very well slotted and and crucial pens actually um so yeah you know he's done the biz at both ends of the pitch indeed and he departs back to australia after match day 38 this sunday with everyone's best wishes after a terrific time at grampus no doubt about that all right uh next to rawa with the thanks to ralph sidel uh for his input we have uh four names on their shortlist scott uh guess away rikado ron really is uh no i made i made peace with ralph he was a really really lovely guy um uh jeez what i don't know jeez they're such a tough team as well aren't they um i mean hoy bratton is probably one yes i would think um maybe yasi didn't make it was mentioned by ralph but didn't make our list of four and then yeah well if it's if it's not them um then we're talking one of these 24 interchangeable um wispy um kind of wide players um i don't know what an arbor maybe well yes one of them has started each and every game and that's uh rioma what an arbor yes so he's on the list and then the other one and jeez i don't know you can take your pick from you weren't wrapped about him being a nominee for the team of the half season but he was mentioned by ralph as well as being on jonnie's initial shortlist oh the blood the play that i'm missing august doesn't yes come on but next time i say ralph we're gonna talk about this and the other one i'll put you out of your misery was the tiago santana 12 goals in 35 appearances only 20 starts though and he's only started three of the last 16 games so um yeah very much out of favor and out of the starting 11 in the second half of the season but um 12 goals got him on to our shortlist jonnie you want to go first here i think what's in that is the the only option um six six goals five assists is played full back holding mid-fielder winger inside half attacking mid-fielder um yeah in a season where yeah few players have shown for for more than a few games at a time at urawa i think he's been a kind of constant presence so yeah for me it has to be what an abbey how about you Scott yeah i agree just just in terms of the versatility because um i mean in a way it's been a hallmark probably since second i play it right back um throughout the season we've we've got players all over the pop but but yeah i'm just not a fan post because of the the fair well message when he left FC tokyo who whoever was running the FC tokyo website decided to actually post it saying he's been a lifelong you know urawa fan he was always his dream to go there and um yeah whoever that was should be sacked as well but um yeah so um yeah no i agree it's not a particularly inspiring field to choose from but the versatility that he's showed and he's he's done fairly well in yeah in all those kind of roles so yeah for me it's what an abbey as well yeah i'll make it a clean sweep yeah certainly not the season he would have expected when he left FC tokyo to join urawa uh tokyo guaranteed to finish above reds in the table but yes his overall contributions to this reds team um i think yeah clearly make him their player of the season i think the next team um it's fairly obvious as well but yes we'll go through the motions of asking Scott to nominate uh to name the three nominees for your kahama f marinos oh yeah that's the three Brazilians uh well mine might have said what it no sorry elber just hasn't been on it so no he didn't make the list but uh lopez and yan are definitely on the list yeah right and i should say what before you think of another name thanks to shoe at woodwood for his input and he did mention this this third name that Scott's searching for when i got in touch with him as well so um yeah not just one of jonnie's uh pie in the sky names that scott's gonna throw his nose up at what what why hasn't elber been on exactly well he just hasn't had a particularly good season he's completely completely overshadowed by by yan and to say he's been overshadowed by anderson lopez is the understatement yeah but that's like saying a swedish supermodel is overpowered by a Norwegian one well speaking speaking for your experience there's got i don't know he's he's been really good elber this year um anyway um okay jeez you've thrown me a after what one um i'll give you a hint he plays in defense give you the defense has been like in and out the whole season that like like we named we named the goalkeeper and uh uh defended from county so i'll keep that well yeah she's i don't know because they haven't had a settled back four all season like the right backs is in and out the left backs in and out the central defender now i don't know really i don't i don't know i put him out of his misery johnny with with 28 starts this season ken muchabatta we went for yeah right and again mentioned by steward so yeah well when have you uh abusing johnny about that one we started one of the last seven games but um that's what maybe did all right earlier in a cracker sure in a cracker in that game uh no i i like i like metabose he's a he's a fine player but yeah i just don't know if he's had a consistent run of games because particularly from the summer on he he's basically played like a team on it the only ones he's obviously amiss is playing every game yarn and elbert pretty much playing every game but the defenders are rotating every second game like all of them the two the two central defenders are two full backs he's rotating the keeper so since the summer like i don't think any of the full backs have played more than three games in a row since like june um yeah that's just why i'm surprised whereas elbert has played pretty much every single game but uh yeah maybe yeah he's uh he's numbers are down but uh yep uh is anyone going to argue with me if i say Anderson Lopez no no no i think much about his choice came from the fact that the name Anderson Lopez cropped up and it was just really filling out the filling at the table we only took two or three more names so yeah Lopez i think he's got his 99th goal against shonen from from 200 league games so yeah it has to be Lopez yeah quite the way on from the uh from the mo the mo the mote days absolutely tremendous stuff there all right uh two games uh two games two clubs left um fc tokyo scott again dude we probably should skip them but uh we're not allowed to so we thanks to uh thomas pennington and also rio naka goara a few weeks ago for uh potential nominees um we do have four on the list is dorompa on there uh no um yeah jeez i mean i i would think there's only one that can win it um i would i think that's um that's our lucky um but outside of that yeah jeez i mean it is about a with dorompa really yeah i don't know i mean you're gonna pass pass at a rocky no no i mean you're i mean a rocky's gonna win it okay yeah but yeah but i mean yeah like you could you know you could make an argument for for maybe for end or maybe um yeah it hasn't played and and to be totally honest um since he's coming to the team okay gosh he's been all right but um but outside of that i mean yeah you can't i mean yeah if you had to nominate three you would yeah you'd be questioning why why it was three i mean it's a rocky and then and then daylight i mean there's there's not there's no one to be honest i went into bat for call i thought he's been all right um again fighting a losing battle on a week to week basis in midfield but he's held up pretty well um naka goa always battles on but again yeah it's just not not enough it's not good enough and it's you know it's a mid table finish when he's one of your main uh guys up front and then you know if you i mean yeah i don't think anybody really likes it nor is that way in goal but um he's he's fifth in saves only playing uh 24 25 games so um yeah again it's just it's been a season to forget um i'll tell you what johnnie i'll let you have the casting vote because i'll actually go for call just for the number of appearances and how steady he's been i know araki is on um you know by any metric tokyo's best player but i think in terms of j-1 games this season um i'll i'll go into bat for call but i don't mind at all if you if you want to give it to araki and go along with scott there i mean to to be honest fc toky are probably one of the teams i've watched the least in the league because i know you've always got them covered so if it comes to a pick up between two games i'll go for the other one um i judge judging purely on scott said that and i've heard from from your own foot from tom and from yourself everyone's mentioned araki so i'm sorry i'm gonna have to go for the the the non-sexy but obvious obvious pick of of uh araki who's who's done very well and hopefully for you guys he stays on next season although i'm not sure he will but yeah it has to be araki for me cool cool no worries at all there okay so the last team is a sadeza or a psycho uh four nominees against scott well um the boy layoff sierra is one yeah obviously um i would think Lucas Fernandes is another yeah yes j-1 assist leader yes yes um i guess trunzer tanaka would be another very good can you make a clean sweep did you want to give me a position and no okay it's kim jink on then very good yes okay yes well surmised okay um with the exception of mitch langerack a forward player has won each of these awards to this point of this episode uh scott so do you want to uh continue on the the the pattern what by voting for Hinata Keto uh nonetheless uh i don't know i mean it says some it's or do you know what i actually really like Lucas Fernandes actually but um um yeah but i mean you can't not give it to you can't not give it to sierra yeah uh i agree but yeah definitely want to give a special mention to uh Lucas Fernandes a been a terrific signing from support and as i said yeah leads j-1 with the ten assists with one game to go uh 21 goals on the season for leo sierra he was the golden boot leader for quite a long stretch there before and us and Lopez is finished with a wet sail but uh he gets my vote so i guess it's only a second on the assist list we got that hand question uh put me on the spot um this is a good case right with Fernandes who was basically played in a different role um obviously different position but a different role in the his entire time that support so yeah it you know mr kogic who's getting a bit of grief about various other stuff but he's he's put him in a role where he where he's where he's really florant indeed indeed all right so do you want to uh yeah rubber stamp leo sierra there or kick up a stink against us johnny with the the last award of the of the uh the episode can see your question shintiro and nago is second in a session really nice good player there you go we'll see if he gets a nomination for antlers on the next week's episode but uh yeah to the matter at hand johnny um i actually was going to vote for Lucas more in the two reasons well one it was the last nomination i came to and i got fed up of giving it to the the main striker and two i think like scott said he is a new signing and he was more of a surprise was i kind of expected sierra to be quite good this year and he is whereas lucas has moved and changed positions and he's got he's got 10 assists so yeah i mean if if you want to go for for leo i can't argue against that but yeah i think lucas is every bit as deserving of the award as as leo sierra is yeah that's fair as he twisted your arm at all they're scott or you're sticking with me yeah yeah no i'm happy to go with lucas in this case all right okay well let's uh upset the apple cut there with the the last award of the episode and yeah give it to lucas finanders fair doos fair doos to the serrezo a wide demand all right then so they uh eight uh players of the season awards handed out that means we have six left for next week's episode after the final round of this season takes place and then i thought of cashew eraser uh no we already did them last week did my boy get a nomination kakita yeah oh you're just i swear swear to god man in two years this guy is going to turn up at some team somewhere and he's going to win the golden boot in jt yeah promise it's going to happen yeah it's going to happen yeah absolutely tremendous the gold machine yeah watch out okay right yeah so six uh six clubs to go on next week's episode they are the the top six teams in the table so yeah should be some blockbuster decisions to come there and then yeah the following week after uh we will put together the uh the j-talk j-1 team of the season from back to front always one of scott's favorite episodes of the season two listen to as he shouts into his audio device at the decisions we make or i did mccooney world stadium doesn't get it yeah well we'll wait and see if he uh manages uh to get a nomination all right um we are almost ready to uh to depart uh listeners but before we do we did just want to get a couple more thoughts from scott on the ACL we mentioned right back in part one about kobe beating central coast mariners things are going very well for the three j-1 clubs in the ACL elite after the five rounds of matches uh keeping in mind there's eight in this group stage listeners uh vacelle are top they play a way to paul hang this coming Tuesday york ahama f marinos are third after a two-nil homewin over paul hang they travel to central coast on Tuesday Kawasaki won three-nil away at booty-dum uh all three goals coming inside the last 20 minutes that took them from eight to fourth in the table and they play at home against shandong tai shan on the wednesday so the the japanese clubs are doing well in this competition um uh scott after a couple of struggles early doors for frantale um how is this competition being received uh on the uh the continent especially obviously in the eastern part um with uh yeah the three japanese clubs doing well but is there as this change in format do you think um boosted the interest in the competition at all or is it kind of flat-lined along similar lines to the the old group stage well i just want to make the point i have i've referenced a couple of times that the club or cup drawers coming up this week um four teams uh from azure in that including allayin um yeah in the west and and all son in the east both which are currently bottom of these 12-10 groups and and we're and we're also sending a row who are 12th and the j-league so um i don't know if we're sending the cream of the um of the continental crop to the club World Cup um yeah well it it's interesting is that with this and and also the i don't know if you've talked about the the potential nations league um thing that's coming in as well um this kind of shakeups going along uh going along the concert i'm not personally a massive fan of it um and and it just particularly weird why you're doing this kind of um uh what it got league phase in in this format and then in ACL2 by the way they're going to come up with the name better name for this this enormous um and but why you're doing a group stage in that one and this one and that there's a third tier competition that nobody knows about as well um so what i know because it's um yeah i mean it's it's impossible to to know what's going on but yeah for the japanese club's okay you've you've probably got enough points already to qualify because you know the teams below you're going to take them off of off each other but always the problem with the ACL is you're straddling um competition calendars for for teams in the west and teams in the east so you know we um we fully expect that marinos and frantale are going to well not fully expect they will have new coaches um for next year going into the tournament could have vastly different teams um the final two matches of the of the group phase are in are in pre-season then what happens after that um yeah what happens with with call bay as well i mean you know do they then go and invest heavily in the squad as well um you know if they're through um for me it just seems a little bit too too similar like you know there's not we don't have a spread of um of clubs from different nations like we had in the last couple years which i think worked really really well um you don't get the the kind of revenge factor if you've lost the first um you know match on the road or whatever you get to get back at them at home and and and oh yeah like like who cares if some some random japanese club's playing some random korean club it's all you know i i just think is there is there any interest but have you guys watched any of these games live i've only watched them highlights yeah yeah i don't have the right channel so oh sorry they're on design but no yeah i don't um have you thought i had the highlights from them yeah highlights yes i i do when i'm preparing for this but otherwise i wouldn't bother know yeah yeah and and and that's the point you know so um i don't know i i think i think it was better as as the group stage and and opening it up to other teams in the east but the problem that that that asia has as a whole is that i think i said that they hit you you're just setting yourself up to get hammered by one of the you're one of the saudi teams you know in in the last four or whatever so um and and there's no stopping that as a system and and you've also got the the whole thing with the knockout phase is the final stage of it being played in saudi for the next five years as well right so i mean ultimately you know you're going through it's it's like the group stage of the bloody levain cup you know you you go through all this thing with high school is to end up getting walloped by marinos or something in the in the last one this is what we're dealing with here we're going through this complicated convoluted um system then you're sending the best four across to get hammered over and saudi in in in you know the in the in the final stage of the thing so um yeah i mean it is what it is it's locked in and and nothing's going to change certainly for a long time but um it just seems like an in the alternate shaking of of random bottles to get you know to to knock out teams and then you'll have korea one versus japan two and china three versus and and then you'll all go and get you know annihilated by by al hello al over in the west so it just seems yet a bit of a crazy way to to get to i'd rather you know to be honest i'd yeah i just rather straight knock out the home and away the whole way through or you know my original thing that i think i've mentioned on the thing before is that it's a rolling thing of who's informed yeah yeah now that's the way to do it right so you would have machida in instead of calisaki in this um in this phase so they would take calisaki's place because calisaki are not in very good form machida are so they would they would like parachute in it's like one of these like um dating survival games that you know you keep got to like recoupling your whole way around the village until you get to the very top very good yeah all right um i'm sure the afc considering uh proposals like that behind closed doors but yeah i mean it it looks like um you wait for something so the afc feel like they have to copy it and same with the nations like yeah with exactly yeah so um but yeah interesting to to get your perspective on that so thank you very much um yeah so let's wrap up we've mentioned the games uh in match day 38 for the top three and the three teams trying to avoid relegation on the final day uh reminding you listeners that all games in the final round of the season kick off at two o'clock on sunday december the eighth so just to wrap up the other four games um the final games of the season obviously for fc tokyo hosting sereso osaka kawasaki entertain fuka woka it'll be yukahama f marinos hosting nagoya in michalanga rax final game in j1 and it's a kyoto hosting tokyo verdi so we'll leave it there and yeah it's all to play for on the final day of the season as scott thanks ever so much for joining us and uh yeah enjoy the final day from uh yeah wherever you can in a pure panom pen with whatever Wi-Fi you can scratch together yeah thank you mate no it's it's been great to be um back on yeah and like i said again yeah hopefully the the film festival thing will go ahead next year and maybe you can take it on the road into a tour come down come down to osaka yeah yep osaka fukwoka the dome tour is uh yeah it's in your own uh osaka film festival maybe you can get in i don't think they've expanded down to there but yeah it's food for thought for uh fukushima sun and the guys yeah they can uh i'm sure there'd be an audience for it no doubt about that um yeah what was the highlight of that that whole experience like our show yeah uh just seeing people there and meeting people who i'd spoken to but um only on skype and you're actually getting to speak to them have you not met johnnie either first of those face to face no not until the day yeah did you know what do you look like uh yes because he'd sent videos for the patrons previously johnnie did you know what ben look like yes because he's in jasaka magazine and i've seen his picture in other places and i i knew i kind of knew what you looked like because you you came in late and you were kind of sat to the left of where i was so i had to sort of look slightly and that i've seen that guy's face before but then i had i was gonna look in the other way so i didn't look again and then you're talking to john steel in the train station i heard the voices out of that scott macon tower which was there anyone that you didn't know who who surprised you like what they look like um but that dan and ben were both slightly shorter than i imagined because ben from the picture so you should imagine the kazia corner of the podcasting world i i went because ben's in charge i usually imagine like people in charge to be quite tooy taller than me and ben's slightly shorter than me so and dan was damn with a bit shorter than expected too but other than other than that yeah allen gibson was exactly what i expected he's tall no he's you know but his character is exactly the same on the podcast as it is in in general life ben anyone for you that you hadn't actually like put a face to the voice um yeah Neil deadenum uh was he not yes he was yeah he was set up the back after party no he wasn't able to make it out for a drink afterwards but yeah no he he was there yeah uh thought who knew expected uh not necessarily no but yeah yeah um i'd be warned ben that new was tall uh three three one three pre told ben he's the call to tucker over the podcasting world i'm sure he'll like that comparison yes most definitely yeah yeah um so yeah tremendous uh tremendous time and as we've uh as we've all said yeah hopefully it can become an annual event and hopefully you'll be able to make it on time and next time Scott i think very far away i'll have you know well yes very well we very much appreciate that all right then so we'll leave it there johnny um yeah all to play for us so good luck to gumber on the final day we'll wait and see if they can spoil uh any sort of title celebrations for Hiroshima and uh yeah we'll be back to uh round up all the madness next week yeah i think one thing we can be certain of that'll be completely unpredictable something will happen that we haven't mentioned in the almost two hours of partying we've done tonight so yeah good luck so stay tuned next week and we'll go through all 10 games and i'm looking forward to talking to you ben brilliant stuff then all right that's it we'll leave it there that's it for this episode of the jtok podcast johnny and i would like to thank scott again for his time a lot of time on this episode thanks to our patrons for their ongoing support on patreon and thank you listeners for listening wherever you are we'll be back next week to round up j1 match day 38 the final round of the season speak to you then bye for now the jtok podcast [BLANK_AUDIO]
