Athletes should stay away from blogs. Unless you play in the DC metro area (Cooley, Agent Zero and Clinton Portis spring to mind), you will do something stupid and embarrass yourself and your team.
Today's TMI on a blog comes from Japan, where goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa brags that a yellow card he received was intentional and now the league is mad at him.
Nishikawa got his fourth yellow card of the season on Sunday, and bagged a one-month suspension for his efforts. After the game, he bragged to his online friends that he got the card, and suspension, on purpose. The reason being that he is off for international duty in the Olympics, and would miss the month anyway.
The J-League got wind of the post, and dragged him into a sort of tribunal to explain himself. Nishikawa capitulated, saying that the post was in jest, and summarily removed it from said blog. The damage was done, though, and we here at UF are not so sure of his explanation.
On the face of it, intentionally getting the card was a wise move. The suspension would happen almost entirely while Nishikawa was unavailable for his squad. The timing also allows him to get rid of the three yellows hanging over him, and lets him to return to his club with a clean slate after the Olympics. Keep your mouth shut, and no one is the wiser.
The problem is, as always, Nishikawa publicizing that he attempted to circumvent the rules. Organizations that mete out punishments prefer you to take said punishment with a wince, not a knowing smile.
Besides, what does a keeper have to do to get four yellows in a season? The J-League has only played 18 games to date, and Nishikawa has seen yellow in over 20% of his team's games. Has he run afoul of FIFA's "no taking your shirt off" rule to entice the ladies? Did a series of refs sanction him for not tucking his shirt in? He's a keeper for goodness' sake. Four yellow cards are something to garner over two to three seasons, not half of one.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Blogs are bad, m'kay?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Fireworks In The J-League
Nothing says excitement like an unexploded WWII bomb in the middle of a soccer field. At least it wasn't a pile of used women's panties because there would have been a riot in Japan.
Prior to a match between Verdy and Shimizu S-Pulse, a unexploded bomb was found in Chofu, a suburb of Tokyo. The discovery delayed the start of the match that Verdy ultimately won 4-1.
Monday, March 3, 2008
A Slight Stench of a Fix in Japan
At first glance, this weekend's Xerox Super Cup, the curtain raiser for the J-League season in Japan, seems to have been a case of a card-happy referee gone wild. Emperor's Cup winner Hiroshima San Frecce defeated J-League champion Kashima Antlers in a match that featured seven yellow cards, three red cards, a dubious penalty, retakes in the shootout and a pitch invasion.
But Ken Matsushima of The Rising Sun News doesn't think it's bad officiating. He suggests, no, he's convinced that a fix was in. Why? Because he knew the scoreline before the match. Hours before the kickoff, he posted on the message board:
Two possibilities -- a blowout win for the Antlers, or a nailbiter that might even go to PKs
Ill go with the latter. 2-2 in regulation time.
The referee, Masaaki Iemoto has a reputation for being card-happy and being easily rattled. In fact, he developed such a reputation for poor officiating that in late 2006, Japan Football Association actually suspended him and sent him to Hong Kong for retraining. Now, I'd normally dismiss suggestions of corruption in a case like this - they tend to come from sourgrapey homers or conspiracy theorists who can't fathom that a less talented team can beat a better team on any given day (in this case, the freshly relegated San Frecce knocking off the champs). A 2-2 result would be pretty hard to arrange, and the referee did send off players from both sides. Once you get to penalty kicks, it's a total crap shoot. But it's not some internet John Doe running his mouth. Matsushima is the author of the one of the widely read English language sites on Japanese soccer, and he didn't just take a wild guess. If we are to take his word (and I don't see why we wouldn't), he knew that it would either be a clean match or a 2-2 draw ending in penalties. That's more than a little freaky. We're obviously keeping our eye out to see anything comes out of the gambling angle, but in the meantime, enjoy these highlights from Iemoto's officiating career:
He goes on to explain, "From what I’ve heard, there have been some very large bets in Hong Kong on that score line."
In this clip, you'll see the forward lose his balance in the penalty area. Iemoto awards a penalty and books the defender for... something.
Apparently, the #2 in white committed a bookable offense. Try to see exactly what he did, because I can't tell.
A Kawasaki goal against Urawa is disallowed for.. huh?
Later in the same match, the Kawasaki striker (#27) accidentally kicks the Urawa goalkeeper (in blue). The goalkeeper and his teammate attack the Kawasaki striker while he is on the ground, so naturally, the Kawasaki player is sent off while a yellow card is given to the goalkeeper.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Japanese pervert finds refuge in the birthplace of perversion
How do you say "good times" in German?
[Image: Japan Times]
Anyone remember this story? Didn't think so. Well, the classiest Asian midfielder ever is back in the news again as he finally finds somewhere to peddle his wares. His.... soccer wares.
22-year-old Naoya Kikuchi, banned for 1 year from playing in the J-League after his teen-tampering exploits, has signed on to play in Germany for second -division club FC Carl Zeiss Jena, a club once known for being one of East Germany's most dominant clubs while the wall still stood. It is unknown at the moment what he thinks of the deal, but perverts moving to the home of schiesse-porn [don't google it], busty frauleins and a burgeoning teen porn empire is surely a bad idea for those on the receiving end.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Celtic Signs Ninja
Koki Mizuno, a 22-year-old Japanese winger, is now free to join Celtic after he was granted a work permit by an appeals panel after his initial request was denied (non-EU players have to have played 75% of his country's senior 'A' matches in the last 2 years; Mizuno is uncapped).
Which is great for all parties concerned, I guess, but I just love this picture of him as he's boarding his plane to leave Japan.
Update: Figure since most people haven't seen the kid play, I should include a YouTube clip (standard caveat: YouTube can make Gary Neville look like Garrincha).
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
FIFA's War on Garlic
Japan and Kawasaki Frontale striker Kazuki Ganaha is appealing the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to overturn his doping suspension for using steroids human growth hormones garlic intravenous infusion.
Well, no, garlic is not a banned substance, but intravenous treatment of any kind is banned by the J-League, in line with FIFA's anti-doping rules (which means you probably won't see Bob Bradley call up Britney Spears any time soon).
It's really too bad, because the club gave Ganaha the garlic IV to treat influenza, not for any kind of performance boost. If only there was a way to take garlic in some way other than by IV, like, oh I don't know, orally.
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