Pukman @ WinK: the community that time didn't forget

Did you watch the final matches of the J1 season last weekend? Kashima Antlers won their match, so they won their second consecutive J-League championship. Kawasaki Frontale and Nagoya Grampus came second and third, respectively. What made the ending exciting was that Frontale could have come first if the Antlers hadn't won their final match. Frontale scored lots of goals towards the end of the season and made the finish very exciting. Maybe Antlers will make a real challenge for the Champions League next year?

I found out that the Japan NT match I was talking about was against Yemen. I was too late to get an advance-release ticket from FamilyMart, and the Ticket Pia website was busy as soon as tickets went on general sale, but fortunately a member of the PUK soccer club had a spare ticket. (She had bought a ticket but was then asked to help out at the match, so she didn't need her ticket any more.) The match is part of the Asian Cup qualifying campaign. So I hope to see you at the ground on January 20th!

Did you see this match? It was very late on Wednesday night, so I didn't get to see it until last night, and then I fell asleep so I saw the end this morning. But it was a great match. Japan's play looked so different from their recent peformances. They had lots of energy and movement, and used their imaginations to attack. Two of the three attackers, Tanaka Tatsuya and Tamada, scored a goal. Their midfield and defence also looked more solid than usual. They won 3-0, and it's difficult to find anything to complain about!

As you know, the Euro 2008 football competition is coming to an end soon. Last night, and the previous night, the two semi-finals were played, and the final will be held on Sunday, I believe.

Actually, I don't know the result of last night's semi-final, between Russia and Spain, and please don't tell me! The match started at about 3:30 this morning, so I recorded it and am planning to watch tonight. The previous semi-final, between Germany and Turkey, saw Germany emerge as victors after a very tough match, in which everyone says Turkey looked much better but couldn't score many goals. Unfortunately, it wasn't shown on Japanese terrestrial TV, so I just saw the goals.

Everone seems to agree that this year's competition is much more exciting than last year's. Interestingly, though, the number of goals in the group stage was higher 4 years ago in Greece. Another interesting feature of this year's competition is that, generally, the teams that had a long rest before the quarter- or semi-finals lost their matches. This is surprising because in the domestic leagues it is usual to have about a week between matches, and everyone says that two matches a week is too much.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the final!

The Euro 2008 football tournament has reached the knockout stage, after 24 (?) matches in the group stages, and the quarterfinals are now being held, starting last night, I believe. Who do you think will win? I support Holland, and I think maybe this year they will be successful.

The quarter-finalists were/are:
Portugal v. Germany
Croatia v. Turkey
Holland v. Russia
Spain v. Italy

The Euro 2008 football tournament is proving to be quite exciting. Teams that are generally considered very defensive, such as Italy and Greece, have lost their first matches, while attacking teams like Holland have been doing very well. There have been some major upsets, such as Holland's 3-0 victory over Italy, and last night's defeat by Croatia of Turkey. Unfortunately, not many matches are on terrestrial TV channels, so I have only seen one match so far. Tonight, another two matches will be on TV, featuring Holland, France, Romania, and Italy.

I was surprised to read today that Celtic have become champions of the Scottish Premier League. Although they have had more points than Rangers for a long time they also had played more games, because Rangers had been very busy with UEFA Cup games. Rangers just needed to get a few good results at the end of the season to become champions. I guess Rangers must have slipped up because they have allowed Celtic to overtake them.

As you know, Celtic is the team where Nakamura Shunsuke plays. He must be very happy to have got two consecutive championships. But I doubt that he won the Player of the Year award this year, as he was injured for much of the year and only looked good in a few matches. I wonder if he'll be in the national team this Sunday for their match against the Cote d'Ivoire?

Did you see the final? It started at about 3:45 this morning. For the first time ever, it was between two teams from the English Premier league, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Recently, there has been a lot of criticism of the Premier League, many people saying that matches are played too fast, that teams try not to lose rather than to win, and that there isn't enough skill. But I thought this morning's match was great. Attackers from both teams showed great skill even when under heavy pressure from defenders. Chelsea, especially, played a very attacking game, and I felt they deserved to win. Unfortunately, they hit the crossbar or goalposts three times, missing out on a goal each time. In the end, Manchester United won on penalties.

In the chart, the figures in green are Manchester United's. Note how dominant Chelsea were in terms of goal attempts.