JAPAN VS AUSTRALIA WORLD CUP QUALIFIER (2012.06.12)

Hey there again,

Here's the Japan vs Australia football  match that took place on the 12th. It was a great match, and even better because I was in the stadium watching it!

Now you know where I live lol.

It was my first live soccer match. There's not much that you can look forward to around where I live in terms of football/soccer. There's the A-League, which is Australia's national league, but it's not really that interesting despite he team representing where I live (at the moment) being the recent champions. Even if there's an international match like the current one, it usually takes place in Sydney or Melbourne, and it's not really worth flying all the way there (Australia is huge).

You may or may not know, but the main sport followed in Australia is rugby, and AFL (Australian Football League) which is another sport that uses an oval ball similar to rugby. Aaaand, that's a shame because I have no care in the world for such sports. Soccer is growing in popularity, and is easily the most played at children level. Even so, it's still even overshadowed by cricket as a "national sport" kind of thing. Many of you in a non-formerly-British colony probably won't even know what "cricket" is, apart from an insect that you feed to pet frogs. Or befriends Pinocchio.

Basically, a similar concept to baseball (sort of). You hit a ball with a bat and the opposition try to catch it. Well that's the most basic of basic rules. I don't really want to write much about it since it's not really relevant, and I'm not very familiar with the rules anyway. If you're interested then look on wikipedia or youtube to see what it's like....

Anyway, here are couple of links to the Japan vs Australia match. It was a closely fought encounter with quite a bit of drama for a soccer game. Mainly because of the lame referee. There was some crazy Scottish fellow sitting behind me screaming obscenities every time the referee blew his whistle. It looked like he was embarrassing his wife that was sitting next to him, and I think she made him shut up later on because he became really quiet after the second half lol. He was also scaring a little Indian kid in front of me.

Hehe....so here it is.


High Definition Quality (English Commentary)

http://www.fullmatches.net/australia-vs-japan-12-june-2012-full-match/

You get to hear funny Australian accents ;p


Low-Mid Quality (Japanese commentary)

JAPAN'S FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 QUALIFIERS (VS OMAN and JORDAN)

Hey, here's a post for people who are interested in football (soccer). They are links to their two recent World Cup qualifier matches against Oman and Jordan. Japanese football has been on the rise for about two years, with the future looking bright with numerous exciting talents emerging.

Recently one of the stars of J-football, Shinji Kagawa moved to the world famous Manchester United for around fee that can potentially rise to £17 million, and some more young players are thought to probably move out to Europe during this transfer season.

They'll be playing Australia on the 12th of June, which I will be watching at the stadium!! Boo yah!!
It's a bit hard to choose which side to support since I have both nationalities but probably Japan since I identify more with them. Even so, I wouldn't be too disappointing if Australia won, especially since they've done fairly badly in their past matches and need some points to qualify for the World Cup.

The commentary for the games here are in Japanese, but hopefully that doesn't bother you too much. There probably aren't any with English commentary anyway so it's not like you have much choice.


Japan Vs Oman (2012.06.04)   3-0


You can download it here. Check the first post in the forum.
 


Japan VS Jordan (2012.06.08)  6-0





Bigsoccer is a pretty good forum with people discussing Japanese football. I only found it recently but found something things on there interesting.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/forums/japan.1068/

Video Subbing: NAGATOMO YUTO and OKAZAKI SHINJI on Shabekuri 007 [2011.07.04]

オス！ Osu!


It has been a while since my last post. I have been busy with university, and still am to be honest, but have very quickly done a video so that I don't make you wait too long. It's another Shabekuri 007 episode, this time it's one that I chose rather than a request (these seem to be increasing lately). Sorry, but it's easier to be motivated if it's something I want to do. I"m sure you'll understand anyway. If not then too bad I suppose.

Well anyway, this episode features two Japanese national team soccer players (or more correctly "football", unless if you're American or Australian or Japanese that is...). One is Nagatomo Yuto, a side back who now plays for Inter Milan, one of the most famous teams in the world (but also hated for various reasons). The second is Okazaki Shinji, a prolific goalscorer (for the national team anyway) who currently plays regularly for the German club, Stuttgart.  He plays as midfielder for Stuttgart however, so that may be a reason for less goals. Maybe.

There has been a sudden rise in the quality of Japanese players after the World Cup 2010, and there seems to be a Golden Team in the making with more and more players being scouted by European clubs. Even the women's team impressively became World Champions last year and the future of Japanese football is looking bright with many promising youngsters also being found one after the other. There's going to be a Japan vs Australia match near where I live in June......not sure who to support. Probably Japan but either way I  gotta go!

GET FROM MEDIAFIRE [286 MB]



Shabekuri 007 (2011.07.04) Nagatomo Yuto and... by juxtapose31

TRANSLATION NOTES


SAMUEL ETO'O
Is a world famous striker from Cameroon. He is one of the greatest players ever in the game, and has one the African Player Of The Year Award numerous times. He was playing for Inter Milan at the time but moved to an ultra rich Russian team for an uber-mega-bucks contract.

Eto'o: Wielder of a massive schlong

  
KAGAWA SHINJI
Is another Japanese person playing in Germany. After being signed as an virtual unknown by Borussia Dortmund for a very small price, he has quickly developed into what most people consider their most important player and also one of the most spotlighted stars around the world.

 

MATSUKO DELUXE
Has appeared briefly in a few shows that I've subbed, or at least mentioned. He or she, whichever you think he/she deserves to be referred as, is a popular TV personality for his scathing and direct comments regarding various topics and people. Since Japanese TV usually tries to keep everything all rosy and cheery like Sesame Street, people like her are a breath of fresh air at times.

OKONOMIYAKI
Is a trademark food from the Kansai region, which includes places like Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto etc. It means. お好み焼き's　"Konomi" 好み, means "(Things that you/I) Like" while "Yaki" 焼き means 'fried/cooked'. So basically it means "stuff you like, cooked". True to the name, people try putting many things into okonomiyaki, although the outcome is basically the same taste unless if you put in something totally outlandish. Well that's what I think anyway. No, I don't like it that much, although every other Japanese person seems to love it.

JAPAN WINS WOMENS FIFA WORLD CUP 2011 !!!!!!!!!!!

JAPAN WINS WOMENS WORLD CUP 2011 !!!!!!!!!!!

The national women's team for Japan has won FIFA Football World Cup 2011 in Germany.
They beat two times champions USA in a penalty shoot out after finishing playing time with scores tied at 2-2.

USA took the lead twice in the game, but Japan showed great mental strength by equalising each time their opposition put the ball into the back of the net. Scoring was opened by the USA in the 69th minute by Alex Morgan, but Japan pulled level again through Aya Miyama in the 80th minute. The game headed into extra time, and it was the USA again that got the lead again, courtesy of Abby Wambach. The game was not over though, as Homare Sawa tied points not too long after.

Japan went through to win 3-1 on penalties, with the Japanese keeper saving two shots by the USA, who also sent another flying over the crossbar. With that, Japan proudly recorded their first ever World Cup, to inspire their disaster hit home country.

Japan had a tough tournament, having to get through the previous world champions and favorites Germany in the quarter finals, before facing another heavy weight, USA, in the finals.

Their intelligent passing, wonderful technique, and strong team bond caused many to draw comparisons with the male club team of Barcelona, which is praised as the best team of at least the past decade, and possibly of all time. Only praise can be heard of how the Japanese team has played, and opinions are that they are well deserving of their newly acquired title.

Japan also won the Fair Play Award, while Homare Sawa won the MVP of the tournament as well as achieving the Top Scorer Award.

Highlights

Penalties (Japanese Commentary)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!