There are three teams left in the J. League title race after Shimizu S-Pulse and FC Tokyo both dropped out of the running following the latest round of fixtures.
A Renatinho hat-trick propelled Kawasaki Frontale to a 3-2 win over relegated JEF United in a thriller watched by 18,470 fans at Todoroki Stadium. Click to continue reading...

No es precisamente el de los Super campeones. El partido tuvo el siguiente marcador Nagoya Grampus Eight 0 - Kashima Antlers 3 .
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Gana en Futblog y Facebook la camiseta oficial de la seleccion nacional tricolor autografiada Click to continue reading...

The J. League has announced that the clash between Kashima Antlers and Kawasaki Frontale will be resumed from the 75h minute after last weekend's fixture was halted due to torrential rain.
Second placed Kawasaki had taken a 3-1 lead at the home of their league leading rivals when referee Masayashi Okada was forced to call time on a waterlogged pitch. Click to continue reading...

Referee Masayoshi Okada took centre stage at Kashima Stadium as he called a halt to the top-of-table clash between Kashima Antlers and Kawasaki Frontale.
With Kawasaki leading 3-1, they were left furious when the match was abandoned after 73 minutes as monsoonal rains swept across the ground. Click to continue reading...

A country whose folklore is so rich and replete with hobgoblins, pixies, gnomes, druids, and writers like Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle, JRR Tolkien, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and now JP Rowling has not kept up with a commensurate streak of imagination when it comes to naming their clubs.

I mean how many clubs can be called United, City, County, and Athletic.

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Kit mishap from Japan The notion that all footballers are thick might be a nasty stereotype, but incidents like this really don't help. Kashima Antlers' Brazilian striker Marquinhos is preparing for the kick-off with Shinzo Koroki when he notices that his team-mate's shorts have all sorts of nice accessories like ties, a logo and a squad [. Click to continue reading...

If there's one team that can stop the Kashima Antlers juggernaut from steam-rolling to a third successive J. League title, it's Kawasaki Frontale.
The Kanagawa side geared up for an epic showdown with Kashima on Sunday by beating Gamba Osaka 1-0 at Todoroki Stadium in a rescheduled Round 10 fixture overnight. Click to continue reading...

Leonardo will be officially unveiled on Monday and this will be his first coaching job. Silvio Berlusconi's favourite ended his playing career at Milan and he quickly rose through the club's hierarchy. The club sees this appointment as the beginning of an era, similar to the one which started when Arigo Sacchi was appointed as coach.

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The Kashima Antlers juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down as the Ibaraki giants beat Gamba Osaka 1-0 in front of a capacity crowd of 19,092 at Expo '70 Stadium in Osaka.
Former Japan international Koji Nakata stepped into midfield in place of the suspended Mitsuo Ogasawara, and the ex-FC Basel star promptly scored the only goal of the game after just sixteen minutes. Click to continue reading...

Japan coach Takeshi Okada has announced a 26-man squad for the three upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers. As the top two countries gain automatic qualification to the finals, Japan must secure victory in one of their remaining fixtures – away to Uzbekistan on 6 June, at home to Qatar on 10 June and away to group leaders Australia on 17 June – to certify their seats to South Africa. Click to continue reading...

Like it's much-maligned English cousin, the League Cup in Japan is facing an image crisis. That's nothing new for J. League officials, who for years have struggled with the competing interests of Japan's biggest clubs.
A revamped Asian Champions League has brought the League Cup issue to a head. Click to continue reading...

On Wednesday 29th April 2009, defending Macedonian league champions Rabotnicki Skopje raised hopes of salvaging a top-three finish with a heartening victory over Milano Kumanovo. Elsewhere, Kashima Antlers rose to the top of the J-League after slaying Vissel Kobe, overtaking Urawa Red Diamonds who could muster the sole point at Shimizu S Pulse. Click to continue reading...

(All times UK)
Monday 27th April
19:45 Norwich City v Reading, Championship, Sky Sports 1/HD1
"Where are you?" Delia Smith was once heard to ask. She may soon get the answer "in League One" if things don't go Norwich's way. Here's the deal: The Canaries are in the relegation zone and need to win this match to retain any slim chances of staying up, whereas Reading are in the play-off zone and need to win to retain any slim chances of gaining automatic promotion (or avoid losing a play-off spot). Click to continue reading...

Following their uninspiring performance in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle Jets in the AFC Champions League in midweek, Nagoya Grampus rounded out a disappointing week by going down 1-0 to Urawa Reds in front of 32,435 fans at Toyota Stadium.
17-year-old midfielder Genki Haraguchi was the hero for the Reds - coming off the bench to replace the injured Tatsuya Tanaka after just 22 minutes, before blasting home his first ever top flight goal two minutes before the break. Click to continue reading...

ACL
SAF v Kashima Antlers 1-4 (Hafiz; Motoyama, Atsuto, Yuya, Bennet og) 4,406
4. SAF 3 0 0 3 2-10 0
AFC Cup
PSMS v VB Sports 1-0 (Aun Carbiny) 500
South China v Johor 2-0 3,791
1. South China 3 3 0 0 7-1 9
2. Click to continue reading...

Singapore Armed Forces FC reached the promised-land of the AFC Champions League and elevated themselves on par with Asia's finest for the very first time as they scarcely overcame Indonesia's PSMS Medan 2-1 to advance through to the group stages for the nation's very first time.

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The Fuji Xerox Super Cup between reigning J. League champions Kashima Antlers and Emperor's Cup holders Gamba Osaka kicks off the seventeenth season of professional football in Japan on Saturday.
The two heavyweights of the Japanese game will meet at the National Stadium in Tokyo, and Kashima will be looking to erase the memories of last year's controversial defeat when referee Masaaki Iemoto took centre stage - sending off three players, awarding a dubious penalty and ordering two spot-kicks retaken during a penalty shoot-out that ended in a pitch invasion. Click to continue reading...

We received the following by email. It seems to confirm part a rumor we posted back in April, that there would be Korean K-League involvement. However, what is unclear and what the message below does not help to clarify is whether Australian A-League and New Zealand's FC (Football Championship) will be involved. Click to continue reading...

An all-Japanese semi-final will take place in the AFC Champions League as defending champions Urawa Red Diamonds and Gamba Osaka were drawn together. Three clubs from Japan could have made it to the last four but Australia's Adelaide United beat Kashima Antlers 2-1 on aggregate to terminate any possibilities. Click to continue reading...

Kashima ANTLERS's supporter
Originally uploaded by tfukaga Los japoneses son muy respetuosos en todos sentidos, pero hasta ellos se apasionan demasiado, acabo de ver este vídeo y me deja sorprendido.
Los policías y de seguridad nipones creyeron que fue accidental, pero en el final del vídeo se observa que no fue así. Click to continue reading...

Add this to the list of many reasons why the J. League needs to come mainstream. Kashiwa player Alex was lining up to take a standard corner against the Kashima Antlers when a fan wielding a giant flag whacked him upside the head with it. Alex stayed down for a while but got back up [...] Click to continue reading...

(All times UK)
Friday 19 September
19.30 Bayer Leverkusen v Hannover 96, Bundesliga, Setanta Sports 1
Last week, Bayer shipped three goals and Hannover scored five. These Friday night Bundesliga games have been largely disappointing, so lets hope they put on a good show.
Saturday 20 September
07. Click to continue reading...

Quarter Finals of the Asian Champions League kick-off tonight with Australia's first club, Adelaide United, to get to this stage of the competition away in Japan against Kashima Antlers.
Two-legged affair so United will need to score against what should be a very strong Japanese side and a big big test for Adelaide. Click to continue reading...

With the international break yielding a positive result for Japan and the autumn leaves starting to make their first appearances on the tree-lined avenues surrounding the National Stadium, attention now turns to the business end of the J. League season.
Five teams are still in with a genuine chance of lifting the trophy, but northern outfit Consadole Sapporo are certainly not one of them. Click to continue reading...

Tuesday 26 August
18.00 FC Nordsjaelland v Queen of the South, UEFA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg (Agg; 1-0), BBC2 Scotland
The dream may finally be over for Queen of the South, but they got out of worse scrapes than this last season.
19.45 Coventry City v Newcastle Utd, Carling Cup 2nd Round, Sky Sports 2 & HD2
I'm feeling strangely confident about Newcastle's ability to have a good season. Click to continue reading...

A continuation of the look at the Foreign Player for the coming season
Adelaide United
Aurelio Vidmar seems to be in love with players with one name and now have four Brazilians. Adelaide fans have a lot of football to look forward to this year due to being the first team to graduate from the AFC Champions League Group Phase. Click to continue reading...

Japanese League: Watch Ichihara vs Kashima Antlers LIVESTREAM here:   Pre-register at the NEW football site 11×2 today!  Click to continue reading...

The day before the Olympics officially begin with the opening ceremonies, what is really the U.S. Men's Under-23 National Team (with three over-age players) plays at 2 a.m. our time on MSNBC against Japan in its Group B opener.

The U.S. roster:

goalkeepers Brad Guzan (Aston Villa) and Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake; defenders Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC); midfielders Freddy Adu (Monaco), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio); forwards Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Brian McBride (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).

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Round 19 in the J. League could prove a turning point for several clubs with a number of marquee fixtures set down for the weekend of July 26/27.
The pick of the Saturday fixtures see FC Tokyo host Yokohama F. Marinos at Ajinomoto Stadium, as teams from Japan's two largest cities get ready to rumble in the capital. Click to continue reading...

Japan's Olympic Football squad for Beijing 2008: Coach: Yasuharu Sorimachi, 44 Goalkeepers: Kaito Yamamoto (22) (Shimizu S-Pulse) Shusaku Nishikawa (22) (Oita Trinita) Defenders: Hiroki Mizumoto (22) (Kyoto Sanga F.C.) Hajime Hosogai (22) (Urawa Red Diamonds) Naoaki Aoyama (22) (Shimizu S-Pulse) Masato Morishige (21) (Oita Trinita) Michihiro Yasuda (20) (Gamba Osaka) Atsuto Uchida (20) (Kashima Antlers) Maya Yoshida (19) (Nagoya Grampus) Midfielders: Yasuhito Endo (28) (Gamba Osaka) Takuya Honda (23) (Shimizu [. Click to continue reading...

While the rest of the world has at least one eye on the European Championships, the domestic season resumed in Japan on June 25 when Kashima Antlers and Gamba Osaka hosted rescheduled Round 11 fixtures.
In a season punctuated by World Cup qualifiers and the Beijing Olympics, Kashima and Gamba were forced to reschedule their Round 11 fixtures against Oita Trinita and Kyoto Sanga FC respectively, as the original match date clashed with AFC Champions League fixtures. Click to continue reading...

After over a month of no laser lightshows, and no killer whale mascots, the J League returns to action tomorrow. With the European Championship winding down, the attention in Japan will be returning to domestic football, and since we've been a bit distracted ourselves, let's take a look at how things stand in J [. Click to continue reading...

Kashima Antlers claimed a League and Cup double by lifting the season-ending Emperor's Cup in front of a sell-out crowd of 46,357 fans at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
The Ibaraki giants never looked threatened after they opened the scoring in the eighth minute, when young defender Atsuto Uchida thumped an unstoppable drive into the far corner of Hiroshima shot-stopper Takashi Shimoda's goal. Click to continue reading...

Kashima Antlers are the unlikeliest of J-League champions.

On a day of drama in Japan, Kashima beat Shimizu S-Pulse 3-0 in front of 31,384 fans at Kashima Stadium on December 1.

With referee Yuichi Nishimura blowing full-time at Kashima Stadium, the video screen switched to a live broadcast from Yokohama, and desperate Antlers fans watched in amazement as bottom-placed Yokohama FC clung on to beat Urawa Reds 1-0 in front 46,697 fans at Nissan Stadium.

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