GW 490 J1 League Preview - FINAL

The deadline for the upcoming GW is today at 3pm CET

Theres a full schedule ahead and fixture congestion has calmed down:

Also note that theres full schedule in the K league including 4 teams with a double game week.

J1 Table

Machida stretched their lead at the top of the table to 5 points after a big win against third placed Gamba. Kashima lost their first game in 11 to Kobe who are now just 1 point behind.

Sapporo nightmare season continued with their 7th loss in row. They are now 9 points away from safety! Sagan Tosu had a impressive win last night against a languishing YFM and move out of the drop zone.

Main Points

• Riku Handa (Gamba) ,Suzuki (Machida) and Kennedy (Nagoya) are suspended this GW

• Sano, Scholz and Sakai are all in transfer talks and unavailable to play.

• Ienaga (Kawasaki) is fine and seen in training

• Kojima (Niigata) seen in light training. Still too early to know if will be fit for wkend.

• The u23 Olympics teams was announced. This will be covered by Sorare. The below are the players who have been called up from J league sides:

  

  The main player impact on Sorare will be Hatano (FC Tokyo) coming in as goalkeeper for Brandon

  Players leave on the 11th July for pre-tournament camp. The the below is Japan group stage fixtures:

  

• Fukuoka are the form team. 5 wins in their last 6 games!

• Cerezo are also unbeaten in 6

• Nagoya are in miserable form with no wins in their last 6 including 3 losses on the bounce.

Predicted Lineups

Important to note the %s used here. If no %, it means I see them as a starter and no known risks. For sorare, its about there scorer potential so check out KEY PLAYERS even subs have a way :)

When 75% or below - there is some risk involved. My main aim with these is to show where risk/potential DNPs are lurking.

I base these %s on info I read from various sources including comments from the manager and reading a lot of local Japanese news coverage/message boards. Saying that, there will always be unknowns including last minute injury/illness of a player etc.

Always do your own research when making picks. For SO5, it can make sense to take some calculated risks depending on the potential score and the rest of your team/prize pool.

Hiroshima vs Kobe

• Drew against Kawasaki. Are 7th in the league. Lost least games of any team in the league but too many draws again

• Changing midfielders/system alot since Kawamura left. Youngster Nakajima came on at half time and getting lots of plaudits in general.

• Mitsuta did much better on LW. Hoping this continues! Players like Marcos Junior and Vieira could come in. Likely stick to similar lineup as last week.

Kobe

• Confidence boosting 3-1 win against Kashima.

• Sakai went off with an injury. Not seen in training and a doubt. Kikuchi has played RB previously. Not a natural RB, Iino another possibility depending on fitness.

• LB and LW as always situation. I think Sasaki comes back in. Miyashiro also not seen in training and likely undisclosed injury/illness.

Kashima vs Sapporo

Kashima

• Lost first game in 11 last week

• Suzuki returns from suspension

• Sano has transferred out. Higuchi fav to replace although could see tweak in formation.

• Unbeaten at home this season

Sapporo

• Bottom of table. 7 losses in a row. Having very poor season

• Okumura returns from suspension

• Injuries piling up. Aoki, Asano, Miyazawa, Suga, Gun Hee, Supachok, Kondo all injured/returning from injury

• Aoki did play training game, could feature. Signed Leo Osaki who could start here.

• Without a clean sheet in 10 games. In general a team to avoid, have conceeded the most goals this season. Unstable lineup with no much upside.

Machida vs Nagoya

Machida

• Top of the table. Beat Gamba 3-1 last week.

• Oh Se Hun, Na Sang Ho remain injured/assumed injured. Suzuki is suspended.

• Oh Se Hun in particular a big miss as they use him as a target man. No info yet on him

• Duke returned last game, a little rusty.

• Sento and Shibato have been changing spots lots recently

Nagoya

• In bad form, winless in 6 league games. 3 losses in a row.

• Junker, Ono, Izumi and Kawamura out injured. Kennedy out suspended.

• Yonemoto has transferred on loan to Kyoto.

• Yamanaka in light training, risk for this game. Kubo can play both wings.

• Struggling in attack. Just 2 goal in last 5 games.

Tokyo Verdy vs Cerezo Osaka

Tokyo Verdy

• Changed 5 players from the previous game and beat YFM 2-1

• Competition has become more fierce now. Manager praised Yamada in particular.

• Said he wants to continue with 3 up front

• Morita seen in light training, still assumed out for this game.

Cerezo Osaka

• Beat Nagoya last week. Moved up to 5th. In decent form

• Noborizato is out injured. Maikuma has left so Okuda has been playing at RB

• Bueno assumed injured. Uejo has played last 3 games

• Side has been relatively stable. Players like Shabyama, Tameda and Croux offer options

• Lots of noise about Kagawa leaving the club. One to monitor for now.

• Fernandes and Ceara in particular doing v well this season irl and on SO5

Niigata vs Sagan

Niigata

• Kojima has missed last two games. Back in light, remains a doubt but some chance can start.

• Suzuki went off with hamstring issue and assumed out

• Some injured players slowly returning (Takagi, Hasegawa). Others like Hoshi and Miyamoto seen in training although likely too soon for a start

• Lots of options up front. Okamura has done well but with players returning from injury lots more competition

• Niigata went unbeaten in June in all competitions

Sagan

• Beat YFM 1-0 in an impressive performance

• Hino started and looked lively.

• Inoue and Kikuchi went off with injuries.

• As just played last night, some general rotation risk due to fatigue.

• Kawahara missed last weekend and subbed early here. Very unlike him as usually plays all mins.

Iwata vs Kawasaki

Iwata

• Lost 3-0 last week to Urawa. Inconsistent form and 16th in the table.

• Graca returned to start last week. Went off at half time, not fully fit and a doubt here.

• Germain back from injury and improving in terms of his match sharpness.

Kawasaki

• Having poor season, 15th in the table and just 1 win in last 6. Played better last game vs Hiroshima.

• Ienaga is in full training since start of week. Is fit according to training notes.

• Erison is back in full training. Gomis also seen in training but not sure what fitness level. ST postition unclear

• Machino also in training and looked fine. Has been improving in recent games.

• Lineup has been unstable all season. Could see formation changes again.

Urawa vs Shonan

Urawa

• In ok form with back to back wins.

• In general, having poor season given expectations as title contenders

• Lots of changes happening ; Scholz, Iwao and Sakai all transferred out. Solbakken has returned to Roma. A couple of new signing coming soon.

• Okubo and Koizumi back in full training Matsuo, Gustafson, Maeda, Sekine and Nakajima in light training

• Santana benched last couple of games. Situation again unclear, lots depends on fitness of players in light training midweek. Linssen has looked motived.

• Ito made club captain. Playing higher up pitch and looks galvanized.

• Sato has looked decent at CB

• Unbeaten against Shonan in their last 8 games.

Shonan

• 2nd bottom. Lost crunch 6point vs Kyoto last week.

• Without a clean sheet in 9 games

• Onose and Abe recent injuries

• Min Tae returned last week. Looked rusty, should improve.

Kashiwa vs FC Tokyo

Kashiwa

• Looked decent in second half in 3-1 win against Tosu. Savio on fire.

• Matsuoto returned in nets.

• Inukai remains injured. Noda has looked decent (and better than Tatsuta!) in last couple of games.

FC Tokyo

• Lost last week to Fukuoka. Team unstable, lots of changes in players and formation each game.

• Trevisan missed last 2 games. Unclear, not seen in training. Kimoto playing with mask, still not fully fit. Oka

• Midfield options also crowded. My gut is Ko returns after being benched last game.

• Have been playing with different strategies including not starting Araki as false 9 and Diego being benched.

• Unbeaten against Kashiwa in their last 5 games.

Gamba vs YFM

Gamba

• Lost for first time in 10 last week to Machida.

• Did well up to sending off of Handa who is suspended. Matsuda most likely to replace. Kinoshita/Nakano other options.

• Fukuoka missed last week with illness. Risk here

• Unclear if try Jebali again or return to Sakamoto

• Alano returned from injury and been building up mins

YFM

• In terrible form, lost last 3 games including last night.

• Very hard to predict, no team news. In general, playing poorly so I would avoid using if possibly! Confidence very low and Harry Kewell job at risk

• Have played 7 games in 20 days. Very fatigued players.

• Hatanaka condition still unclear. Limited options in defense.

• Watanabe has concussion again unclear if able to play this game.

Fukuoka vs Kyoto

• Unbeaten in 6 games. Changed to 4 at the back last week. Likely revert to 3

• Zahedi should come in for Wellington.

• Nara confirmed out for 10-12 months.

• Rest of team pretty stable

Kyoto

• 3rd bottom. Beat Shonan last week.

• Toyokawa and Yamasaki all went off injured and are doubts, lots of rotation/change in setup risk eg can also play 3 at the back.

• Kaneko hasnt played last 2 games. Situation unclear.

• Asada also confirmed injured out and out

SO5 Analysis

Best xG - Kashima (xG 2.2),

Best CS - Kashima (48% CS), Machida (43%CS)

Best Stack - Kashima

Kashima have the best fixture. They face a Sapporo team playing with little confidence and having lost their last 7 games. Antlers are also unbeaten at home this season. Both defensive stack and players like Suzuki stand out.

Urawa and Machida also have decent lineups. Nagoya are struggling and with Kennedy suspended and injuries inside their side, I again worry about them

Urawa looked better last week. Lots of changes but players like Ito and Sato have potential to kick on. Still a little wary of them as its been such an unstable season for them

The below K league also has a full schedule. There are 4 teams playing on Tuesday that have a double game week.

Finish

Hope you found this useful! With the deadline being today, we wont get press conference/training notes from tomorrow. For teams like Sagan and YFM who played last night, there is very limited news so increased risk of the unknown!

I will post anything major that drops onto Discord before the deadline! Good luck