Sakka Densetsu (The Soccer Legend)

Still top! You have to go on to win it now, don't choke!

Unlucky against Honda

With a 5 point lead with 3 games left, we can't become complacent and expect Scheinen to lose.

September 22, 2013
Sendai Nakata 2 - 1 Sendai Sasuke FC

Uchino is usually a very good goalkeeper but he cost us the game when he took a free kick from the corner and it was intercepted by a Nakata player who easily scored a goal into the empty net. In addition, we finished a man down due to injuries.
Player of the Match: Kazuhiro Kikuchi (Sendai Nakata)

Losing the game sucked, but hearing about the new youth candidates lifted my spirits! They look like they'll be a great help to the team!

September 29, 2013
Sendai Sasuke FC 3 - 2 Iwaki Furukawa

Local boy Taro Kubo made good today, as just after being signed from the Youth Candidates team, he scored the game winning goal on his debut! Despite taking the lead with an own goal, we were down 2-1 for much of the game and needed supersubs Nagatomo and Kubo to score the tying and winning goals.
Player of the Match: Ryosuke Nagatomo (Sendai Sasuke FC)

With one match to go, I'd like to go over the promotion outcomes with you.

Sendai Sasuke FC clinches promotion with:
- Scheinen DRAW or LOSS; or
- Sasuke WIN or DRAW

We should get at least a draw at Soma SC, but they won't make it easy for us, and the doctors haven't cleared Mitsugu Oda to play for the final game, so we will have to do our best without him.

October 6, 2013
Soma SC 1 - 3 Sendai Sasuke FC

Kaoru Kaneko scored a flyer for Sasuke in the 1st minute, and it was all downhill from there. Shohei Nagata scored a brace. We had a man sent off, and conceded a goal late, but by then we knew we were going to be the champions!
Player of the Match: Shohei Nagata (Sendai Sasuke FC)



(And, for posterity, even if we lost, we would still be champs as Scheinen lost 3-4 to Marysol.)

I gave a rousing speech and the players were so excited! They couldn't help but celebrate their victory and be excited about playing in a higher division next season.

And with that, here's the table after Round 18 of 18:

League Table

In addition, we have the postseason awards. Mitsugu Oda led the league in goals with 23 and assists with 11, despite missing several games! As well, an amazing seven of our players were named to the Team of the Year First XI!:


(I would like to give special thanks to Walter for creating the banner. He deserves it because I gave him so much hell trying to get it just right, but this is a brilliant banner!)

Fantastic effort winning the title, especially with a side as young as yours. Now to the fourth division! Slowly and steadily you can climb to the top of the Japanese game and become a legend in the process.

ebEliminator:

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(I would like to give special thanks to Walter for creating the banner. He deserves it because I gave him so much hell trying to get it just right, but this is a brilliant banner!)

No problems at all, I love making banners so it was an excuse to do a little more photoshop

Congratulations on winning the title
Great achievement!

CAMPIONES, CAMPIONES, OLE OLE OLE
Get in there Sasuke! And great banner too, Walter

Hello, if you are tuning in for the first time, my name is Makoto Mizuno, and I am now 26 years old. Last year I was about to manage a club for the first time, this year I can say I am a champion, taking Sendai Sasuke FC to the Tohoku Regional League Division 2 (South) championship. This year we'll be playing in the Division 1 of that league, which has 10 teams, and the winner and runner up (if the runner up is the top 3 amongst the runners up of the 9 divisional leagues) will have a chance at promotion. If we get there, I'll explain the format, it's kind of complicated.

We are going to have a much tougher challenge this year, so I decided we would have a 7 week preseason. Our fitness and tactical acclimation could still be improved, issues with that hurt us early last season. I am also looking to bring in new staff to meet the rigors demanded of this level.

Here's the season summary from last season:


Unsurprisingly, Mitsugu Oda was announced as the Fans' Player of the Year. I bet it was easy to count the votes.

In other news, we've turned into a semi-professional club! It's an exciting move up, but it provides new challenges. On the bright side, I now get an actual paycheck of $450 a week for the next year. The internship turns into a full-time job! We've also felt the sweet embrace of television money, getting $365,000 for TV rights for the upcoming season!

I had to say goodbye to Shingo Azuma as he left the club to sign with Sendai Nakata. It'll be a good move for both of us since Daiji Nishida took his spot for a lot of the season, and he can compete for playing time there.

To replace him, I've signed Hiroyuki Nagata from Omiya Club to Sasuke's first monetary non-contract deal. Striker Yuji Kida has also agreed to a non-contract deal with us.

We're expected to finish 4th in the league this year, but aren't expected to seriously challenge for the title. I feel otherwise, of course!


Here is the new staff I signed, I replaced everyone, even the Physio I wanted to keep, because he got poached by another club:


As you know, Scheinen were the runners-up in the Division 2 last season, and they will certainly be a tough test to start the preseason with.

Veertien signed Sachio Hirata away from us. He was never going to be used, because he's purely an AM, but we got $8,000 for him and that's excellent.

March 8, 2014
Scheinen 3 - 3 Sendai Sasuke FC

Scheinen came out a little tactically different than last season, a 4-3-1-2 instead of a 3-4-2-1. They were still incredibly tough, and we had to rescue a late draw.
Player of the Match: Kaoru Kaneko (Sendai Sasuke FC)

March 15, 2013
Marysol 2 - 4 Sendai Sasuke FC

Marysol scored two goals off corner kicks, but otherwise, Sasuke were excellent in all phases of the game, and Yohei Hirata even scored two goals, which is very rare for a midfielder in this system.
Player of the Match: Yohei Hirata (Sendai Sasuke FC)

March 22, 2013
Meli 1 - 4 Sendai Sasuke FC

Sasuke hit on all cylinders, with Nagatomo scoring a brace, and Nagata capping things off with a hilarious goal when the Meli goalkeeper tried to turn the ball behind for a corner but it was too weak of an effort and Nagata had the goal at his mercy. Uchino couldn't keep a clean sheet but a three goal margin proves our dominance.
Player of the Match: Ryosuke Nagatomo (Sendai Sasuke FC)

March 29, 2013
Sendai Sasuke FC 2 - 2 Sendai Nakata

We had to work hard to even rescue a draw, as we didn't have many good chances. They had an extra man in midfield so we struggled to move the ball up the pitch.
Player of the Match: Kazuhiro Sakurai (Sendai Sasuke FC)

I'm not sure what to think about the upcoming season. We were unbeaten in our friendlies, but only won half of them. We scored lots of goals, but these are 5th tier teams, and i'm not sure how we'll do against a consistent barrage of 4th tier teams. Still, we'll try our best!

Interesting preseason, how do you plan to approach this season? With your usual passing, controlling game or will you stick with the defensive system?

(Anyone else, feel free to ask questions, give me a username and a "real name" (not necessarily your own) and I'll answer in this format!)

Interesting choice, knowing you. Maybe as you rise through the system you should bring in some more technical players who could play more to your preferred style?

Our first match of the season is against the team I played in my first ever match, NTFC Wiese. Are we prepared for the season ahead? As much as we can be. I think we'll do well!

April 6, 2014
Sendai Sasuke FC 2 - 0 NTFC Wiese

Daiji Nishida got us off to a flyer with a 2nd minute header off a corner kick. Uchino kept Wiese off the scoreboard with his great goalkeeping. Oda ensured the 3 points with a late indirect free kick goal.
Player of the Match: Daiji Nishida (Sendai Sasuke FC)

April 13, 2014
Vanraure Hachinohe 3 - 2 Sendai Sasuke FC

We scored first, but then they got a 2-1 lead on us. We equalized, but they scored the game winner late for a heartbreaking loss.
Player of the Match: Musashi Takai (Vanraure Hachinohe)

My eye is on expansion. With our current grounds only holding 100 people, it was necessary to think about expansion. Building a new ground was out of the question, but we could expand our ground if we purchased it. Thankfully, the chairman agreed to buy our home ground when an opportunity to do so arises, and hope to conclude a deal by February 3, 2015.

April 20, 2014
Sendai Sasuke FC 3 - 2 Reinmeer Aomori

Another game that we thankfully got on the right end of, Oda scored a brace, and center Norihiro Asari was the man of the moment with what proved to be the winning goal, as Reinmeer also pulled one back in stoppage time.
Player of the Match: Mitsugu Oda (Sendai Sasuke FC)

The game was very rough, with Shohei Nagata (gashed leg), Fumihiro Kato (bruised rib), and Shin'ichiro Harabayashi (sprained wrist) all slated to miss about 2 weeks of action due to their injuries.

And with that, here's the table after Round 3 of 18:

League Table

Second place so far, and 2 points ahead of how we started last year. None of those pesky own goals, too! As you can see, the matches are a lot tougher, but we still have the talent to compete at this level.

This episode is over, sadly! Before we go, let's answer a question from a viewer, the one Walter posted above!

This is a great start to Division Four life! And I agree direct football can be played very well, keep it up.

FC Ganju Iwate were the runner-ups in this league last season, we will have to find a way to win despite our injuries.

April 27, 2014
FC Ganju Iwate 3 - 2 Sendai Sasuke FC

This one, Ganju just outpunched us and controlled the midfield. It was 3-1 late in the game. Sakurai pulled it back to 3-2, but missed a shot on goal with just seconds left in stoppage time that would have snatched a draw.
Player of the Match: Tomoki Ikegami (FC Ganju Iwate)

May 4, 2014
Sendai Sasuke FC 0 - 1 Akita Cambiare

It's not every day that Sasuke gets kept off the score sheet but it happened today, with Masashi Sano's effort being the only goal of the match.
Player of the Match: Masashi Sano (Akita Cambare)

May 11, 2014
Grulla Morioka 2 - 0 Sendai Sasuke FC

The second game in a row we haven't scored. Injuries and fatigue have limited us, but i'm not sure why we're having so much trouble.
Player of the Match: Kenki Koshio (Grulla Morioka)

And with that, here's the table after Round 6 of 18:

League Table

Second place seems so far away now. We can't score goals, and we can't defend, and we're not playing good football right now. I was able to coax out of the board permission to hire more coaches though, so maybe that will help? Well, only one more, but it'll still help.

Bad luck this month, but there is still time to regain form and push on!

Great updates
Hopefully your form will pick up and you can get up the table!