On Mar 27it was announced that the famous German Bundesliga team Bayern Munich, in conjunction with the ship building company Tsuneishi, will open a football school Fukuyama City, Hiroshima prefecture, Japan.
This is the first time Bayern has opened a football coaching facility in Japan. The end goal is to produce Japanese players who can eventually play abroad. Bayern, it is suggested, also hope to promote themselves by this venture and gain an increased Japanese following.
According to Tsuneishi, the school will have 3 strands: 3-12 year-old boys, 13-15 boys and girls over 6 years-old. The facilities are expected to accommodate 320 children. The headquarter will be at the Fukuyama City Football Stadium. Classes will be held 1 - 3 times a week and cost ¥30,000 - ¥100,000 annually.
Bayern plans to coach technique using their well known teaching methods, and will potentially play some overseas games against foreign teams. Takashi Usami has spent the 2011-2012 at Bayern Munich. The German leagues are home to an increasing number of Japanese international players, with Shinji Kagawa of Borussia Dortmund a prime example.
I will never quit playing football but this is the end of my professional career. What started from my home yard at 1982 has come to an end today. It is never a big public headline that especially at this age someone has left the game but personally it is frightening thought for me that morning doesn’t start thinking about the next game. Everyone who has given all he has to something at any walk of life knows that letting go is never easy."
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Mike Havenar, or Havenaar Mike as he is known in Japan, is to join Eredivisie side Vitesse Arnhem. The 6'4" (194cm) striker is expected to sign a three year contract with the Dutch club and will debut with his new club in January. Havenaar has enjoyed a successful 2011 establishing himself as a Japanese international. For his now former club, Ventforet Kofu, 2011 was not a good year, they were relegated from the top Japanese division and face the task of promotion without their talismanic striker.
Havenaar was born to Dutch parents in Hiroshima. His Dad is a former professional goalkeeper who played in both Holland and Japan, while his mother was an all Holland heptathlon champion. The Havenaars are a sporty family, Nikki, Mike's younger brother, is a member of Nagoya Grampus youth set up and a Japan Under 17 international. As is often the case with footballing siblings, many people consider the younger Havenaar a more accomplished player - time will tell.
For now though Mike can concentrate on establishing himself in a new league, albeit in a country he knows well. He will link up with international team mate Michihiro Yasuda in Arnhem. The presence of the diminutive full back, a classic native of Osaka full of jokes and laid back, deprecating humour, should help him settle.
Vitesse are enjoying a fine season, currently lying in sixth place. They will hope that the arrival of Havenaar will maintain their early season momentum and propel them toward the European qualifications places as the seasons wanes.
"We were the first to show an interest in signing him and were more concrete than any other team," Van Leeuwen told Voetbal International. "We have been keeping tabs on him for six months now and we are impressed.
"Mike is a different kind of striker than we're used to in the Netherlands. He will join us early in January."
Havenaar's international team mate Maya Yoshida, who plays in the Eredivisie with VVV Venlo, is keen that his colleague will fair well in Holland:
"He'll be ok. He speaks Dutch, he's fluent in English, and Michihiro [Yasuda] is there," Yoshida told reporters at Narita Airport in Tokyo.
Havenaar should be OK. He is a fast improving player who as well as height and aerial ability, brings deft technique and both long-range and close finishing ability. It is up to him to prove that he can make the grade in the land of his parents.
He was a member of the Japan Under 20 World Cup squad in 2007 along with new team mate Michihiro Yasuda, Shinji Kagawa of Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04's Atsuto Uchida and Tomoaki Makino of FC Koln.
The painful symptoms of ulcerative colitis make it sound like a truly horrible disease. The news that Manchester united midfielder could also prove to be a pain in the a*** for the British football team's hopes at the 2012 Olympics. A fully fit Fletcher represents one of the premier defensive midfielders currently playing in the UK. It is not unreasonable to imagine that he would have been prominent in the thinking of Stuart Pearce as he prepared to name his squad for the Games.
With Aaron Ramsey having stated that he would be keen to accept a potential Olympic invitation and David Beckham almost guaranteed a spot for his role in bringing the Games to London, there remains a glaring lack of quality conservative central midfield options available to Pearce. A central three of Fletcher - Beckham - Ramsey would have been intriguing prospect.
Fletcher would have brought drive, stamina, tactical discipline and persistently accurate shooting to compliment the short and long passing games of Ramsey and Beckham. If he is indeed forced to miss the rest of the season it is not just Manchester United who will feel the absence of this most underrated of players.
How Team GB might have lined up with Darren Fletcher
The rise and rise of Serge Gnabry continues apace as he makes his debut for Arsenal reserves. Aston Villa won this game 2-0, they beat Arsenal 10-1 in the corresponding fixture last season.
Gnabry's contribution was widely praised, as the excellent write up in the above link demonstrates.
This goal is the reason Arsene Wenger signed Tomas Rosicky. It was injury time in Arsenal's Champions League game against Sparta Prague at Highbury. The tie was effectively over at 4-1 to the home team, when Rosicky scored the goal of the game. He swerved and feinted his way through the Arsenal defence, survived a push from Lee Dixon, who scored that night, and then beat David Seaman at his near post.
It was a goal of poise, pace and balance, skills that Arsenal fans have seen rarely during Rosicky's candle in the wind English career.
Arsenal had four right backs in their starting line-up - Lee Dixon, Oleg Luzhny, Nelson Vivas and Lauren - and with Silvinho at left back had a fantasy football style "All-Full-Back" defence.
Ashley Cole came on at half time, replacing Sylvinho. Cole went on to cement his place as Arsenal's left back, and with fellow substitutes Dennis Bergkamp and Sylvain Wiltord, demonstrated the strength of Wenger's turn of the century squad.
This should have been the best assist ever. It should have been Zidane's masterpiece. All William Gallas had to do was head the ball into a gaping goal. He didn't, and Zinedine Zidane's outrageously inventive flick was consigned to the bottomless pit of what might have been.
It was a France corner in the Euro 2004 Group stages against Croatia. Thierry Henry's knee-high centre found Zidane on the edge of the six yard box. With his back to goal he casually leaned forward, bringing his right leg up, flicking the ball looping over the bemused Croatian defenders with his calf. It was an act of instinct, stunning in its simplicity, all it needed to achieve perfection was the finish. Sadly Gallas fluffed his lines, destroying a thing of beauty like a bull in a Ming vase exhibition.
Serge Gnabry scored again for Arsenal Under 18s in this hard fought 2-1 win over Charlton.
Gnabry scored the winner ten minutes from time after a good team move (see from 8:00 on the video below).
Arsenal worked the ball from their keeper, down the right flank, and then on to the impressive Kristoffer Olsson. The young Swede swivelled deftly and spread the play intelligently to the left wing. Another pass, a cross to the near post and a neat finish and Arsenal were into a lead that Charlton could not catch. The move lasted 20 seconds. The watching Liam Brady will have been impressed.
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Ideal Christmas gifts for the footballer in your life?
