The Samurai Blue swept aside both China and Bahrain during the international break, and Alan Gibson from JSoccer.com and JSoccerMagazine joined Jonny and Ben to chat about the two emphatic victories (to 22:22).

Then in an elongated Part 2, we chat about Hiroshima's disappointing cup quarter final defeats - losing to Gamba Osaka in the Emperor's Cup on Wednesday, and to Nagoya on penalties in the Levain Cup on Sunday - then rest of the Levain quarters (to 45:00), before we discuss the current top five in J1 and their runs to the next international break (to 1:06:45), and finish with the J.League's plans for the '0.5 Season' in 2026 that will be a bridge to the autumn-spring calendar.

Get your ticket(s) to J-Talk Live, our first-ever live show as part of the Yokohama Football Film Festival, here! The page is in Japanese, but can be easily navigated using a translation site.