The J-Talk Podcast

It was truly an amazing final day of the J1 season, and when the dust settled, Yokohama F.Marinos were crowned top flight champions, and Stuart Woodward guests in Part 1 to revel in the triumph, sealed with a 3-1 away win over Kobe (to 36:25).

Then in Part 2 your regular co-hosts chat about Kawasaki, who finished two points behind the champions, before moving on to talk about Shimizu's relegation after the barnburner up at the Sapporo Dome, and look ahead to Sunday's playoff final, where incumbents Kyoto will battle upstarts Kumamoto for a spot in the top flight in 2023.

We round up all of the other games, and then move on to the Japan squad for the World Cup (with news breaking on Tuesday afternoon that Shuto Machino has been called up to replace Yuta Nakayama), and hand out our final four club Player of the Season awards.

After a thrilling opening to the J2 Play-Offs, and another big weekend at the top of J3, the well-oiled (alright, oiled) JTET machine swings back into action.

In the first part of the show, Jon Steele (@JTalkETJon on Twitter) was joined by Jonny Nicol (@BlogGamba on Twitter) to look back over both of the J2 Play-Off games from last Sunday, and to preview the Round 2 match coming up this weekend.

After that, Mike 'the Magic' Innes (@GoGoOmiyaArdija on Twitter) is on hand to cover all of the latest J3 news in 'J-Talk: Short Corner', including a shock defeat for imperious leaders Iwaki.

Hope everyone enjoys the episode!

Sean Carroll made a very welcome return to the podcast this week, guesting to chat about Urawa's decision to axe manager Ricardo Rodriguez after two seasons in charge (to 12:10), before we move on to chat about the J1 title race going to the final matchday after both Yokohama F.Marinos and Kawasaki won their home finales on Saturday (to 34:00).

Then we get down and dirty in the #RelegationDogfight, where there was joy for Gamba Osaka, Shonan and Fukuoka after huge home wins, but more agony for Shimizu supporters, who now face a must-win final day trip to Sapporo (to 1:14:50).

After we bid Sean adieu, Sam and Ben wrap up the final two games from Matchday 33, and hand out four more Player of the Season awards.

The JTET crew return to cover the final day of the regular J2 season, as well as all of the latest J3 news as the 3rd-tier season nears an intriguing climax.

In Part 1, Jon Steele (@JTalkETJon on Twitter) rounds up all of the big talking points from the final day of the J2 season, as Yamagata pip Tokushima and Sendai to grab a Play-Off place, and Oita slipped up at Ryukyu to hand Kumamoto 4th place (and a home tie in Round 1 of the post-season tournament).

After that, Jon was joined by official JTET Kumamoto reporter Garry Irwin (@GarryIrwin on Twitter) to review Kumamoto's home game against Yokohama FC in depth, and to look ahead to both of this weekend's Play-Off matches.

To round things off, Mike 'The Orlando Magic' Innes (@GoGoOmiyaArdija on Twitter) brings you up to date with J3 in 'J-Talk: Short Corner'.

Thank you for all of the support for JTET so far in 2022 - enjoy the show!

More late drama in Japanese cup finals, as Dan Orlowitz guests to chat about Hiroshima finally breaking their cup decider duck. Having previously lost six Emperor's Cup and two Levain Cup finals, Sanfrecce stunned 10-man Cerezo Osaka in Saturday's Levain Cup decider with two goals in second half stoppage time from Pieros Sotiriou giving them a 2-1 win. Dan also talks about Iwata's transfer ban, and gives his thoughts on FC Tokyo's Player of the Season (to 40:00).

Then in Part 2 we discuss more late drama, this time in Saturday evening's Shizuoka derby (to 51:45), preview this Saturday's Matchday 33 (to 1:06:10), and hand out more Player of the Season silverware.

Rest in Peace, Masato Kudo. Our thoughts go out to all of Kudo's former colleagues and his family and friends at this very difficult time.

This week on JTET, Jon and James collaborated on a full review of all of the  big J2 news from the last seven days.

They began with a chat about Kofu's incredible penalty shoot-out win over Hiroshima in the Emperor's Cup Final, then segued into discussing Okayama's home defeat against Akita that clinched the J2 title for Niigata, and promotion for Yokohama FC.

The boys then review Yokohama FC's thrilling home defeat against Kanazawa, before turning their eyes to Gunma's 5-1 drubbing of Iwate (a result that sealed Gunma's J2 survival, and confirmed relegation for Iwate and Ryukyu).

Jon then reviews the rest of the J2 action solo, before getting help from James to preview all of the games coming up on the final day of the regular season this Sunday.

After that, Mike 'The Magic' Innes is in position to cover all of the latest J3 events in 'J-Talk: Short Corner'.

This episode was recorded before the horrible news of Miyazaki striker Masato Kudo's untimely passing at just 32 years old, so apologies if the tone of the episode seems 'off' this time. 

We will do our best to give Kudo-san a full and proper tribute next week. 

Rest In Peace, Masato. Thank you for all the memories.

One of the most remarkable stories in recent J.League history concluded on Sunday with Kofu finishing the job, beating Hiroshima on penalties to win the Emperor's Cup, the first major trophy in their history. James Taylor from J-Talk Extra Time returns to share his thoughts on Ventforet's terrific performance on the afternoon, and how they might go about tackling the ACL next year (to 31:35).

Then we look back briefly on last Wednesday's J1 results, when Iwata blew the title race wide open and gave themselves a fighting chance of staying up, and then look ahead to Saturday's Levain Cup final and Shizuoka derby, before handing out the first five J-Talk Player of the Season Awards.

The end of the J2 season is fast approaching, and there's still plenty to play for. James Taylor and Jon Steele join forces to analyse 4 games from J2 matchday 40 with implications for automatic promotion, playoffs, and relegation. There’s a roundup of the rest of the weekend’s games and a preview of the penultimate round of the regular season, plus a question from Alan Gibson and news of an interesting fixture coming up in Kanazawa. After that, Mike Innes keeps you up to date with everything J3-related in J-Talk: Short Corner.

 

00:00-09:55 Nagasaki v Tokushima

09:56-17:54 Kumamoto v Gunma

17:55-26:27 Kofu v Okayama

26:28-41:34 Yokohama FC v Oita

41:35-49:36 roundup of J2 MD40

49:37-1:10:10 J2 MD41 preview

1:10:11 to end Short Corner

After Cinderella story Kofu made their way to the Emperor's Cup Final with a stirring semi final win over J1 giants Kashima last Wednesday night, James Taylor from J-Talk Extra Time guests to chat about how Ventforet have made it this far, and to preview Sunday's showpiece against Hiroshima (to 25:50).

Then in Part 2 we run through all of the action from Saturday's J1 Matchday 32, when Gamba Osaka kept Yokohama F.Marinos's champagne on ice with a shock 2-0 away win, and other dogfighters Kobe, Shonan and Fukuoka all notched huge wins.

Later than a Manchester United equalizer during the Fergie years, a new JTET episode is finally here!

This week, Jon Steele was joined by doyen of the J2 drop zone Richy Palmer for an in-depth look at the wrong end of the J2 table with just a handful of games remaining.

After a solo round-up of the rest of the Round 39 action (plus a mention for Omiya's midweek draw with Yamagata in their rearranged game), Richy helped Jon to preview all of this weekend's crucial games in Round 40.

After that, regularly-scheduled 'J-Talk: Short Corner' programming sees Mike 'The Magic' Innes cover all of the big news from J3 as the race for promotion to J2 heats up.

Apologies for the slow upload this week, and enjoy the show! 

PS. We haven't forgotten to mention Kofu's incredible passage to the Emperor's Cup Final - we'll talk about it in detail next episode!