The J-Talk Podcast

After Kawasaki wrapped up the J1 title last Wednesday afternoon, we obviously expected to lead this week's episode with that banner news, but then Yokohama F.Marinos 8-0 FC Tokyo happened on Saturday evening, and Tokyo manager Kenta Hasegawa quit on Sunday, so the sorry state of the capital club opens this podcast (to 14:55).

After that Neil Debnam guests to revel in a fourth Frontale title in five seasons, and chats about what targets are left for the top flight record breakers and how they might cope if more players are poached by European clubs (to 46:00).

Then we round up the other eight games from Matchday 35 (to 1:11:45), chat about Japan's prospects ahead of two crucial away World Cup qualifiers, and hand out the first Player of the Season awards.

Jon Steele flies solo again with a 15-minute roundup of all the midweek J2 action, as Iwata & Kyoto look dead certs for promotion, while Matsumoto & Kitakyushu look to be in almost irreversible relegation danger.

Hope everyone enjoys the mini-pod!

Just in time for Wednesday's midweek J2 round, Jon Steele & 'Magic' Mike Innes are back to bring you up to speed with all the lower-league news.

This time, Jon is flying solo to look back on the weekend's J2 action (Round 36), with Mike on 'J-Talk: Short Corner' duty to review J3 Round 25.

Hope everyone enjoys the show, and thank you for all the support!

Its cup action all the way on this week's pod, beginning with Nagoya's 2-0 win over Cerezo Osaka in Saturday's Levain Cup final (to 11:45), while we also look back at last Wednesday's Emperor's Cup quarters (to 22:00), before previewing upcoming top flight fixtures and the start of our Player of the Season series for all 20 J1 clubs.

Stuart Smith (J2) & Mike Innes (J3) are here to give you a whistle stop tour of what happened in the second & third tier of the J.League last weekend. 

In J2, find out why it wasn't such a good weekend for the top two, how Giravanz shot themselves in the foot, and why it goes from bad to worse in Matsumoto. 

Mike takes you through a busy weekend in J3, including a bad defeat for Toyama, and a crucial win for Gifu. 

We hope you enjoy listening!!

Jonny Nicol returns to guest this week as we return to midseason form with a bumper episode rounding up the weekend's J1 Matchday 33 action.

We begin at the top with Kawasaki now within touching distance of a fourth top flight title in five years after their home win over Shimizu on Sunday, coupled with Yokohama F.Marinos losing away at Cerezo Osaka in the late game, left Frontale 12 points clear with five games to play. Next we cover the draw between Nagoya and Kobe in the battle for third, and the wins for Urawa and Kashima that kept them right in the hunt for a return to the ACL in 2022 (to 41:20).

Part 2 begins with a key victory for Jonny's Gamba Osaka side that eased any lingering relegation fears, and also includes vital wins for Sendai and Shonan that took them off the foot of the table, and saw them escape the drop zone, respectively. We finish our top flight roundup with the draw in the dogfight six-pointer between Tokushima and Oita, and the scoreless draw up at the Sapporo Dome.

We conclude the episode with a look ahead to Wednesday's Emperor's Cup semi finals, and Saturday's Levain Cup Final.

Fashionably late this week, Jon Steele was joined by Kanazawa correspondent James Taylor for a full review of Round 34 in Japan's second tier. 

As ever, 'Magic' Mike Innes is also on hand with all the latest J3 news in 'J-Talk: Short Corner'.

Hope everyone enjoys the show, and sorry that the upload is rather late!

After J1 returned with an action-packed and late drama-filled weekend, we're back to round up all of the top flight fixtures.

We begin with Nagoya's disappointing ACL exit at the hands of Pohang (to 5:00), and then work from bottom to top in Matchday 32, beginning with the game of the season contender at Mitsuzawa, that saw Yokohama FC move off the foot of the table after winning an eight-goal thriller against Tokushima, and then moving on to Oita's triumph over Sendai, that saw Vegalta slip into the cellar.

From there we touch on Kashiwa making themselves almost certainly safe with a win at Shimizu, who are far from out of the woods, and then chat about the two draws that bridged the relegation dogfight and top three battle - Shonan's visit to Tosu, and Gamba Osaka's trip to Urawa.

We finish at the top with Kobe staking their claim to third with a late winner over Fukuoka, and Yokohama F.Marinos keeping up their end of the bargain in the title race by coming from behind late on to win at home over Sapporo.

We are coming down to the business end of the season, and things are becoming pretty desperate across great swathes of J2 & J3. Stuart Smith is on hand to bring you the latest on J2 - including the wild & wacky relegation dogfight, Hikaru Nakahara's fantastic season and a look ahead to an interesting weekend slate of games.

Mike Innes' "Short Corner" segment goes over all the need-to-know information on J3, including how the promotion race is really hotting up. 

Samurai Blue supporters sat through another couple of difficult watches in this international break, but the 2-1 win over Australia on Tuesday night appears to have kept the wolves from Hajime Moriyasu's door, and kept Japan in the hunt for a spot at the 2022 World Cup.

Scott McIntyre guests for a (very brief, thankfully) look back at the loss in Saudi Arabia last week, and then a more thorough review of the clash against the Socceroos, before a chat about some of the wider issues surrounding the national team, and Moriyasu's future (to 37:40).

Then in Part 2 we round up the Levain Cup semi finals (to 49:20), and chat about the J1 title race, before a brief look ahead to the weekend's top flight fixtures.