The J-Talk Podcast

In a slight change of pace, James Taylor and Jon Steele decided to step back and take stock of the J2 season so far, focusing on 5 teams in particular: Shimizu S-Pulse (start to 07:35), Vegalta Sendai (to 14:45), Iwaki FC (to 23:45), Montedio Yamagata (to 33:15), and Tochigi SC (to 41:10). That’s followed by a preview of the matchday 16 fixtures and Levain Cup matches involving J2 teams (to 53:10). After that, J-Talk: Short Corner host Mike Innes has all the details of J3 teams’ efforts to qualify for the Emperor’s Cup via prefectural qualifying tournaments (to end). *To get some pass notes on any of the games that we don't discuss on the pod, feel free to join our dedicated JTET/JTSC Discord server here: https://discord.gg/pngqMZ7hwD

This bumper episode features Stuart Woodward on the first leg of the ACL Final, then a full review of the nine J1 games played over the weekend. In Part 1 Stuart takes us inside the Nissan Stadium for that roller coaster of a first leg, with Yokohama F.Marinos holding a slender advantage after a VAR-assisted 2-1 victory over Al Ain on Saturday night (to 31:50). Then in Part 2 Jonny and Ben run through the top flight results, beginning with the 3-3 draws involving the two Tokyo clubs (to 50:30), before we move on to Kobe's statement of intent away at Cerezo Osaka, Gamba Osaka's rise and more, before we finish with a look ahead to the next two rounds of fixtures. #Apologies if the audio is not up to our usual standard, our regular recording software was not co-operating on Monday night, so we had to go to Plan B.#

After a packed double-header of Golden Week matches in both J2 and J3, the JTET team are back to catch you up on all of the major talking points from last week's action. In Part 1, James and Jon look back on some of the big games from last Friday in J2 (Round 13). The focus is placed initially on Yamagata's exciting 2-2 draw against Okayama (02:00 to 10:10), then the boys talk about Fujieda's massive home win over Gunma in the relegation dogfight (10:10 to 20:50). In Part 2, the gentlemen turn their attentions to Monday's J2 slate (Round 14). Under examination are Tokushima's statement win away at Okayama (21:00 to 31:15), followed by more relegation dogfight news with under-new-management Mito's win at home to Kumamoto (31:15 to 43:30). After a quick break, James and Jon then select their 'Most Bravo Player' of the Golden Week games (43:35 to 48:45), and preview the upcoming Round 15 games on the weekend card (48:45 to 54:45). It's then time to hand over the reigns to Mike Innes for the regular 'J-Talk: Short Corner' segment of the pod, with all of the J3 action from the holiday period rounded up (54:45 to Finish). Mike also looks ahead to the weekend's J3-inflected football, as the third tier takes a break to allow most teams to take part in prefectural tournament finals/Emperor's Cup qualifying games. Hope everyone enjoys the pod, and their weekend football!

With Jonny back in the co-hosts chair, this new episode features a full rundown of both rounds of top flight fixtures played over Golden Week. We begin with Jonny's travels while his mum was visiting the country, and Japan's triumph in the Under 23 Asian Cup final against Uzbekistan, with their ticket to Paris stamped after the semi final win over Iraq (to 13:25). Then Jonny reviews the Osaka Derby, with Gamba earning a first victory in the fixture for five years (to 27:55), before we move on to the four teams that won both of their Golden Week games - Machida, Kobe, Kashima and FC Tokyo - who all leapfrogged above Cerezo Osaka and now occupy the top four spots in the table (to 54:05). Next we chat about the rest of the games from Monday's J1 Matchday 12, including Hiroshima's first loss, Tokyo Verdy going two-for-two over Golden Week, and Shonan hauling themselves off the bottom, before we finish with a chat about the first leg of the ACL Final, and the weekend's Matchday 13.

James Taylor, Jon Steele and Mike Innes joined forces for another full and frank review of all the latest J2 and J3 football. First, James and Jon discussed Okayama v Shimizu (start to 07:20), Akita v Yokohama FC (to 17:35), Mito v Fujieda (to 24:55), and Tokushima v Yamagata (to 34:20). Then, they chose their Most Bravo Players of the weekend (to 37:50), and previewed a busy weekend of Golden Week football (to 47:05). After that, Mike Innes takes over for a run through of the Levain Cup games involving J3 teams (to 53:55) and a roundup of the matchday 11 league fixtures (to 1:10:50), before ending with a preview of the holiday weekend’s fixtures (to end). *To get some pass notes on any of the games that we don't discuss on the pod, feel free to join our dedicated JTET/JTSC Discord server here: https://discord.gg/pngqMZ7hwD

In this week's episode Alan Gibson slid into the co-hosts chair with Jonny away, as we reviewed a huge week in Japanese football, joined by special guest Stuart Woodward. In a brief Part 1 Alan and Ben chatted about Japan's Under 23s making it through to the semi finals of their Asian Cup with a very eventful win over Qatar (Update: Japan beat Iraq 2-0 in the semis to qualify for the Paris Olympics), and then some cupsets from the second round of the Levain Cup (to 10:18). Then Stuart joined us to talk about Yokohama F.Marinos's remarkable (definitely Ben's word of the week) victory on penalties over Ulsan in the semi finals of the ACL, and what qualifying for a first final in the competition means for the club, and also F.Marinos's draw away at Cerezo Osaka on Saturday (to 36:05). In Part 3 we run through J1 Matchday 10 wins for Kashima and Kyoto over Gamba Osaka and Kobe respectively, Shonan's comeback from 3-0 down to draw at Sapporo, and Iwata's win over then-leaders Machida (to 56:55), before we finish with the other five games from the weekend, a look ahead to the two Golden Week rounds of fixtures, and Alan updates us on the upcoming release of the new issue of JSoccer Magazine.

Fashionably late this week, James and Jon have you covered with another review of the latest events in the second tier of the J.League. Pesky scheduling conflicts in the real world meant that the boys couldn't record together this time, so in Part 1 of this episode (Start to 10:30), James covers all of the weekend's J2 action (Round 11) in solo mode (including an important win for Nagasaki, and a five-goal thriller at Nihondaira). There's also a quick-but-vital preview of this weekends's upcoming Round 12 fixtures. In Part 2, Jon takes 'control' for a solo look over the recent Round 2 fixtures in the Levain Cup from a J2 angle (10:30 to Finish), touching on sort-of giant-killings from Nagasaki and Akita, plus a thrilling finale in the all-J2 clash between Okayama and Yokohama FC. Thanks for being patient with us this week - enjoy the round-ups, and your weekend J.League fix!

Our new episode features a full breakdown of all nine J1 Matchday 9 games played over the weekend, beginning with Machida returning to the top of the table after a controversy-tinged Tokyo Derby victory over FC Tokyo, and Cerezo Osaka slipping off the summit after their first loss of the season, away at Nagoya. We then move on to a trio of 1-0 away wins for Gamba Osaka, Kobe and Niigata, before Tosu's big day out at home against Kashima, as Sagan hauled themselves off the foot of the table. The three Matchday 9 draws round out our review, before we look ahead to the upcoming midweek and weekend action.

In this standalone episode of JTSC, Mike Innes guides you through all the latest action involving J3 teams in the Levain Cup, prefectural qualifiers for the Emperor’s Cup, and rescheduled J3 league matches. First, Mike runs through the Levain Cup 2nd round matches from Wednesday 17th(start to 04:30). Then, there’s a recap of the games that took place on Saturday 20th (to 08:00) and Sunday 21st (to 12:10). To close out the episode, Mike reviews the J3 standings, before looking ahead to the remaining Levain Cup fixtures on Wednesday 24th and the weekend’s league games (to end).

James Taylor and Jon Steele cast their analytical gaze over another round of J2 football. In this episode, they focus on 4 games from matchday 10: Iwaki v Shimizu (start to 08:35), Nagasaki v Tokushima (to 20:15), Kumamoto v Kofu (to 26:50) and Yamaguchi v Gunma (to 34:40) and crown their Most Bravo Player (to 39:55). Then there’s a preview of the round 11 fixtures (to 46:40) and the second set of Levain Cup Second Round games (to end). *To get some pass notes on any of the games that we don't discuss on the pod, feel free to join our dedicated JTET/JTSC Discord server here: https://discord.gg/pngqMZ7hwD

With perfect timing, another 'J-Talk: Short Corner' special is now ready for mass consumption! Scheduling conflicts mean that James and Jon's J2 chat is being recorded later than usual this week, so we've once again decided to give Mike 'The Magic' Innes some richly-deserved limelight by putting out JTSC in advance (so that listeners can hear Mike's midweek previews in time for the Levain Cup action on Wednesday evening). Before JTSC, Jon has a quick preview of the triumvirate of Levain Cup ties that see a J2 side hosting a J1 opponent (Start to 03:00). After that, it's breathless stuff as Mike ploughs through two full rounds of J3 action, previews the Wednesday night cup fixtures from a J3 angle, and gives you a heads-up up on a rather fragmented upcoming weekend slate - a smattering of J3 matches, and some Emperor's Cup qualifying tournament games (03:00 to Finish). Hope everyone enjoys the show, and their midweek football - our J2 'content' will be available slightly later this week!

After another terrific round of J1 action, Jonny and Ben were joined by Lewis White and Tom Pennington to get their thoughts on a Tokyo Derby that was worth the 16 year wait (to 36:55). Then in Part 2 your co-hosts run through the other nine games from Matchday 8, beginning with Kobe knocking Machida off the summit, and Cerezo Osaka taking over at the top (to 53:10. Then its 1-0 wins for Kashima, Kashiwa and Nagoya (to 1:04:45), before Jonny recounts his day out at the Panasonic Stadium on Sunday, where Gamba Osaka downed Tosu at the death (to 1:17:20). We finish our J1 wrap with the other three draws from the round, before looing ahead to upcoming midweek and weekend action.

After a packed week of J2 action, Jon and James are back to have their say on the big talking points from two full rounds of second-tier thrills and spills. In Part 1, the focus is on last Wednesday's midweek fixtures. The boys discuss a tight (ahem) home victory for JEF Chiba against a hapless Tochigi (Start to 07:00), then move on to cover Nagasaki's impressive win at home to inconsistent Yamagata (07:00 to 11:55). In Part 2, attention turns to Sunday's Round 9 action. James and Jon shared their views on Nagasaki's exciting 4-3 win at Kumamoto (11:55 to 20:50), as well as a pulsating draw between Ehime and Okayama at Ningineer Stadium (20:50 to 28:20). At listener/contributor Martin Spivey's request, the boys also took a few moments to talk about Akita's freewheeling victory away at Oita (28:20 to 32:30). In Part 3, the JJs handed out their 'Most Bravo Player' gong for this week (32:20 to 36:45), and finished things off by looking ahead to this weekend's Round 10 slate of matches (36:45 to Finish). We hope everyone enjoys the show! *To get some pass notes on any of the games that we don't discuss on the pod, feel free to join our dedicated JTET/JTSC Discord server here: https://discord.gg/pngqMZ7hwD

Due to some scheduling conflicts for Jon and James, the J2 segment of JTSC is coming slightly later than usual this week - but not to worry, as Mike 'The Magic' Innes is here to bring you up to speed on all the latest news from J3. In this episode, Mike looks back at a weekend slate of J3 matches that produced stacks of goals (not least at the Go Go Curry Stadium in Kanazawa). There are also two full rounds of J3 games coming up in the next 5 days, with Round 9 taking place on Wednesday night, & Round 10 fast approaching at the weekend. As always, Mike has you covered with a preview of both rounds at the end of this mini-pod. Enjoy the show, and stay tuned for some J2 content later this week!

Sean Carroll made a very welcome return to the pod to discuss the last two rounds of J1 action, as well as his recent trip down to Kyushu, and his book: Between the Lines. We began our top flight round-up with the three teams that won twice in Matchdays 6 & 7 - Hiroshima, Iwata and FC Tokyo - before moving on to the two that notched first wins in the past week - Sapporo and Tokyo Verdy (to 1:02:23). Then we run through the rest of the games from Sunday, answering some questions from patrons along the way, before finishing with a look ahead to Japan's U23 Asian Cup campaign, and the weekend's Matchday 8.

Jon Steele, James Taylor and Mike Innes are back with another action packed JTET. In part 1, Jon and James run through J2 round 7 fixtures, stopping to talk in detail about Yokohama FC v Sendai (start to 09:10), Kofu v Yamaguchi (to 15:30), and Tokushima v Gunma, along with all the off-field news from the latter two clubs (to 30:35). Then the guys pick their Most Bravo Player (to 33:30), before previewing rounds 8 and 9 (to 41:25). After that, it’s time for Mike Innes and a full review of J3 round 7 in J-Talk: Short Corner (41:25 to end).

J1 returned with a bang after the international break, and in this episode we review all 10 top flight games, beginning with Kobe's rout of Sapporo, whose start to the season is bordering on a crisis. Next, Nagoya's horror start might be a thing of the past after they came from behind to beat Yokohama F.Marinos, before we discuss leaders Machida going about their winning ways at home against Tosu, and work our way through the other games. We finish off the episode with a look at the big fixtures to come in Wednesday's Matchday 6, and Matchday 7 next weekend.

After a rather hectic 7 days of fixtures in J2 and J3, the JTET team are back to round up all of the key points (and some minor ones) from the most recent games. First of all, James and Jon look back on some of the eye-catching games from last Wednesday in J2 (Round 5), chatting about Shimizu's late breakthrough at JEF Chiba (Start to 07:50), and early leaders Okayama's fairly comfortable home win over Gunma (07:50 to 13:40). After a quick break, the boys do similar for Sunday's Round 6 slate, focusing on Yokohama FC's victory at nine-man Kagoshima in pouring rain (13:40 to 23:45), and Tochigi's smash-and-grab home success against Oita (23:45 to 30:00). James and Jon then reveal their Most Bravo Players of the week, taking into account both rounds of action (30:00 to 35:30), and talk about some of the interesting transfer news of the week (35:30 to 42:20). The sad, tired, middle-aged men had just enough left in the tank to preview the upcoming Round 7 fixtures before slumping into a fitful, Pedro Manzi-haunted sleep (42:20 to 49:00). With J2 fully covered, Mike 'The Magic' Innes takes over for 'J-Talk: Short Corner' (49:00 to Finish), with all of the key Round 5 and Round 6 action from J3 forensically analyzed. Thanks for all the support for the pod, and we hope you enjoy the episode!

It was our great pleasure to welcome Scott McIntyre back for his long-awaited return to the pod, to chat about Japan's 1-0 win over North Korea last Thursday night and the ramifications of the cancelled rematch, scheduled for Tuesday night in Pyongyang (to 21:05). In Part 2 we discuss some of the teams that have disappointed and surprised through the first four rounds of the new J1 season, before we preview the weekend's Matchday 5.

With a full midweek round of J2 and J3 fixtures haring into view, the JTET team are back (just in time) with a look back at the latest games and talking points from the lower tiers of the J.League. In this episode, James and Jon begin by talking about the J2-centric Levain Cup results from last Wednesday (Start to 07:15), a chastening night for the second-tier sides. The boys then move on to discussing last weekend's J2 action (07:15 to 40:50), as well as making their regular 'Most Bravo Player (MBP)' selections (40:50 to 44:45). There's just time for James and Jon to preview a busy few days in J2, with Wednesday's midweek games (Round 5) being followed by a full slate of fixtures in Round 6 on Sunday (44:50 to 55:15). As ever, Mike 'The Magic' Innes brings up the rear with 'J-Talk: Short Corner' (55:15 to Finish), as he trains his forensic eye on Levain Cup (from a J3 perspective), and covers all the key action in J3. Hope everyone enjoys the show!