It was a muggy day in Kawasaki on Sunday, though by later in the day things cooled off a bit and a nice breeze picked up.
After a rather sluggish first half, Team Japan sharpened up after halftime, and dominated a clearly outmatched All-Nihon Phoenix squad in a tune-up game for the Notre Dame Japan Bowl coming up on July 25th.
The Phoenix suffered from a harassed and erratic passing attack- 3 interceptions and 25-52 in the air for 220 yards passing, and gained 57 yen yards rushing. They were only able to manage three drives of more than six plays.
Team Japan had even less on the ground- 45 yards on 25 carries, yet amassed 572 yards in total offense, 527 yards in the air. Panasonic Impulse QB Tetsuo Takata threw for 324 yards including 3 TDs and no interceptions, and was 21-29 on the day. They struck immediately on the first play from scrimmage- a 70 yard TD pass from Takata to Noriaki Kinoshita. Kinoshita had five catches for 118 yards and two TDs, and Takata's Impulse teammate Shouei Hasegawa had four catches for 75 yards and two TDs. Shun Sugawara was 7-9 for 162 yards and a TD. Koushi Moriya (now playing with the Fujitsu Fronteirs) had four catches for 51 yards and 1 TD for the Phoenix.
Kinoshita, the former NFL Europe standout, is currently training at Ritsumeikan, his alma mater. He will be working out with the New York franchise of the incipient UFL come September.
The Phoenix squad included many Nichidai alumni as well as current players. The Japan Team consisted of 84 members, most of them from the usual suspects: Impulse, Fujitsu, Kajima Deers, Obic Seagulls, Asahi Beer Silver Stars, and the Sagamihara Rise (now X-3, but formerly the X-1 Onward Skylarks); with a sprinkling of some other X-League and top university teams. All but a dozen of the players are in their twenties, but Impulse DL Yasuo Wakisaka turned forty in May. Waseda U. RB Tomokazu Sueyoshi is 19. The squad will be cut down to 60 players for the Notre Dame Japan Bowl game on 7/25.
My sympathy for those hardworking Team Japan cheerleaders, who were dressed in black training clothes in the hot sun, though that didn't seem to stop them from putting out their usual fine effort.
I must confess I really enjoyed hearing the sound of live music at a football game, as the Phoenix fortunately brought their school band and cheerleaders.
Also evident was continued construction on Kawasaki Stadium to expand seating (though unfortunately this cuts further into the grass area I would like to see used as a picnic area). This is indicative of Kawasaki's commitment to football.
