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Home StadiumYokohama Int'l (Nissan) Stadium
Seats 72,600 (World Cup Venue)
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Yokohama Marinos -- Preseason Summary
Yokohama Marinos fans are feeling a bit more optimistic about their team, these days. At the start of last season, some wondered whether the team might even beinvolved in the relegation race. However, despite his lack of popularity with the fans, Hiroshi Hayano did a halfway decent job of getting the team back on track, and though he was pushed out the door at the end of the season, in truth a seventh-place finish in 2007 was not that bad, .
This year the Marinos front office has brought in a far more experienced hand to steer the Marinos: Takeshi Kuwahara led Jubilo to two separate championship titles despite the fact that he never was very popular in Iwata and stepped down avter each of his title seasons (only to see the team fall apart once he was gone). Kuwahara has a very similar reputation to that of Takeshi Okada, who steered the Marinos to back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004 -- he knows how to get the most out of individual players. While he may not be a strategic genius, Kuwahara is a good person to turn to if the team wants to rediscover the harmony and coordination (well . . . relatively speaking) that Okada brought to this historically fractious team.
Yokohama does have a good base on which to build. The team includes both experience -- in the form of veterans like Yuji Nakazawa and Naoki Matsuda -- and youth. It has speed in playres like Koji Yamase, Daisuke Sakata and Yoshinobu Komiyama, as well as power and physicality, in the form of Lopes (newly acquired from Vegalta Sendai) and Ryuki Kawai.
Nevertheless, the Marinos still do not match up very well against the top title contenders. The team is not particularly deep, and it will need to depend on newcomers (Lopes and Roni Santos, in particular) for a lot of its offense. Yokohama does have a lot of talented youngsters who -- at least potentially -- could help the team return to the ranks of title contenders in a few years. For now, however, we think that a mid-table finish is more likely.
2006 Finish: 7th Place
2007 Forecast: 7th-9th Place
Roster Changes
IN |
| Pos. | Name | Former Team | Status |
|---|
| Mgr. | Takashi Kuwahara | --- | New coach |
| FW | Roni | Cruzeiro | One-yr rental |
| FW | Lopes | Vegalta-> Cruzeiro-> | One-yr rental |
| FW | Kota Mizunuma | Marinos Youth | New signing |
| FW | Kenta Furube | Ritsumeikan U. | New signing |
| MF | Shingo Hyodo | Waseda U. | New signing |
| MF | Shohei Ogura | Mito Hollyhock | Full transfer |
| DF | Takeshi Kanai | Marinos Youth | New signing |
| DF | Nobuhisa Urata | Teikyo HS | New signing |
| DF | Daiki Umei | Maruoka HS | New signing |
OUT |
| Pos. | Name | New Team | Status |
|---|
| Mgr. | Hiroshi Hayano | --- | Resigned |
| FW | Takayuki Suzuki | Tokyo Verdy | Full transfer |
| FW | Mike Havenaar | Avispa Fukuoka | One-yr loan |
| FW | Takayuki Yoshida | Vissel Kobe | Full transfer |
| FW | Marcus | --- | Released |
| MF | Yoshiharu Ueno | --- | Retired |
| MF | Taketo Shiokawa | Tokushima Vortis | Full transfer |
| MF | Koji Yoshimura | FC Gifu | Full transfer |
| DF | Eltinho | --- | Released |
| DF | Daisuke Nasu | Tokyo Verdy | Full transfer |
| GK | Yasuhiro Tominaga | Consadole Sapporo | Full transfer |
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