Home Uniform Away Uniform
 
Home Stadium
Seats 43,000 (WC 2002 Venue)
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Oita Trinita-- Preseason Summary
Oita Trinita is an easy team to like. They have a gorgeous stadium -- surely the most unique venue in the league, though the running track disqualifies it from being one of "the best". They operate on a small budget and yet still manage to attract some NT-quality players from time to time (even if they do have trouble keeping them around). They play a rather exciting and positive brand of football, and they dont have any players who fit the mold of a physical bruiser or a petulant diver, so there is no real focus for an opposing team's ire. Even if you dont happen to be charmed speechless by their cuddly new turtle mascot, "Neetan", you wont find too many people in rival cities who would identify Trinita as a team they love to hate.
Therefore we are a bit sad to have to reach this conclusion. But try as we might, we cannot find any convincing reasons to change the initial impression we recieved after looking at the off-season "ins and outs" (see the table below). For all the hard work that Pericles Chamusca has put in over the past three seasons, turning perennial also-rans into a competetive midtable club, last year Trinita began slipping back towards the bottom end of the table. Following the departure of key players like Tsubasa Umesaki, Masato Yamazaki, Shota Matsuhashi and Yohei Fukumoto, it will take every bit of skill that Chamusca possesses to keep the team from avoiding the drop. As if to eliminate any doubts we may have had, the team announced last week that their big off-season acquisition, Akihiro Ienaga, had injured himself badly and would be out for at least six months. With Ueslei joining the attacking line alongside Daiki Takahashi, you the team may as well start selling tickets to J2 venues right now, so fans can get a head start on their 2009 travel plans.
Unfortunately for Trinita fans, good coaching can only take you so far. Eventually the team needs to acquire talented players or they just cant progress any further. Perhaps Chamusca's skillful use of personnel can keep Trinita in the J1 for another year. But at some point, water always returns to sea level,. Considering the increasing competitiveness of the J1, we strongly suspect that Oita will join all the rest of the Kyushu clubs in the J2 next season. At least it will help keep down travel expenses.
2006 Finish: 14th
2007 Forecast: 16th-18th Place
Roster Changes
IN |
| Pos. | Name | Former Team | Status |
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| FW | Ueslei | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Full transfer |
| FW | Shunsuke Maeda | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | One-yr rental |
| MF | Hiroshi Kiyotake | Trinita U-18 | New signing |
| MF | Hiroki Otegawa | Trinita U-18 | New signing |
| MF | Yuta Inoue | Trinita U-18 | New signing |
| MF | Shingo Suzuki | Albirex Niigata | Rental->full transfer |
| DF | Akihiro Ienaga | Gamba Osaka | One-yr rental |
| DF | Tetsuya Yamazaki | Cerezo Osaka | Full transfer |
| DF | Hiroyuki Kobayashi | TDK | Full transfer |
| DF | Ryo Kobayashi | Kashiwa Reysol | One-yr rental |
| DF | Yoshiaki Fujita | JEF United | Rental->full transfer |
| GK | Ryosuke Ishida | Trinita U-18 | New signing |
OUT |
| Pos. | Name | New Team | Status |
|---|
| MF | Augusto | --- | Released |
| FW | Masato Yamazaki | Gamba Osaka | Full transfer |
| FW | Shota Matsuhashi | Vissel Kobe | Full transfer |
| FW | Masashi Miyazawa | Vegalta Sendai | One-yr rental |
| MF | Tsukasa Umesaki | Urawa Reds | Full transfer |
| MF | Takashi Umeda | Gifu FC | One-yr rental |
| DF | Yoshihiro Uchimura | Ehime FC | One-yr rental (extended) |
| DF | Yuichi Shibakoya | Sagan Tosu | One-yr rental (extended) |
| DF | Takashi Miki | Nagoya Grampus | Full transfer |
| DF | Yohei Fukumoto | Gamba Osaka | One-yr rental |
| DF | Akira Kajiwara | V.Varen Nagasaki | One-yr rental |
| DF | Takashi Kuramoto | Mito Hollyhock | One-yr rental |
| GK | Seiji Kawahara | Ehime FC | One-yr rental |
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