Season 10 Preview

Offseason Review
Coming off their 3rd championship in four seasons, not many changes needed to be made in the Kobe Beef locker room, so the Hyogo management kept the pocketbooks shut tight, outside of a closely contested bidding war for promising young GK Deyonte Jaramillo, a bidding war in which the Beef ultimately fell short.  But with several key starters starting to show their age, the Hyogo management signed a slew of 18-19 year old forwards and midfielders for the development squad to one year contracts in the hope that one of them will show promise and be promoted to the senior side.  The new players inked this season are 18 year old F Noburo Tamura, and 19 year old D Thiago Nuno, M Hieronimo Silva, F Jorell Simpson, and F Zedekiah Kalem. 

Because they did such an exemplary job last season, Kaoru Masashi, and brothers Osamu Motohashi and Morihiro Motohashi will be back again this season to carry the starters luggage, make sure there is always Gatorade in the cooler, and be the butt of locker room practical jokes.  In addition these players will also be responsible for creating a FIFA 2010 Hyogo Tajima-Ushi FC team for all players XBOX systems, complete with edited likenesses of all players currently on the roster, with maxed out stats to ensure total video game dominance. 

Season Preview
Tactically speaking, Hyogo will yet again employ the 4-3-3 this season as their formation of choice.  The experiment last season to move Zé forward into a strikers role proved to be a huge success, and he will once again be the CF this season, flanked by veteran goal hounds Malachy Krautstok and Togai Katsumoto.  Zuriel Linie and Davi Gellbart will once again be top subs at this position. 

In the midfield team co-captain and center midfielder Shinsaku Shinji be moved to the wing to allow the creativity of Ronaldo Mendez to be better utilized. Sancho Ferriera will start on the opposite wing, with Ilias Mohliwer as the top sub in midfield. Although it is expected that Shinji and Mendez may flop positions depending on the matchup. 

The starting back line remains unchanged for the third consecutive as Habib Mündig has proven he can perform a the level of fellow elite defenders Masami Chiba and Takeichi Miyagi, which makes the back line a major advantage in most matches for the Beef.  Co-Captain Chiba owns the air, and is as good a man marker as there is in the league, and anchors the defense with flair.  Miyagi is nearly as good on the back line, and has been quite effective in offensive set pieces.  Veteran Michinaga Matsuoka was solid last season, but his stamina is starting to fade so rookie D Thiago Nuno may get more starts in the back than a player of his experience should probably be getting.  But the veteran leadership in the back should more than cover for any mistakes he will surely make.

Goalie Barnaby Lichteneger had yet another top notch season, and if he continues to maintain that form into season 10 that will mean that the opposing front lines will have a tough time finding the back of the net. GK Josh Boswell is back to give Lichteneger the occasional break.

After taking the title back from the Giant Robots, the fans in Kobe are rightfully excited about their teams prospects in the upcoming season.  The Beef are fully expected to challenge for the title yet again, and anything less than that will be a severe disappointment for this team that is built to win, and to win now. 

Projected starting lineup:
GK: Barnaby Lichteneger (76 OV)
LD: Michinaga Matsuoka (60 OV)
LCD: Takeichi Miyagi (68 OV)
RCD: Masami Chiba (69OV)
RD: Habib Mündig (65 OV)
LM: Sancho Ferreira (64OV)
CM: Shinsaku Shinji (68OV)
RM: Ronaldo Mendez (76OV)
LF: Togai Katsumoto (61 OV)
CF: Zé Marceneiro (71OV)
RF: Malachy Krautstok (69 OV)

Top Subs:
GK, Josh Boswell, D Thiago Nuno, M Ilias Mohliwer, F Davi Gellbart F Zuriel Linie

Kobe Beef - Season 9 Champions!

Hyogo Tajima-Ushi FC ended a marvelous and hard fought season 9 campaign as J-League champions for the 4th time in club history.  This was an especially sweet championship as this marks the first time that Hyogo overtook a Giant Robots squad at full strength, as well as overcoming the increased quality of most of the other franchises in the league.  Despite an early season injury to all-star F/M Ze' Marceniero, and a preponderance of red cards earned by star starters like Ronaldo Mendez, the Beef triumphed with a key victory over FC Fishstix in the second to last match, a match that ultimately decided the J-League.  Now the focus turns to season 10, where the Kobe Beek look to repeat as champions and hold off the advances of a field of ever increasing challengers.