As we enter the international week, the Japanese national team will have to deal with the rest of the World Cup Asian qualifying matches, thus the JLF will have to make way for the rest of the week. However, as a sub-league, the Japanese B League is not affected, and 22 teams will continue to compete for promotion this weekend and next midweek, so let's take a look at what we have to see in the Japanese B League today!
There is no change in the format of the 2022 JGB season, 22 teams will play a double round-robin tournament, the champion and runner-up will be directly promoted to the JLF, while the third to sixth place teams will have to compete for the promotion play-offs, and the last three teams in the JLF will compete for the JLF qualification for the next season. As for relegation, the last two teams will be directly relegated to the JCL in the 2023 season.
As we can see from the above, the number of teams in JB is high and the matches are frequent, and the promotion system is similar to that of the English Champions League, so the degree of competition can be imagined. In addition, the strength of each team in JB is quite close to each other, and there are few teams that have been competing at the top for a long time. For example, Matsumoto Sanya, which is still competing in the JLF in 2019, even landed in J3 at the end of JB last season, which is not easy to cope with in JB.
FC Yokohama, who were relegated from the Nippon Professional League this season, seem to have made a good start to their quest for promotion back to the Nippon Professional League as they sit at the top of the table after the fifth round of fixtures. FC Yokohama continue to be supported by ex-Japanese national team starlet Shunsuke Nakamura who has stayed in the team this season, and even though Chirashi Miura has left the team, they have managed to maintain a certain degree of stardom. In addition to Shunsuke Nakamura, FC Yokohama also has players with top-flight experience such as Hidetoshi Takahashi, Sho Ito, and Aoki Ogawa in their squad, so it's no wonder that they were regarded as one of the favorites to be promoted before the season.
Besides FC Yokohama, another relegated horse Sendai Vigatte is also one of the fans. Sendai Viktoria won the Nippon Professional League title in the early years, and was the runner-up of the Emperor Cup in 2018, but the relegation of the team last season was a bit of a surprise to the fans. This season, the team has been coached by Masato Harasaki, and former Kashima Antlers backbone Yasushi Endo has joined the team to strengthen the frontline organization ability, so the strength has been supplemented. In addition, the 40-year-old North Korean veteran Ryong Yong-gi, who has been a part of the team for a long time, has returned to the team this season, which will help the morale to a certain extent, so it is no wonder that Sendai has been in the second place so far in the opening season.
Chiba Ichihara, one of the founding clubs of the JLF, last competed in the JLF in the 2009 season, and compared to their arch rivals Kashiwa Reysol, the team has lost a lot of color, so no wonder the team has a strong desire to fight for promotion. The team will continue to be led by Yoon Jung-hwan this season. The former South Korean footballer has led Osaka Sakura to the JSL and achieved good results, so his coaching ability is beyond doubt. In addition, Brazilian goal scorer Leanco, who used to play for Hong Kong Premier League team Fortune R&F, has joined the team from Guangzhou City this season. Together with new players with JLF experience such as Toshiyuki Takagi and Shogo Sasaki, the team's strength is not to be ignored.
North Korea's famous player Jung Dae Sai shed his tears for North Korea in the 2010 World Cup, and I believe it's still fresh in your mind. I guess this 38 year old veteran is still playing for Machida Zevia in the second division of the Japanese league. Machida Zevia ranked fifth in JB last season and achieved the best result ever. This season, the team will continue to be coached by Serbian supervisor Popovic, who has rich coaching experience in Japan, and will strive for the promotion qualification. In addition to Jung Dae-Se, Yamagata Yamagami's top scorer from last season Ainazu has also joined the team to strengthen the firepower in the front line. Together with experienced players such as Arya Hasegawa and Reio Takae, the team is a miraculous force in the fight for promotion.
In addition to the above mentioned promotion favorites, each team in JB has many former international players, such as Toyoda Yohei of Kanazawa Savigan, Yano Takisho of Tochigi SC, and Hosokabe Moe of Gunma Kusatsu Onsen, etc. All of them are familiar names to Japanese fans, so fans who like to keep an eye on the movement of the Japanese football world can't afford to miss them.
Although the popularity of JB may not be as good as JLF, but this season the cable TV still regularly live broadcast of JB, so that fans can watch more local matches; and this week there is no live broadcast of JLF matches, a group of fans who love Japanese soccer can stop through the live broadcast of the JB to stop the wave of addiction lah!
This week's Sunday B live streaming schedule:
March 26th, 12:00 noon: Omiya squirrels vs. Okayama pheasants Cable TV 602/662
