From our other sites
The story
Jef United Chiba, back in J1 for the first time in 17 years, has lost three straight to Hiroshima, Machida, and FC Tokyo — still without a single point or goal.
On the forum, complaints piled up over delayed reinforcements, a lack of preseason training camp, and questions about manager Kobayashi’s tactics — while cooler heads countered with points like “every promoted club looks like this” and “there’s a clear gap in ability between J1, J2, and J3,” splitting the discussion.
Jose Suarez showed some good defensive plays, but…
Chiba, playing in J1 for the first time in 17 years, still couldn’t get a win.
They lost 0-3 to Hiroshima on opening day, then 0-4 to Machida. Coming off that two-game losing streak, they fell 0-2 to FC Tokyo in the Matchday 3 game on August 21.
Source: soccerdigestweb.com / Original article here
What people said
If the national team hadn't poached Osim, they'd probably be doing okay right now
Osim, we oshimu (miss) you (pun on Osim's name and "oshimu," meaning "to miss/regret")
The Central League (pro baseball) is washed up too, then
Too bad — 52,200 people showed up even though it was raining
Do guys like this think that if they keep typing 'empty stadiums' and 'tax league' over and over, it'll actually come true like some kind of curse?
• While fighting through the league season, I personally sat down with several players, but the reality is every single Japanese player I talked to turned us down. 'Even if I sign a good contract with Jef, who knows what things will look like next season' — that's the honest assessment they gave.
I made my pitch as best I could, and getting turned down by everyone comes down to my own ability. I do naturally feel that if I'd shown something better out on the pitch, one or two of them might have joined us.
Even with money, you can't land good players until you actually establish yourself in J1 — especially Japanese players.
Soccer's a sport where a weak team means fewer chances to shine, so your own market value drops too
Apparently every Japanese player they approached turned them down flat because they couldn't picture the club still being in J1 next season 😭
That's just how it goes for every promoted club, every year
What's rough is this looks like a fluke promotion — not even solid enough to be a proper 'escalator club' (a team that yo-yos between J1 and J2)
Okayama signed Esaka and managed to stay up
Couldn't
Figured they'd get relegated right back down anyway
No need to worry about that — if they get relegated, their players get poached anyway, so they should've reinforced regardless lol
Even in the J.League Cup they've only won in fluke-ish ways.
Watching them, I have zero idea what kind of soccer Kobayashi is even trying to play.
The player selections make no sense either.
And the front office seems fine with keeping Kobayashi on.
The Japanese players look J2-caliber.
Honestly Mito shows more drive and a clearer game plan than this team.
Bottom line: unless they find a manager who can actually keep them up, and make the switch as soon as possible, they're going down.
That's about the size of it.
Wait, they skipped training camp?! lol
The supporters probably want to go back to where they belong too
Guess the dog's homing instinct is kicking in right about now
Guess their youth academy just doesn't function the way Kashiwa Reysol's does
There's Himeno — he's been Jef through and through since elementary school
Kids who fail Kashiwa's youth tryouts skip Jef entirely and aim for Ichifuna or Ryutsukeizai Kashiwa instead (top high school soccer powerhouses)
Teams like Shonan Bellmare can play totally dominant soccer in J2, after all
Since nobody expects much from them, recruiting doesn't go well either — that vicious cycle is the first hurdle after promotion
Fagiano doesn't have a big-money sponsor like Jef does — so how have they managed to stick around in J1?
Even Nagasaki, one of this season's promoted clubs that's actually spent decent money, is in that same sorry state
Sure, the opponents were tough, but the performances were just way too bad
Against Tokyo, not really — that one wasn't so bad
Huh? So what do you want instead?
Is there a version of soccer out there without it? (´・ω・｀)
Here we go again with this 'Ejirism' (a running fan meme calling for coach Ejiri's return)
Background and Key Points
Jef United Chiba is one of J.League’s founding clubs and, under Bosnian manager Ivica Osim in the mid-2000s, was a genuine force — Osim’s Jef won the 2005 League Cup before he left in 2006 to become Japan’s national team manager, a departure fans still only half-jokingly blame for the club’s long decline. Jef was relegated to J2 in 2009 and stayed there for seventeen straight years despite being backed by JR East, one of the league’s wealthiest corporate owners, which is why their return to J1 this season carried real expectations. Those hopes collapsed immediately: three losses (0-3 Hiroshima, 0-4 Machida, 0-2 FC Tokyo), zero points, zero goals, nine conceded.
The thread’s actual fault line isn’t “is this bad” — everyone agrees it is — but whether it’s Jef-specific mismanagement or simply the structural fate of most promoted clubs. One camp blamed manager Kobayashi directly: no preseason camp, muddled tactics, and a squad left unreinforced because the front office assumed relegation was coming anyway. The other side pointed out Fagiano Okayama is the rare exception and that newly promoted, playoff-route clubs (Jef came up through J2’s playoff, not as champions) almost always struggle to recruit, since players won’t sign with a team they doubt will survive in J1 — Jef’s own manager confirmed this in a magazine interview.
What outside readers likely miss: JR East’s money hasn’t translated into playing talent because J.League free agency runs on reputation and division status, not just budget — a wealthy but shaky J1 newcomer is often a harder sell to Japanese players than a stable, mid-table J2 club.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Soccer] “Rough times for Jef” — painful 3-game losing start in their first J1 season in 17 years. 9 goals conceded, still no goals scored, as fans lament “so much is missing”.”
Leave a Reply