DBasia.news – Meiji Yasuda J1 League 2022 is over. The 30th Japanese League event since the J League era began in 1993, Yokohama F. Marinos won this season.
Marinos managed to collect 68 points from 34 matches. The result of 20 wins, 8 draws and 6 losses.
Defeating Kawasaki Frontale in the Title Race
The team under the care of Australian coach, Kevin Muscat are two points ahead of the closest competitor and last season’s champion, Kawasaki Frontale.
That is, Marinos managed to stop the dominance of Frontale who won four times in the last five seasons of the Japanese League.
In the meeting of the two teams this season, Marinos won the first meeting with a score of 4-2 at home, while the meeting at Frontale ended with a 2-1 victory for the hosts.
For Marinos, this is their fifth J1 League title in history. Previously, they won in 1995, 2003, 2004, and most recently in 2019.
Similar to their 2019 title, Marinos’ title this season also made them hold off Kawasaki Frontale to be able to win three times in a row.
Now, the Marinos are the team with the second most collection of J1 League titles in Japan. They only lost to Kashima Antlers who have collected eight titles.
Charming Stats of Coach Kevin Muscat
Australian coach, Kevin Muscat has led Marinos to the title in his first full season as team coach, having taken over as captain of the club when Ange Postecoglou left for Celtic FC in the summer of 2021.
Muscat has also been named the Best Coach in the J1 League three times this season, namely in May, July and September. More than any other coach in the Japanese League this season.
Player Captivating Stats
On the pitch, there are several players who have almost always been a mainstay of Kevin Muscat this season.
Goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka is the only player to have played in all J1 League matches this season for the Marinos.
Takaoka was recorded as having managed to score 13 times without a goal from 34 matches. This record is only lost to FC Tokyo goalkeeper, Jakub Slowik, who has recorded 14 clean sheets this season.
On the front lines, the Brazilian duo, Leo Ceara and Anderson Lopes, both contributed 11 goals and became the team’s top scorer. The two are only three goals away from this season’s top scorer in the J1 League, Shimizu S-Pulse’s Thiago Santana.
In addition, there is also Takuma Nishimura who scored 10 goals, and Kota Mizunuma and Teruhito Nakagawa who both recorded 6 assists this season.
Muscat also relies on several other names that almost always decorate the Marinos squad this season such as Tomoki Iwata, Joel Chima Fujita, Elber, Ryuta Koike, to Katsuya Nagato.
Three players won the monthly MVP title aka J1 League Player of the Year this season, Mizunuma City in June, Leo Ceara in July, and Tomoki Iwata in September.
In this season’s J League Awards, Marinos defensive midfielder, Tomoki Iwata, was chosen as MVP aka Meiji Yasuda J1 League’s Player of the Year this season.
Iwata was also named in this season’s J1 League Team of the Year, alongside goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka, defender Ryuta Koike, midfielder Kota Mizunuma and forward Elber.
Yokohama F. Marinos Team’s Charming Statistics
This season, Yokohama F. Marinos also recorded the longest winning streak in the J1 League with six consecutive wins, and the longest unbeaten streak with nine games in a row without losing.
The match against Shimizu S-Pulse on 2 July 2022 was also the J1 League match this season with the most spectators, watched by 56,131 people.
Yokohama F. Marinos managed to become the champion with a collection of 68 points, scored 70 goals, and conceded 35 goals.
This record is actually no better than their record last season when the J1 League was still filled with 20 teams. Last season they had 79 points and were second in the table, scoring 82 goals and conceding 35 goals.
Marinos’ record this season is also no better than last season’s champions, Kawasaki Frontale, who won with 92 points, scored 81 goals and conceded 28 goals.
Even so, this does not rule out the fact that Yokohama F. Marinos is the best team in the Meiji Yasuda J1 League this season.
Congratulations, Marinos!