{"id":29023,"date":"2025-02-15T13:24:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T04:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/?p=29023"},"modified":"2025-02-15T13:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T04:24:17","slug":"will-machida-suffer-from-second-season-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/2025\/02\/15\/will-machida-suffer-from-second-season-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Machida Suffer from Second Season Syndrome?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the 2025 J.League 1 season fast approaching, a key question on everyone’s mind is whether last season’s surprise package, Machida Zelvia, will succumb to second-season syndrome.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a stunning debut season in the J1 League in 2024, Machida Zelvia took everyone by surprise by mounting a serious title challenge alongside defending champions Vissel Kobe and perennial contenders Sanfrecce Hiroshima. They led the league for much of the campaign, only for a late-season slump to derail their title hopes, ultimately finishing in a highly respectable third place.<\/p>\n

With Vissel securing both the league and Emperor\u2019s Cup, Machida\u2019s breakout season earned them a coveted spot in the 2025\/26 AFC Champions League Elite, setting the stage for their first-ever continental campaign.<\/p>\n

While their achievements last season were remarkable, the big question heading into 2025 is whether they can maintain that momentum\u2014especially with the added challenge of Asian competition.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Machida, much of their core squad remains intact. Go Kuroda continues as head coach, though he will need a new assistant following Kim Myung-hwi\u2019s move to take charge of Avispa Fukuoka. Filling the vacancy is former Sanfrecce assistant Kenji Arima.<\/p>\n

On the squad front, Machida successfully secured permanent deals for standout loanees Kosei Tani and Oh Se-hun, while key players such as Gen Shoji, Hokuto Shimoda, Keiya Sento, Yuta Nakayama, Na Sang-ho, Erik, Mitchell Duke, Ibrahim Dresevic, and Shota Fujio have all been retained.<\/p>\n

New additions include Takuma Nishimura from Yokohama F. Marinos, Hotaka Nakamura from FC Tokyo, and most notably, J1 title-winning defender Ryuho Kikuchi from Vissel Kobe.<\/p>\n

One major concern, however, is the absence of Yu Hirakawa, whose standout performances earned him a loan move to EFL Championship side Bristol City. With his future uncertain, Machida may need to find a long-term solution for their right-wing position should Bristol make his move permanent.<\/p>\n

With continuity in their squad and fresh reinforcements, Machida should have what it takes to remain competitive in J1. While another title challenge might be a stretch, they have a strong foundation to establish themselves as a mainstay in Japan\u2019s top flight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the 2025 J.League 1 season fast approaching, a key question on everyone’s mind is whether last season’s surprise package, Machida Zelvia, will succumb to second-season syndrome. After a stunning debut season in the J1 League in 2024, Machida Zelvia took everyone by surprise by mounting a serious title challenge alongside defending champions Vissel Kobe and perennial contenders Sanfrecce Hiroshima. They led the league for much of the campaign, only for a late-season slump to derail their title hopes, ultimately finishing in a highly respectable third place. With Vissel securing both the league and Emperor\u2019s Cup, Machida\u2019s breakout season earned them a coveted spot in the 2025\/26 AFC Champions League … Continue reading “Will Machida Suffer from Second Season Syndrome?”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":28867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,32],"tags":[2428,2334,381,57,1434,95],"class_list":["post-29023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia","category-japan","tag-east-asia","tag-j-league-1","tag-j1-league","tag-japan","tag-machida-zelvia","tag-slider"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29024,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29023\/revisions\/29024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}