Season Review - 2012

J-League Division1 regular season runs from March all the way through December in a year so it fits within a calendar year. I want to review each year time to time in my blog.
 
Year 2012 was a successful year considering the previous years and it's actually the main reason I started this blog. Reds made it 3rd place in the league which makes us qualify for the AFC Champions League! Quite honestly this result was huge surprise to me as the Reds actually almost fell to J2 (J-League Second Division) the previous year (2011) coming in 15th place, barely staying in J1. Here are some of the key factors that made impact in 2012 and how I look back at the year.
 
What made the most difference was hiring a new coach. Mihailo Petrovic clearly revitalized the team with his new formation and proven strategy. He led the Sanrecce Hiroshima for 5years before he came to Urawa Reds and Sanrecce became the League champion in 2012 based on his formation and strategy. I think I will write a separate article about him so I will leave it with that for now.
 
We didn't make much difference to the players other than recruiting Tomoaki Makino from 1FC Koeln in Germany, who actually played in Sanrecce Hiroshima until middle of 2011. He was really critical player to materialise Petrovic's strategy as a player that can play offence while being a stopper. He also created a great atmosphere within the team and the club being a very open minded, entertaining character. His fantastic free kick during the second half of the last match (against Nogoya Ganpus) would be remembered by myself and Urawa supporters for many years to come. Although he was rented from the 1FC Koeln in 2012 he made a decision to come fully to Urawa Reds in 2013 which is really great.
 
Above are the two factors that I think changed the team in 2012, but the success of attaining 3rd place actually came from outside and not within the team. Reds had 55points at the end of the year which in 2011 that would have been 6th place, in 2010 that would have been 5th place. So the most crucial part of the success was that the League itself was countervailing and Reds was the lucky one to be 3rd with such low points.
 
2012 was a important year of change for the Reds and most importantly we came 3rd place in the League, qualifying for the AFC Champions League.