Episode 421 - J1 Matchday 18

The summer heat was really cranked up over the weekend, and the pace that Yokohama F.Marinos set in their 4-0 win over Kashiwa that opened the Matchday 18 slate on Saturday proved too hot to handle for their main title rivals Kashima and Kawasaki, and with guest Scott McIntyre, we praise the leaders and their coach Kevin Muscat after they stretched their advantage at the top of the table to three points (to 29:30).

Then there's more positive buzz for the coaching jobs Michael Skibbe and Kenta Kawai have done at Hiroshima and Tosu respectively, while further down the table Urawa edged out of the bottom six and Shonan out of the bottom three after late drama at Kobe and Kyoto on Sunday.