J League History: 2001

J.League 2001, First Stage . Team Pts GP W (90/ET) D L GD GF GA 1 Jubilo Iwata 36 15 13 (9-4) 1 1 +20 32 12 2 JEF United Ichihara 27 15 10 (7-3) 0 5 +9 35 26 3 Nagoya Grampus 27 15 10 (5-5) 2 3 +9 29 20 4 Shimizu S-Pulse 26 15 10 (6-4) 0 5 +10 28 18 5 Gamba Osaka 25 15 9 (7-2) 0 6 +7 29 22 6 Kashiwa Reysol 22 15 8 (6-2) 0 7 +6 29 23 7 Urawa Reds 21 15 7 (6-1) 1 7 +2 24 22 8 Consadole Sapporo 21 15 6 (6-0) 3 6 -1 20 21 9 FC Tokyo 21 15 8 (5-3) 0 7 -1 18 19 10 Vissel Kobe 19 15 6 (5-1) 2 7 -4 16 20 11 Kashima Antlers 18 15 6 (5-1) 1 8 -2 21 23 12 Avispa Fukuoka 14 15 5 (4-1) 0 10 -12 13 25 13 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 13 15 5 (3-2) 0 10 -8 25 33 14 Cerezo Osaka 11 15 3 (3-0) 2 10 -9 22 31 15 Yokohama Marinos 11 15 3 (3-0) 2 10 -11 13 24 16 Tokyo Verdy 10 15 4 (2-2) 0 11 -15 16 31 Scoring: Win in regulation time=3pts Win in extra time=2pts Draw=1pt Loss =0 J.League 2001, Second Stage . Team Pts GP W (90/ET) D L GD GF GA 1 Kashima Antlers 36 15 13 (10-3) 0 2 +17 36 19 2 Jubilo Iwata 35 15 13 (9-4) 0 2 +17 31 14 3 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 24 15 8 (8-0) 0 7 +9 36 27 4 Shimizu S-Pulse 23 15 9 (5-4) 0 6 +7 34 27 5 JEF United Ichihara 23 15 7 (7-0) 2 6 -3 25 28 6 Nagoya Grampus 22 15 7 (7-0) 1 7 +2 27 25 7 Kashiwa Reysol 21 15 6 (6-0) 3 6 +6 29 23 8 FC Tokyo 20 15 5 (5-0) 5 5 +1 29 28 9 Tokyo Verdy 20 15 6 (6-0) 2 7 -4 22 26 10 Yokohama Marinos 19 15 6 (4-2) 3 6 -1 19 20 11 Gamba Osaka 17 15 5 (5-0) 2 8 -5 21 26 12 Urawa Reds 15 15 4 (4-0) 3 8 -4 20 24 13 Vissel Kobe 14 15 3 (3-0) 5 7 -7 25 32 14 Consadole Sapporo 13 15 4 (3-1) 2 9 -6 23 29 15 Avispa Fukuoka 13 15 4 (3-1) 2 9 -9 22 31 16 Cerezo Osaka 12 15 5 (2-3) 0 10 -20 19 39 Scoring: Win in regulation time=3pts Win in extra time=2pts Draw=1pt Loss =0 Championship Series 2 Dec Jubilo Iwata 2 - 2 Kashima Antlers Hattori, Nakayama Akita, Hirase 8 Dec Kashima Antlers 0 - 1 (ET) Jubilo Iwata Ogasawara Scoring Leaders Will Robson Andrade Consadole Sapporo 24 Choi Yong-Soo JEF United Ichihara 21 Ueslei Nagoya Grampus Eight 21 Amaral FC Tokyo 17 Nino Bule Gamba Osaka 17 Masashi Nakayama Jubilo Iwata 16 Baron Shimizu S-Pulse 15 Tatsuhiko Kubo Sanfrecce Hiroshima 15 Atsushi Yanagisawa Kashima Antlers 12 Alessandro Santos Shimizu S-Pulse 12 Yasuyuki Moriyama Nagoya Grampus 12 J.League Awards, 2001 MVP Toshiya Fujita 30 Jubilo Iwata Rookie of the Year Koji Yamase 20 Consadole Sapporo Golden Boot Will 28 Cerezo Osaka Coach of the Year Masakazu Suzuki 47 Kashiwa Reysol Best Eleven GK Arno VanZwam 33 Jubilo Iwata DF Yutaka Akita 31 Kashima Antlers Akira Narahashi 30 Kashima Antlers Go Oiwa 28 Jubilo Iwata MF Mitsuo Ogasawara 22 Kashima Antlers Koji Nakata 22 Kashima Antlers Toshihiro Hattori 29 Jubilo Iwata Toshiya Fujita 30 Jubilo Iwata Takasi Fukunishi 26 Jubilo Iwata FW Atsushi Yanagisawa 24 Kashima Antlers Will 33 Consadole Sapporo Akinori Nishizawa 24 Cerezo Osaka

In one sense, this season was somewhat atypical, in that the championship race for both the first stage and the second stage were decided fairly early. However, a host of other factors, including the historic rivalry between Kashima Antlers and Jubilo Iwata, as well as a race to avoid relegation that included two former J.League champions, helped to make it an exciting season in every way The popularity of the J.League was also helped by the success of Japan's national team. Despite an ignominious start to the year, with Japan being crushed 5-0 by France in the Stade de France, Japan rebounded to finish second in the Confederations Cup, after stirring performances over quality teams like Cameroon, Brazil and Australia. Closing out the year with a 1-1 draw against Italy, the national team made it clear that it will be a legitimate contender at the 2002 World Cup Returning to the J.League, the First Stage turned into a runaway victory for Jubilo Iwata. The team surged out to a huge lead with eight consecutive wins, and then cruised home despite a host of injuries late in the stage. Never before has a team clinched the crown so early, and the margin of victory over second-place Nagoya Grampus was a stunning nine points. Based on their First-Stage Form, many believed that Jubilo would storm through the Second Stage as well, and collect the first-ever uncontested league championship But Jubilo's traditional nemesis, Kashima Antlers, would put such fancies to rest very early in the second stage. The 2000 treble-winners came back from a first stage that was plagued by injury to reel off seven straight victories in the second stage. Although the team stumbled a bit at midseason, a fine performance down the stretch allowed Antlers to clinch the second stage crown with a week to spare. The championship series between Kashima Antlers and Jubilo Iwata was a thrill-packed contest. In the first leg, Jubilo Iwata went up by two goals, following a first-half PK and an early-second-half strike by veteran "Gon" Nakayama. The Antlers were reduced to 10 men following a questionable call by the referee, who handed Takayuki Suzuki a red card for what clearly looked like an inadvertent hand ball. Yet the Antlers refused to give up, and fought back late in the second half, scoring first on Yutaka Akita's header from a corner kick, and then clinching the draw when Tomoyuki Hirase pounced on a ball that was bobbled by Jubilo keeper Arno vaZwam and fired it home. In the second leg, the two teams battled ferociously for 90 minutes, but neither team managed to score. The title was decided early in the first extra time period, when Mitsuo Ogasawara drilled a free kick from 20 meters into the top left corner of the net, to give Kashima a 1-0 victory (3-2 on aggregate). RELEGATED: Cerezo Osaka Avispa Fukuoka PROMOTED: Kyoto Purple Sanga Vegalta Sendai

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