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Five Hundred Days

To mark this historic (?) occasion, I am pleased to announce that The Rising Sun News is making its debut on the Internet, as a complete and detailed website on Japanese football, the J.League, and the upcoming World Cup in Japan and Korea. I hope you will visit this site often, and enjoy (you might even learn something about football in Japan).

Despite the launch of the web-based Rising Sun News, I plan to continue making Rising Sun posts here, and will use this as the editorial room for the weekly (?) posts. However, there is a lot more information on the site, so once again, I hope you will take time to visit. With that introduction, lets get started with the news . . .

Topsy-Turvy Time

Player	From	.	To
Yoo Sang-Chul	Yokohama Marinos		Kashiwa Reysol
Edmilson	Yokohama Marinos		Kyoto Purple Sanga
Kazu Miura	Kyoto Purple Sanga		Vissel Kobe
Keiji Kaimoto	Vissel Kobe		Nagoya Grampus
Yasuhito Endo	Kyoto Purple Sanga		Gamba Osaka
Santos	Shimizu S-Pulse		Vissel Kobe
Ha Seouk-Ju	Vissel Kobe		Pohang Steelers
Choi Sung-Yong	Vissel Kobe		?
Wagner Lopes	Nagoya Grampus		FC Tokyo
Fumitake Miura	Jubilo Iwata		FC Tokyo
Takafumi Ogura	Grampus (JEF Utd.)		Verdy Tokyo
Masami Iihara	Jubilo Iwata		Urawa Reds
Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel	FC Tokyo		Urawa Reds
Andrzej Kubica	Urawa Reds		Oita Trinita
Emerson	Consadole Sapporo		Kawasaki Frontale
"Baron" Polanczyck	JEF Utd. Ichihara		Shimizu S-Pulse
Tomoyuki Sakai	JEF Utd. Ichihara		Nagoya Grampus
Kenji Oshiba	Urawa Reds		Cerezo Osaka
Kohei Morita	Urawa Reds		Cerezo Osaka
Haruhito Okubo	Kokumi H.S.		Cerezo Osaka

Vissel Kobe has been one of the most active traders, reshuffling almost its entire lineup. It is perhaps understandable that the team wants to address its continuing problems which have kept it in the middle to lower ranks of the league for years. However, more than a few people have raised eyebrows at the team's decisions. In 1997, Kobe decided that it was going to try to make a statement by selecting three Korean players as its contingent of foreigners (J.League rules allow a team to employ as many foreign players as it likes, but only three can be named to the lineup for each match). Vissel apparently hoped that it could not only add some punch to its front line, but also get some talented players at a reasonably cheap price. In addition, the team said it was hoping to appeal to the large number of ethnic Koreans living in the Kobe and Osaka area.

However, this year Kobe has suddenly abandoned its Korean strategy, despite the fact that top Korean players are now all the rage in the J.League. Both Ha Seouk-Ju and Choi Sung-Yong were given their walking papers at the end of last season. In addition, a talented young midfielder, Keiji Kaimoto, was sold to Nagoya Grampus. To replace these players, Kobe has brought in three high-profile individuals, Kazuyoshi (Kazu) Miura, Carlos Alberto Souza Dos Santos (Santos) and Sidiclei, all of whom have serious question marks on their books.

Kazu is still one of the most high-profile players in Japan, and no doubt was a very talented forward at one time. Yet most teams seem to have concluded that his reputation is much greater than his abilities. At 33 years of age, the top clubs seem to believe, as I do, that Kazu is fit for retirement. If Kazu seems to be over the hill, then Santos is ready for the nursing home. Kashima Antlers let him go in 1995, feeling that he had passed his peak, but Shimizu S-Pulse picked him up and he played several seasons in an important, though more limited role at midfield. However, at the end of 2000 Santos, aged 41, announced his retirement. . . . only to get a call from Kobe a few weeks later. Sidiclei is another geezer, who made an impact at Kyoto Purple Sanga last year, but is also pushing 40. The joke making the rounds in Kobe these days is that the team is trying to make a fashion statement, and therefore is hiring players whose hair colour matches the grey of Vissel's home uniforms.

Nagoya Grampus is another team that features prominently in the trade sheets, though in this case the team seems to be making some very positive moves. Wagner Lopes, a decent but inconsistent striker, was ushered off to FC Tokyo, which probably was a good move because he is also nearing the end of his useful playing career. Joao Carlos had already axed some of the team's other "problem youths" last year, and he completed the housecleaning this year by selling Takafumi Ogura (who only escaped the axe last year because he was already on loan to JEF United) to Verdy Tokyo. Meanwhile, the team acquired some excellent young talent, including former national team midfielder Tomoyuki Sakai from JEF United Ichihara.

The Urawa Reds were widely expected to do a lot of horse trading at the end of last season. The team has a huge treasure chest, and will need to spend it if they want to be competitive in the J1 this season. In addition to selling off Morita and Oshiba, as noted above, the Reds traded Andrej Kubica to J2 club Oita Trinita. Considering what fierce rivals the two teams were last year, one wonders if Urawa are deliberately handing Oita a poisoned chalice. Kubica was completely underwhelming last year, spending most of his season senting pinpoint passes from Shinji Ono over the crossbar or into the stands.

In terms of acquisitions, the Reds have already made some key moves and are almost certainly not done yet. First, the team purchased veteran defender Masami Iihara from Jubilo Iwata. Iihara is Japan's most-capped player evern and although he is getting long in the tooth, he showed last year at Jubilo that he is still fit enough to make a contribution. In addition, the Reds acquired "Tuto" Ruschel from FC Tokyo. Tuto finished second in the scoring race last season, and should be a good addition to the front line. In any event, it would be nearly impossible for him to miss more shots than Kubica did last year.

Considering that Urawa has sold several forwards and is sitting on large sums of money, there is intense speculation that the team will try to land a top striker from Brazil, or perhaps even Europe. Meanwhile, the Reds have appeared prominently in rumours swirling around other players. One of the most prominent rumours involves Kashima Antlers midfielder Bismarck, who is said to be unhappy with the role the team wants him to play next year. Bismarck would be a good addition to Shinji Ono at midfield, and could take over as the playmaker if, aas is widely expected, Ono leaves to join Feyenoord in July. Not only would Bismarck be a good compliment to Ono, but he would also be an invaluable talisman of good fortune. Bismarck has played for five of the eight championship teams in J.League history -- he won the title twice with Verdy Kawasaki and three times with Kashima. If the Reds do manage to acquire the Brazilian midfield general, they will have someone who definitely knows what it takes to raise the winner's cup.

JEF Ichihara has virtually everyone in Japan scratching their heads. The team has sold off every player it had with any degree of talent, while signing only rejects and castoffs from other low-ranked clubs. Among the players that have departed are Marcelo "Baron" Polanczyck, who was one of the league's top scorers last year, and midfielder Tomoyuki Sakai, who has seen action for the national team on several occasions. Some have speculated that the team is deliberately trying to get relegated so it will not have to meet the financial requirements of J1 membership. Dont laugh -- that is probably the one explanation that actually makes sense

Kyoto Purple Sanga have also sold off a lot of their talent, though at least they have the excuse of having been demoted to the J2. A lot of their top players probably asked management to trade them to a J1 contender, and Kyoto may have received a decent price for many of their sales (with the exception of Kazu, who was simply cut from the roster at the end of the season). Other players who have departed are defender Sidiclei, and midfielders Yasuhito Endo and Shigeyoshi Mochizuki.

Kyoto have also been a bit more agressive in picking up players from the high school ranks and from other J2 clubs. Though the final rosters are still uncertain, Kyoto may emerge as one of the strongest challengers for the J2 title in 2001

The last team we will consider is Cerezo Osaka, who probably picked up the brightest jewel of any team, when they signed Kunimi High School graduate Yoshito Okubo. Okubo led his team to the high school championship in January, and was easily the stand-out player in the tournament, outscoring all other players by several goals despite the fact that he plays midfield. Okubo is cut very much in the mold of Cerezo captain Hiroaki Morishima -- small and stocky, yet a boundless bundle of energy who seems to be everywhere on the field.

Moreover, the kid has attitude, which is not exactly common among Japanese players. At the end of a match in which he scored four goals, Okubo was asked how he reacted when the opponent sent three players to mark him, and whether he thought of passing off to his teammates. Ohkubo replied (rough translation): "When I get the ball, I plan to put it in the net. If the other team's players arent good enough to stop me, thats their problem."

Two other additions are somewhat more questionable -- strikers Kenji Oshiba and Kohei Morita of the Urawa Reds. Both players had trouble cracking the starting lineup even for a J2 squad last year. On the other hand, both are veterans with a good finishing touch, and both probably were purchased for a song, since Urawa was loudly marketing them since late last year. Cerezo is a bit thin at striker, having lost Akinori Nishizawa to Espanyol at the end of 2000. Thus, Morita and Oshima may be able to contribute in a supporting role on the Cerezo bench.