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The J.League Kicks Off

The first week of matches included a number of very closely fought contests, so without any further ado, lets look at the scores from matches played during the first week.

Kickoff	Home	.	Away
14:00		4 - 1
14:00		2 - 0
14:00		1 - 2
15:00		2 - 0
16:00		0 - 1 (ET)
17:00		2 - 1 (ET)
19:00		2 - 1
Mar 11		2 - 1

Click on the highlighted icons for a more detailed match report

2 - 1 (ET)

Opening day for the new stadium was certainly a success, with almost 45,000 people in attendance despite the chilly weather of early spring. Both teams showed quite a bit of sloppy play over the course of the match, but the contest provided a great deal of excitement as well. FC Tokyo had the better play throughout, and created a number of dangerous chances early on. The Verdy defence, meanwhile, seemed rattled, and gave the ball away several times in dangerous situations. It seemed that it would only be a matter of time before FC Tokyo took the lead.

However, the momentum changed suddenly in the 25 minute, when Verdy won a free kick about 35 meters out from goal. The kick was taken by Atsuhiro Miura, a frequent national team cap at right winghalf, who joined Verdy in the offseason from Yokohama Marinos. Miura's free kick was a blistering drive that cleared the wall and just snuck in just under the crossbar. FC Tokyo keeper Yoichi Doi badly misplayed the ball, letting it sail right between his outstretched arms, but it was an impressive strike nonetheless.

Miura's goal game Verdy a big boost in confidence, and although FC Tokyo maintained most of the ball possession, Verdy played them basically even for the rest of the first half. As the second half wore on, however, FC Tokyo increased the pressure, creating a number of good chances on through balls played by midfielders Fumitake Miura and Yukihiko Sato, and in particular, thanks to the silky moves and masterful dribbling of Amaral, who certainly merits the nickname "King of Tokyo". However, despite creating numerous chances, FC Tokyo wasted good shots again and again. Amaral was off target on a couple of ducks, but it was horrendous finishing by Wagner Lopes that really kept Tokyo off the scoreboard. Though Lopes seemed to have good chemistry with Amaral up front, time and again he misplayed the final pass and let Verdy off the hook.

As time ran down, Coach Okuma brought in midfielder Tadatoshi Masuda and newcomer Kelly to add even more punch to the attack. In the 84 minute Verdy dodged a bullet when a through pass from Masuda sent Lopes completely free on goal, and Atsuhiro Miura hauled him down brutally from behind. Everyone in the stadium (Verdy fans included) expected to see a red card, but Mr. Obata, the man in stripes, let him off with just a yellow.

With the clock ticking away, it looked as though Verdy would steal a victory despite having been outplayed for most of the match. However, with about two minutes to go, a pretty combination between Masuda and Tetsuhiro Kina beat the defence and Amaral took the return pass with only the keeper, Shinkichi Kikuchi, to beat. Amaral faked the keeper to the ground and stepped around him, but before he could put the ball away, Kikuchi tackled him with a play that would not seem out of place in an American football match. Having given Verdy one break already, Obata had the red card out immediately. Kenji Honnami had to get off the bench to face the PK, a daunting task for any keeper. He was clearly not in the game yet, as he barely moved when Lopes drilled the shot past him to level the scores.

In extra time, FC Tokyo poured on the pressure with a man advantage, but despite numerous opportunities, they continued to have difficulty finishing off their plays. It was not until five minutes into the final spell of extra time that the winner finally came. Kina fed Kelly a nice pass on the right edge of the box, and as the defence scrambled back, Kelly found Wagner Lopes at the base of the circle, directly in front of goal. This time Lopes finally finished the play with a flourish, stepping into space and then drilling the ball just inside the right upright to give FC Tokyo a well-deserved victory.

2 - 1

Reysol stared off the scoring in the 17 minute. After moving the ball around just outside Shimizu's defensive wall, midfielder Tomonori Hirayama received the ball on the left side, and spotted Korean striker Hwang Sun-Hong open at the far side of the penalty area. Hirayama's crisp pass gave Hwang plenty of time to set up, and he chipped a shot for the far corner. The shot took a slight deflection from an S-Pulse defender, making it even more difficult for the keeper to handle, and it found the back of the net to give Reysol an early lead.

Reysol continued to look impressive on offense, but S-Pulse created a number of chances as well. In particular, right halfback Alex had an excellent match ,repreatedly creating opportunities on the right sideline as his delicate touch of the ball saw him dancing between two and even three defenders to find space for a centering pass to the tall center forward Baron. Unfortunately for S-Pulse, defenders Hong Myung-Bo and Shigenori Hagimura blanketed Baron throughout the match, rarely giving him space to head the ball. Nevertheless, a slight defensive blunder gave S-Pulse the equaliser, as a silly foul just outside the box gave S-Pulse a free kick. After a nice dummy by Masaaki Sawanobori, Alex curled a perfectly placed kick into the high near corner of the net, knotting the score.

Both teams came close early in the second half, with some pretty ball movement and crisp passing, but the second goal would come not on an offensive gem, but on a broken play created by the hustle of Reysol volante Tomokazu Myojin. As the S-Pulse defence broke up one Reysol attack, Sawanobori started to push the ball out of his zone, but as he rounded one opponent he let the ball run a little bit too far. Myojin pounced on the opportunity, just getting to the ball ahead of Sawanobori and sending a lob into the penalty area in hopes that something good would happen. Striker Hideaki Kitajima reacted faster to the lob than either of his two defenders, trapping the ball before anyone could get back, and sending a low shot past the keeper to put Reysol in front once more.

S-Pulse pushed for the equaliser, but despite gaining more and more of posession as time ran down, they were unable to crack the Reysol defence. Baron came close on a feed from Alex, but his header was just outside the post, and that was the closest S-Pulse would come in the dying minutes. Reysol started off on their quest for a title with a good home victory, while S-Pulse showed that they have at least overcome the lack of coordination that plagued them in the early preseason.

2 - 0

For the first 20 or 30 minutes of the match, both teams were playing the long ball. Nagoya have several players up front who are excellent at winning the ball in traffic, so they repeatedly sent balls long down the wings to midfielders Ueslei and Tetsuya Okayama. On the other side of the ball, Urawa started speedsters Masayuki Okano and Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel at forward, and they spent much of the first half trying to send balls into space for their forwards to run onto. While this provided entertaining end-to-end action, both defences proved equal to the task. In particular, two newcomers demonstrated that they will be very big additions to both of their respective teams. Keiji Kaimoto, who joined Grampus this year from Vissel Kobe, was a rock in the center of Nagoya's defence, which greatly eases concerns about who would take over for the departing Carlos Alexandre Torres. On the other side, veteran Masami Iihara showed that he still has the skills that earned him the most national team caps ever for Japan. He covered playmaker Dragan "Pixy" Stojkovic doggedly throughout the match, rarely allowing him space to create his usual magic.

In the second half, the two teams began to try to work the ball around a bit more. However, it wasnt until the 63 minute that Nagoya finally got on the scoreboard, from a corner kick. Stojkovic took the corner and sent a perfectly placed shot to the far post, where both Ueslei and Yasunari Hiraoka were waiting. Ueslei leaped the highest, and slid the ball just inside the post for a 1-0 lead

Urawa pushed determinedly for the equaliser, bringing in Brasilian newcomer Adriano for Okano. In retrospect, they should have made this move sooner, as Adriano worked some excellent combinations with midfield general Shinji Ono which very nearly brought the equaliser. However, in the end the closest the Reds came was on a high bouncing ball just eight meters out from goal, which Ono wasnt quite able to time properly. His weak shot was handled easily by Seigo Narazaki. As the clock wound down and the Reds pushed further and further forward, Nagoya began to find space to counterattack. Late in the match, Oulida made a nice slicing drive into the box, and as the defenders collapsed on him he chipped a high pass to the far post. Hiraoka met the pass and headed it home to complete Nagoya's victory.p>

1 - 2

However, Sapporo were living dangerously on defence, several times committing bad fouls as Cerezo sought to penetrate their back line. Tragically, one of these fouls sent captain Hiroaki Morishima off the field early in the second half with a knee injury, which could see him miss action for several weeks. The fouls finally caught up with Consadole midway through the second stanza, when they were called for a penalty in the area, and midfielder Yoon Jung-Hwan equalised the scores with the PK.

But the unfancied team from Sapporo had the final word, as the match went into lost time of the second half. Will made a nice move on his defender to find room on the right end line, and before any other defenders could provide cover, he passed the ball back out to Ryuji Bando at the penalty spot for an easy finish

2-1

Though Kashima's offense showed a lot more spark than they had the previous week, the holes in the defence were once again apparent. Sanfrecce clearly had studied the tape of the Xerox Super Cup, and they did their best to exploit the Antlers back line with high balls to the middle. Kashima badly miss the presence of Fabiano in the back line. On the left wing, youngster Yoshiro Nakamura struggled all through the match on defence, and seemed out of sync on his attempts to support the strikers with overlaps down the wing, though he did make a nice play on Kashima's first goal (more about that later).

Sanfrecce's attempts to exploit the high ball eventually paid off, on a free kick from the left sideline. Chikara Fujimoto sent a nice cross in, and none of the Antlers defenders rose to make the clearance. Marcus Tulio Tanaka, an ethnic-Japanese Brazilian who was playing his first-ever J-League match, managed to get behind the defence, collect the ball and pop it over the keeper's head. Although the shot came off the crossbar, Tulio followed up the shot and pushed in his own rebound.

Kashima attacked in vain throughout the first period, creating a number of good opportunities but failing to put them away. However, when they came out for the second stanza, the Antlers wasted little time evening up the scores. Less than a minute after the restart, Nakamura collected a loose ball on the left sideline, shook his defender and dribbled towards the middle. As he did so, Suzuki cut for goal and Nakamura sent in a high cross. With no defender to interfere with his angle, Suzuki sized up the keeper and then headed the ball back against the grain to find the open side of the net.

By this time, the Antlers were beginning to stamp their mark on the match. Although the weakness in the back line continued to give Sanfrecce an occasional chance on the counterattack, midfielders Bismarck, Mitsuo Ogasawara and Koji Nakata began to dominate ball posession. About midway through the second half, Toninho Cerezo decided that Yanagisawa had become too frustrated with his inability to finish, and was starting to make bad decisions. Off the bench came Masashi Motoyama, who immediately injected a spark into the offense. On two consecutive plays, Motoyama danced through his defenders and then sent a teammate into wide open spaces, but both times desperate defending by Hiroshima staved off a goal. Then, in the 73 minute, as Motoyama was dribbling through the middle, he was knocked to the ground by his defender. Everyone seemed to freeze, waiting for the whistle, but the referee played on. As the ball rolled to Ogasawara, he finally decided that if the whistle wasnt coming, he might as well go for goal. Splitting two defenders, Ogasawara found some space and then chipped a loop shot over the keeper and into the high right corner of the net.

The Antlers nearly added one more on a fine run by defender Akira Narahashi, but a retreating defender just managed to knock the ball away after the keeper had been beaten. As time ticked away, the Antlers contented themselves with calm, precise passing in midfield that ran out the clock and gave Kashima a solid comeback victory to start the season

4 - 1

The first of two goals by Daisuke Oku probably depicted this incompetence best. After a long shot rebounded to the top of the box, a JEF defender had not one, but two chances to clear it from Oku's clutches, but failed miserably. Then Oku chipped the ball casually over the head of the keeper, who was inexplicably several meters off his line, watching the traffic go by. The prettiest goal of the match was the final one for Jubilo, as Norihiro Nishi worked a perfect one-two play with Naohiro Takahara, breaking free into the penalty area for an easy shot from point-blank range.

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