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J.League Week 2 - Stormy Weather

Kickoff	Home	.	Away
14:00		2 - 1
15:00		2 - 2
15:00		1 - 2 (ET)
15:00		2 - 1 (ET)
15:00		1 - 0
16:00		2 - 0
16:00		1 - 4
19:00		3 - 2

Click on the highlighted icons for a more detailed match report

3 - 2

For almost the entire first half, both teams played a very disjointed and ineffective offensive strategy, trying to use long, pinpoint passes to slice open the opposing defence, rather than making any attempt to take on an opponent one-on-one. Unfortunately, both Gamba and Marinos boast very solid back lines, and highly mobile keepers in Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and Ryota Tsuzuki. Tight marking in the back, plus a rather slick pitch and a light drizzle combined to render this strategy wholly ineffective. For the first 44 minutes of the match it seemed that both teams were taking turns kicking long passes to the opposition defenders. As a result, the first goal of the match came as quite a surprise, waking up fans who were on the verge of falling off to sleep.

Indeed, one might suggest that the Gamba defenders had been lulled into a coma on this play, as the entire back line were caught sleeping. In the 44 minute, Yokohama got a throw-in just ten meters out from the Osaka goal line. As rookie midfielder Hayuma Tanaka took the short throw and received a return pass, three Gamba defenders all rushed out to cover him, leaving defender Yasuhiro Hato completely unmarked. Tanaka managed to slip the ball past the opnrushing defenders to Hato, who had acres of space to set up. Hato picked out striker Ryosuke Kijima at the top of the penalty area on the far side, and lofted a nice arcing pass over the remaining defenders. Kijima rushed onto the ball and sent a blast past the Gamba keeper to put Yokohama a goal up just prior to the break.

In the second half, Gamba finally abandoned the attempt to thread a perfect pass through Yokohama's defence, and instead began trying to beat the Marinos defenders one-on-one. At last, they began to get enough space in the back line to get off shots, and before long, this strategy would produce the first Gamba goal. In the 60 minute, Gamba's Brazilian midfielder Reginald Vital started a break down the right wing, and found ace striker Nino Bule breaking towards the end line. Bule raced through the defence, but couldnt quite turn the corner on national team defender Naoki Matsuda. However, Bule somehow managed to spot volante Yasuhito Endo trailing the play, and dropped a spectacular back-heel pass for Endo to collect. Endo slammed the ball into the low left corner to knot the score at 1 - 1

The final 30 minutes of the match provided enough excitement to make up for the slow start. Both teams began putting together more dangerous attacks, and the two keepers were tested several times between the 60 minute, when Osaka drev level, and the 75 minute, when Yokohama retook the lead. However, the Yokohama goal can be credited more to incompetent work on the Gamba bench than to any Yokohama brilliance. In the 72 minute defender Tsuneyasu Miyamoto was sandwiched between a Yokohama player and his own keeper, wrenching his knee badly. Though Miyamoto waved frantically for the bench to bring on a substitute, coach Hiroshi Hayano inexplicably missed two opportunities to do so as the ball went out of play. Then, in the 75 minute, Yokohama striker Akihiro Endo blew past Miyamoto into the penalty area (on the video, it is clear that Miyamoto is having difficulty just standing up, much less trying to defend). However, his cross into the center was met -- not by a Yokohama player, but by defender Hiroshige Yanagimoto. Somehow Yanagimoto and Tsuzuki miscommunicated, and Yanagimoto's back pass went straight into his own net.

Despite this blunder, Gamba came roaring back, thanks mainly to some brilliant play by Croatian ace Nino Bule. In the 81 minute, reserve strikers Hiromi Kojima and Masanobu Matsunami set up Bule with a long throw in and a flick on from the left sideline. Bule was posting up directly in front of the net, covered by two defenders. Fending off both defenders and stretching out a long leg, Bule managed to pull the ball out of the air and drop in front of the net. Wheeling about, Bule put his toe to the ball and just managed to get it underneath Kawaguchi, to level the scores once more.

A mere two minutes later, Bule would close out the scoring with another pretty finish. Taking a nice centering pass from Endo, Bule made a nice feint that left his defender hanging out to dry. Before any other Marinos could close the gap, Bule unleashed a low, hard shot than just barely managed to sneak inside the right post and give Gamba their first win of the season.

1 - 4

Jubilo started off the scoring in the 22 minute, on a pretty sequence begun by national-team defender Toshihiro Hattori, who sent a long, looping pass from the left sideline to the far post. Striker Masashi "Gon" Nakayama, with his characteristicly remarkable body control, outleaped his defenders and struck a header that not only saved the ball from going into touch, but nearly went in! The ball deflected off the crossbar, and rolled out to onrushing midfielder Toshiya Fujita, who casually put it away.

Less than five minutes later, a fine run by striker Naohiro Takahara resulted in a PK, which was cashed in by Hattori. Jubilo could have scored at least one or two more goals during the first half, but for some poor finishing by the midfielders. However, the result was certainly not in doubt, as Jubilo controlled the pace of the match from beginning to end.

Midway through the second half, Fujita raised the tally to 3-0, with a perfectly-placed free kick from the left side, just a meter outside the box. His kick curled over the wall and into the high right corner of the net.

Hiroshima managed to get one goal back on a set play of their own. Australian midfielder Stephen Corica took a free kick from the left corner, just a few meters out from the corner flag, and Yutaka Takahashi rose over his defenders at the near post to head it home. However, Jubilo's Takahara finished off the scoring with a minute left, stretching a long leg for a centering pass from Hattori, and deflecting the ball into the net

2 - 1

The second goal. though scored by Will, should be recorded in the official books as a perfect 10 for Ryuji Bando, with a 9.5 degree of difficulty. Though the film clip shows only the final few hacks in the sequence, Bando rumbled down the left side despite being fouled repeatedly by two Reysol defenders. Refusing to give up even after being knocked to the ground twice, Bando somehow managed to push the ball back into the path of Will, who steamed like a locomotive into the penalty area and slammed the ball into the roof of the net.

It took Kashiwa until half time to recover from the shock of the second goal, and altough Reysol pulled out all the stops in the second half, the boys from Sapporo knew what was required in order to nail down the victory. Defending with all eleven players, Consadole fought off every Reysol thrust, and it was only in the final throes of added time that Korean striker Hwang Sun-Hong managed to get one back, after a poorly-cleared Reysol free kick bounced out to his feet. Hwang hit a low hard shot from the left side, about 15 meters out, to give Reysol a consolation goal, though it was not really much consolation to a team that started the season hoping to storm to the championship.

2-1 (ET)

As mentioned above, the Antlers started off the match very strong, exploiting holes in the Verdy back line and coming close on several occasions. Midfielder Mitsuo Ogasawara got the Antlers on the board first, in the 26 minute, on a play that would have reprecussions on the rest of the match. Striker Takayuki Suzuki went up for a high ball to the middle, but was plowed over by the outrushing goalkeeper. The ball fell to midfielder Yasuto Honda, whose shot was blocked by a defender, but Ogasawara picked the ball out of the air and drilled it into the unguarded net.

Suzuki sustained a head injury in the collision that started this play, and although he remained in the match with a bandaged-up head until the final moments of regulation time, he was clearly not the same, and had little impact on the match from that time on. The Antlers continued to enjoy good offensive sequences until the end of the first half, but the defence was clearly a bit shaky. For the third week in a row, central defender Fabiano was unable to play due to a nagging leg injury. His absence has left a visible hole in the back of the Antlers defence which Verdy would stqart to exploit in the second half.

When Verdy came out after the intermission, coach Matsuki decided to replace teenage striker Kazunori Iio with 34-year-old veteran Nobuhiro Takeda. Ten minutes into the second stanza, he made another key substitution, bringing in 31-year old midfielder Hideki Nagai. Both of these players were with Verdy back in their "glory days", when the team won the first two J.League championships, and it was clear from their performance on this afternoon that they are determined to help restore the team to some degree of respectability. In the second half, Verdy threw players forward in an almost reckless attack, but the tactic worked, as the Antlers failed to respond to the pressure with aggressive play of their own. Instead of trying to turn Verdy's attacks into chances to counter, the Antlers got caught on the back foot, and fell into a defensive shell that they would be unable to emerge from when it was needed.

Some fine goalkeeping by Daijiro Takakuwa preserved the Antlers lead for most of the second half, but Verdy came close on several occasions. Finally, with about ten minutes left, the agressive pressure of Verdy's counter attacks paid off. As Takeda led a break through midfield, he found defender Yuji Nakazawa uncharacteristically streaking down the right sideline. Nakazawa beat his defender to the corner and sent in a low, hard cross which Kenji Ishizuka volleyed into the net before Takakuwa could react.

Regulation time ended with the score tied 1-1, so for the second week in a row, Verdy saw its match go to extra time. Though Kashima brought in substitutes in the front line, nobody seemed able to kick-start the offense. Verdy's hustling pressure continued to keep the Antlers off balance, and the better chances were generally to the men in green. Just a few seconds into the second overtime period, Verdy won a corner kick on the right side. Atsuhiro Miura took the kick and found two of his own players -- Nakazawa and Atsushi Yoneyama. -- guarded by a single defender. Nakazawa crashed into the defender, taking him out of the play and leaving space behind him for Yoneyama to meet the ball. Yoneyama's header eluded Takakuwa and gave Verdy a hard-fought victory

2 - 2

Urawa seemed to go into a coma after the first goal, and just barely managed to avoid conceding another goal a few mintues later. As the two teams went off for the halftime reak, the Reds were a goal down and looking very disorganised. Just a few seconds after the restart, Kazunari Okayama sent a long ball into space, and the speedy Oshiba rushed after it, beating the defenders and slipping the ball past the keeper to provide a two-goal margin.

At this point, the Reds new coach, Tita, made two key substitutions. First, Tita pulled off midfielder Masaki Tsuchihashi and replaced him with Brazilian Adriano da Silva. A few minutes later he replaced young striker Yuichiro Nagai with 35-year-old veteran Masahiro Fukuda. The two seemed to provide a spark that the Reds needed, and soon after Fukuda entered the match, this would pay off.

In the 71 minute, the reds won a corner kick on the right side. Midfielder Toshiyuki Abe sent the ball on a line drive to the far post, where Adriano was waiting. Adriano headed the ball back against the grain, just clearing the keeper and putting the Reds on the scoreboard. Less than ten minutes later, Fukuda took the ball across the middle and unleashed a wicked drive that the Cerezo keeper was unable to handle. Adriano rushed onto the bobbled ball, and headed it into the net before the keeper could recover.

Despite mounting a great comeback, dominating the two overtimes and threatening several times, the Reds were unable to collect the winning goal. While they go away with just a single point, the Reds seem to have assuaged the dissatisfaction of their fans, at least for the time being, having put together some impressive-looking play in the latter stages of this match.

2 - 0

Kobe got a bit of a break on their second goal. After a weak clearance by FC Tokyo, midfielder Koji Yoshimura sent the ball back into the area. Three Vissel players all appeared to be offsides, and the entire Tokyo defence had their arms in the air. Nevertheless, the linesman's flag stayed down and Kazu Miura jumped the highest of the three, heading the ball home to close out the scoring.

Elsewhere

Meanwhile, Nagoya Grampus needed extra time to dispatch of lowly JEF United. Though Nagoya has now won their first two matches, they find themselves two points off the pace, having been taken to extra time by two opponents in a row.

After two convincing wins, Jubilo Iwata is the clear front-runner, holding down the top spot. Upstarts Consadole Sapporo are surprisingly just a goal-difference behind in second place. Be sure to visit again next week for the latest news on the J.League!