J.League Week 12 - The Fat Lady Starts Tuning Up

It was a busy weeek in The J.League this week, with the second round of matches in the Nabisco Cup played at midweek in addition to the regular league matches on Saturday. A summary of the Nabisco Cup matches can be found in an earlier report (click here).. As for the race for the first stage league title, as the headline suggests, Jubilo Iwata now stands on the verge of clinching victory, and needs only one more victory in regulation time to be virtually assured of victory.

Lets begin by looking at the results of the league competition, here are the scores of Saturday's matches.

Week 12: June 23, 2001

Kickoff	Home	.	Away
15:30		0 - 1

19:00		2-0
19:00		0-1
19:00		vs
19:00		vs
19:00		vs
19:00		vs
19:00		vs

0 - 1

Despite a grosing list of wounded warriors, Jubilo Iwata is still forging ahead towards their first-stage title, which is now just a mathematical issue away from being certain.

Jubilo started the match without three starters -- Hiroshi Nanami , Naohiro Takahara and Daisuke Oku -- all players who were originally named to the national team for the Confederations Cup but had to miss the competition due to injury. One Jubilo player who did wear a national team shirt last weekend got Jubilo off to an early start. Masashi "Gon" Nakayama Collected the only tally of the match in just the 5 minute of the match. Aleksander Zivkovic, playing in place of the injured Nanami, took a corner kick from the right side, and sent it arching towards the near post, where Nakayama found a seam in the Reysol defence and managed to sneak free for a header.

The rest of the match was played on a very defensive footing. Jubilo seemed to understand that the schedule they face over the next few weeks will require them to conserve as much energy as possible. Reysol, meanwhile, were unable to find any offensive spark at all, and although they kept Jubilo at bay, the best chance they could create was a strike by Hideaki Kitajima in the second half which found the net, but was called back for a foul by a Reysol player on the inlet pass that set Kitajima up for his shot. In the end, Jubilo prevailed on the strength of Nakayama's goal, and moved one step closer to clinching the first stage crown. Jubilo now needs just a total of three points from four matches to collect the crown.

0 - 2

Although the Kashima Antlers have struggled through the first stage with a team decimated by injuries, they continue to have the mindset of a champion, and refuse to simply give up on the season and wait until the second stage begins. In a hotly contested match at Hakatanomori Stadium in Fukuoka, a team made up largely of Antlers reserves and rookies held their own abainst everything Avispa could throw at them, and may have begun laying the groundwork for a team recovery in the second stage, when many of their injured compadres return to action. The story of the match, though, was forward Atsushi Yanagisawa, who himself has missed action due to a painful lower back, but who seems to have used the adversity to break out of a year-long goal drought. Yanagisawa scored two goals in the team's last J.League match, against Kashiwa Reysol on May 19, and he came within a whisker of a hat trick on this evening, providing some plays that seem to show that he has finally shaken off the demons that have kept him on ice for the past year.

In the 25 minute, Yanagisawa got the evening started on a nice bit of interplay with rookie wing back Takuya Nozawa, who got his first start ever in an Antlers uniform. Yanagisawa dribbled out of midfield, and as the defensive line closed in at the top of the penalty box, he slipped a pass to the overlapping Nozawa on the right edge of the box. Nozawa raced to the end line and then lobbed a ball back across the face of the goal. Yanagisawa, cutting to the net after his pass, leapt over the Avispa defender and headed the ball past the keeper to put the Antlers in an early lead

Avispa showed the form that they have maintained for most of this season, scrapping back with tough defending, hard tackling at midfield and fast counterattacks, but reserve keeper Hitoshi Sogahata had a fine match, denying all of the Avispa chances. Youngsters Nozawa, Jun Uchida, Kosei Nakamura and Tomohiko Ikeuchi all turned in very respectable performances as they filled in for injured starters. However, one of the keys to breaking down the Avispa counterattacks was the play of Bismarck, who looked tanned, rested and ready after six weeks of recuperation in Brazil from chronic leg injuries.

Yanagisawa got the second goal of the match ten minutes into the second half on a fine bit of individual play. Sogahata took a long kick after an Avispa offside ten meters or so into the Kashima half. His long, booming kick came to Yanagisawa at the top of the circle, where he was screening off a defender and managed to chest the ball down for himself. As the ball bounced into space, an Avisma defender moved to clear it, but just as he was about to reach the ball, Yanagisawa darted in, picked his pockets, stole the shirt off his back and left him standing shivering and naked at the top of the box. Yanagisawa was free for a wide-open shot at net, which he casually knocked home to double the Antlers lead

Yanagisawa came within a whiker of a hat trick, as a through pass from Bismarck gave him another open shot at goal, though this time at a steeper angle. His shot beat the keeper, but went just milimeters wide of the far post. Nevertheless, Kashima fans will certainly be happy to see that their ace striker has shaken off his slump, and is scoring goals once more. It will be intresting to see what he, and the rest of the team, can do in the second stage.

1 - 0(ET)

Shimizu S-Pulse are the last team with a legitimate shot at Jubilo Iwata, but their hopes faded to near invisibility this week as they failed to collect all three points in a tough see-saw battle with the Urawa Reds. For Reds captain and playmaker Shinji Ono this match was probably a milestone occasion, as it may well be his last homecoming visit in a Reds uniform. Ono, who grew up in Shimizu city, has been linked to Dutch club Feyenoord, and is widely expected to leafe the JLeague leave for Holland at the end of the first stage.

Though Ono had a very good match, his efforts were largely in vain on this occasion. Urawa's main scoring threat, Brazilian forward Tuto, is nursing an injury, and none of the other players on the Urawa team seemed able to do anything effective with Ono's fine set-up passes. The S-Pulse defence, anchored by national-team libero Ryuzo Morioka proved to be too tough a nut to crack, and although the Reds kept S-Pulse mainly on the defensive, their shots were limited, and easily handled by Masanori Sanada

On the other side of the pitch, S-Pulse's offense sputtered all night long. As was the case last year, the team seems to have a solid team from the back line to the midfield, but they have yet to find a player who can put the ball in the back of the net with regularity. After playing Urawa to a scoreless draw for over 110 minutes, S-Pulse got the only goal of the match on a fast break that sent substitute forwards Kotaro Yamazaki and Kohei Hiramatsu into a 2-on-2 break. Yamazaki sent Hiramatsu into space at the top of thepenalty area, and before his defender could close the gap, Hiramatsu fired a low rolling shot that just eluded the Reds keeper and gave S-Pulse the victory. Nevertheless, the overtime win allowed S-Pulse to pick up just two points, putting them almost beyond shouting distance of the league-leading Jubilo Iwata. Although they have a game in hand, to be made up on July 11, it seems like there is just too much distance between them and the league leaders.

3 - 4 (ET)

The wildest match of the evening pitted Gamba Osaka against JEF United in a shootout that swung back and forth for over 90 minutes before JEF finally prevailed in extra time. The heroes of the match for JEF were young midfielder Masakata Sakamoto and Korean strimer Choi Yong Soo, who is now one of the league's top scorers for the season. Gamba gave nearly as good as they got, but in the end came up just short.

JEF took the early lead in the 25 minute as Choi dribbled deep into Gamba territory before releasing Shinji Murai with a pass to the right side. Murai's centering pass found Sakamoto in front of the net and he volleyed a right-footed shot past the keeper. However, Gamba wasted little time in turning the tables. First, Reginald Vital drew Gamba level with a fine bit of individual play, dribbling through the JEF defence and then firing a right-footed blast. Shortly afterward, Kota Yoshihara put on a little show of his own, playing a nice one-two with Takahiro Futagawa before firing a blast that the JEF keeper was unable to latch onto. Yoshihara chased up his own rebound and finished off the play with a right-footed chip-in to put Gamba in front. going into the locker room.

Choi Yong-Soo got his first goal early in the second half after a Gamba miscue in the back line gave JEF the ball deep in their territory and Choi got the easy finish. However, it took just three minutes for Gamba to quickly restore their lead on a corner kick that was headed in by Toru Araiba. It looked like that was how the match would end, but with just seconds to play, JEF got a free kick on the right side that was taken by Edin "Edo" Mujcin. Edo found youngster Takenori Hayashi free in the middle, and Hayashi slipped in a cross that Choi finished off.

The match went to overtime, but it continued to swing back and forth, with both teams going all out for the winning tally. Finally, in the first minute of the second overtime, Hayashi and Edo once again teamed up to create an opening, and this time Hayashi's centering pass found Sakamoto, who slammed a left-footed shot past the keeper to give JEF a tough but exciting victory. <

2-2

Consadole Sapporo and Nagoya Grampus were both mathematically in the championship race at the start of the week, but their 2-2 draw basically puts both teams out of the running. This was a match full of mishaps and missed opportunities, and perhaps it was fitting that both teams lose the opportunity to continue competing for the first-stage championship because of this deadlocked result.

In the 17 minute,

Emerson Will got Sapporo on the scoreboard first following a nasty foul by a Grampus defender. Will set up from about 25 meters out, and hit a perfectly-placed free kick into the high right corner of the net. Sapporo then locked down their defence and closed all the storm shutters, sinking into a shell that fended off Grampus efforts to penetrate it for the next hour. But the match would erupt into a hullabaloo of mayhem and miscues in the final ten minutes. First, a scramble in the penalty area whic hsaw six players all go to the ground resulted in a foul call, as the referee judged that two Sapporo players had sandwiched Tarik Oulida as he was about to reach the ball. Dragan Stojkovic took the PK and leveled the scores. But six minutes later, Nagoya keeper Seigo Narazaki did his level best to hand the match back to Sapporo. As Emerson Will chased a long ball by Consadole, the defender rolled the ball back to Narazaki to take the clearance. Narazaki was completely fooled by the pitch, and hit a weak foul popup down the first base line which Will caught easily for the third out . . . . (oops, wrong sport). Will caught up with the ball and hit an easy, left-footed blast into the wide-open net.

But with time expired and the referee looking at his watch, Nagoya made a last-ditch rush at the Consadole net Takumi Koga volleyed the ball over the last two defenders, and striker Kenju Fukuda rushed onto it, knocking the ball awas from the defender and hitting a point-blank strike straight at the keeper. The ball caromed off the keeper, bounced straight up to the crossbar, and as it fall back to earth, Fukuda carried the ball into the net with his chest and hips. Since neither team could score in extra time, both collected one point, and fell out of the running for the first stage title

Elsewhere

The Yokohama Marinos woes continued, as some unaccountably poor goalkeeping by Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi aided FC Tokyo to a 2-0 victory. Just one week after firing Ossie Ardilles, the Marinos showed that they are still in disarray, though they got a very good performance from young left wing Ryosuke Kijima, whose inspired play was the only bright spot in an otherwise depressing afternoon for Marinos fans.

The other Tokyo team, Verdy, also managed a tough victory thanks to two late strikes by reserve forward Takafumi Ogura.

Vissel Kobe prevailed in a close match that was decided on an early first-half goal from Kobe's new Brazilian import, Daniel.

Jubilo Iwata's dominance of the first stage is now well apparent, but more interesting is the extreme parity of the rest of the league. While nine points separate Jubilo from the second-place club, just eight points separate S-Pulse from the 13th-placed club. If history is any guide, Jubilo will be unable to repeat their dominance in the second half of the season (no team has ever won both stages). That could mean that the second-stage shampionship will be a wide-open dogfight for the right to take on Jubilo in the Championship Series this December.

.	Team	Pts	GP	W (90/ET)	D	L	GD	GF	GA
1		29	11	10 (9-1)	0	1	+17	24	7
2		20	10	8 (4-4)	0	2	+8	18	10
3		19	11	7 (5-2)	0	4	+6	25	19
4		17	10	6 (3-3)	2	2	+3	16	13
5		17	11	5 (5-0)	2	4	+0	15	15
6		15	11	5 (4-1)	1	5	-3	11	14
7	FC Tokyo	14	11	5 (4-1)	0	6	-3	12	15
8		14	11	5 (4-1)	0	6	-4	12	16
9		13	11	5 (3-2)	0	6	+2	19	17
10		13	11	5 (3-2)	0	6	+0	19	19
11		13	11	5 (3-2)	0	6	-3	16	19
12		12	11	4 (3-1)	1	6	-2	16	18
13		12	11	4 (3-1)	1	6	-3	14	17
14		10	11	3 (3-0)	1	7	-6	10	16
15		8	11	2 (2-0)	2	7	-5	15	20
16		8	11	3 (2-1)	0	8	-7	14	21

Rumours and Rumblings

Kawaguchi Headed for a Stint in England?

A spokesperson for Yokohama Marinos confirmed that the team was in discussions with British club Bolton for a complete transfer of goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, effective from August. Bolton coach Sam Aladyce (?sp) reportedly has offered Kawaguch a contract worth around 70-80 million yen, and a transfer fee to Yokohama of roughly 300 million yen. Bolton were promoted at the end of last season, and will be joining the Premiership, so if it does go through, this move would make Kawaguchi the first Japanese player ever to don a uniform in the Premiership.

Several leading sports tabloids reported that Junichi Inamoto is discussing a move to Spanish second-division side Athletico Madrid. Inamoto has discussed a possible move to Spain on several occasions, and the name Athletico Madrid has surfaced in the rumour pool from time to time. However, this is the most concrete report yet to emerge on the subject

Nagoya Grampus vs Red Star Belgrade, Oct 6

During a talk show on a local TV station, Nagoya Grampus playmaker Dragan "Pixy" Stojkovic and Nagoya Grampus management announced that the team will play a special retirement match on October 6. The opponent is reported to be Cvena Zvezda (red Star Belgrade), the first team that Stojkovic played for. The match will be held in the brand-new Toyoda Stadium, outside Nagoya.

Stojkovic has said for almost a year that he plans to retire at the end of the 2001 first stage. Thus, his final official match will be on July 21. There have also been reports that Pixy will play for the Yugoslavia national team which visits Japan in July for the Kirin Cup Challenge, and annual three-team competition held in Japan each summer.

Film clips courtesy of Internet Soccer Program J-Ole. Visit their web site at http://www.j-ole.com/ for results and highlights of all J.League matches.

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