J.League Clubs Set Up Camp

As we chronicled a few weeks ago, there has been a great deal of trade and transfer activity in the J.League this year. Although the changes at top clubs like Kashima Antlers, Jubilo Iwata and Shimizu S-Pulse were fairly minor, some teams will be sporting a completely new face in 2002. There will probably be a few more roster changes over the next week or two, but as J.League clubs opened their training camps this week, a fairly good picture of each team has emerged. This week, we will provide a summary of all the roster changes that have been confirmed, as well as some notes on additional rumours that have emerged in the past week

Meanwhile, the national team held its first training camp of the year in Kagoshima. Although this was mainly a "get-acquainted" session, with each player being tested to evaluate his physical condition, there were a few interesting stories that emerged during the training camp. So, lets get started by looking at the roster changes for each club.

Consadole Sapporo was one of the most active teams in terms of off-season roster moves, as new head coach Tetsuji Hashiratani tried to re-mold the team to suit his strategy for the 2002 season.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
Coach	Tetsuji Hashiratani	--	Montedio Yamagata
Coach	Takeshi Okada	Retired	--
GK	Tetsuya Abe	New player	Muroran H.S.
GK	Hiroki Kobayashi	Released	Avispa?? (rumour)
DF	Hiroshi Furuse	New player	Chiyo Gakuen H.S.
DF	Maxandro	Signed	Kriciva FC
DF	Yoshihiro Natsuka	Retired	--
DF	Takumi Morikawa	Rental period ends	Kashiwa Reysol
MF	Naoki Sakai	One-year rental	Kashiwa Reysol
MF	Tomokazu Hirama	One-year rental	Yokohama Marinos
MF	Adalt	Rental period ends	Palmeiras
MF	Yoshikazu Nonomura	Retired	--
MF	Hitoshi Morishita	Rental period ends	Gamba Osaka
MF	Yuzuki Ito	Rental period ends	Kawasaki Frontale
MF	Masashi Oguro	Rental period ends	Gamba Osaka
MF	Ippei Saga	Full transfer	Montedio Yamagata
FW	Yuki Tazawa	New player	Douto Univ.
FW	Shinya Aikawa	New player	Maebashi Ikuei H.S.
FW	Luis Pereira Robson	Signed	Spartak Moscow
FW	Takafumi Ogura	Signed	Tokyo Verdy
FW	Hiromi Kojima	One-year rental	Gamba Osaka
FW	Will Robson Andrade	Rental ends/Transfer	Yokohama Marinos
FW	Ryuji Bando	Rental ends/Transfer	Vissel Kobe
FW	Gakuya Horii	Full transfer	Montedio Yamagata
FW	Tomotaka Fukagawa	Released	Mito Hollyhock
FW	Kenji Kikkawada	Released	Kawasaki Frontale
FW	Shinya Tokuni	Released	--

Vegalta Sendai are making their first appearance in the J.League's top division this year, and they have made several roster changes to reflect the more difficult opposition they can expect to face in the J1. However, the core of the team remains largely the same as last year.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
GK	Kiyomitsu Kobari	One-year rental	Vissel Kobe
DF	Norio Omura	Signed	Yokohama Marinos
DF	Tomohiro Katanosaka	One-year rental	Gamba Osaka
DF	Ichizo Nakata	Signed	Oita Trinita
DF	Kazuya Iio	Full Transfer	Tokyo Verdy
DF	Katsuyuki Saito	Retired	--
DF	Eiji Gaya	Retired	--
DF	Hiroyuki Tazawa	Released	--
MF	Yosuke Nishi	New Player	Vegalta Youth
MF	Hajime Moriyasu	Signed	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
MF	Tomohiro Hasumi	Retired	--
MF	Manabu Nakamura	Released	--
FW	Yasushi Fukunaga	Signed	Urawa Reds
FW	Yoshiteru Yamashita	One-year rental	Avispa Fukuoka
FW	Celso Viera	Released	--
FW	Makoto Segawa	Retired	--

In addition, there have been some rumours lately that Vegalta are pursuing Internazionale's young Brazilian forward Silvinho. Midfielders Shinpei Hanabuchi and Taichiro Saito have not yet signed contracts for 2002, and there are rumours that they will be dropped from the team.

Kashima Antlers made relatively few changes in the offseason. That should be no surprise, however, considering their strong performance in 2002, particularly at the end of the season. The biggest moves were the one-year rental transfers of goalkeeper Daijiro Takakuwa and defender Naoki Soma, to Verdy Tokyo.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
GK	Shinichi Shuto	New player	Antlers Youth
GK	Daijiro Takakuwa	One-year rental	Yokohama Marinos
GK	Ryoichi Ae	Rental period ends	Gamba Osaka
DF	Ryuchi Ishikawa	New player	Tsukuba Univ.
DF	Naoki Soma	One-year rental	Yokohama Marinos
DF	Yoshiro Nakamura	One-year rental	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
DF	Yuichi Nemoto	One-year rental	Cerezo Osaka
DF	Ryuta Matsushima	Released	--
MF	Seiji Otani	New player	Maebashi Ikuei H.S.
MF	Takeshi Yamaguchi	Released	Sony Sendai
FW	Jo Nakajima	Released	--
FW	Yasutaka Kobayashi	Full transfer	Kawasaki Frontale

One of the biggest changes for the Reds will be the transition from former coach Pita to the new coach Hans Ooft. Already, Ooft has done his best to instil a very workman-like atmosphere in the clubhouse, which several players have called a welcome change. Most of the team's moves involve the signing of younger players or the release of marginal ones, but almost all of them appear to make the club stronger. None of the players leaving the team will be particularly missed

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
Coach	Hans Ooft	New head coach	--
Coach	Wim Jansen	New asst. coach	--
GK	Kenta Tokushige	New player	Kunimi H.S.
DF	Yuzo Minami	New player	Seibudai H.S.
DF	Keisuke Tsuboi	New player	Fukuoka Univ.
DF	Takugi Mikami	New player	Komazawa Univ.
DF	Hibari Horinouchi	New player	Tokyo Gakugei Univ.
DF	Shinchi Hirakawa	New player	Tsukuba Univ.
DF	Ichiei Muroi	Rental period ends	Cerezo Osaka
DF	Tsutomu Nishino	Retired	--
DF	Toru Ojima	One-year transfer	Montedio Yamagata
MF	Shinsen Yamane	New player	Kokushikan Univ.
MF	Makoto Hasebe	New player	Fujieda H.S..
MF	Katsuyuki Miyazawa	Released	Albirex Niigata
FW	Shinkei Tokai	New player	Towa H.S.
FW	Yousuke Kobayashi	New player	Reds Youth
FW	Masayuki Okano	One-year transfer	Vissel Kobe
FW	Kohei Morita	Full transfer	Omiya Ardija
FW	Yasushi Fukunaga	Full transfer	Vegalta Sendai

JEF United also start the season with a new coach. However, Josef Venglos will face a difficult task in trying to get a strong performance from a team that is weaker than last year. Though the team has made a few useful signings, and there is still time for some more deals to emerge, at the moment, there are far more players leaving than are coming in.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
Coach	Josef Venglos	New head coach	--
Coach	Zdenko Verdenik	Left team	Nagoya Grampus
GK	Akihiro Okamoto	New player	JEF Youth
DF	Hisaaki Kobayashi	New player	Komazawa Univ.
DF	Kazuyoshi Mikami	Full transfer	Yokohama Marinos
DF	Masaki Inoue	Full transfer	Montedio Yamagata
DF	Yasushi Kita	Rental period ends	Cerezo Osaka
DF	Satoshi Yamaguchi	Full transfer	Gamba Osaka
DF	Akihiro Tabata	One-year rental	Urawa Reds
DF	Kim Myung-Hwi	Released	--
MF	Yasutomo Nomoto	New player	Niigata Tech H.S.
MF	Kim Lee-Yun	New player	Komazawa Univ.
MF	Naoki Hase	New player	Tsukuba Univ.
MF	Tadatoshi Masuda	New player	FC Tokyo
MF	Masaki Inoue	Full transfer	Montedio Yamagata
MF	Hiroyasu Ibata	Retired	--
MF	Hirotaka Kobayashi	Released	--
FW	Tomo Yamagishi	New player	JEF Youth
FW	Mitsutoshi Watada	One-year rental	Vissel Kobe
FW	Takuma Sugano	One-year rental	10 de Octobre (Par.)
FW	Yuto Sato	One-year rental	Cerezo Osaka

In addition, midfielder Nozomu Hiroyama has made it clear that he will NOT be returning to JEF following the expiration of his rental contract with Cerro Porteno. He is currently being evaluated by Brazil's Flamengo, but even if this opportunity falls through, Hiroyama will probably be picked up by some other J.League team, rather than return to JEF United.

Kashiwa Reysol have made very few changes in the off-season. Perhaps coach Steve Perryman wants to have a full year of preparation to see if he can turn the existing team into a winner. Whatever the case, the only major losses from last year are defender Hong Myung-Bo, who returned to Korea, and midfielder Naoki Sakai, who is on rental to Consadole Sapporo. The only major addition is Brazilian defender Cesar Sampaio.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
DF	Naoya Kondo	New player	Reysol Youth
DF	Jun Nagata	New player	Shizuoka Gakuen H.S.
DF	Cesar Sampaio	Signed	Corinthians
DF	Takuya Morikawa	Rental period ends	Consadole Sapporo
DF	Hong Myung-Bo	Left team	Pohang Steelers
DF	Toru Irie	One-year rental	Vissel Kobe
MF	Naoki Sakai	One-year rental	Consadole Sapporo
FW	Yuji Unozawa	New player	Reysol Youth
FW	Taro Hasegawa	One-year rental	Albirex Niigata

FC Tokyo cleaned house after long-time coach Kiyoshi Okuma packed his bags at the end of last season and was replaced by former Urawa Reds boss Hiromi Hara. However, while the team did drop a large number of unproductive players, they have yet to make many major acquisitions, apart from former Santos and Brazil national team defender Joao Carlos. It is still unclear what Hara will do with his open roster spots. If any team is likely to make additional moves before the start of the season, it is FC Tokyo.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
Coach	Hiromi Hara	New head coach	--
Coach	Kiyoshi Okuma	Retired	--
GK	Kenichi Kondo	New player	Kunimi H.S.
GK	Go Kaburaki	Released	Vissel Kobe
DF	Hiroyuki Oseki	New player	FC Tokyo Youth
DF	Joao Carlos	Signed	Santos FC
DF	Akira Kaji	Full transfer	Oita Trinita
DF	Teruyuki Moniwa	One-year transfer	Shonan Bellmare
DF	Shinya Sakoi	One-year rental	Yokohama Marinos
DF	Sandro	Full transfer	Oita Trinita
DF	Osamu Umeyama	Released	Shonan Bellmare
MF	Tomoya Maeda	New player	Sano Nichidai H.S.
MF	Daisuke Hoshi	Rental period ends	Omiya Ardija
MF	Kensuke Kagami	One-year rental	Kawasaki Frontale
MF	Toshiki Koike	One-year rental	Shonan Bellmare
MF	Tadatoshi Masuda	Full transfer	JEF United
MF	Masanori Ito	Released	--
MF	Hikaru Mita	Released	Albirex Niigata
FW	Yuta Baba	New player	FC Tokyo Youth
FW	Kuniro Suzuki	New player	Hachiyo H.S.
FW	Masatoshi Matsuda	Rental period ends	Ventforet Kofu
FW	Toru Kaburagi	Released	Albirex Niigata
FW	Jun Enomoto	Released	--

Tokyo Verdy cut loose a large number of players at the end of the season, and they have been very active in the rental market, picking up a number of high-quality players who are unhappy sitting on the bench at stronger clubs, or who are making an impression in the J2. Although this strategy will leave them at the mercy of the transfer market at the end of this year, it has certainly produced a more imposing lineup than the one that Verdy fielded at the start of last year.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
GK	Daijiro Takakuwa	One-year rental	Kashima Antlers
GK	Kiyoshi Kobari	One-year rental	Vegalta Sendai
GK	Kenji Honnami	Retired	--
GK	Shinkichi Kikuchi	Released	Vissel? (rumour)
GK	Shimpei Noda	Released	--
DF	Naoki Soma	One-year transfer	Kashima Antlers
DF	Takuya Yanagisawa	New player	Hochi Univ.
DF	Takuya Kawaguchi	Full transfer	Shonan Bellmare
DF	Yuji Hironaga	Released	Yokohama Marinos
DF	Kazuya Iio	Full transfer	Vegalta Sendai
MF	Hiroyuki Takahashi	New player	Ryutsukei H.S.
MF	Narita Takaki	One-year rental	Yokohama FC
MF	Masakazu Senuma	Released	--
FW	Michiyasu Osada	Rental period ends	Kyoto Purple Sanga
FW	Keisuke Kurihara	One-year rental	Shonan Bellmare
FW	Hayato Yano	One-year rental	Ventforet Kofu
FW	Kazunari Iio	One-year rental	Kawasaki Frontale
FW	Nobuhiro Takeda	Retired	--
FW	Takeshi Ogura	Released	Consadole Sapporo

In addition, recent rumours have suggested that national team defender Yuji Nakazawa may be traded to Yokohama Marinos. No clear information has yet been released by the team, but both Marinos and Nakazawa have publicly said that they want to discuss such a move. Another rumour that has recently surfaced involves a possible return to Verdy green for Brazilian midfielder Bismarck. Once again, no confirmation is forthcoming from the club.

Yokohama Marinos have made several moves that are likely to strengthen the team this season, while farming out a number of borderline players on one-year rentals. These moves seem a lot more well thought out than the team's changes last season The signing of Will, on a one-year loan from Consadole, will be a big help to the offence, and Daisuke Oku is a very big acquisition at midfield

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
GK	Takuya Enomoto	New player	Marinos youth
DF	Yuji Kurihara	New player	Marinos youth
DF	Kazuya Mikami	Full transfer	JEF United
DF	Jun Ideguchi	Rental period ends	Shonan Bellmare
DF	Norio Omura	Full transfer	Vegalta Sendai
DF	Yoshiaki Maruyama	Released	Albirex Niigata
MF	Kazuki Sato	Full transfer	Oita Trinita
MF	Norihisa Shimizu	Full transfer	Jubilo Iwata
MF	Daisuke Oku	One-year rental	Jubilo Iwata
MF	Masahiro Ohashi	Rental period ends	Mito Hollyhock
MF	Tomokazu Hirama	One-year rental	Consadole Sapporo
MF	Seiji Koga	One-year rental	Avispa Fukuoka
MF	Tokuya Motohashi	One-year rental	Shonan Bellmare
MF	Kentaro Harada	Released	Omiya Ardija
FW	Will Robson Andrade	One-year rental	Consadole Sapporo
FW	Sotaro Yasunaga	Full transfer	Shimizu S-Pulse
FW	Daisuke Tonoike	Rental period ends	Omiya Ardija
FW	Shoji Jo	One-year rental	Vissel Kobe
FW	Masahiro Fukazawa	One-year rental	Albirex Niigata
FW	Brito	Released	--

It is still not entirely clear what will happen to Shunsuke Nakamura. He has been unable to complete a transfer to Europe, though there are strong rummors that he will join Real Madrid following the World Cup. On the defensive end, the Marinos are said to be talking with Tokyo Verdy's Yuji Nakazawa. "Bomberhead", as he is sometimes known, sounds like he wants to make the move, but Verdy have yet to make a clear comment one way or the other.

Shimizu S-Pulse have made relatively few changes in 2002, apart from renting out all borderline players to Ventforet Kofu. In fact, so many S-Pulse players are now on the Ventforet roster that it is starting to look like an S-Pulse farm team. The only signing of note is a rookie, Juninho, who has been living in Japan since elementary school. He will fill the foreigner spot which opened up when Alessandro Santos took Japanese citizenship.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
GK	Gunji Asayama	New player	S-Pulse youth
GK	Tatsuya Tsuruta	One-year rental	Ventforet Kofu
DF	Beschel	Signed	FC Sokol (Bosnia)
DF	Tsuyoshi Tanikawa	Rental term ends	Ventforet Kofu
MF	Kyosuke Ota	Rental term ends	Ventforet Kofu
MF	Yosuke Fukazawa	New player	S-Pulse youth
MF	Juninho	New player	Aomori Yamada H.S.
MF	Yuji Wada	One-year rental	Oita Trinita
MF	Yusuke Yoshizaki	One-year rental	Ventforet Kofu
FW	Eisuke Ota	New player	Fukuoka Univ.
FW	Sotaro Yasunaga	Full transfer	Yokohama Marinos
FW	Kosuke Suzuki	Full transfer	Ventforet Kofu
FW	Hitoshi Matsushima	Full transfer	Ventforet Kofu

Jubilo Iwata has been the subject of a multitude of trade rumours, but few if any of them have been confirmed yet. About the only move that is certain is the one-year transfer of Daisuke Oku to Yokohama Marinos. However, given the large number of "verbal agreements" that have been reported in the press, we expect official confirmation of many such transfers to come in a large package. We will update this site when confirmation is provided by the club

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
GK	Yuji Funatsu	New player	Kagoshima H.S.
GK	Tomoaki Ogami	Full transfer	Avispa Fukuoka
DF	Kenichi Kaga	New player	Akita Tech H.S.
MF	Yoshikage Ota	New player	Jubilo youth
MF	Yuki Hikiji	New player	Kagoshima H.S.
MF	Naoya Saku	One-year rental	Vissel Kobe
MF	Daisuke Oku	One-year rental	Yokohama Marinos
MF	Norihisa Shimizu	Full transfer	Yokohama Marinos
MF	Takashi Hirano	Rental term ends	Vissel Kobe

The only major change that Nagoya Grampus have made thus far is to sign former JEF United coach Zdenko Verdenik as their new boss. Apart from this, Nagoya has made few lineup changes. Adriano, who saw little action in 2001, has been dropped from the roster. Probably Verdenik will make one or two more roster moves in the off-season, but his main concern will be to try to coax a better performance out of the existing players than they provided in 2001.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
DF	Hideaki Tominaga	One-year rental	Shonan Bellmare
MF	Keiji Yoshimura	New player	Aichi Gakuin U.
MF	Tsutomu Yamaguchi	New player	Grampus youth
MF	Masaki Iwamoto	New player	Oita H.S.
MF	Hiroki Mihara	Released	--
MF	Masahiro Iwata	Released	--
FW	Junchi Katagiri	New player	Gifu Kogyo H.S.
FW	Ryoji Ujihara	One-year rental	Albirex Niigata

Kyoto Purple Sanga have been one of the more active teams in terms of cutting borderline performers and acquiring players for the 2002 season. Not surprisingly, Kyoto feel that they need more talent if they hope to be competitive in the top-flight division. Kyoto has been linked to several Korean players, though no formal negotiations have been confirmed. Considering the current roster, however, it is likely that there will be a few more moves before the season starts

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
GK	Hiromasa Takashima	One-year rental	FC Kyoken
DF	Jo Kakuta	New player	Sanga youth
DF	Tsunehiro Matsumoto	New player	Sanga youth
DF	Ned Zelic	Signed	1860 Munich
DF	Hideaki Kubo	One-year rental	Sagan Tosu
DF	Shuichi Kamimura	One-year rental	Sagan Tosu
DF	Masato Kawaguchi	One-year rental	Albirex Niigata
DF	Masayoshi Yoshida	One-year rental	Ventforet Kofu
DF	Sidiclei	Full transfer	Vissel Kobe
DF	Naoto Otake	Retired	--
MF	Atsushi Mio	One-year rental	Ventforet Kofu
MF	Shohei Yamamoto	One-year rental	Mito Hollyhock
MF	Shigeyoshi Mochizuki	Full transfer	Vissel Kobe
MF	Takashi Hirano	Released	Vissel Kobe
FW	Noboru Kobara	New player	Sanga youth
FW	Nobukazu Fukuji	New player	Kagoshima H.S.
FW	Shingo Suzuki	One-year rental	Albirex Niigata
FW	Michiyasu Osada	Rental period ends	Tokyo Verdy
FW	Kentaro Yoshida	One-year rental	Mito Hollyhock

Gamba Osaka have made a very aggressive effort to restructure the team under former Reysol coach Akira Nishino. Nishino has an excellent reputation among players, and it will be very interesting to see how well he succeeds with the young and energetic group at Gamba. Although many of the moves announced thus far have been to trade or release players that do not fit into Nishino's plans, there have been several key signings as well, including Brazilian midfielder Marcelinho Carioca and striker Magrao.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
Coach	Akira Nishino	New head coach	--
GK	Koichi Ae	Rental term ends	Kashima Antlers
GK	Hayato Okanaka	Full transfer	Oita Trinita
DF	Toshihiro Matsushita	New player	Kagoshima H.S.
DF	Masahiro Ando	Full transfer	Omiya Ardija
DF	Satoshi Yamaguchi	Rental term ends	JEF United
DF	Tomohiro Katanosaka	One-year rental	Vegalta Sendai
DF	Koichi Hashigaito	Released	--
MF	Hirotaka Uchibayashi	New player	Kusatsu H.S.
MF	Daisuke Seino	New player	Kansai Gakuin U.
MF	Marcelinho Carioca	Signed	Santos (Bra.)
MF	Masashi Oguro	Rental term ends	Consadole Sapporo
MF	Shigeru Morioka	Full transfer	Vissel Kobe
MF	Motoki Kawasaki	One-year rental	Sagan Tosu
MF	Takayuki Yamaguchi	Full transfer	Vissel Kobe
MF	Hitoshi Morishita	Full transfer	Consadole Sapporo
MF	Haruki Seto	Rental term ends	Oita Trinita
MF	Hergovic	Released	--
MF	Yoshiki Okamura	Released	--
FW	Hirotaka Habata	New player	Gamba youth
FW	Magrao	Signed	Botafogo (Bra.)
FW	Hiromi Kojima	One-year rental	Consadole Sapporo
FW	Ryuji Bando	One-year rental	Vissel Kobe
FW	Nino Bule	Released	--

By far the wildest horse-trading of all has taken place at Kobe, where the Vissel lineup for 2002 may look entirely different from the team that took the field in 2001. Vissel signed volante Carlos Eduardo Soares, aka "Ataliba", to serve as the enforcer in defensive midfield, and then added a squadron of forwards and offensive midfielders that could instantaneously transform Kobe into the most attack-oriented team in the league. These include such names as Ryuji Bando, Shoji Jo, Takashi Hirano, Masaya Nishitani and Masayuki Okano. A lot will depend on how well coach Kawamura can put the various pieces together, but without a doubt, Kobe bear close watching in 2002.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
GK	Nobuyuki Furo	New player	Ritsumeikan U.
GK	Kota Ogi	New player	Gifu Kogyo H.S.
GK	Go Kaburagi	Full transfer	FC Tokyo
GK	Kiyomitsu Kobari	One-year transfer	Vegalta Sendai
GK	Jiro Takeda	Retired	--
DF	Tsubouchi Eisuke	New player	Maebashi Ikuei H.S.
DF	Koji Maeda	Full transfer	Avispa Fukuoka
DF	Tsutomu Irie	One-year rental	Kashiwa Reysol
DF	Yohei Taniike	One-year rental	Otsuka FC
DF	Naoto Matsuo	One-year rental	Cerezo Osaka
DF	Kazuyoshi Mikami	Full transfer	Yokohama Marinos
MF	Ataliba	One-year rental	Kriciva FC
MF	Takashi Hirano	Full transfer	Jubilo Iwata
MF	Masaya Nishitani	One-year rental	Cerezo Osaka
MF	Shigeoshi Mochizuki	Full transfer	Kyoto Purple Sanga
MF	Takayuki Yamaguchi	Full transfer	Gamba Osaka
MF	Shigeru Morioka	One-year rental	Gamba Osaka
MF	Hiroaki Namba	Released	--
FW	Shoji Jo	One-year rental	Yokohama Marinos
FW	Ryuji Bando	One-year rental	Gamba Osaka
FW	Masayuki Okano	One-year rental	Urawa Reds
FW	Yasuaki Oshima	Rental term ends	Otsuka FC
FW	Mitsutoshi Watada	One-year rental	JEF United
FW	Junichi Kawamura	Released	--
FW	Kota Wada	Released	--

Sanfrecce Hiroshima has yet to make any major acquisitions, though they have traded or released several players from last year. Australian midfielder Stephen Corica will not return in 2002, nor will Uzbek defender Oleg, whose loan from Locomotiv Moscow has expired. New coach Gadzhi Gadzhiev has only arrived in Japan recently, and after he has a chance to assess the team, there may be some additional roster moves.

Pos.	Player	Details	New/Former Team
Coach	Gadzhi Gadzhev	New head coach	--
GK	Yushi Osaki	Full transfer	Avispa Fukuoka
DF	Sotaro Sada	New player	Maebashi Ikuei H.S.
DF	Masaya Kawashima	Rental term ends	Urawa Reds
DF	Yoshiro Nakamura	One-year rental	Kashima Antlers
DF	Ryosuke Okuno	Released	--
DF	Oleg	Released	--
MF	Takeshi Subekada	New player	Maebashi Ikuei H.S.
MF	Hideki Nishimura	New player	Sanfrecce youth
MF	Hajime Moriyasu	Released	Vegalta Sendai
MF	Kohei Miyazaki	Released	Avispa Fukuoka
MF	Stephen Corica	Released	--
FW	Hirohito Shigeki	New player	Seiko Gakuin H.S.
FW	Kota Wada	Released	--
FW	Skachenko	Rental term ends	Metz
FW	Sachio Yoshida	Released	--
FW	Ryota Terauchi	Released	--

Rumours and Rumblings

Nanami Limps Out of Camp

Midfielder Hiroshi Nanami left the national team's training camp after just one day of rehabilitation work, when it became clear that his knee is still far too tender to allow him to take any significant part in the proceedings. Nanami, who has twice undergone knee operations, is still on the road to recovery. Jubilo Iwata officials have suggested that he might be unable to return to action until April. If this is the case, it could prevent Nanami from winning a place on Japan's World Cup roster. Although the former Asian Cup MVP is viewed as one of Japan's best defensive midfielders, there is plenty of competition for a spot, and unless Nanami can show that he is fully recovered by late April or early May, Troussier is likely to go with one of his other options at volante.

Notes from National Team Training

Japan's prospective national team members held their first training camp of the year in Kagoshima this week -- coincidentally, at the same facility where France will set up its camp for the World Cup. The session was basically just an opportunity for Troussier to get a look at the field of candidates and check on their physical condition. This being the case, there was a significant amount of bad news. In addition to Nanami, who left camp early as noted above, midfielder Atsushi Miura and striker Yoshiteru Yamashita bowed out after a brief appearance, due to nagging injuries.

Based on the speed and endurance tests, three players who have yet to make their mark in the national team are the ones who demonstrated the peak physical condition. These were S-Pulse's Alessandro Santos, Antlers defender Yutaka Akita and Jubilo midfielder Ryoichi Maeda. Though little meaningful information emerged from the camp, it does appear that Santos is putting every effort into making the team. Considering both his own performance and the injury to Nanami, his prospects have probably taken a major step forward this week.

Toto Taking Bets on the World Cup

People traveling to Japan or Korea for the World Cup, who want to get a little betting action in on the side, are in luck. The peopl ewho run TOTO have announced that they will be operating the lottery during the World Cup, as well. For those who have not heard of TOTO, it is Japan's official J.League football lottery. Thanks to an agreement with FIFA, the people who run the lottery have received permission to operate the game for World Cup events as well. It is actually quite an interesting concept for a lottery, even if the odds are longer than a straight bet on a team at Will Hill. Each ticket lists thirteen matches, and three options (Win by team A, Win by team B, or draw). You pay just 100 yen (about US$0.75) for each prediction (one choice for each of the 13 matches) and you can make multiple calls on a single ticket.

For example if you selected one option for 12 of the 13 matches, and in the 13th (eg: Argentina vs England) you selected all three options (win by England, win by Argentina, draw), the ticket would cost 300 yen. Best of all, there are prizes even for those who dont get a perfect score. There are also second prizes (12 of 13 matches correct) and third prizes (11 of 13 matches correct), though the amount paid usually falls off to a rather modest sum on everything after first prize.

During the World Cup, tickets will be available not only in Japan, but also in Korea.

Bismarck Bids Goodbye to J.League

Former Kashima Antlers and Verdy Kawasaki midfielder Bismarck Baretto Faria has decided on a move back to Brazil in the 2002 season. After retiring from the Antlers at the end of the 2001 season, Bismarck was rumoured to be talking to Tokyo Verdy about a possible comeback. However, a better offer appears to have arrived at the last moment, and Bismarck will instead be taking leave of Japan. Following a contract signing this weekend, Bismarck will be returning to Brazil, and Fluminese. Bismarck has already established a record of success in the J.League that may never be equalled, having taken part in eight championship series, and hoisting the J.League trophy on a remarkable six occasions -- twice with Verdy and four times with Antlers.

Shunsuke Headed for Real, for Real

Real Madrid announced on January 27 that they have submitted an offer of 3 million Euros for Shunsuke Nakamura, on a straignt transfer from Yokohama Marinos. Under his current contract, which he signed with Yokohama just last week, Nakamura has full control of his own destiny following the World Cup, so it is virtually certain that he will accept the offer to play in the Primera Liga beginning this fall.

Real Madrid have been watching Nakamura for some time, and they have been rather forthright in admitting that the signing is intended more as a way to help their marketing in Asia than giving Nakamura a chance to play for the first team. When he joins Real, Nakamura will be relegated to their reserve squad for the foreseeable future. The main question that many people are asking themselves -- particularly those who know a bit about Japanese football -- is whether this deal makes any sense. Despite extravagant stories in the European press about the lucre that can be derived from Japan marketing tie-ups, the reality is that many clubs have failed to see these hopes realised. Unless a player gets regular action, as has been the case with Hidetoshi Nakata (Parma), Shinji Ono (Feyenoord) and, to a lesser extent, Naohiro Takahara (Boca Juniors) and Yoshikatsu Kawagushi (Portsmouth), clubs are discovering that the interest in their "star" players evaporates quite rapidly. As Bolton discovered in the case of their signing of Akinori Nishizawa, Japanese fans quickly lose interest in a player who fails to see action on his overseas club, and marketing or licensing deals quickly dry up.

For Nakamura, a move to Madrid will no doubt be a positive career move, even if merely to give him exposure to overseas play for six to twelve months. However, from a marketing standpoint, his star is already badly tarnished. He has not seen action in the national team since March 2001, and there is a stong chance that he may fail to even make the World Cup squad. By July, football fans in Japan may have moved on to other heroes, and forget Nakamura altogether, leaving Madrid with a 3-million-Euro white elephant. Since nobody -- not even Real Madrid -- expects him to be a factor on the football pitch, one has to question whether this deal makes sense to anyone other than Shunsuke himself.

Nakazawa Will Help Defend Yokohama

Tokyo Verdy and Japan national team defender Yuji Nakazawa has reportedly reached an agreement with Yokohama Marinos that is expected to send the central defender to Yokohama for the 2002 season. Yokohama has been pursuing Nakazawa for several weeks, but "Bomberhead", as he is known by fans, claimed that Verdy management was keeping him in the dark about the negotiations. Following a face-to-face meeting with Marinos management, Nakazawa indicated that he want to move, and negotiations between the two clubs on the details of a contract are due to begin as early as Monday morning. Assuming that the move goes through, it would give the Marinos three national team members in their back four, and significantly boost the team's prospects for a championship in 2002.

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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