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March 3, 2002: The Season Kicks Off With A Roar

This year's J.League season will break new ground in many ways, but one of the biggest differences is that not all J1 teams will play their matches on the same day. For the first ten years of J.League history, teams all played on the same day, and although this made it hard to watch all of the matches on a given weekend, it made reporting the results somewhat easier. This year, matches will be played on both Saturday and Sunday (as is common in most overseas leagues), in an League effort to give more fans a chance to watch the matches.

Though it is hard to tell how much was due to this scheduling change and how much is the result of pre-World Cup hype, the first week of action was a huge success in terms of fan support. Nearly every stadium was packed, and the atmosphere of the matches electrifying. Nor did the teams let the large crowds down, as nearly every match had excitement throughout. So lets start by looking at the scores of J1 matches

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
2 Mar		4-2		Tokyo Stadium
2 Mar		2-0		Shizuoka Ecopa
3 Mar		1-0		Sendai Stadium
3 Mar		2-1		Ichihara Seaside
3 Mar		1-0		Yokohama Intl
3 Mar		1-0(ET)		Nihondaira
3 Mar		5-1		Big Arch
3 Mar		1-0		Expo '70 Stadium

Kashima had the added disadvantage of playing without Koji Nakata, who was sitting out a red card received during the Xerox Super Cup. For the first 10 minutes, the match was played at a furious pace, as both teams charged at the ball with unrestrained energy. The Antlers had a the advantage in field position, and produced a few early chances, but every time the ball advanced to strikers Atsushi Yanagisawa or Takayuki Suzuki, the defence would swarm all over them, and set-up man Masashi Motoyama was mugged every time he touched the ball. Tokyo players seemed to be everywhere, racing to and fro in a ferocious press. Perhaps if the Antlers had been able to weather the storm for another ten minutes, Tokyo would have tired, as S-Pulse did last week. However, before the tank ran dry, the home team were refuelled with a new tank of momentum, thanks to a defensive miscue.

In the 11 minute, Yukihiko Sato took an overlap pass down the right sideline and sent a low, card cross into the box. Though it was a nicely played ball, defenders Yutaka Akita and Fabiano, as well as keeper Hitoshi Sogahata, were all in position to make the play. However, in a rare display of defensive confusion, Sogahata stayed on his line while Fabiano turned away from the play and Akita let the ball roll through. Before any of them could recover, Tokyo's Masamitsu Kobayashi dashed through the pack and toed the ball past Sogahata to give his team a 1-0 lead!

Naturally, this gave Tokyo a boost of energy, and they were able to continue their fierce press for another ten minutes. Nevertheless, the Antlers almost equalized two mintues later, as Suzuki broke in from the left wing and fired a looping shot for goal. However, it came back off the crossbar, and Tokyo resumed their swarming press. Once again, before the tide of momentum could shift, Kashima made a second blunder that kept the momentum rolling. As the Antlers were just breaking out of defence following a Tokyo foray, Kobayashi (who had a brilliant match) stepped in front of an outlet pass and suddenly Tokyo had a counterattack in progress. Kobayashi sent a through pass to Tetsuya Ito, who would have been offside if not for the fact that Fabiano had failed to move upfield after the Antlers won the ball, and was still deep in his own end -- but at least 20 meters from Ito. As Sogahata raced out of his net, Ito make a calm shot into the right corner, and Tokyo were up 2-0.

Now the home team were in a much more comfortable position. Though they still played a very aggressive, swarming defence, the luxury of a two goal lead meant they no longer had to run as hard. For the remainder of the first half, the Antlers dominated posession, and indeed, they came close to scoring on numerous occasions. But ferocious defending by FC Tokyo's back line and thus forestall any Kashima goals. The closest that the Antlers came was on a fine pass from Augusto that gave Mitsuo Ogasawara a good look at goal. But his shot for the high corner was saved acrobatically by keeper Yoichi Doi.

Just before the half, Kobayashi got his second assist. At the end of an Antlers counterattack, keeper Doi sent a towering blast from his goal box that was controlled by Amaral, who quickly released the ball to Kobayashi before the defenders could converge. Kobayashi sped into the box and dropped a perfect centering pass onto the foot of Kelly, who tapped in the easy finish to send the crowd into an uproar, and send FC Tokyo into the locker with a 3-0 lead. Though Kashima had dominated posession for most of the half, and had about twice as many shots on net, FC Tokyo had made their opportunities count, and had assumed a truly astonishing lead.

Shortly after the restart, Kobayashi finished out a five-star evening, by slipping in at the far post to collect a cross from Amaral and slot it home, giving FC Tokyo an almost unbelievable 4-0 lead. Although Tokyo had clearly come out with a lot of fire, and deserve a great deal of credit for breaking the Antlers' usual rhythm with their hard press, the run of play was flowing mostly in Kashima's favor. In fact, if not for the few uncharacteristic errors that the Antlers had committed on defence, based on the flow of play the match might easily have been 2-1 in Kashima's favor instead of 4-0 for Tokyo. All the same, the team in blue and red showed that they are completely transformed under coach Hara. If they can maintain this sort of intensity for the entire season, they certainly have a chance to finish towards the top end of the table.

As the second half wore on, at last the Antlers started to catch a few breaks. Coach Toninho Cerezo pulled Yanagisawa, who looked rather droopy from the outset, perhaps due to a lingering injury, as well as the demands of his busy schedule over the past two weeks. (the only player who looked worse was veteran Naoto Honda, who started for the suspended Nakata and put in a truly lamentable performance. He was substiduted at half time by Takuya Nozawa). Reserve striker Tomoyuki Hirase rewarded this move in the 79 minute, as he collected a nice centering pass from Motoyama and unleashed a drive that beat the keeper and allowed the Antlers to break out of their funk.

In the final 20 minutes, Kashima finally got their rhythm, and began to press Tokyo back into their end. But with a large lead to rest on, Hara brought in a few defensive substitutes and, though they continued to play a very agressive trap, Tokyo began concentrating their efforts at forestalling any further scores. Just before the match ended, a lob over the defence found Akita open for a strong header which gave Kashima the final consolation goal. However, this day belonged to FC Tokyo. The vocal home crowd roared their approval as Tokyo swept off the field with a stunning upset victory of last year's champions.

Lineups:
Yoichi Doi, Jean Carlo Witte, Tetsuya Ito, Takahiko Shimotaira, Minoru Kobayashi, Masashi Miyazawa (Asari 84), Fumitake Miura, Yukihiko Sato (Baba 79), Masamitsu Kobayashi, Kelly, Amaral (Fukuda 71)
Hitoshi Sogahata, Fabiano, Yutaka Akita, Akira Narahashi, Augusto, Naoto Honda (Nozawa 45), Koji Kumagai, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama, Atsushi Yanagisawa (Hirase 59), Takayuki Suzuki (Aoki 62)

For the first 15 minutes of the match, both teams played some very solid defence, stepping into passing lanes, trapping the ball and putting on pressure all over the field. As a result, the early stages were little more than inconclusive exchanges in the center of the pitch. The only shot in the first 15 minutes came on a free kick, after a shirt-tugging incident won Jubilo's Jo Kanazawa a yellow card. (Referee Kawakami awarded a slew of cards in this match, confirming his reputation for reaching into the breast pocket at the slightest provocation). Ueslei took the free kick Nagoya, and found Keiji Kaimoto at the far post, but the shot flew just wide.

Though Jubilo had shown little in the way of scoring chances thus far, when they did get their first opportunity, they made the most of it. In the 15 minute, Naohiro Takahara dropped back from his front line position to collect a drop pass from Zivkovic, about 35 meters out. After dropping the ball to Takahara, the former Yugoslavia international took off for goal, and Taka lofted a looping pass over the defence for him to run for. Although Masayuki Omori was in a position to cut the ball off, Zivkovic put on a burst of speed to slip around the defender, steal the ball and break free on goal. As he angled towards the net from the left, Fujita broke into the middle of the box, completely unmarked, forcing keeper Seigo Narazaki to stay on his line. Zivkovic feinted towards Fujita to distract Narazaki, then fired a shot into the top of the net, to give Jubilo a 1-0 lead.

For about ten minutes after Jubilo's initial score, Nagoya fought back, creating some good opportunities. Grampus nearly equalised in the 25 minute, on a corner kick from Ueslei. Once again, the big Brazilian found Kaimoto in front of goal, but his header was just over the bar. By the 30 minute, Nagoya's attempted comeback ran out of steam, and Jubilo began to take over control of posession and momentum. Once again, it was the impressive play of Zivkovic that generated much of this momentum. In the 31 minute, Norihiro Nishi broke down the right wing and began looking for someone to cross to. Both Takahara and Masashi Nakayama were closely marked, right in front of the net, but Zivkovic broke clear of his defender at the top of the box and Nishi dropped the ball back to him. However, his shot was just inches wide. Three minues later, Zivkovic was the one finding space down the left wing, and his line-drive cross found Fujita at the far post. However, Fujita slightly overran the play, and was only able to deliver a weak tap towards the net, which Narazaki easily covered.

In the second half, play remained largely on Jubilo's side. Nagoya had one exciting moment when newcomer Marcelo sent a bicycle kick shot just a bit wide of the right post. But apart from that one play, Marcelo was largely invisible. On the other side, Zivkovic, and to a lesser extent, Norihiro Nishi, kept jubilo in control with their hard running and dogged ball-control dribbling.

In the 82 minute, the other shoe finally dropped. as Nishi drove through the middle on yet another foray into Grampus territory, the defender tried to disposess him with a sliding tackle. Although his play was effective at stripping Nishi, the ball rolled right to Nobuo Kawaguchi, who had come in for the tired Takahara. Kawaguchi picked up the ball and, since the defender was still on the ground, he had a clear path to goal. Making no mistake, Kawaguchi closed on the keeper and then drilled a hard shot into the left side of the net to give Jubilo its final margin of victory.

Lineups:
Arno VanZwam, Go Oiwa, Hideto Suzuki, Takahiro Yamanishi, Norihiro Nishi, Takashi Fukunishi, Jo Kanazawa, Toshiya Fujita, Aleksandr Zivkovic, Masashi Nakayama, Naohiro Takahara (Kawaguchi 74)
Seigo Narazaki, Keiji Kaimoto, Masayuki Omori (Moriyama 73), Masahiro Koga, Yusuke Nakatani (Nishizawa 62), Tetsuya Okayama, Masahiro Yamaguchi, Tomoyuki Sakai, Kunihiro Takizawa (Nakamura 68), Ueslei, Marcelo

Fortunately for the home crowd, their team was able to provide much to cheer about. Just five mintes into the match, Vegalta got its first dangerous opportunity, as former Antlers libero Rocardo Ribeiro blasted a long pass from deep in his own end, which was headed on by Vegalta's ace striker, Marcos. The flick on sent Yoshiteru Yamashita surging towards the box with only one man left to beat. However, Yamashita took his shot a bit too soon, and although it beat the outrushing keeper Daijiro Takakuwa, it skidded just wide of the far post.

Verdy were very active too, and looked like a much sharper team than they were last season. Although ace striker Edmundo is out for a few weeks, following surgery on his toe, his striker partner Marquinhos and Naoki Soma, who Verdy are using as a defensive midfielder, combined to create some chances of their own. In the 10 minute, Soma surged down the left wing and fired a shot from the edge of the box that the keeper just managed to deflect wide. The subsequent corner was sent deep, beyond the box, and Marquinhos drilled a shot off the left post.

But Vegalta had the majority of posession in this match, thanks to hard work by Marcos and Yamashita up front, and a magnificent performance by set-up man Teruo Iwamoto. Iwamoto was involved in Vegalta's best chances all afternoon long, and it was oinly fitting that he scored the lone goal of the match. In about the 30 minute, a foul on Marcos gave Vegalta a free kick abotu five meters outside the box, on the left side. Iwamoto, a lefty, was taking the kick, so when three tall Vegalta players all rushed for the far post, Verdy keeper Takakuwa naturally came off his line towards them. But Iwamoto hit the ball beautifully with the outside of his boot, and its reverse curl caught Takakuwa flatfooted, slipping just inside the near post to give Vegalta the early lead.

Though Verdy tried to fight back, Vegalta showed that they are solid on defence, as well. Ricardo and ex-Marinos defender Norio Omura both had fine outings, particularly in preventing Marquinhos from creating opportunities on the dribble. Verdy's chances were largely limited to Soma's forays down the left wing, and occasional forays ahead by Naoto Sakurai. On the other end, Yamashita nearly doubled the score a minute before half time, as Hajime Moriyasu fed him a high cross from the right wing, but his header flashed just to the left of the post.

As the second half began, Sendai settled down into a ball-control mode. Seeing their calm, poised passing game at midfield, person with no past knowledge of the J.League would have thought that Vegalta were the team with ten years of top-flight experience, whereas Verdy were the ones scrampling desperately to keep the ball out of their net. Only some fine work in net by Takakuwa prevented Vegalta from building an even larger lead. The best example of their hustle came in the 75 minute, when Yamashita raced the entire width of the field to forecheck a defender who was moving the ball out of the Verdy end. Yamashita's pressure forced a bad pass that Iwamoto intercepted and lobbed to Marcos, who was breaking into the box. Only a diving save by Takakuwa halted Marcos' low drive for the left corner.

Only in the final few minutes did Vegalta show any nervousness, and Verdy had one or two late chances as the home team started to get sloppy with their passes. However, they were unable to produce the equalizer. As the golden sea of Vegalta supporters roared in exhultation, the final whistle blew and Vegalta celebrated their very first J1 victory.

Lineups:
Norio Takahashi, Yusuke Mori, Ricardo Ribeiro, Norio Omura, Tetsuya Murata (Tomohiro Katanosaka 76), Hajime Moriyasu (Naoki Chiba 66), Silvinho, Yasushi Fukunaga, Teruo Iwamoto, Yoshiteru Yamashita, Marcos
Daijiro Takakuwa, Takuya Kawaguchi, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsushi Yoneyama, Naoki Soma, Toshimi Kikuchi (Keiji Ishizuka 66), Takuya Yamada, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Michiyasu Osada (Narita Takaki 79), Naoto Sakurai (Kazuki Hiramoto 59), Marquinhos

The home team took the initiative from the outset, and nearly scored an early goal in the second minute, when Shunsuke Nakamura lobbed a pass over the Reds defence and Yokohama's new ace striker, Will, raced onto it for a short-range shot, However, the Reds' keeper Yohei Nishibe was able to deflect it wide of the net. However, this save only took Urawa off the hook for a few seconds, because Yokohama got on the board from the subsequent corner kick. Nakamura sent a short kick to defender Naoki Matsuda, who was a meter or two short of the near post. Matsuda headed the ball on, and it looped to Will right in front of the goal mouth. As he did so many times last season, Will leapt over the defence and drove a powerful header into the net.

With just five minutes gone, Yokohama had a 1-0 lead, and that is all the scoring that this match would produce. Urawa created a few chances in the next 20 minutes or so, the most dangerous of which came on a long, looping feed from Harison, which allowed Emerson to speed away from his defender and towards the box. However, Emerson's shot was tipped over the bar by Tatsuya Enomoto. Just before half time, Emerson again got a breakaway that would have a decisive influence on the rest of the match. As he tried to break past the final line of defence, Emerson was pulled down by Matsuda, who was already playing with one yellow card, received early in the period for pulling the opponent's shirt (one of the infractions that the J.League has decided to crack down on, this year). Matsuda was deservedly shown his second yellow, and the Marinos were reduced to ten men.

Although this would give Urawa the majority of possession for the entire second half, in retrospect it may have been more of a boost to the Marinos than to the Reds. Urawa were without their two most creative offensive players. So long as both teams had been attacking with equal vigor, the Reds got occasional opportunities on counterattacks that sent Emerson into the clear. But with the Marinos in a largely defensive mode, they were forced to be more creative, and the team simply didnt have it in them. Not that the Reds lookes as sluggish and disorganized as they have in years past. It did look like coach Hans Ooft's tutelage has produced some slightly better coordination in the Urawa midfield, especially. But without Abe and Tuto, nobody was able to provide the playmaking creativity to break down what is clearly one of the league's better defences (even with Matsuda in the shower).

Thus, the second half was a ratehr disappointing slog, livend up only occasionally, by the dribbling of young Tatsuya Tanaka, who came on as a late substitute, and by some dangerous runs by Will on the counterattack. But the closest the Reds would come was a drive by Tanaka in the 75 minute that came back off the crossbar. Yokohama stood their ground, and held on for a thoroughly deserved 1-0 victory.

Lineups:
Yohei Nishibe, Tadaaki Tsuboi, Masami Ihara, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Keita Suzuki, Shinji Jojo, Harison, Masaki Tsuchihashi, Masahiro Fukuda, Emerson
Tatsuya Enomoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Yasuhiro Hato, Naoki Matsuda, Naza, Yoshiharu Ueno, Kazuyoshi Mikami, Shunsuke Nakamura, Tatsunori Hisanaga, Will, Nobuhisa Shimizu

For their part, Reysol could only scramble and shove to keep Gamba at bay. Their physical play in midfield prevented a far worse defeat, but they rarely seemed a threat to score any goals of their own. Gamba provided a hint of what to expect in the 10 minute, when Takahiro Futagawa drove down the right sideline and centered to Magrao. The big Brazilian dropped the ball back to Marcelinho for a shot that whizzed over the crossbar, but showed that Gamba were ready to open fire at the first opportunity.

The first goal finally arrived in the 18 minute on a play that showed Marcelinho's persistance, as well as his accurate passing skills. Taking the ball down the right side, Marcelinho crossed into the center, for Magrao, but the ball was cleared beyond the box. However, Araiba collected the clearance and sent Marcelinho down the sideline once more. This time, Marcelinho decided to try his luck with Yoshihara. Although the diminutive striker makes for a smaller target, Yoshihara showed that his skill in the air is just as deadly as that of the 192cm Magrao. He leapt above his defender at the near post, and headed the ball just past the reach of the diving keeper , to give Gamba the lead.

Two minutes later, Gamba nearly doubled their advantage, as Marcelinho fed Araiba down the left sideline, and the speedy midfieder rounded his defender to send an open cross into the box. This time, however, Yoshihara's drive was a bit too soft, and Yuta Minami smothered it in the low left corner. Just before the break, Minami had to make a similar, and even more difficult save as Marcelinho's lob pass gave Yoshihara yet another shot on net.

As the two teams came out after the intermission, Steve Perryman was collared by the sideline announcer, and asked what he thought he needed to change in the second half. Perryman expressed a lack of concern, saying only that he thought Reysol needed to pass the ball more accurately and push forward on offence more. But the second half was much the same as the first. Reysol were pushed onto the back foot for at least the first 20 minutes of the stanza, and it was only in about the 75 minute, when Marcelinho began to tire noticeably, that they started to get some more dangerous opportunities, Probably Reysol's best opportunity of the match came in the 74 minute, as Cesar Sampaio moved out of midfield and laid a perfectly weighted pass to Tomonori Hirayama, at the top of the circle. Hirayama played a perfect post-play, dropping the ball laterally to Harutaka Ono as he raced into the box. But Ono's shot went just wide of the right post, and Kashiwa's best opportunity of the match went begging.

As time ran down, the announcers wondered openly at the lack of substitutions. But it seemed that Perryman was as stymied as his players, and he failed to make any changes despite the fact that Gamba were clearly in the driver's seat. A few late rushes pushed deep into the Gamba end, as Reysol threw all ten men forward, but even this could not create a truly dangerous shot. Gamba's solid defence held Kashiwa in check, and they claimed a well-won victory in their first match of the year.

Lineups:
Ryota Tsuzuki, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Masao Kiba, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Yasuhito Endo, Toru Araiba, Marcelinho Carioca, Takahiro Futagawa, Kota Yoshihara, Giuliano "Magrao" Aranda
Yuta Minami, Shigenori Hagimura, Takeshi Watanabe, Norihiro Satsukawa, Harutaka Ono, Tomokazu Myojin, Cesar Sampaio, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Tomonori Hirayama, Yoo Sang-Chul, Hideaki Kitajima

However, on the other side of the ball, S-Pulse seemed to realise that they could not afford to get caught forward, so their offensive thrusts were a bit tentative, and frequently broke down for lack of enough players moving into support positions. What chances they did create were mopped up professionally by the back-line Brazilian duo of Sidiclei and Ataliba.

Midway through the second half, S-Pulse brought in veteran Masaaki Sawanobori in the midfield playmaker role, and this began to give S-Pulse some more dangerous opportunities, particularly when he linked up with Alessandro Santos on the left or Daisuke Ichikawa on the right. Nevertheless, regulation time ended before either team could get on the scoreboard.

A mere three minutes into extra time, S-Pulse finally got the beak they had been looking for all match long. Sawanobori played a perfect one-two with Alex, and broke for the box as the Kobe defence scrambled to close in on him. However, Sawanobori lofted a soft pass for Baron, in front of the goal mouth, and the big Brazilian slammed it home to thunderous cheers from the home crowd.

Lineups:
Takaya Kurokawa, Tomohiro Ikeda, Katsumi Oenoki, Takuma Koga, Daisuke Ichikawa, Kazuyuki Toda, Yasuhiro Yoshida, Alessandro Santos, Kohei Hirayama (Masaaki Sawanobori 69), Yasukiyo Kuboyama (Takayuki Yokoyama 76), Baron
Makoto Kakegawa, Sidiclei, Yukio Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Shigeyoshi Mochizuki, Ataliba, Masaya Nishitani (Kazuhiro Mori 92), Masayuki Okano, Kazu Miura, Ryuji Bando, Shoji Jo

The avalanche of goals was almost too furious to describe in detail. Chikara Fujimoto got the storm started in the 15 minute, on a sparkling dribble through the middle finished off with a solid right-footed blast. He followed this up by demonstrating to newcomer Billong how to perform his patented "Awa dance". Just 15 minutes later, Susumu Oki doubled the score after Naoya Umeda collected a loose ball that was poorly cleared by Consadole. Umeda sent Oki for the left post, and Oki finished it off with a calm shot past the keeper.

Though it was already beginning to look like a rout, Consadole's young midfielder Koji Yamase managed to pull a goal back, shortly after Oki's strike, by finishing off a nice pass from Robson. This allowed the team from Sapporo to go to the locker room with the score looking somewhat respectable. However, the score line could not cover up the fact that Hiroshima had dominated play.

As the second half wore on, the scoreboard began to reflect the dominance shown by Sanfrecce. Fifteen minutes after the break, Koji Morisaki got the first of his two goals for the match, pouncing on a ball that was fumbled by the keeper and blasting it into the net. Just a few minutes later, Tatsuhiko Kubo let loose with a thunderous shot to put the match out of reach. Morisaki added the final nail to the coffin in the 77 minute, demonstrating that he has decent dribbling skills as well.. Hiroshima collected a lopsided win and first-place position in the league table, based on their large goal difference.

Lineups:
Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano, Michel Pensee Billong, Shinya Kawashima, Kentaro Sawada (Tulio Tanaka 85), Naoya Umeda, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Koji Morisaki (Miro 80), Chikara Fujimoto, Susumu Oki (Motoki Nakayama 89), Tatsuhiko Kubo
Yohei Sato, Hitoshi Morishita, Kyosuke Yoshikawa (Naoki Sakai 67), Maxsandro de Oliveira, Kensaku Omori, Yasuyuki Konno, Biju, Tomonori Hirama, Koji Yamasae, Robson da Silva, Hiromi Kojima (Gakuya Horii 62)

JEF got started in the 16th minute, as Murai played a neat one-two with Edin "Edo" Mujcin on the left side before sending a cross to Choi's strike partner, Katsutomo Oshiba. As the keeper and defender converged on him, Oshiba dropped the ball back to Choi, who was steaming into the box like an express train. Choi had only to blast the ball into the open netting and JEF United were on their way.

Though Kyoto held off a number of scoring opportunities, later in the first half, soon after the intermission JEF extended their lead. Once again, Murai was the provider, driving down the left sideline and then crossing the ball to Choi, who was inexplicably unmarked at the edge of the box. Choi finished off the play with an easy volley to double JEF's lead.

A late goal by Shingo Suzuki, which he scored on a very well placed free kick, provided some consolation to the Purple Sanga. However, it could not conceal the fact that Kyoto were soundly outplayed. JEF cruised home comfortably to their first win of the season.

Lineups:
Ryo Kushino, Eisuke Nakanishi, Zelko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Shinichi Muto, Shigetoshi Hasebe, Edin Mujcin, Shinji Murai, Katsutomo Oshiba (Naotake Hase 79), Choi Yong-Soo
Hideaki Ueno, Ned Zelic, Jin Sato, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Jin Sato, Makoto Atsuta, Daisuke Nakaharai (An Hyo-Yong 45), Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Shingo Suzuki, Tomoaki Matsukawa (Tadashi Nakamura 69), Yusaku Ueno (Daisuke Matsui 70), Teruaki Kurobe

With their big win over Sapporo on Sunday, Sanfrecce go top of the table on goal difference. It is a bit early for the league table to have much meaning, but here is how the standings look as of March 4:

.	Team	Pts	GP	W (90/ET)	D	L	GDif	GF	GA
1	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	3	1	1 (1-0)	0	0	+4	5	1
2	FC Tokyo	3	1	1 (1-0)	0	0	+2	4	2
3	Jubilo Iwata	3	1	1 (1-0)	0	0	+2	2	0
4	JEF United	3	1	1 (1-0)	0	0	+1	2	1
5	Vegalta Sendai	3	1	1 (1-0)	0	0	+1	1	0
5	Yokohama Marinos	3	1	1 (1-0)	0	0	+1	1	0
5	Gamba Osaka	3	1	1 (1-0)	0	0	+1	1	0
8	Shimizu S-Pulse	2	1	1 (0-1)	0	0	+1	1	0
9	Kyoto Purple Sanga	0	1	0 (0-0)	0	1	-1	1	2
10	Urawa Reds	0	1	0 (0-0)	0	1	-1	0	1
10	Kashiwa Reysol	0	1	0 (0-0)	0	1	-1	0	1
10	Tokyo Verdy	0	1	0 (0-0)	0	1	-1	0	1
10	Vissel Kobe	0	1	0 (0-0)	0	1	-1	0	1
14	Kashima Antlers	0	1	0 (0-0)	0	1	-2	2	4
15	Nagoya Grampus	0	1	0 (0-0)	0	1	-2	0	2
16	Consadole Sapporo	0	1	0 (0-0)	0	1	-4	1	5

J2 Results and Roundup

Yamagata narrowly missed promotion last season, and many view them alongside Cerezo as one of the leading candidates for a trip to the top division next season. However, if they had any illusions about this being a competitive contest, they were disabused of the notion in the first 20 minutes. Although Osaka got off to a less than impressive start for the first five minutes, they won a free kick just beyond the box in the 7 minute which would deliver the quick yet fatal blow. The kick was taken by 20-year old Yuichi Nemoto, a defensive wing who is on a one-year loan from Kashima Antlers. Nemoto impressed observers during his brief apperances last season, and judging from his performance on Sunday, he plans to impress a lot more in 2002. Nemoto's kick left the Montedio keeper flatfooted, curling over the wall and slipping inside the left post.

In case nobody got the message from his first strike, Nemoto decided to add an exclamation point just seven minutes later. Cerezo captain Hiroaki Morishima made a run through midfield and broke for the box, but the keeper rushed out to clear the ball before he could finish his run. However, the ball fell right to Nemoto, about 40 meters out, and he instantly lofted a soft arcing shot over the head of the stranded keeper, making the score 2-0.

Suddenly, the rout was on. A minute later, striker Kenji Oshiba roared into the box and drilled a bullet that raised the tally to three, and before Montedio's defenders could even catch their breath, defender Takao Yamauchi had added another. With another 70 minutes still on the clock, the flaming pinks already had an unassailable 4-0 advantage.

Mercifully, Cerezo took its foot off the gas pedal and let Montedio collect the shards of their self respect. But the team would score two more goals before it was all over. The first came on a header by Akinori Nishizawa, just before the half, and the final tally was a second goal by Oshiba , midway through second half.

If this had been a team like Mito Hollyhock or Ventforet Kofu, this drubbing could be dismissed as just a flash in the pan. But Montedio are viewed as one of the toughest opponents Cerezo will face this season. One can only imagine the carnage that will ensue if they continue to play at this level against some of the league's weaker clubs.

Elsewhere

In Yokohama, Ventforet Kofu showed that they will be a much more competitive team this year, and may be able to climb out of the league cellar at last. After conceding two goals on either side of intermission, Ventforet came back to equalise with two strikes in a space of less than ten minutes However, Yokohama FC still managed to claim victory on a late strike by Masami Sato.

Niigata Albirex were only able to get a single goal against lowly Mito Hollyhock, but it proved to be enough as the ugly ducks got their first win of the season. In the other two matches of the day, Omiya Ardija drew 1-1 with Sagan Tosu, and Kawasaki Frontale fiished with a similar score line against Shonan Bellmare

Rumours and Rumblings

New Players Welcomed at Osaka, Iwata

Poll Tips Jubilo, Reysol as First-Stage Champions

Team	.	Share of Votes
Jubilo Iwata		18.22%
Kashiwa Reysol		18.10%
Urawa Reds		16.72%
Kashima Antlers		11.48%
JEF United		6.86%
Yokohama Marinos		6.74%
Vissel Kobe		5.49%
Shimizu S-Pulse		5.24%
Tokyo Verdy		2.87%
Gamba Osaka		2.37%
Nagoya Grampus		1.74%
Sanfrecce Hiroshima		1.24%
Vegalta Sendai		1.01%
Condadole Sapporo		0.97%
FC Tokyo		0.74%
Kyoto Purple Sanga		0.12%

Final Decision on Turf Replacement Due This Weekend

An investigation that followed these complaints revealed that the individuals hired to supervise the preparation of this pitch had no prior experience working on football pitches; their main work in the past was on golf courses!!! This has created an uproar, since there are many well-known stadium management companies in Japan, and the country boasts some of the finest surfaces anywhere in the world. The pitch at Yokohama Stadium, for example, was widely praised by FIFA officials after Japan's Confederations Cup match against Australia was played in the midst of a downpour, yet held up extremely well. The condition of the Saitama pitch is viewed as an embarassment, and there has been pressure to fix it quickly.

However, stadium officials suggest that the work they have done over the past two months has solved any problems with the surface, and want one last chance to prove that it is in ggod condition. If the surface fails to meet JAWOC approval on Saturday, new stadium management personnel will be appointed and the pitch will be re-laid.

Hattori and Morioka Back in Playing Condition

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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