April 8, 2002: Week 5
A Surprise Package No Longer
| Date | Home | . | Visitor | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Apr |  | 0-2 |  | Kashima Stadium |
| 6 Apr |  | 0-4 |  | Nihondaira |
| 6 Apr |  | 5-1 |  | Nishikyogyoku |
| 6 Apr |  | 0-1(ET) |  | Kobe Wing |
| 6 Apr |  | 1-1 |  | Kokuritsu Stad. |
| 6 Apr |  | 4-1 |  | Kashiwa-no-ha |
| 7 Apr |  | 4-1 |  | Komaba Stadium |
| 7 Apr |  | 2-1(ET) |  | Yokohama Intl |
0-2 
The biggest match, and the most remarkable result of the day came from Kashima Stadium, where the upstarts from Sendai humbled last week's league champions. At the start of the season, we predicted that Vegalta would be a very tough opponent this season, and perform better than most of the pundits expected, but even we were not prepared for the energy that has exploded out of Japan's Tohoku region.
0-2 Despite the score line, this was either team's match for all but the final five minutes, and it was played at a tremendous pace which had the 27,000+ fans on their feet for most of the time. Kashima have been having some real troubles putting the ball in the net this season, and that problem was on display once again today. However, that certainly is not to say that they didnt create a lot of chances. Midfielders Masashi Motoyama and Mitsuo Ogasawara orchestrated some exciting opportunities, but the Antlers forwards were unable to put any goals away. Not that they had an easy time of it, either. As they have shown all year, the Vegalta defence, anchored by former Antlers defender Ricardo and former Marino Norio Omura , were extremely difficult to break down. Nevertheless, the match was very exciting, with many scoring opportunities for each team. In the first half, Vegalta's Teruo Iwamoto rattled the woodwork on a free kick, and Atsushi Yanagisawa flaked the paint off an upright as well, just before half time
Despite the many opportunities, it wasnt until the 74 minute that the ball finally went into the net. Once again, Senda's offensive hotline of Iwamoto and Marcos created the goal. The goal came almost out of nowhere, as Iwamoto collected a long pass from just over the midfield line, and crossed it into the Kashima box. The tall and speedy Marcos managed to elude his defenders and get a head to it, releasing a blast that the keeper had no chance to save.
Kashima mounted a few attempts to equalize over the next ten minutes, but four minutes from full time, their pressure backfired as Vegalta got a strong counterattack down the left flank. As Marcos steamed towards the box, he temporarily lost the ball, but managed to push it off to substitute midfielder Takahiro Yamada in the left corner. Yamada returned the ball to Marcos at the top of the box, as he snuck free of his defender, and he volleyed the ball in from short range to end any Antlers hopes of salvaging the match.
Lineups:
Hitoshi Sogahata, Fabiano, Seiji Kaneko, Akira Narahashi, Koji Nakata, Koji Kumagai, Naoto Honda (Takuya Ishikawa 79), Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama, Atsushi Yanagisawa (Yoshiyuki Hasegawa 79), Takayuki Suzuki (Tomoyuki Hirase 71)
Norio Takahashi, Yusuke Mori, Ricardo Ribeiro, Norio Omura, Tetsuya Murata, Hajime Moriyasu, Silvinho, Yasushi Fukunaga (Takahiro Yamada 64), Teruo Iwamoto (Shinji Fujiyoshi 89), Yoshiteru Yamashita, Marcos
0-4 
S-Pulse looked flat for most of this contest. Although they had a few interesting opportunities, most of them orchestrated by right wing Daisuke Ichikawa who had a good match on offense, but provided too much space on the flanks for Nagoya counterattacks. Shimizu clearly missed captain Masaaki Sawanobori, whose coordinating efforts in midfield were badly needed. In general they were simply outplayed by Grampus throughout this contest. Nagoya's new Brazilian striker, Marcelo, had his best performance to date, and it will be a big boost to the team if he continues to improve his coordination and communication with teammates. The other Brazilian forward, Ueslei, also put on a good show, and it certainly looked like a different team from the one which stumbled to a 3-0 loss to Consadole Sapporo last week
The first-half was fairly even, with both teams creating their opportunities but both experiencing communication breakdowns on the final pass. S-Pulse as a team, and particularly Alessandro Santos, displayed the one weakness which tends to plague him (and his entire team) at times -- excessive reliance on indifidual dribbling, and too little ball movement. Coach Zemunovic made precisely those comments as the team came out for the second half, but Shimizu would fail to make the necessary correction in the second half, whereas the Grampus players finally started reading from the same page.
Nagoya's first goal had a big effect on the match, as it gave Grampus an important boost of confidence. Thereafter, their play was much smoother than at any time yet this season. The play started with Tetsuya Okayama carrying the ball down the left sideline and slipping a diagonal pass to Tarik Oulida at the edge of the box. Oulida curled a pass over his defender and onto the head of Marcelo, racing in from the back post. Marcelo headed the ball right between the keeper's legs, to put Nagoya in the lead.
It took less than five minutes to double the advantage, and this tide it was Yusuke Nakatani who drove the sideline, cutting down the right flank and bulling his way through two defenders before centering to a wide-open Ueslei, eight meters from goal. Ueslei stooped to drive a thunderous header past the S-Pulse keeper, and Nagoya were off to the races.
Just five minutes after the second goal, Marcelo got his second goal of the match, heading home a corner kick from the left side, and he finished off his hat trick seven minutes later, on a fine cross from Ueslei who once agin turned the S-Pulse flank and found open room for a centering pass.
Lineups:
Takaya Kurokawa, Tomohiro Ikeda, Katsumi Oenoki, Takuma Koga, Daisuke Ichikawa, Kazuyuki Toda, Yasuhiro Yoshida, Alessandro Santos, Yohei Hiramatsu (Cvitanovic 67), Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Masaaki Sawanobori 54), Baron
Seigo Narazaki, Yasunari Hiraoka, Masayuki Omori, Masahiro Koga, Tetsuya Okayama, Tomoyuki Sakai, Tarik Oulida (Yasuyuki Moriyama 84), Yusuke Nakatani, Naoshi Nakamura (Kunihiko Takizawa 86), Ueslei, Marcelo
5-1 
For their part, Kyoto seemed only the less bad of two bad teams on this day. Their five-goal performance is not likely to worry many future opponents. Striker Teruaki Kurobe has been one of the few glimmers of promise in the Purple Sanga lineup this year, but even his hat trick is flattering when you consider that two of those goals came from the penalty spot.
Indeed, a PK is how Kyoto got the scoring started, when what looked like an incidental collision at the edge of the Verdy box was called a foul, and the Purple Sanga were gifted with a chance to score. After Kurobe converted, Verdy -- and particularly ace striker Edmundo -- seemed to lose interest. Midway through the first half, Kurobe beat his defender on the left flank, and as he cut for the box, he spotted Daisuke Matsui breaking through the middle. His lob pass was well-placed, and Matsui was able to run onto it for an point-blank header.
Just after the half, Kurobe got his one "legitimate" goal of the match, after Verdy's substitute keeper, Takahiro Shibasaki, fumbled a long shot and the rebound fell to Kurobe for an easy chip-in. Shortly thereafter Kurobe got his second chance from the penalty spot, to complete his hat trick, and An Hyo-Yon closed out the scoring by slamming home a cross from fellow Korean Park Choi-Son.
Lineups:
Hideaki Ueno, Kazuki Teshima, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Makoto Kakuda, Tadashi Nakamura, Park Choi-Son, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Shingo Suzuki, An Hyo-Yon (Makoto Atsuta 86), Daisuke Matsui, Teruaki Kurobe (Yusaku Ueno 73)
Takahiro Shibasaki, Yoshihiro Nishida, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsushi Yoneyama, Takuya Yamada, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (Seitaro Tomizawa 53), Naoki Soma, Hideki Nagai (Mishiyasu Nagata 53), Edmundo, Keiji Ishizuka (Naoto Sakurai 53), Marquinhos
0-1(ET) 
After a relatively defensive 90 minutes, the extra time period ended abruptly. Less than a minute after the kickoff, Fukunishi received a cross at the right edge of the box, and he released a bouncing shot that slipped just inside the far post to give Jubilo victory.
Lineups:
Arno VanZwam, Hideto Suzuki (Go Oiwa 86), Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Norihiro Nishi, Takashi Fukunishi, Jo Kanazawa (Toshihiro Hattori 60), Toshiya Fujita, Aleksandr Zivkovic, Masashi Nakayama, Naohiro Takahara (Rodrigo Gral 75)
Makoto Kakegawa, Sidiclei, Yukio Tsuchiya, Koji Yoshimura, Shigeyoshi Mochizuki, Masayuki Okano (Daniel 89), Ataliba, Masaya Nishitani (Takeshi Hirano 55), Kazu Miura, Ryuji Bando (Naoya Saeki 84), Shoji Jo
4-1 
Despite a fairly impressive outing last week against Nagoya Grampus, Consadole is performing about as poorly as most people expected at the start of the season. They have put together some more encouraging offensive play in recent weeks, but the defence continues to be a major weak spot. Reysol, on the other hand, are starting to look a little bit more competitive, after starting out poorly with two losses in their first three matches. The team's three foreight players, Koreans Hwang Sun-Hong and Yoo Sang-Chul as well as Brazilian volante Cesar Sampaio, look like they are finally meshing well with the team. One move which may have had some positive impact was the shift of Yoo from midfield to the front line. Though Yoo has played much of his career at midfield, he looked most impressive at the Yokohama Marinos, two years ago, when he like they were using him as a striker. In this week's match, Steve Perryman gave Yoo a start up front, and he justified the move with a very good performance.
Kashiwa got the first goal of the match in the 12 minute, after winning a free kick about thirdy meters out, on the left side. Harutaka Ono, who had his best performance of the season, took the kick and found Sampaio in the center of the box. The Brazilian used his excellent jumping ability to leap over his defender and head home from about five meters out.
Ono's passing skills were on display again in the 29 minute, as he carried the ball down the right flank and crossed into the box. This time, the recipient was Yoo, who cut right in front of two Consadole defenders to get a head on the ball and deflect it in from point-blank range.
Consadole showed that they are becoming more competitive on the offensive end, at any rate, cuttingthe lead to one goal just five minutes later. Koji Yamase made a fine play, fighting off a challenge from behind and pushing a pass to Hiromi Kojima at the top right corner of the box, then following his pass with a cut towards goal. Kojima made a fine post-play as well, screening the ball while watching Yamase's cut, and then pushing a back-heel directly into the midfielder's path for an open shot from ten meters. The ball slipped just inside the right post to reduce the margin to 2-1.
But just before the half, Reysol moved out to a two-goal lead once more. This time, Hwang got credit for the header, though in fact, his head just barely brushed the high ball into the box, before glancing off the shoulders of both keeper and defender and falling across the line for a goal. Kashiwa added one more on a long free kick from the left side, by Ono, which was misread by the keeper and allowed to bounce untouched inside the near post.
Shortly after the fourth Reysol goal, Consadole were handed an opportunity to get back into the game, as Kojima was foulde from behind in the penalty area by Norihiro Satsukawa. It was a clear foul and PK, and although Satsukawa might argue that the referee was a bit harsh in showing him a red ticket to the shower room, any defender who fouls an opponent from behind when his team enjoys a three goal lead in the second half, deserves a red card for stupidity, if not for rough play. Unfortunately for Consadole, Kojima's free kick went exactly where Yuta Minami expected it, and the Reysol keeper was able to knock the ball over the end line and maintain Reysol's three goal edge. Despite being a man down, this was more than enough of a lead, so Reysol merely packed their penalty box with defenders and waited out the final thirty minutes.
Lineups:
Yuta Minami, Takeshi Watanabe, Norihiro Satsukawa, Shigenori Hagimura, Tomokazu Myojin, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Cesar Sampaio, Tomonori Hirayama (Takuya Morikawa 64), Harutaka Ono, Yoo Sang-Chul (Hideaki Kitajima 87), Hwang Sun-Hong (Kensuke Nebiki 77)
Yohei Sato, Yasuyuki Konno, Kyosuke Yoshikawa, Kensaku Omori (Tomokazu Hirama 82), Ryuji Tabuchi (Naoki Sakai 45), Tomohiro Wanami, Hitoshi Morishita, Biju, Koji Yamase, Hiromi Kojima, Takafumi Ogura (Robson 45)
1-1 
FC Tokyo replied just after the half, and their goal also came on a set play. After his initial corner kick was headed back out by the JEF defence, Masashi Miyazawa collected the ball and sent it into the box a second time, in what looked like a centering pass. But the ball seemed to have eyes, as it weaved through a forest of players and found its way home, just inside the right post.
The remainder of regulation time was a mad scramble of opportunities, but each one went begging. As the match went into extra time, it seemed a near certainty that one team would score, but FC Tokyo were denied by the woodwork not once, but twice in the extra time period. Then, in the 120 minut of the match, Choi Yong-Soo put a fitting cap on the evening, by collecting a through pass and breaking free into the box, then faking the keeper to his knees. Choi then proceded to hit a soft shot which . . . bounced back off the left post, to leave the match in an inconclusive draw.
Lineups:
Yoichi Doi, Minoru Kobayashi, Jean Carlo Witte (Takayuki Komine 13), Tetsuya Ito, Takahiko Shimotaira, Satoru Asari, Masashi Miyazawa, Daisuke Hoshi (Hiroyuki Omata 90), Kelly (Kazuya Maeda 96), Masamitsu Kobayashi (Masatoshi Matsuda 76), Amaral
Ryo Kushino, Eisuke Nakanishi, Meguku Yoshida, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto (Shigetoshi Hasebe 106), Yuki Abe (Akihiro Tabata 113), Shinichi Muto, Tasdatoshi Masuda (Shinji Murai 66), Edin Mujcin, Naotake Hanyu (Takenori Hayashi 90), Choi Yong-Soo
4-1 
The game kicked off to the tremendous roar of 19,000 members of the Saitama Red Army, who packed into Komaba stadium and welcomed their beloved Reds back to their "original" home ground. Though the beautiful Saitama Soccer Stadium holds more fans, and is better designed for football, it seems that the familiar surroundings provided the team with a real boost which carried them out of their early season slump . . . at least for this week.
The Reds came out of the gate in a rush, and it was apparent early on that they were determined to end their losing skid. However, it was actually Sanfrecce who scored first. Tatsuhiko Kubo scored on a counterattack in the 5 minute, after a nice exchange between Yuichi Komano and Naoya Umeda on the right edge of the box provided a rolling pass to the far post which Kubo tapped in. The huge croud drew a collective breath of concern, wondering if their team would flounder to yet another narrow loss due to a goal conceded in the first few minutes. But that was not to be.
Hans Ooft has been criticised a bit, recently, for sticking with his cautious 4-4-2 lineup, which has aging striker Masahiro Fukuda at the playmaker position behind Brazilian speedsters Emerson and Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel, but uses two very defensive players in support on Fukuda's flanks, in Ryuji Michiki and Keita Suzuki. However, this week we finally had a chance to see how the formation performs when it is in proper working order. Suzuki, Michiki and Harison plugged up the center of the pitch, collecting balls from the Sanfrecce midfield, while Fukuda and right wing back Nobuhisa Yamada provided a steady stream of through balls for the speedy Emerson and Tuto to chase. Emerson leveled the score in the 17 minute, after Tuto rolled a soft pass for him to chase into the box, and Emerson sped past his defender to drive a shot inside the right post.
At this point the tide began to turn, and several dashes towards goal by the speedy forwards culminated in a fine play that pushed Urawa into the lead in the 36 minute. Fukuda carried the ball through midfield and then provided a long pass into space that Emerson and Tuto follwed into the penalty area. Emerson carried the ball to the right edge of the box, and as Michel Pensee Billong cut off his progress, he pulled the ball back and and put on a move which turned Billong's undershorts inside out. As the big Cameroonian defender stood flapping in the wind, Emerson cut the ball in front of the net, and Tuto strode between two defenders to poke it home.
At this point, Sanfrecce's resistance was beginning to crumble, but it was a play on the defensive end which turned the momentum of the match once and for all. Sanfrecce had only one or two real chances of their own in the latter stages of the second half, but on one of them, Yuki Kuwabara plowed into keeper Norihiro Yamagishi with spikes up, and battered his left knee. On the replay, the foul looked dangerous enough to merit a red card, but the referee apparently missed the play, and only called a foul. But the Reds seemed to take the play as a call to arms, and when Yohei Nishibe took over the goalkeeping duties, they resumed their attack with a vengeance. For the remaining eight or ten minutes of the first half, there was a sudden tidal surge towards the Hiroshima goal mouth, which saw one wild breakaway follow another until finally Emerson secured his second score of the match, on the stroke of half time. This time it was Tuto's turn to provide the assist, bulling his way through three defenders and into the box before one finally pried it loose. But as the ball rolled towards the penalty spot, Emerson scooped it up, spun around and fired into the low corner to extend the lead
The Reds came out in the second half with an air of complete authority. Although Sanfrecce recovered slightly from the crush of momentum that had hit them at the end of the first half, it took only about ten minutes for Emerson to complete his hat trick and put the game away for good. Once again, some nice ball work at midfield sent Tuto and Emerson away to the races, with Tuto heading for the left post and Emerson cut to the right. As soon as he got a step on his man, though, Emerson decided not to waste time with an unnecessary pass. Instead, he launched a rocket of a shot that nearly took the keeper's head off, scraped just under the bar and strained the nylon in the roof of the net. Thereafter, the match was virtually on cruise control. The Reds played out the remaining 30 minutes without offering Sanfrecce any opportunity whatsoever to get back into the contest, and they nearly extended their lead on two or three occasions. Indeed, Harison was left shaking his head after Tuto put him free for a wide-open shot at net from five meters, but he pulled it just milimeters past the post.
Reds fans will be hoping that the team can maintain this level of play in coming matches, while Sanfrecce must try to find the defensive stamina that they displayed in their first two matches this season, but which has since deserted them.
Lineups:
Norihiro Yamagishi (Yohei Nishibe 40), Tadaaki Tsuboi, Masami Ihara, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Keita Suzuki, Ryuji Michiki , Harison, Masahiro Fukuda, Tuto, Emerson
Takashi Shimoda, Michel Pensee Billong, Shinya Kawashima, Yuichi Komano, Kentaro Sawada, Naoya Umeda, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Koji Morisaki, Chikara Fujimoto, Milo (Yuki Kuwabara 22) (Tulio Tanaka 45), Tatsuhiko Kubo
2-1(ET) 
As we predicted at the outset of this season, Gamba Osaka are proving to be a very difficult team to score on. However, despite some sparkling midfield play from their new field general, Marcelinho Carioca, they are having more and more trouble scoring as the season wears on. Their opponents this week, Yokohama Marinos, find themselves in a similar situation. The defence has generally stood them in good stead this year, as their unbeaten record indicates. However, goals have been slow in coming, as midfielders Shunsuke Nakamura, Nobuhisa Shimizu and Daisuke Oku continue to play as talented individualists, rather than members of a coordinated team offense. This made for a tense and exciting, but rather frustrating match, regardless of which team you were rooting for. Both sides generated a host of opportunities, only to squander them time and time again.
Despite the defensive nature of the match, it started off with signs that the score line might be much higher. Gamba got on the board first, when the Marinos back line made the only major mistake of the entire match. A long, high ball from midfield sent Kota Yoshihara towards the Marinos goal, but Yuji "Bomberhead" Nakazawa seemed to have it well covered. Unfortunately, keeper Tatsuya Enomoto came off his line looking to collect the ball on the first bound, and failed to communicate this fact with Nakazawa. As the ball took its first hop, Nakazawa headed a soft backward lob to where Enomoto should have been. But since he had come out towards the edge of the box, Bomberhead's header bombed right over the stranded keeper, and bounced softly into the open net
Though Gamba had their counterattacking opportunities, Marinos controlled the pace and posession from this moment on, and it took only about ten minutes to equalize. As Yokohama's offensive players swarmed into the box on one counterattack, the ball was fed back to midfielder Yoshiharu Endo , who noticed that there was no defender in the vicinity and decided to have a go. His long shot from about 35 meters was not particularly hard, but the keeper was screened by the jumble of players in the box, and didnt see the ball coming until it was too late to reach it.
Thereafter, the match settled down into a fast-paced and suspenseful, but effectively impotent exchange of posessions. The Marinos had the vast majority of posession, but Nakamura and Oku, and to a lesser extent, Shimizu and Yasuhiro Hato, spent too much time weaving their way around the pitch with slick dribbling, and too little time passing the ball to their strikers. For his part, Will squandered several opportunities when he did get a shot. On the other side of the ball, Yoshihara gamely chased the ball, but didnt get too many looks at goal, whereas Magrao squandered a fortune of golden passes from Marcelinho and Toru Araiba.
For ninety minutes, play went end to end with no decisive result, but just as it looked like a draw was looming, a scramble of three or four players in the penalty box coughed up a loose ball about five meters from the left post, with Nakamura the closest player to it. Nakamura could hardly believe his luck, as the ball roled right to his favored left foot, and he simply had to steer his shot through two flat-footed defenders to give Marinos the decisive goal.
Lineups:
Tatsuya Enomoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Naza (Shogo Kobara 44), Naoki Matsuda, Yasuhiro Hato (Tatsunori Hisanaga 101), Yoshiharu Ueno , Daisuke Oku, Dutra, Shunsuke Nakamura, Nobuhisa Shimizu (Ryosuke Kijima 98), Will
Ryota Tsuzuki, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Noritada Saneyoshi, Masao Kiba, Satoshi Yamaguchi , Yasuhito Endo, Toru Araiba, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Marcelinho Carioca, Hideo Hashimoto, Kota Yoshihara, Giuliano "Magrao" Aranda
With Jubilo losing a point due to their extra time victory, Vegalta Sendai move even with them on points and just two goals behind on goal difference. Yokohama Marinos remain two points back while Shimizu S-Pulse and FC Tokyo have both fallen off the pace.
| . | Team | Pts | GP | W (90/ET) | D | L | GDif | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jubilo Iwata | 14 | 5 | 5 (4-1) | 0 | 0 | +10 | 13 | 3 |
| 2 | Vegalta Sendai | 14 | 5 | 5 (4-1) | 0 | 0 | +8 | 11 | 3 |
| 3 | Yokohama Marinos | 12 | 5 | 4 (3-1) | 1 | 0 | +6 | 8 | 2 |
| 4 | Kashiwa Reysol | 9 | 5 | 3 (3-0) | 0 | 2 | +1 | 9 | 8 |
| 5 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 9 | 5 | 4 (1-3) | 0 | 1 | +0 | 6 | 6 |
| 6 | FC Tokyo | 8 | 5 | 2 (2-0) | 2 | 1 | +2 | 8 | 6 |
| 7 | Gamba Osaka | 7 | 5 | 2 (2-0) | 1 | 2 | +0 | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | JEF United | 7 | 5 | 2 (2-0) | 1 | 2 | -3 | 4 | 7 |
| 9 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 6 | 5 | 2 (2-0) | 0 | 3 | +0 | 9 | 9 |
| 10 | Nagoya Grampus | 6 | 5 | 2 (2-0) | 0 | 3 | -1 | 5 | 6 |
| 11 | Kashima Antlers | 6 | 5 | 2 (2-0) | 0 | 3 | -2 | 5 | 7 |
| 12 | Urawa Reds | 4 | 5 | 1 (1-0) | 1 | 3 | +0 | 7 | 7 |
| 13 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 3 | 5 | 1 (1-0) | 0 | 4 | -2 | 8 | 10 |
| 14 | Vissel Kobe | 3 | 5 | 1 (1-0) | 0 | 4 | -2 | 4 | 6 |
| 15 | Consadole Sapporo | 3 | 5 | 1 (1-0) | 0 | 4 | -9 | 5 | 14 |
| 16 | Tokyo Verdy | 0 | 5 | 0 (0-0) | 0 | 5 | -8 | 3 | 11 |
Rumours and Rumblings
Second Denso Cup Decided by Last Gasp Goal
A team of Japan university all-stars edged a similar team from Korean universities by a score of 3-2, in the sixth annual Denso Cup. The event was launched in part to give university players an opportunity to display their skills just ahead of graduation, and hopefully attract interest from J.League and K.League teams. Since the cream of the crop in both countries has usually been signed by this time (the match typically takes place in early April, just before university graduation), the level of play was not exactly breathtaking, but several youngsters put on impressive displays in this match, which Japan won on a last-second goal by MVP Yoshiro Abe.
The Denso Cup was played in Tokyo's National Stadium, and hosting moves between Japan and Korea in alternate years. The match was closely-fought, with Japan taking the lead twice only to have Korea equalize. In an unusual reversal of the typical style of matches between the two countries, in this match it was Korea who played ball-control passes at midfield and sought to penetrate Japan's defence, and Japan who were looking for the speedy counterattack. Abe got the scoring started with a rush into the box from the left side, weaving through two defenders and then sending a bullet into the top right corner. Korea equalized on a similarly sparkling run by Korea's Choi Song-Ko, who also got Korea's second goal and was the clear standout player on the visiting team. Korea equalized before the half, and the second half followed a similar pattern, with Japan scoring on a long ball that was poked past the keeper, and Choi equalizing on a mazy dribble from the right flank. As time ran down towards the final whistle, Japan got a corner kick from the left side which was sent to the near post and then headed on to Abe, who raced in at the far post to head home the winner.
Tokyo Duo Out for the Interim
FC Tokyo defender Jean Carlo Witte and attacking midfielder Clesley "Kelly" Guimares will both be out of action for all of the remaining J.League matches prior to the World Cup, following injuries suffered in the team's match against JEF United. Jean was forced to leave the match early in the first half, with pulled leg muscles that are expected to take about two or three weeks to heal. Kelly's injuries appear to be a bit more serious. The midfielder suffered an ankle injury and although the doctors have not yet provided a specific prognosis for his date of return, it is believed that he will be out for at least a month.
The team received another big blow this week, when midfielder Masamitsu Kobayashi broke his leg in a motorcycle accident. No final work on the extent of his injury was released, but it seems likely that he will be out for the remainder of the first stage.
Marinos Triage Unit Also Keeping Busy
Yokohama Marinos boss Sebastiao Lazaroni will be fretting over his lineup card for this coming weekend's match against Hiroshima Sanfrecce. Three starting defenders have all been scratched due to injuries sustained last weekend. Yasuhiro Hato and Yuji Nakazawa both have injuries which are viewed as less serious, and will probably miss only one match, whereas defender Naza may be out until after the World Cup. In addition, midfielder Dutra is considered doubtful for this weekend's match after aggragvating an injury to his right thigh.
Get Ready for Chiba United?
JEF United Ichihara have confirmed their plans to expand the team's home town area to include the city of Chiba, in Chiba prefecture. The move has been a source of speculation since prior to the start of the season, as JEF have had a very hard time attracting a solid fan base in the Tokyo suburb of Ichihara, and Chiba has far better stadium facilities in terms of both convenience and seating capacity. The team surprised soccer fans, however, when it indicated that it will not only move its home base, but also change the team name, effective from the 2004 season.
The decision to broaden the definition of its home town was widely expected, and seems a very logical choice as the team tries to establish its individual local identity. When the J.League was founded, JEF tried to cultivate a fan base in eastern Tokyo, since at that time, there was no J.League club actually based in the capital city. However, Tokyo now has two teams based in Tokyo -- Tokyo Verdy and FC Tokyo -- and due to the limited seating capacity and inconvenient location of JEF's home stadium, the team has been unable to compete for the loyalty of Tokyo-area fans. By expanding the definition of its home town to include the entire Chib area (the town of Ichihara is actually located in Chiba prefecture), JEF has a chance to build a separate identity and local fan base. However, the decision to change its name -- and perhaps much more -- came as quite a surprise. According to a team official, "From 2004 we plan to start completely new. We will take fan suggestions for a new name. Basically we will have a whole new identity -- the team name, the mascot, and everything".
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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