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July 15, 2002
Crazed Crowds in Kanto; Comatose in Kansai

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
13 Jul		3-4 (ET)		Matsumoto Stad.
13 Jul		1-0		Kashima Stadium
13 Jul		2-3 (ET)		Saitama Stadium
13 Jul		2-0		Mitsuzawa Stad.
13 Jul		2-0		Nishikyogyoku
13 Jul		1-0		Kobe Wing
14 Jul		4-0		Tokyo Stadium
14 Jul		1-4		Nihondaira

2-3(ET)

Jubilo came into the match ranked second in the league table, and with a long history of success against the Reds, but it was the home team that came out strongest, and showed that they badly wanted to give their home fans a reason to celebrate. Just three minutes into the match, veteran striker-turned-midfielder Masahiro Fukuda won a roar of approval as he broke into the box and fired a bullet that just missed the right post. The thunderous cheers would get even louder three minutes later, as the home team took the lead on a stirring individual effort. The Reds' strike force of Tuto and Emerson combined on the play, as Tuto fired a long pass to his striker partner, who worked his way free to the right of the goal. Emerson aimed carefully and headed the ball back across the face of goal, leaving the keeper as motionless as the Venus de Milo. But the ball hit the back post and bounced out into the field of play. Refusing to give up on his opportunity, Emerson rushed past the retreating defence, beat everyone to the ball and toed it into the back of the net.

Emerson's tally held up until shortly after half time, when Jubilo's irrepressable veteran Masashi "Gon" Nakayama equalized. Nakayama's goal came off a set play, from the right sideline, which was flicked on by Suzuki and then hammered home by Nakayama. It appeared that the tide might be shifting in favor of the visitors, who had been on the back foot for most of the match, but were finally starting to apply the pressure. But before the momentum could turn completely, Jubilo defender Hideto Suzuki was caught for one too many professional fouls. Suzuki had been treading a thin line all evening, using every physical trick in the book to keep the speedy Reds strikers at bay, but in the 78 minute he came in a bit to hard from behind on an inlet pass to youngster Tatsuya Tanaka. The Reds' striker made a smart play, flicking the ball on into the box, in the certainty that Suzuki would crash into him from behind, as he had been doing all night long. With the ball rolling towards goal and Tanaka sprawling headlong onto the turf, the referee could not avoid showing Suzuki a second yellow, and Emerson made sure that Jubilo paid the full price for this error by drilling the subsequent free kick into the high corner to put Urawa back in front.

But as has been his habit throughout his career, the Reds' nemisis, Nakayama, chose the perfect time to pull out the short dagger and stick it in where it hurts the most. Just two minutes after the Reds' goal, Nakayama slipped through the defence on what looked like a relatively harmless free kick from veteran midfielder Toshiya Fujita, and headed the ball past the fingertips of the keeper, to knot the score once more.

As the match went into extra time, the Reds seemed to have the upper hand, with a man advantage, a roaring crowd behind them, and a great deal of energy. The first two minutes of the extra time were a continuous barrage of the Jubilo penalty box, and it looked like a goal would not be long in coming. But Urawa got a bit too eager, and the defence pushed a bit too far forward in support of the attack. As Jubilo cleared the ball from their zone, Takashi Fukunishi spotted Fujita sprinting out of his own end, and lobbed a long ball for Fujita to run for. The Reds defence was caught leaning the wrong way, and by the time Fujita cleared midfield, he was several meters ahead of the nearest defender. He caught up to the bounding ball twenty-five meters from goal, settled it once, and then fired underneath the lunge of the outrushing keeper to give Jubilo an exciting victory.

1-0

With ten minutes to play in regulation, though, the dogged Verdy defence finally cracked. Augusto picked up a ball in midfield and spotted Euller breaking for the box. A perfectly placed lob pass allowed Euller to split the last two defenders and get a split-second opening from just beyong the left post. Euller made no mistake, hitting the ball on the first touch for a blistering grounder that snuck inside the far post.

2-0

Unfortunately for the visitors, Yokohama are proving to be the best defensive team in the league, now that central defender Yuji "Bomberhead" Nakazawa has been fully integrated into the back line, which also features national team defender Naoki Matsuda and Vasco da Gama's well-worn veteran Geisel Jose da Lima (Naza). This unit has been the stingiest team in the league, conceding just three goals this season, and despite aggressive charges into the Marinos zone by Marcos and Yoshiteru Yamashita, Vegalta were unable to crack the defence. However, shortly after half time the Marinos got their first tally on a counter by Daisuke Oku, who was the recipient of a fortunate rebound following a powereful header by Daisuke Sakata. Oku collected the loose ball to the left of the post, and squeezed it between the keeper and the post.

About ten minutes later, Naza showed that he does more than just providing solid defence, as he drilled home the insurance goal from a long range free kick. The victory raises Yokohama to a solid first-place position in the league, two points ahead of Jubilo and four ahead of Vegalta.

2-0

The lack of fans is quite a pity, for Kyoto in particular. After several years in which the team fully deserved the disdain it received from Kyoto-area fans, the Purple Sanga are turning into a very exciting and promising team under Gert Engels. Though Kyoto have done a very poor job of building grassroots support, they have been very good at developing their youth programme, and that is now beginning to pay off as several youngsters who came up through the Purple Sanga Youth organization start to emerge as budding stars. Furthermore, under Engels, Kyoto are playing a take-no-prisoners attacking game that is quite simply enjoyable to watch. At the start of the year, it seemed like Kyoto might be prime relegation candidates, but after the first three or four matches, they have emerged as a very scrappy club that will almost surely manage to remain up next season. By contrast, their opponents Kashiwa Reysol are proving to be one of the most heartily disappointing teams in the league. Last year, Steve Perryman insinuated his way into the head coaching job by harping on the fact that former coach Akira Nishino was unable to "get the most out of his team". Yet Perryman has taken basically the same team that Nishino managed to a third-place finish in 2000 and sixth place in the first stage of 2001, and turned them into a potential relegation candidate.

This week's match was a reflection of the direction these two teams are headed. Kyoto came out with a very positive attitude, pushing for a score and attacking the ball with vigour, while Reysol played cynical, lethargic and largely defensive football, and got the result they deserved. Engles has been starting youngsters Teruaki Kurobe, and U-21 star Daisuke Matsui on the two flanks beside Park (who this week was replaced by veteran Makoto Atsuta ) in what is essentially a 3-3-1-3 formation, and bringing on energetic reserves like Daisuke Nakaharai and Yusaku Ueno to ensure that he always has fast legs up front. Though the defence may not be solid enough to prevail against the league's top 3 or 4 clubs, the offensive pressure is more than enough to overwhelm teams like Reysol. Midway through the first half, Kurobe got Kyoto on the board with a nice run and feed from Matsui. Kurobe accelerated past the last defender and then tucked the ball into the far corner, beyond the grasp of Yuta Minami Then, at about the same point in the second half, Engels brought on Nakaharai who needed just two minutes on the pitch to double Kyoto's lead and seal the lid on Kashiwa's coffin. Kashiwa can only blame themselves for the second goal, as a horrendous clearance from the back line was intercepted by Kurobe, who centered to a wide-open Nakaharai for a very easy finish.

1-0

Fortunately for Kobe, this week their opponent was Consadole Sapporo, who have emerged as the most hapless team in the league, this year. A goal midway through the second half by defender Yukio Tsuchiya, who a href="http://www2.j-ole.com/mpeg/2002/0713/102082201_01.mpg">headed in a free kick at the back post, was enough to gain Kobe the victory in a rather dull contest.

3-4(ET)

However, Nagoya came out in the second half with a roar, and Ueslei quickly cut the deficit, with a PK in the 50 minute, after being cut down in the penalty area. Oshiba replied eight minutes later, on what might have been the best goal of the week. Oshiba broke into the box a step ahead of his defender, and Mitsutoshi Watada led him with a perfect pass over the left shoulder. Oshiba looked up just as the ball arrived, swung his right foot at it and caught it on the volley, sending it into the high, far corner.

After that, however it was all Nagoya, as the Grampus laid back their ears and threw everything they had into attack. Tomoyuki Sakai cut the deficit to one in the 65 minute with a nice scoop shot that he somehow managed to flick over the defender and keeper, as he was falling backwards. Ueslei knotted the score seven minutes later, heading in a short cross from Nakamura. The final ten minutes of regulation were pell-mell action from end to end, as Nagoya pushed for the winner, and JEF did their best to counter with fast breaks down the wings. But neither team could claim victory in regulation. Then, in the 8 minute of extra time, Ueslei put the cap on his evening with his third goal, off the rebound of a blistering shot from Moravcik. The ball was parried by the JEF keeper, but it fell right to Ueslei who slammed it into the low right corner, carrying Grampus to a golden goal victory.

1-4

The headline story in this match was the goal rush by Gamba's long and lean Brazilian striker, Magrao, but the true stars were the diminutive Kota Yoshihara and journeyman midfielders Shigeru Morioka and Yasuhito Endo. S-Pulse came out from the first touch of the ball with a very nonchalant approach to the match, sagging off the players they were defending and playing a large number of high balls into the box for Baron, which provided little danger for the Gamba defenders. But on the other side of the ball, Gamba were a bit slow out of the box as well, and so the first 20 minutes of the match were unsettled and inconclusive. But the match broke wide open in the 25 minute following the first of several errors on the evening by the S-Pulse defence. Following a sequence of S-Pulse pressure that drew the back line quite far forward, Gamba intercepted a pass in their end and broke out on the counter. As Endo took the outlet pass at midfield, S-Pulse defenders collapsed on both him and the lumbering Magrao. But Endo spotted Yoshihara darting in from the far side and unleashed a precision slant pass which sliced the Shimizu back line open like fresh maguro under the sashimi knife. Yoshihara collected the pass a step outside the box and gave it a little flick to elude the outrushing Takuya Kurokawa. The ball cleared the helpless keeper's glove and Yoshihara was past him for what looked like an easy tap in, leaving Kurokawa with no other hope of recovery, so he unwisely threw out his arm as Yoshihara sped past and spun the little striker to the ground. Fortunately, the referee was in an obliging mood, and opted to show only a yellow. But Magrao easily drilled the PK to put Gamba in front.

At this point, the supposedly top-notch national team stars from Shimizu displayed an astonishing loss of composure and concentration which quickly put the match out of reach. Perhaps the biggest culprit was midfielder Alex Santos who seemed to forget that midfielders have not one, but two jobs to do. Over the next ten or fifteen minutes, Alex repeatedly raced headlong into attack without checking player positions or considering the dangers of the counterattack, and Gamba's two midfielders on that side, Endo and Morioka, made him pay dearly. Meanwhile, Yoshihara's darting flashes in and out of the box kept luring captain and central defender Ryuzo Morioka out of position, creating openings for the 192-cm Magrao. The result was total mayhem on the right wing for Gamba. Just a few minutes after the first goal, as Alex rushed headlong into the box in search of glory, a stolen pass sent Endo into the clear down the right sideline, and although his cross was on the money, this tike Kurokawa was able to deflect Magrao's shot past the post. But not long afterward, an almost identical play developed out of the Gamba midfield. Once again, Alex pushed well forward from his left wing position, despite the fact that there was no one else on that side to cover his position. When Gamba cleared the ball, Hiroshige Yanagimoto had plenty of space to carry the ball up the wing, and when defender Srdan Peceli finally was forced to come forward to cut him off, Yanagimoto unleashed Morioka down the wing. Morioka took the ball to the end line, and looped a pass towards the penalty spot, where the towering Magrao headed a blast off the underside of the crossbar, which crossed the line before Kurokawa could push it back out. S-Pulse were now in full retreat

A mere two minutes later, on a virtual replay of this wide-open rush down the right wing, Peceli was able to just barely toe the ball over the end line before Morioka could get his cross in. But a well-placed corner kick by Endo once again found Magrao open in front of the net, and his header was solid enough to slip through Kurokawa's hands and into the nylon.

S-Pulse came out looking a bit more settled in the second half, but about 12 minutes in, Santos was caught yet again, racing into the box before his teammates could even set up for a pass. Once more, the Gamba clearance went straight out to the right wing, and Gamba's Morioka was again off to the races. His low cross from the right sideline was completely unchallenged, and Magrao volleyed it calmly with the left foot to collect his fourth goal of the night. An exasperated Zdravko Zemunovic immediately got out the hook and sent Santos to the far end of the bench, where he spent the rest of the night shaking his head and muttering to himself. In all fairness to Alex, Peceli's severe slowness of foot, and Morioka's excessive preoccupation with the pesky runs of Yoshihara contributed a great deal to the goals as well. Nevertheless, it is rare for a player to miss an assignment in a football match so lethally, and so repeatedly.

Once Alex had been replaced by Kohei Hiramatsu, the gaping hole on Shimizu's left flank was plugged, and the final 30 minutes was an inconclusive, see-saw affair. Kazuyuki Toda even managed to get a consolation goal for Shimizu, with a viscious blast from 25 meters which scorched the inside of the left post. But by that time it really was meaningless, as Gamba were just counting down the final moments. It will be interesting to see how Santos responds to this adversity. Despite his obvious talent with the ball, Alex has now been benched twice in a row (once by Troussier in the World Cup match against Turkey) as a result of his failure to follow coaching directions. Nor is this the first time that quistions have been raised about his ability to perform as a "team player". One certainly hopes that Alex can overcome this tendency, and learn how to employ his obvious skills while remaining on the same page as his coach and teammates. However, if he is unable to do so, he could quickly discover that Zico is even more unforgiving about players who miss their assignments than was Monsieur Troussier.

4-0

Tokyo set the mood for the evening with a blitzkreig strike from the opening tap which nearly saw Miyazawa break into the box for an uncontested shot. Chikara Fujimoto was forced to commit a professional foul as he raced into the clear, earning the fastest yellow card in league history (14 seconds). However, for much of the first half, Tokyo were living dangerously. They applied heavy pressure down the wings, with Ishikawa and Akira Kaji on the right flank and Miyazawa and Kenji Fukuda pushing up the left sideline, but the central defence was a bit soft, and Hiroshima produced several breakaways that severely tested keeper Yoichi Doi However, Sanfrecce striker Tatsuhiko Kubo was having one of his off nights, and squandered these opportunities, putting one wide-open shot from the edge of the box directly into Doi's chest, and curling a second past the left post. Tokyo didnt really take charge of the match until the 37 minute, when Miyazawa, Ishikawa and Toda combined for a sparkling play that typified their fine coordinated play in this match. Miyazawa carried a ball out of midfield and towards the right side of the box, then spotting an opening, released a sharp slant pass towards Ishikawa, in a post-up position at the top of the circle. As the ball approached Ishikawa, Toda cut towards the box just to his left, and as he felt the defence closing in on him, Ishikawa let the ball roll through. Toda collected the pass and burst clear into the box, for an unchallenged shot on net. He made no mistakes, firing low into the corner to beat the keeper.

Tokyo's second goal came just before the half, and again involved Ishikawa and Toda. This time Ishikawa made a nimble dash up the right flank, and as he approached the bos, he spotted Toda slanting in from the opposite side. Ishikawa unleased a precision pass that split the final two defenders and led Toda perfectly. Although the keeper raced off his line, Toda was a half-step ahead of him, and he just managed to get a toe to it, to push it into the low right corner.

Tokyo came out in the second half with the same aggressiveness they had showin in the first, taking their first posession on a wild dash into the Sanfrecce end. But Ishikawa's centering pass was toed over the end line by defender Michel Pensee Billong, before it could reach the wide-open Miyazawa. Miyazawa did get on the scoring ledger, though, about ten minutes into the second stanza. FC Tokyo won a free kick about four meters beyond the right corner of the box, which was taken by Miyazawa. His shot was placed perfectly, curling over the wall and sneaking just inside the near post.

The final tally, though, was the most spectacular of the night. After veteran striker Amaral came in to replace the tiring Miyazawa, he and "Kelly" Guimares began weaving through the tired Sanfrecce defence with their usual mazy dribbling. As the match wound down, the Hiroshima defenders grew increasingly preoccupied with the pursuid of these two savvy ball handlers. In the 84 minute, Kelly took off on a break down the left side and nearly was able to get off a shot, but he pulled the ball pack to the left of the box when he saw that his line to the goal was cut off. As he dribbled away from goal, shadowed by his defender, Amaral drifted towards him and the two sized up their options. Five defenders formed a wall to close off their route towards goal, all of them mesmerized by the two Brazilians. Indeed, they were so intent on Kelly and Amaral, that none spotted Toda sneaking in at the back post. Toda waved his hand frantically in the air to attract Kelly's attention, and finally succeeded. Kelly looped an arcing pass over all five flatfooted defenders to the wide-open Toda, who chested the ball out of the air and volleyed it home, to complete his first career hat trick.

Following this week's matches, this is how the standings look. Yokohama Marinos are still the frontrunners, with an undefeated record thus far. Jubilo stand two points adrift in second place and Vegalta fall to four points back. Gamba Osaka is the only other team within shouting distance, at five points off the pace.

.	Team	Pts	GP	W (90/ET)	D	L	GDif	GF	GA
1	Yokohama Marinos	21	8	7 (6-1)	1	0	+12	15	3
2	Jubilo Iwata	19	8	7 (5-2)	0	1	+11	19	8
3	Vegalta Sendai	17	8	6 (5-1)	0	2	+7	15	8
4	Gamba Osaka	16	8	5 (5-0)	1	2	+11	19	8
5	Kashima Antlers	12	8	4 (4-0)	0	4	-1	9	10
6	Kyoto Purple Sanga	11	8	4 (3-1)	0	4	+2	13	11
7	Nagoya Grampus	11	8	4 (3-1)	0	4	+1	11	10
8	FC Tokyo	11	8	3 (3-0)	2	3	-1	13	14
9	Kashiwa Reysol	11	8	4 (3-1)	0	4	-2	10	12
10	Shimizu S-Pulse	11	8	4 (1-3)	2	2	-3	8	11
11	JEF United Ichihara	8	8	2 (2-0)	2	4	-7	8	15
12	Vissel Kobe	7	8	2 (2-0)	1	5	-2	6	8
13	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	7	8	2 (2-0)	1	5	-6	9	15
14	Urawa Reds	6	8	2 (1-1)	1	5	-1	12	13
15	Tokyo Verdy	3	8	1 (0-1)	1	6	-8	6	14
16	Consadole Sapporo	3	8	1 (1-0)	0	7	-13	7	20

Rumours and Rumblings

Blonde Bomber Bound for Belgium

Though the "Blonde Bomber" as he is sometimes known, may lack the sort of scoring touch that European clubs usually seek in a striker, Suzuki brings an element that is not seen as frequently among European forwards--fierce physical play and the sort of tireless pursuit of the ball that is usually seen mainly in defensive midfielders. He also is able to hold the ball very well against pressure, on the post play. If teamed with a good "pure scorer", Suzuki could be an effective contributor to Genk. Hopefully the team will use him effectively, and not view his participation in the team only in terms of marketing potential. The most important factor will be convincing fans that he provides value beyond just his own ability to score (since he may not do very much of that).

Below is a translation of the report on Suzuki's transfer from the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. (thank you Katsu)

Genk gets Suzuki

Yesterday, Racing Genk made a remarkable transfer. The reigning champions presented Japanese international Takayuki Suzuki as their new striker. A name that probably sounds familiar in Belgium, Suzuki scored the first goal in the World Cup match against the Red Devils.

Suzuki signed a one-year transfer contract, with an option for another three years. Yesterday Robert Raes, the head of the technical staff of Racing Genk, concluded the last details in Asia. The player with the dyed hair (1.82m, 75kg) arrives in Limburg on Sunday. This season he played for the Kashima Antlers in the J-League, but he especially played himself in the picture during this year's World Cup. Suzuki is fast and goal-minded but in Japan he also built up a reputation for his stylish dives in the penalty area. "In April many European managers introduced us to Japanese players." says president Vaessen. "Suzuki wasn't on that list, but we noticed him at the World Cup."

With Masahiro Endo, KV Mechelen introduced another Japanese player in Belgium last year. The poor man is now spending his time in the C-team of La Louviere. But Suzuki of course has much more potential than Endo. And Racing Genk clearly isn't KV Mechelen. But on the other hand there is a clear commercial idea behind the transfer. "Our head sponsor Nitto always said that a Japanese transfer would create new possibilities." says Vaessen. "The commercial success that Feyenoord is having with Ono confirms this idea. But I have to admit that transfer never would have been possible without the help of Nitto." A delegate of Nitto refers to the poor growth margins of his company in Japan, and the intention to obtain more brand recognition through Suzuki and RC Genk.

But it is still surprising that RC Genk transfered a stand-in for Wesley Sonck, while he is still not sold. And with Keven Vandenbergh and De Camargo, the Belgian champions already have two young players for the striker position. "I want to emphasise that Suzuki in the first place is a reinforcement for the squad, not a stunt" says Vaessen. "When you have to compete in the Belgian league, the Belgian Cup and the Champions League you have to have more than two good strikers. I'm convinced that Vandenbergh and De Camargo will play a lot of games too this season.

Hirase Heads for the 'Hama

Kashima signed Brazilian striker Euller a few weeks ago, and many viewed this as a pre-emptive deal to cover for the expected loss of Yanagisawa and (possibly) Suzuki to overseas clubs. The general wisdom held that Yanagisawa and Suzuki would depart, and their places would be taken by Euller and Hirase. However, just hours after confirming the Suzuki deal, Kashima signed away Hirase for at least the next year. This lends a great deal of credence to the belief that Yanagisawa may not be moving overseas after all. In the past, the Antlers' ace has been less than enthusiastic about an overseas move, and interest from overseas clubs in signing him is tepid, at best. The only team that seems to be aggressive about landing Yanagisawa is Perugia, who have been blacklisted by the AFC and thus are probably not a candidate.

Yanagisawa has struggled over the past year or two, in part because he is best suited to the role of a "number two" striker -- the person who creates space, cuts towards goal, plays the one-two and does all the other little things that are essential to set up goals. However, his finishing touch is not that spectacular. Playing alongside Suzuki, who is even MORE suited to the number two role, Yanagisawa was never able to play the game that suits him best. However, Euller is a pure scorer, who will never hesitate to take the shot when it is offered. Kashima may have convinced Yanagisawa to stick around for another year, since playing alongside Euller will be a much nicer fit to his abilities. It is still too soon to say that Yanagisawa has given up on an overseas move, but the trade of Hirase to Yokohama certainly makes him an essential player for the Antlers now. If he should leave now, the team might have a very tough time putting together a lineup. The only other striker on the current roster is 33-year-old Yoshiyuki Hasegawa.

Antlers Forge Ties with AS Roma

The most important immediate impact, as far as Antlers fans are concerned, is that the two clubs will begin playing a regular friendly match during the summer months, each year. They have already scheduled a match at Rome's Olimpico Stadium, to be held on August 24.

The Antlers already have a strong business relationship with Zico's training center / second division team, CFZ do Rio, in Brazil. Players who have spent time training in Brazil include Takayuki Suzuki, Tomoyuki Hirase and Takuya Nozawa. The alliance with Roma will give young Antlers players an even broader opportunity to develop their skills through overseas experience.

Hiroshima Sanfrecce Cashiuer Gadziev

Purple Sanga Pick Sanabria

Sanga Send Sato to Sapporo

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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