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October 14, 2002
Revenge of the Nerds

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
Oct 12		0-2		Atsubetsu Stadium
Oct 12		0-6		Sendai Stadium
Oct 12		2-0		Tokyo Stadium
Oct 12		vs		Iwata Stadium
Oct 12		vs		Nishikyogoku Stad.
Oct 12		vs		Universiade Stadium
Oct 13		vs		Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
Oct 13		3-1		Mizuho Stadium

1 - 2

JEF indicated from the very first tap of the ball that they intended to give Jubilo a run for their money, creating two or three good thrusts deep into Iwata territory by players such as Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu and ace striker Choi Yong-Soo. Jubilo's defenders looked a bit lethargic despite the bright sunny weather and the support of an overflowing home crowd at Jubilo Stadium, and they were too quick to resort to their frequent tactic when beaten on the dribble -- a quick professional foul delivered before the play becomes dangerous enough to warrant a yellow card. Unfortunately, the referee was not prepared to let this sort of play go unpunished, and it would have adverse reprecussions later in the match.

Just 15 minutes into the match, JEF's midfield press and quick counterattacking paid off with the first goal of the match. Murai and Shinichi Muto converged on Norihiro Nishi at midfield and knocked the ball free, with Murai swiftly accelerating down the left wing to try to turn the steal into attack. As he drew level with the top of the box, he fired a cross for Choi, who was breaking on goal. Though Choi had defenders on both sides, both were in full retreat and neither could play the ball for fear of producing an own goal. Choi timed his run perfectly and threw himself onto the ball with a diving header that flashed past the keeper and put JEF in front 1-0.

Though Jubilo tried to turn the momentum around quickly, applying greater perssure through midfield, the JEF press kept them off balance and unable to produce any real scoring opportunities. At this point, Jubilo began to show some very un-Jubilolike frustration, with both Makoto Tanaka and Naohiro Takahara picking up yellow cards in the space of three minutes, for what seemed to be very unnecessary fouls.

But at last, the Jubilo pressure paid off, as Toshihiro Hattori lobbed a long pass into the box in the 41 minute, and Masashi Nakayama screened his defender off long enough to trap the pass and cut it into the low left corner.

Still, JEF maintained their fierce press and aggressive counterattacking tactics, which produced yet another breakout, moments after the Jubilo goal. The surge towards the penalty area was only halted by a particularly cynical foul by Hideto Suzuki, who picked up a yellow card for his efforts. To make matters worse, several Jubilo players refused to just get on with the match. Instead, Suzuki and Tanaka, in particular, stood around berating the referee for what appeared to be a very legitimate call. It is hard to say if this contributed to what happened next, but it certainly did not win any favours from Mr. Yamanishi.

When JEF took the free kick on the left of the box, Choi played a nice dummy shot and then attempted to dribble past the wall and into the box. There was some contact and Choi went down, though it looked as if he simply flopped on contact, hoping to win a PK. The referee seemed prepared to ignore the incident, and actually blew his whistle for full time, but Tanaka -- vigorously demanding a card on Choi for "simulation" apparently said something that impugned the referee's neutrality. Mr. Yamanishi had apparently heard more than enough from Tanaka for one match, and he did not even bother to show a second yellow to the Jubilo defender, going straight to his pocket for the red.

Despite having equalised the score a few minutes before the half, Jubilo left the field in a funk, and their concentration still seemed to be at a low ebb when the two teams retook the field. Just 30 seconds into the second half, JEF played a free kick from the left sideline, with Hanyu dropping the ball back to Murai at the top left corner of the box. Murai cut a curling cross over the outrushing Jubilo defence and found Choi, unbelievably wide open, at the far post. Choi slammed in the short-range volley and JEF were back on top

Though Jubilo struggled to equalise for the rest of the second half, they had a very difficult time breaking the JEF press at midfield,especially with a man disadvantage. It wasnt until the 81 minute, when Yuto Sato picked up a second yellow card that Jubilo started producing some truly dangerous scoring chances. But JEF managed to hang on, despite a disallowed goal that bounded almost untouched into the net from a corner kick. Unfortunately for Jubilo, Nakayama was caught wiping out a JEF defender with a push in the back, to prevent him from clearing the high ball. Thus, Jubilo tumbled to their second defeat of the second stage, and relinquished the league lead to the Urawa Reds.

Lineups:
Hiromasa Yamamoto, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi (Nobuo Kawaguchi 66), Norihiro Nishi (Go Oiwa 45), Takashi Fukunishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Toshiya Fujita (Jun Kanazawa 86), Hiroshi Nanami, Naohiro Takahara, Masashi Nakayama
Tomonori Tateishi, Daisuke Saito, Eisuke Nakanishi, Megumu Yoshida, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Shinichi Muto (Akihiro Tabata 89), Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu (Shigetoshi Hasebe 85), Katsutomo Oshiba, Choi Yong-Soo

1 - 0

Toninho Cerezo has been hard pressed, in recent matches, just to fill out his lineup card. In addition to the many injured players who are out of consideration, this week the Antlers were also without Akira Narahashi , who was sitting out a suspension for accumulated yellow cards. Cerezo tried to cover this gap on the right wing by having Koji Nakata play an overlapping sideline-bound position on the right. But the left-footed Nakata looked out of place and largely useless for much of the match, and Kashima never managed to find their rhythm.

On the other side, Vissel are looking more and more competent with each passing match. The defence, in particular, looked very solid with Yukio Tsuchiya and Kunie Kitamoto patrolling the back line and Sidiclei dominating the deep midfield with his wide body and powerful physical presence. The Antlers, with youngsters Takuya Ishikawa and Tomohiko Ikeuchi at the wing back spots, were unable to produce opportunities with overlaps down the sidelines -- their usual offensive forte. At the other end, the Antlers did a reasonably good job of containing the dangerous Oseas, but Kobe repeatedly produced thrusts from midfield that looked dangerous.

Just after half time, Vissel got what was to prove the only goal of the match, on a corner kick. After the first centering cross into the Antlers box was cleared, Takeshi Hirano scooped up the rebound at the top left corner of the box, cut towards the end line and crossed in front of net. Kitamoto, who had come forward for the set play, made a prodigious leap over the defence and headed powerfully into the right corner, notching his first-ever J.League goal.

Though the Antlers attempted to come back for the equaliser, and kept the pressure on throughout the final period, the lack of a dependable weapon on the wing left them largely toothless, and the team was unable to even get off any real dangerous shots. Kashima plunged to their third loss of the second stage, and are now four points off the pace set by the remarkable Reds.

Lineups:
Makoto Kakegawa, Tomo Sugawara, Yukio Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Takeshi Hirano, Sidiclei (Shigeyoshi Mochizuki 80), Naoya Saeki, Harison, Mitsunori Yabuta, Ryuji Bando (Shoji Jo 86), Oseas
Hitoshi Sogahata, Jun Uchida, Yutaka Akita, Tomohiko Ikeuchi. Takuya Ishikawa (Junji Nishizawa 86), Koji Kumagai (Yoshiyuki Hasegawa 53), Naoto Honda, Koji Nakata, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Augusto, Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kosei Nakamura 86)

1 - 4

Following the stirring success that the Reds had last week against Vissel Kobe, coach Hans Ooft decided to stick with the 3-4-3 lineup that he introduced last Saturday. Yuichiro Nagai , Emerson and Tuto lined up as triple strikers, supported by Masahiro Fukuda in the middle central midfield, and Tadaaki Hirakawa and Nobuhisa Yamada on the wings. For the second week in a row, the triple thoroughbreds, Emerson, Tuto and Nagai, stampeded through an overmatched defence, and all managed to find the nylon over the course of the match.

The game actually got off to a disturbing start for the Reds, as Kyoto demonstrated that they have a few offensive weapons of their own, even with Park Ji-Sung and Daisuke Matsui away on national team duty with their respective teams at the Asian Games in Busan. In the 7 minute, a counterattack down the right sideline sent Teruaki Kurobe into the clear. Although all of the Urawa players appealed for offside, it looked like the slow legs of veteran Masami Ihara may have played Kurobe onside. Kurobe outraced everyone to the right post, and cut a pass across the face of goal, allowing Shinya Tomita to push it in at the far post.

But this proved to be only a temporary setback for the Reds. Within minutes, Emerson was seriously testing the keeper with two separate long shots that required diving saves from Naoto Hirai to keep them out of the net. Then, in the 25 minute, the Urawa triple threat combined for the first of several plays that would demonstrate the team's blazing speed and rapidly improving coordination. Emerson picked up a ball on the right sideline and sized up his path towards goal. With three defenders in the way, he decided against a solo rush, and slipped a pass to Nagai at midfield. Nagai read Emerson's intentions perfectly, playing the one-two and returning the ball to the speedy Brazilian just as he passed the last of the Kyoto defenders. As Emerson raced into the clear, he spotted Tuto on a slanting run for the far post, and provided a pinpoint cross that Tuto powered into the net with a header.

Ten minutes later, the Reds went in front to stay, on yet another play that emphasises the danger of the three striker setup. Tuto and Nagai carried the ball over midfield, and Tuto left the ball for Nagai as he began moving towards goal. All three of the Kyoto defenders shadowed Tuto, guarding against the anticipated pass. When he saw the entire Kyoto back line retreating, Nagai faked a pass to Tuto to push them even further off, then took three quick steps forward to set himself up. By the time a Purple Sanga player finally reacted to his move, Nagai had already reached the top of the penalty arc, and he unleashed an uncontested blast that flew into the top right corner before the keeper could react.

As the only member of the front line still not on the scoresheet, Emerson began looking deliberately for his own shot, and provided some highlight-reel footage over the subsequent 10 minutes as he repeatedly dribbled through three and four Kyoto defenders looking for goal. Just after half time, Emerson dashed into the lane to cut off a Kyoto pass in the back line, then wove his way through the entire defence to the left post. Hirai made a good move off his line to block Emerson's shooting angle, but by this time there were four Purple Sanga players frantically trying to dispossess Emerson, leaving the rest of the penalty area completely untended. Emerson cut the ball back in front of goal, allowing Tuto to swoop in for an easy side-footed tap with no defender in sight.

With fifteen minutes remaining, Emerson finally got his name on the score sheet. Once again, his quick feet allowed him to cut off a pass in the Kyoto back line, and this time he did not wait for the defence to collapse, releasing an immediate lob shot that looped over the keeper's head and into the back of the net. rushed to shadow Emerson as he accelerated down the right wing.

Lineups:
Naoto Hirai, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Kazuki Teshima, Shigeki Tsujimoto, Tadashi Nakamura (Hiroshi Otsuki 75), Daisuke Saito (Makoto Atsuta 59), Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Shingo Suzuki, Shinya Tomita, Teruaki Kurobe (Noboru Kobara 67), Yusaku Ueno
Nobuhiro Yamagishi, Masami Ihara, Tadaaki Tsuboi, Ichiei Muroi, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Masahiro Fukuda, Tuto, Yuichiro Nagai, Emerson

2 - 0

Verdy got the scoring started early, on a free kick in the 10 minute about 35 meters out on the left side. Veteran midfielder Atsuhiro Miura took the kick, and put a pinpoint cross right onto the head of Alexandre Lopez. The Brazilian defender's header came back off the crossbar, but Atsushi Yoneyama alertly headed it back into the net.

S-Pulse continue to be their own worst enemy, with too many players trying to create goals individualistically, and too few playing for the team. Although the addition of Ahn at striker, alongside Baron , created a few more opportunities than the team has managed in some of their recent lackluster performances, the midfield failed to provide them with enough effective feeds. Alessandro Santos and Kohei Hiramatsu deserve particular mention for their excessive dribbling and ball-hogging tactics. Verdy had little trouble shutting down this ineffective offense.

As the match wore on, and S-Pulse became overly extended, Verdy struck again on a brilliant play by 18-year-old striker Jun Tamano . Takuya Yamada lobbed a long ball from midfield that seemed to put Naoto Sakurai offside. But as the S-Pulse defenders gave up on the ball, Sakurai wisely strolled away from the play and avoided the offside call. Tamano saw that the ball was going to bound through the defence, and he accelerated into the box from the right sideline, scooping up the loose ball and slamming it past the keeper to put Verdy up 2-0. Considering the lackluster offense of S-Pulse, this was a very comfortable cushion, and Verdy eased back into a defensive posture to wait out the final whistle.

Lineups:
Yoshinari Takagi, Naoki Soma, Alexandre Lopez, Atsushi Yoneyama, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Takuya Yamada, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsuhiro Miura, Daigo Kobayashi (Takumi Hayama 69), Naoto Sakurai (Jun Tamano 34), Kazuki Hiramoto (Hayato Yano 83)
Keisuke Hada, Daisuke Ichikawa, Peceli, Toshihide Saito (Katsumi Oenoki 45), Jumpei Takaki, Kohei Hiramatsu, Yasuhiro Yoshida, Kazuyuki Toda, Alessandro Santos, Baron (Masaaki Sawanobori 68), Ahn Jung-Hwan

0 - 4

Although FC Tokyo jave been struggling a bit in recent matches, it seems that even an off-form team has nothing to fear from Consadole Sapporo these days. The team from the great white north consigned themselves to almost certain relegation this week with a feeble performance on home turf against one of the few teams that Consadole still has a chance of defeating. Looking at their remaining schedule, Sapporo will be lucky to collect another point, and the team is no doubt preparing for the trip down to J2 already.

FC Tokyo did not need long to put this match out of reach. In the 7 minute, Satoru Asari lobbed a pass to Clesley "Kelly" Guimares at the top left corner of the penalty area. Kelly saw Tokyo's ace Amaral making his cut through the middle, and volleyed the ball out of the air right to Amaral's feet. The "King of Tokyo" merely had to settle the pass and then fire home from point-blank range.

A mere ten minutes later, Amaral returned the favour, sending a long cross from the left corner to Kelly, five meters out from the right post. The ball was behind him, forcing Kelly to turn his back to goal. But after pulling down the pass, Kelly lobbed an overhead shot that cleared the keeper and defence, and slipped just under the bar at the left side of goal.

In the second half, with Consadole in full retreat, Kelly added a second goal after a drbble across the top of the box to find space for his shot. Akira Kaji put the cap on the evening with a towering, 35-meter drive that glanced off the underside of the crossbar and bounded into goal.

Lineups:
Yohei Sato, Jin Sato, Biju, Kensaku Omori (Yasusyuki Moriyama 71), Naoki Sakai (Ryuji Tabuchi 25), Hitoshi Morishita, Tomohiro Wanami, Takafumi Ogura, Gakuya Horii, Yushi Soda, Tomokazu Hirama (Kazushi Soyama 25)
Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji (Tertsuya Ito 84), Jean Carlo Witte, Takayuki Komine, Takahiko Shimotaira, Yukihiko Sato (Tetsuhiro Kina 45), Satoru Asari, Masashi Miyazawa, Ryuji Fujiyama, Kelly, Mitsuhiro Toda (Daisuke Hoshi 70), Amaral

0 - 6

Kota Yoshihara opened the scoring in the 9 minute on a individualistic dribbling rush from midfield to the left edge of the box, finishing it off with a powerful shot into the low right corner. Moments later, Takahiro Futagawa added insult to injury with a high lob that came back off the crossbar, hit the keeper squarely in the middle of his back, and bounded into the goal. Magrao, Yasuhito Endo Satoshi Yamaguchi and Masashi Oguro all added tallies in this very one-sided affair.

Kiyomitsu Kobari, Kenji Suzuki, Ricardo, Norio Omura, Tatsuya Murata, Hitoshi Moriyasu (Nobuyuki Zaizen 72), Masahiro Ando (Takahiro Yamada 45), Kazuhiro Murakami, Silvinho, Yoshiteru Yamashita, Marcos
Naoki Matsuyo, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Noritada Saneyoshi, Masao Kiba, Toru Araiba (Toshihiro Matsushita 81), Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Shigeru Morioka (Masahiro Matsunami 76), Takahiro Futagawa Kota Yoshihara (Masashi Oguro 75), Magrao

3 - 1

Hiroshima had the better offensive momentum in the early stages of the match, but Grampus was the first to get on the score sheet. In the 20 minute, Tomoyuki Sakai fed Naoki Hiraoka down the left side, and the Grampus midfielder fired a low, line-drive cross that bounded across the face of net without being touched by any of the half-dozen players in the box. It carried all the way through to Ueslei, making a run in from the right, and with a high stabbing kick, he managed to deflect it just inside the right post.

Sanfrecce fought back, and had numerous attacking opportunities throughout the match, including a blast by Koji Morisaki that hit the upright and bounded wide. But just after the start of the second half, they finally managed to get the equaliser on a rather bizarre play. Chikara Fujimoto lobbed a long ball to Tatsuhiko Kubo, who caught up with the bounding ball just outside the box. With a quick flick, he managed to loop the ball over the head of keeper Seigo Narazaki and towards the left post, chasing after the ball to ensure that it would find net. But defender Masahiro Koga reached the post at exactly the same moment, and both players crashed headlong into the woodwork as the ball bounded back, along the goal line. Narazaki, recovering from his initial miss, raced back in time to clear the ball off the line, but his clearance was too weak, and Kubo chased the ball down five meters out, spun around and fired it back into the net.

The next 20 minutes were a see-saw battle that looked like it could go either way. Play was extremely fast and physical, and the fact that the referee disregarded all but the most egregious fouls turned the match into something approaching a sloppy rugby brawl. Finally, with just over ten minutes to play, an inlet pass from Ueslei to Tetsuya Okayama was pushed on into the box for Naoshi Nakamura, who fought off a defender and toed the ball through a crowd and into the back of the net.

Though Sanfrecce struggled to reply, their offensive drives all came up short. With two minutes of injury time already played, Nagoya collected the ball and were passing it around in a time-wasting game of keep-away. As the Sanfrecce defenders tried a bit to hard to chase down the ball, substitue striker Okayama slipped a lead pass to Ryuta Hara who dashed into the clear for an easy one-on-one finish, to close out the match.

Lineups:
Seigo Narazaki, Masahiro Koga, Andrej Panadic, Masayuki Omori, Tetsuya Okayama, Tomoyuki Sakai, Motohiro Yamaguchi, Naoki Hiraoka (Kunihiko Takizawa 64), Naoshi Nakamura (Kei Yamaguchi 85), Ivica Vastic, Ueslei (Ryuta Hara 89)
Takashi Shimoda, Kenichi Uemura, Michel Pensee Billong, Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Yuki Matsushita 77), Kentaro Sawada, Hiroshi Kuwahara, Koji Morisaki, Kota Hattori, Naoya Naruo (Tomislav Erceg 77), Genki Nakayama (Chikara Fujimoto 40), Tatsuhiko Kubo

0 - 0

Although it looked as though the match might well end in a scoreless draw, in the second minute of the first extra time period, Marinos ace Will finally managed to find the back of the net and give Yokohama the narrow win. Lineups:
Tatsuya Enomoto, Kunio Nagayama, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Kazuyoshi Mikami, Yasuhiro Hato, Yoshiharu Ueno, Yasuhiro Endo, Daisuke Oku, Nobuhisa Shimizu (Tatsunori Hisanaga 72), Will
Yuta Minami, Takeshi Watanabe, Norihiro Satsukawa, Keisuke Nebiki, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Cesar Sampaio, Tomonori Hirayama, Tomokazu Myojin, Nozomu Kato (Taro Sugawara 56), Yuji Unozawa (Harutaka Ono 45), Edilson

With Jubilo and Antlers dropping their matches, Urawa Reds move to the top of the table for the first time in over four years. The events of the week have tightened up the table in general, with at least six teams in positions that give them a reasonable hope of capturing the second stage title. Jubilo are two points off the pace and Verdy three, while the Kashima Antlers Gamba Osaka and Kyoto Purple Sanga all are hanging within striking distance.

.	Team	Pts	GP	W (90/ET)	D	L	GDif	GF	GA
1	Urawa Reds	19	8	7 (4-3)	1	0	+11	17	6
2	Jubilo Iwata	17	8	6 (5-1)	0	2	+10	16	6
3	Tokyo Verdy	16	8	5 (5-0)	1	2	+10	18	8
4	Kashima Antlers	15	8	5 (5-0)	0	3	+4	15	11
5	Gamba Osaka	14	8	5 (4-1)	0	3	+8	16	8
6	Kyoto Purple Sanga	14	8	5 (4-1)	0	3	-3	9	12
7	Kashiwa Reysol	12	8	3 (3-0)	3	2	+1	7	6
8	FC Tokyo	12	8	4 (4-0)	0	4	-1	11	12
9	Vissel Kobe	11	8	4 (3-1)	0	4	-2	9	11
10	Nagoya Grampus	10	8	3 (3-0)	1	4	+0	13	13
11	Yokohama Marinos	8	8	3 (1-2)	1	4	-3	7	10
12	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	8	8	3 (2-1)	0	5	-4	8	12
13	Vegalta Sendai	8	8	3 (2-1)	0	5	-7	8	15
14	JEF United Ichihara	6	8	2 (2-0)	0	6	-5	8	13
15	Shimizu S-Pulse	6	8	2 (2-0)	0	6	-7	7	14
16	Consadole Sapporo	1	8	0 (0-0)	1	7	-12	4	16	16	7

Note: Scoring is three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time and one point for a draw

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