November 4, 2002
A Red-Letter Day in Tokyo
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With the entire country on holiday, on a brilliant autumn afternoon, Tokyo's National Stadium was filled to overflowing in a sea of red, as the Kashima Antlers and Urawa Reds faced off in the Nabisco Cup final. Based on the decible levels of the two teams cheering sections, Reds fans probably outnumbered the Antlers faithful by about two-to-one, though it was impossible to tell, as both sides were decked out in red, and the pandemonium of banners and flags included just about every red icon one could imagine, from the Croatian checkerboard flag and England's red cross on white, to a recycled USSR flag, and the visages of Che Guevara and Lucifer. In short, the place was a pandemonium even before the first ball was kicked.
0 - 1 Nor would the fans ge disappointed, Both team came out with the intention of creating goals, and although the score line looks modest, this was only thanks to some brilliant goalkeeping and defending on both sides. As if to set the tone for the match, Emerson picked up a yellow card with less than 30 seconds played in the match.
The run of play was pretty much what one woud expect from these two teams. Kashima had the advantage in ball possession, and created some good pressure with buildup from midfield, but when the Reds counterattacked, the speed and daring of their triple-pronged strike force had the Antlers backpedaling furiously. Apart from the two keepers, who each saved near-certain goals on more than one occasion, the two central defenders -- veteran Yutaka Akita for the Antlers and rookie Keisuke Tsuboi for the Reds -- deserve special mention for some fine one-on-one plays that kept their respective opponents at bay.
The first truly dangerous scoring chance came in the 23 minute, when Augusto carried a ball down the left sideline, feinted one way and then the other, and finally created enough space to cross the ball into the box for Atsushi Yanagisawa. The Antlers' ace did a fine job of pulling the ball out of the air with an upraised boot, but he had his back to goal and no chance for a shot. Spotting Mitsuo Ogasawara at the right edge of the box, he spun around and slid the ball across to the Midfielder, who danced between two defenders and into the clear. But Oga pulled his shot just wide of the post, and the chance went by the boards.
A few minutes later, Emerson nearly broker free on a pass from Tuto that split the defence, but Akita managed to get a foot on the ball and turn the speedy Brazilian away from the goal mouth, giving the defence time to collapse back and cut off the play. Just before half time, it was the Antlers' turn again, as they won a free kick about six meters outside the box on the right side. Ogasawara took the kick and dropped a perfect pass onto Akita's head, but his thundering drive slid just outside the upright, and the first half ended with no score.
The second half picked up exactly where the first half had left off, both teams using their strengths, with the Antlers trying to find openings with their short passing game and the Reds looking for lightning-fast counterattacks. On the stroke of the hour, the Antlers finally got a break, and seized the upper hand. After picking off a pass in the Reds front line, defender Fabiano played a long ball down the left sideline to Yanagisawa. Yanagi feinted to the end line, but with Tsuboi fronting him, he apparently realised that his chances of turning the corner were slim. Pulling the ball back, Yanagisawa spotted Ogasawara steaming towards the box in a broad green expanse of open field. He rolles a soft set-up pass that Oga met about a meter outside the box, and drove towards the top left corner. The ball might have found the corner, or it might have been tipped over the bar by keeper Norihiro Yamagishi, who seemed to react well to the drive. But fate would intervene, as the ball glanced off the back of defender Masami Ihara's head, and bounded softly into the low, right-hand side of the net.
Having taken the lead, the Antlers turnde to a very effective game of keep-away, seeking to control possession, deny any counterattacks and, if possible, catch the Reds creeping forward a bit too far and spring a counterattack. Never one to play it safe, Hans Ooft responded by pulling central defender Masami Ihara and replacing him with former Antlers defencer Ichiei Muroi. But rather than take Ihara's place in the back line, Muroi took up a position in the high post, looking to use his height at the top of the penalty area to flick long balls on to his teammates. Almost immediately after Muroi entered the match, the Reds very nearly got hte equaliser, as Tuto stole a back pass from Fabiano and broke free into the penalty area. But keeper Hitoshi Sogahata reacted as soon as the ball was stolen, and rushed out to block the shot. With a lunge, he managed to trap the ball between his legs as Tuto tried to exploit what hockey fans refer to as "the five hole".
Five minutes later, itwas time for some goalkeeping heroics at the other end, as Kashima finally caught the Reds too far forward, and Euller was sent free for an uncontested run on net from about 30 meters. The Reds' Yamagishi rushed out right to the edge of his box, and as Euller tried to lob a loop shot over his head, he made a prodigious leap and swatted the ball off to one side. With time running down the Reds got one last opportunity with a free kick just outside the penalty area, but the shot was headed out of harm's way by Akita, and the referee's whistle sounded, announcing an Antlers' victory.
Rumours and Rumblings
Oita Trinita Advance to J1
After four years of disappointment, fans in northeastern Kyushu finally were able to celebrate on Saturday night, as Oita Trinita edged Omiya Ardija in a 1-0 squeaker, and thus collected enough points to guarantee nothing worse than a second place finish in the J2 this year. Oita fell just short of promotion in each of the last three seasons, but this year the scoring punch of ace Andradinha, the goaltending feats of veteran Hayato Okanaka, as well as a very balanced team of workmanlike players in their mid-20s, finally got the job done.
Oita Trinita Advance to J1With three matches left to play, Oita now has a five point advantage on Cerezo Osaka, and seven points on third-place Albirex Niigata. Though that leaves Oita in a position where either Cerezo or Albirex could, at least conceivably, still take first place, the other two teams must play each other in the second-to-last match of the season. Thus, even if one of the teams did manage to overtake Trinita to win the J2 title (not a very liekly prospect at this point), they wold do so at the expense of the third team, and Oita would be sure of finishing second.
No doubt, there will be unhappy faces in either Osaka or Niigata, both of which have larger home towns, stronger financial backing and (certainly in Niigata's case) larger and more enthusiastic fan bases. But Oita may bring a small-town charm to the league, in the same way that tiny Kashima has done with the Antlers. Best of all, there is now a good chance that the Oita "Big Eye" stadium will see more use. Given the size of J2 crowds, it rarely was used as a venue this season, but it probably will be used in key matches next season.
JFL May Reorganise as "J3"
In a recent news conference, J.League Chairman Masasru Suzuki announced that the league is planning yet another reorganisation of the JFL. The "amateur" (semi-pro is probably a better description) league carries on the legacy of the JSL, which was reorganized once to create the J.League, then reorganized again to form the J.League second division (J2).As was the case in both of the previous reorganisations, Chairman Suzuki suggested that the top tier of the JFL will be skimmed of around 20 to 24 teams who will form a new professional division (J3), with the rest of the regional JFL remaining in its current form.No date has been set, but the reorganisation is likely to happen in 2005, or possibly even as early as 2004. The league envisions a two-sector division -- East and West -- with the top two or four teams from East and West contesting a knockout championship, which would also determine which teams gain promotion to J2. The J2 division would then introduce relegation, once promotion from J3 had increased its contingent of teams to 16. There is no indication, as of yet, whether there would also be promotion and relegation between J3 and the JFL, though considering the probability of shaky finances among some of the weakest J3 clubs, that will probably also be a necessity at some point.
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