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November 17, 2002
Cherry Blossoms in November

We will get to that story a bit later, but to begin, here is a summary of the scores of Saturday's J1 matches

Date	Home	.	Visitor
Nov 16		0-3
Nov 16		0-2
Nov 16		0-1
Nov 16		1-2
Nov 16		0-1
Nov 16		2-2
Nov 17		1-0
Nov 17		4-1s

0 - 3

For the first 20 minutes of the match, the two teams traded punches, with Jubilo pressing the attack, but Kyoto getting some dangerous counters that kept their opponent honest. Then, in the 21 minute, a beautiful bit of team play tore the match wide open. Toshiya Fujita carried a ball up the left side, and as he drew level with the box, he centered to Masashi "Gon" Nakayama , who was posting up with his back to goal, just above the penalty arc. Nakayama held the ball for a second to survey the field, and spotted Naohiro Takahara cutting towards the box. He laid off a perfect pass that led Takahara into the box and gave him an open path towards the left post. But Takahara felt the Kyoto defence collapsing on him, and rather than take a shot himself, he flicked the ball back to Fujita, who was trailing him into the penalty area. Fujita had a wide-open net, and simply had to drive the ball into the nylon to put Jubilo in the lead

A mere six minutes later, Jubilo effectively sealed the victory as Takahara rose high above the pack on a Hiroshi Nanami corner kick and headed it inside the near post.

The second half was anticlimactic, as Kyoto's desperate attempts to get back into the match merely left their defense overstretched. Jubilo laid back in a defensive posture, then sprang quick counters which soon had them up 3-0, when a Nanami feed to Nakayama gave the veteran striker an easy shot from just outside the right post. With the victory, Jubilo all but wrapped up the second stage title, and thus become the first team ever to have won both stages.

Lineups:
Naoto Hirai, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Takatoshi Matsumoto, Shigeki Tsujimoto, Tadashi Nakamura (Daisuke Saito 45), Daisuke Nakaharai (Yutaka Tahara 88), Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Shingo Suzuki, Shinya Tomita, Teruaki Kurobe, Daisuke Matsui (Makoto Atsuta 45)
Hiromasa Yamamoto, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Takahiro Kawamura, Takashi Fukunishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Toshiya Fujita, Hiroshi Nanami (Jun Kanazawa 80), Naohiro Takahara, Masashi Nakayama (Norihiro Nishi 84)

0 - 1

The Reds had their chances over the course of the match, but their finishing wasnt up to the standard that they showed earlier in the season. Perhaps this was partly due to the shift back to a 3-5-2, instead of the 3-4-3 that they had been playing until recently. Though there might have been some logic in adopting a less-aggressive posture against a dangerous team like Gamba, in this case the strategy backfired, as the Reds could not create enough offense.

Meanwhile, Gamba attacked well down the flanks, and continually looked for chances to cross in to their 198-cm striker. Although Magrao was well guarded by Keisuke Tsuboi and Ned Zelic (who made his first start for the Reds this season) over the course of the match, as time ran down he finally found the space to do his magic, and gave Gamba the late win.

Lineups:
Nobuhiro Yamagishi, Ned Zelic, Tadaaki Tsuboi, Ichiei Muroi, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Masahiro Fukuda, Keita Suzuki, Tuto, Emerson
Naoki Matsuyo, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Noritada Saneyoshi, Masao Kiba, Toru Araiba, Hideo Hashimoto (Satoshi Nakayama 59), Yasuhito Endo, Fabinho, Takahiro Futagawa, Kota Yoshihara (Marcelinho Carioca 79), Magrao

0 - 2

But things dont always run according to the script, especially in the J.League. Though the Antlers dominated the early stages of the match with ball control at midfield, Sanfrecce got a big break just before half time, when Kota Hattori beat the offside trap on the right side of the Antlers box, and managed to slip the ball underneath the outrushing keeper, Hitoshi Sogahata . His shot was off the mark, but Susumu Oki was on hand to drive the ball into the net and give Sanfrecce the lead

The second half was much like the first. The Antlers had the advantage in posession and field position, but Sanfrecce made the most of their counterattack opportunities. In the 56 minute, Tatsuhiko Kubo raced down the left sideline into space, and as he neared the end line, cut the ball back to Koji Morisaki at the top edge of the box for a wicked blast inside the right post.

The Antlers were taken aback by the score line, and simply couldnt overcome their confusion. Despite some vigorous pressure late in the match,. they were unable to find the net, and saw tehir hopes of a second stage title evaporate in front of the home crowd.

Lineups:
Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Fabiano (Tomohiko Ikeuchi 64), Augusto, Naoto Honda (Jun Uchida 64), Koji Nakata, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama, Atsushi Yanagisawa (Yoshiyuki Hasegawa 70), Euller
Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano, Kenichi Uemura, Kosuke Yatsuda, Kentaro Sawada (Tulio Tanaka 73), Hiroshi Kuwahara, Koji Morisaki, Kota Hattori, Hiroto Mogi (Ri Han-Jae 86), Susumu Oki (Chikara Fujimoto 76), Tatsuhiko Kubo

0 - 1

On the other end of thei pitch, young Naotake Hanyu played hero for a second straight match, getting the lone goal of the contest in the 58 minute to give his team the victory

Lineups:
Tatsuya Enomoto, Dutra, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Yasuhiro Hato, Yoshiharu Ueno, Kunio Nagayama, Yasuhiro Endo, Daisuke Oku, Tomoyuki Hirase (Yuichi Mori 88), Daisuke Sakata
Tomonori Tateishi, Takayuki Chano, Milinovic, Eisuke Nakanishi, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuki Abe, Shinichi Muto, Katsutomo Oshiba, Naotake Hanyu (Daisuke Saito 89), Takenori Hayashi (Yuto Sato 83), Choi Yong-Soo

1 - 2

Then, in the 29 minute, Baron received his marching orders for a brutal foul just 4 minutes after he had picked up an earlier yellow card. The referee did not hesitate to produce the second booking and send the tall Brazilian off to the showers.

This event changed the complexion of the match completely, from a wild offensive frenzy to a defensive chess match. In the end, it was S-Pulse who prevailed, as a counterattack set up once again by Ahn and Santos broke down the right side, and Santos finished off with a shot that found the inside of the far post.

Lineups:

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruyuki Moniwa, Ryuji Fujiyama (Norio Suzuki 63), Satoru Asari, Masashi Miyazawa, Yukihiko Sato, Kelly, Yuji Baba (Kenji Fukuda 69), Amaral
Keisuke Hada, Daisuke Ichikawa, Shohei Ikeda, Katsumi Oenoki, Peceli, Kohei Hiramatsu, Teruyoshi Ito, Yasuhiro Yoshida, Ahn Jung-Hwan, Alessandro Santos (Toshihide Saito 89), Baron

2-2

Vegalta came out with a rush, firing the ball into the front line and looking for chances to use their speed in attack. It took less than a minute for Sendai's ace, Marcos , to find the back of the net, breaking into the clear on a long pass from silvinho . As if to add emphasis to his first goal, seven minutes later the Sendai striker found the back of the net once again. With less than ten minutes played, Vissel found themselves in a two-goal hole that they would dig deeper before the first half was out. But fortunately, Sendai seemed to lose their sting shortly after the second goal, and though they played an aggressive match the rest of the way, there were few of the sort of scoring chances that they got in the first ten minutes.

With 15 minutes to go in the half, Vissel make their first move back into the game, after winning a corner kick on the left side. The ball was well-struck -- a line drive that found Sidiclei leaping over the defence, directly in front of goal. His header reduced the deficit to just one goal, but soon thereafter the team would suffer another blow. Just before half time, Ryuji Bando received a pass close to midfield, and was harrassed from behind by defender Norio Omura. Bando had been roughed up a few times earlier in the period, and for some reason he seems to have lost his cool. Drawing his arm forward, Bando unleashed a flying elbow that wouldnt have seemed out of place in a professional wrestling match. Though it caught Omura only a glancing blow, the deliberate intent was difficult to miss, and the referee had no second thoughts about presenting Bando with a red ticket to the locker room.

With a goal lead and a man advantage, one would have expected Vegalta to come out in the second half with the desire to put the match away. But for some reason their play after halftime was tentative and sluggish. Indeed, Vissel seemed to have a greater share of possession and more scoring opportunities in the second half than they did when they had eleven men on the pitch. The pressure they created was surprisingly intense, and only some beautiful saves by Kiyomitsu Kobari prevented them from evening the scores. Eventually, though, the pressure paid off. Once again, Vissel got their chance on a corner kick from the left side. This time the ball just cleared Sidiclei's head, but his Brazilian teammate, Oseas was in position at the far post, and although he had to stoop down to get his head on the ball, he managed to direct it through a jungle of legs and into the back of the net.

Play remained brisk and aggressive at both ends until about the 85 minute, when both teams seemed to run out of gas. Although they played two 15-minute overtime periods, the referee might as well have blown the match up at the end of regulation time, wince neither team was able to create much of an opportunity in the additional periods. As a result, both collected a single point, which will be useful, but not what either team would have wanted, in their efforts to escape the threat of relegation.

Lineups:
Makoto Kakegawa, Tomo Sugawara, Yukio Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Takeshi Hirano, Sidiclei (Yasutoshi Miura 94), Naoya Saeki, Shigeyoshi Mochizuki, Mitsunori Yabuta (Masayuki Okano 84), Ryuji Bando, Oseas (Shoji Jo 113)
Kiyomitsu Kobari, Masahiro Ando, Ricardo, Norio Omura, Tatsuya Murata (Tomohiro Katanosaka 90), Hitoshi Moriyasu, Toshiyuki Abe (Naoki Chiba 52), Teruo Iwamoto, Silvinho, Yoshiteru Yamashita, Marcos

4 - 1

Lineups:
Yuta Minami, Keisuke Nebiki, Toru Nagata, Norihiro Satsukawa, Tomokazu Myojin, Shinya Tanoue, Cesar Sampaio (Takeshi Watanabe 89), Tomonori Hirayama, Keiji Tamada (Nozomu Kato 86), Yuji Unozawa (Ricardinho 45), Edilson
Yoshinari Takagi, Takuya Yamada, Naoki Soma, Atsushi Yoneyama (Narita Takaki 64), Masayuki Yanagisawa, Kentaro Hayashi, Takuya Hayama, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (Hiroyuki Takagi 57), Daigo Kobayashi, Edmundo, Yuya Sano (Kazuki Hiramoto 57)

1 - 0

Lineups:

Yohei Sato, Jin Sato, Biju, Kensaku Omori, Hitoshi Morishita, Yoshiyuki Konno Kohei Nishida, Tomohiro Wanami, Takafumi Ogura (Jadilson 87), Shinya Aikawa (Srjdan Baljak 75), Yushi Soda
Seigo Narazaki, Keiji Kaimoto, Masahiro Koga, Andrej Panadic, Masayuki Omori Tetsuya Okayama 72), Kei Yamaguchi, Motohiro Yamaguchi (Tomoyuki Sakai 61), Kunihiko Takizawa, Naoshi Nakamura, Ivica Vastic, Ryuta Hara (Atsushi Katagiri 79)

3-0

Midway through the first half, Hitoshi Okubo set the tone for the match on a play that highlighted his growing dominance as an offensive weapon. Yoon Jung-Hwan stole a Niigata pass ad midfield and lobbed a long ball downfield for Okubo. The Cerezo midfielder/striker chased after the ball along with two Niigata defenders, down the right sideline. As the ball took a high bounce, it looked like Okubo might reach it first, but the two defenders both had position on the goalward side, and there seemed no way through. With a sudden burst of speed, Okubo flicked the ball on and thundered between the two defenders like a raging bull, crashingthrough their blockade and leaving their crumpled bodies in the dust as he galloped on towards the net. Before the keeper could get off his line, Okubo fired a low-angel shot that boomed into the top near corner, putting Osaka in the lead.

Early in the second half, Okubo secured himself a comfortable rest on the bench to watch the final minutes, as he fed a perfect pass from the right corner to Turkovic, at the top right corner of the penalty box. Turkovic simply had to settle the ball, turn and fire on goal. His shot found the inside of the far post, and coach Nishimura began bringing on the defensive reserves to seal up the victory.

As time ran down,and both Okubo and Hiroaki Morishima retired to the bench to prepare the champagne, Osaka added one final exclamation point on their win. In the 89 minute, Seiichi Kudo stole a ball in the Albirex back line, dodged two defenders and dropped off the ball to Turkovic, who once again was wide open for an easy finish. Thus, Cerezo will join Oita Trinita in the top flight division next season.

Rumours and Rumblings

Japan Loses a True Prince

Prince Takamado suffered a heart attack while attending a squash lesson at the Canadian Embassy. He was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead soon afterwards. He will be fondly remembered and badly missed by the Japanese football community as a whole.

Zico's Mother Passes Away in Brazil

Zico leaves the team in the capable hands of Masakuni Yamamoto, who currently coaches the U-21 side and has a close relationship with many of the players in the current national team squad, having led the youth team on several occasions in the past, including the build-up to the World Youth Championships in Nigeria, in 1999. Naturally, Japan will face an uphill battle, against a nearly full-strength Argentine side. But hopefully the team can take the adversity as a source of motivation, and try to win one for their greiving coach.

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