December 15, 2002
J2 Runs Rampant!
The 2002 Emperor's Cup race is only now moving into the back stretch, and already it is shaping up to be one of the most remarkable ever. On Sunday afternoon, J2 clubs knocked off their J1 opponents in no less than six of the 16 matches considering that five other matches were between J1 clubs and rank outsiders (high school, university or amateur clubs), that means that the J2 teams won more than half of the contests between first division and second division clubs!!!
Below are the scores of the matches played on Sunday, as well as brief summaries of some of the top matches.
2-0 Kunimi H.S.
In a classic "David -vs- Goliath matchup, Kunimi high school faced off against the runaway J.League champions Jubilo Iwata in a match televised nationwide. The result was never truly in doubt, but the performance of the youngsters from Kunimi will surely put them at the top of all the tipster sheets for the national high school tournament, to be held in January. The match was still very close at the half, with Jubilo clinging to a 1-0 lead on a strike by Masashi Nakayama. After the half, reserve striker Nobuo Kawaguchi (playing in the place of Naohiro Takahara, who only just arrived back from Germany and thus did not play the full match) added an insurance goal in the second half, but Kunimi had a number of scoring opportunities of their own.
0 - 5 
Though this might be viewed as an upset in terms of a J2 team deteating a J1 club, Oita Trinita simply provided proof positive that they deserve to be in the J1 next season far more than Consadole Sapporo. Oita's ace, Andradinha, scored a hat trick against the demoralized Consadole team, in what was probably the most thorough drubbing of the day
1 - 0 
4 - 0 
4 - 0 Tokyo Gakugei U.
The Antlers were simply too much for their university-team opponents to handle, controlling the match in just about every aspect except finishing. Though they did manage to squander a number of opportunities, both Atsushi Yanagisawa and Masashi Motoyama managed to find the net, as did captain Yutaka Akita, on a thundering header from a corner kick.
1 - 3 
Kawasaki Frontale have always been a strong Cup team, and they showed this again in their match against Vissel Kobe. Goals by three different strikers -- Alex, Kazunari Okayama and Kazuki Ganaha -- sank the Vissel and moved Frontale into the round of 16.
0 - 2 
The story of this match was probably Omiya's rookie keeper Eiji Kawashima, a member of the U-21 team, who made some brilliant stops to maintain a clean sheet against Tokyo Verdy. Omiya played a defensive match, looking to counterattack quickly when the opportunity presented itself, and this strategy paid off with two goals despite the absence of their usual ace striker Valdez, who returned to South America last week.
3 - 1 Honda FC
2 - 0 Otsuka Vortis
1 - 2 (ET) 
In one of the most fiercely contested matches of the afternoon, Cerezo Osaka forged out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by young midfielder Nobuki Hara, only to see Reysol's Hideaki Kitajima equalize and sent the match into extra time. Just before the match went to penalty kicks, rookie defender Shinobu Sato scored the winner for Cerezo.
1 - 2 
It was not a very joyous parting for Urawa Reds veteran striker/midfielder Masahiro Fukuda, who played his last match at Komaba Stadium only to see his team fall to J2 club Avispa Fukuoka.
4 - 0 
In a match filled with historic overtones, Gert Engels took his Kyoto Purple Sanga team to face off against Yokohama FC, almost exactly five years after he had led the same team (in its former incarnation as Yokohama Flugels) to an improbable Emperor's Cup championship in their final match before the team was disbanded. However, this Yokohama team has none of the magic that the former Flugels enjoyed ,and the Purple Sanga put them away before half time with two goals from Teruaki Kurobe and another from Daisuke Matsui in the first 20 minutes.
4 - 2 
3 - 4 (ET) 
FC Tokyo had to come from behind twice as a fired-up Bellmare team kept them on the defensive for much of the first half, but with two quick goals after half time, they seemed to finally have the match in hand. But a lovely header from Takayoshi Toda late in the second half sent the match into extra time, and Bellmare got the golden goal on as strike by rookie midfielder Daishi Kato.
2 - 0 
Though Sanfrecce Hiroshima slipped into relegation this season, they were one of the relatively few J1 clubs that managed to beat a J2 opponent, knocking off Albirex Niigata.
3 - 0 Komazawa U.
Yokohama's U-20 striker Daisuke Sakata finally got a chance to show his stuff, as he got the start, and an important goal in the Marinos' 3-0 win over Komazawa U. Sakata powered home a header in the 65 minute to record Yokohama's second goal and break the spirit of the feisty University team. Tomoyuki Hirase added one more just a short time later, to go with Daisuke Oku's first-half strike
Below is a summary of the tournament table, and the results of matches played thus far.
Rumours and Rumblings
Takahara Takes Top Honors at Awards Ceremony
Jubilo Iwata striker Naohiro Takahara took center stage at the 2002 J.League awards ceremony on Monday evening, capturing the league MVP award. It was a big night for Jubilo fans as the team swept nearly all of the top horours, including seven of the eleven spots for the "best team". Some will no doubt grumble that the awards committee bent over backward to honour Jubilo players, even deciding to name three strikers in their "best eleven" in order to accord Masashi Nakayama a spot alongside Takahara and the Urawa Reds' Emerson. However, nobody could begrudge Takahara the top spot as his performance in 2002 -- winning the golden boot and leading his team to victory in both stages -- was a true measure of class in the J.League. Takahara is currently in negotiations with Bundesliga club Hamburger SV and could sign a contract to play in Europe next year as early as this week.
Elsewhere, Urawa Reds defender Keisuke Tsuboi was a consensus pick for Rookie of the Year, as most observers have anticipated since the middle of the season. The 23-year-old also picked up the Fair Play Award, having plauyed in all 30 matches during the 2002 season without collecting even a single yellow card! Jubilo head coach Masakazu Suzuki thoroughly deserved both the winningest coach and Coach of the Year awards. However, it is hard to escape the feeling that politics had something to do with some of the picks, as not only were Jubilo players overrepresented in the best eleven, but the utterly incompetent Masayoshi Okada was named as Referee of the Year.
Here is a complete list of the awards:
| ||
| MVP | Naohiro Takahara | Jubilo Iwata |
| Rookie of the Year | Keisuke Tsuboi | Urawa Reds |
| Golden Boot | Naohiro Takahara | Jubilo Iwata |
| Coach of the Year | Masakazu Suzuki | Jubilo Iwata |
| Fair Play Award | Keisuke Tsuboi | Urawa Reds |
| Referee of the Year | Masayoshi Okada | -- |
Best Eleven | ||
| GK | Hitoshi Sogahata | Kashima Antlers |
| DF | Naoki Matsuda | Yokohama Marinos |
| Hideto Suzuki | Jubilo Iwata | |
| Makoto Tanaka | Jubilo Iwata | |
| MF | Mitsuo Ogasawara | Kashima Antlers |
| Takashi Fukunishi | Jubilo Iwata | |
| Hiroshi Nanami | Jubilo Iwata | |
| Tomoya Fujita | Jubilo Iwata | |
| FW | Emerson | Urawa Reds |
| Masashi Nakayama | Jubilo Iwata | |
| Naohiro Takahara | Jubilo Iwata | |
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