March 1, 2003
Jubilo Opens Season with Wet Win
Last year's J.League champions looked anything but regal in their first outings of the season, at the A3 championships, but despite sloppy weather conditions on March 1, they showed that at least some of the rust is coming off their performance. Though Jubilo struggled to create offence in the first half, by midway through the second session they were beginning to move the ball better, and create the sort of scoring opportunities that one tends to expect from this team. Not that their victory can be taken as a complete success, however. Jubilo's opponent, Kyoto Purple Sanga, looked even rustier that Jubilo did in mid-February, and they were clearly lacking a playmaker now that Park Ji-Sung has departed and Ko Jong-Su is not yet available to take his place. Nevertheless, they managed to look very competitive for 45 minutes before fading into impotence in the second half.
The best news for Jubilo was the performance of Rodrigo Gral, who scored twice and made a far more impressive sight in the front line than did Norihiro Nishi, during the A3 Championship. Gral leaves something to be desiredd in terms of his ball control and his view of the field, but he clearly does know how to put shots on net. Those who watched the first half of this match will still have some serious questions about how effective Jubilo's midfield can perform this season, as well, but in the second half they looked a bit more impressive (albeit against a Purple Sanga team that was oriented almost exclusively towards attack, and not towards serious defensive pressure).
The match kicked off in a steady, bone-chilling rain which continued throughout the match and may have been partly responsible for the difficulty that both teams had in creating a smooth offensive flow. Neither team did much that was worthy of comment until about the 30 minute mark, when Kyoto began finding the range with their long balls, and striker Teruaki Kurobe started to make a few goalward surges. Jubilo also started to penetrate deeper into the Kyoto end, though horrendous finishing and unbelievably poor ball distribution by Masaya Fujita caused these attacks to break down short of the goal. The best scoring opportunity of the half was actually the result of a miscue by Jubilo keeper Hiromasa Yamamoto. After Kurobe was once again the recipient of a long lob into the box, he attempted a shot oh net which was blocked well by defender Hideto Suzuki. But the ball deflected out to Daisuke Saito two meters beyond the top right corner of the box, and the midfilder attempted to drive the ball on net. He failed to make good contact, and the result was a weak shot straight at Yamamoto. But the keeper leaned the wrong way, and was surprisingly casual in sticking out a hand to block the drive. The ball glanced off his wet glove and squirted away, rolling perilously close to the goal line before he could scramble back and collect it. However, that was the last of the dangerous opportunities in what was a rather dull first half.
When Jubilo came out for the second 45 minutes, they looked quite a bit sharper, and soon established a clear dominance in ball control that was lacking prior to the break. Kyoto played their usual active, counterattacking stragtegy but their passes were errant and they lacked the speed and "spring" on the break that was their most dangerous asset in 2002. For most of the crucial 25 minutes between half time and Jubilo's second goal, Kyoto squandered possession and rarely moved past midfield. Jubilo took advantage of this profligacy, and began to pressure the Sanga net with more intensity.
Nevertheless, the quality of play remained rather low and the sharpness of Jubilo's attacks was lacking right up until the play that resulted in their first goal. Then, in the 62 minute, Jubilo made a surge into the box that was not cleared well by the Kyoto defence. Rodrigo Gral, who would be the man of the afternoon for Iwata, raced to pressure the clearance and with some assistance from Toshihiro Hattori, was able to break up the Kyoto counter and sent the ball back into the penalty box. Fujita, who until this moment of the match had spent most of the afternoon passing the ball to Kyoto defenders, collected the loose ball and made a lovely cut inside, sending two defenders to the soggy turf and clearing himself for a shot. He placed the ball well, just slipping it inside the left post to put Jubilo into the lead.
This goal seemed to lift the entire team, which suddenly began to play a at a much more Jubilo-like level of precision. The difference in Fujita's play, in particular, was like night and day. After looking totally hapless for 60 minutes, after his goal he suddenly began providing crisp, precision passes that began to slice open the shaky Sanga defence. It took only ten minutes for Jubilo to strike again. This time, Fujita played a nice exchange with Nakayama before putting a solid shot on net. Keeper Naohito Hirai parried the shot, but it fell right to Gral who immediaely drove it into the open left side of the net and put Jubilo in clear control of the match.
Following the second goal, Kyoto made several substitutions which finally began to create meaningful scoring chances at the other end, but by this time it was far too late. Jubilo are not the sort of team that will relinquish a two-goal lead in the final 20 minutes of a match (except in the occasional championship contest against the Kashima Antlers), and Kyoto still lacked accuracy in their final pass, creating a number of exciting flank runs but never generating any shots on net.
In the dying moments of the match, Gral got his second goal of the match, after Nakayama leapt high for a corner kick and nodded it on towards the far post, allowing Gral to stoop and head it into the open back side of the net.
Lineups:
Hiromasa Yamamoto, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Takahiro Kawamura, Takashi Fukunishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Toshiya Fujita, Hiroshi Nanami Rodrigo Gral, Masashi Nakayama
Naohito Hirai, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Kazuki Teshima, Makoto Kakuda, Shinya Tomita, Daisuke Saito (Yutaka Tahara 78), Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Shingo Suzuki, Daisuke Nakaharai (Makoto Atsuta 69), Daisuke Matsui (Tadamichi Machida 69), Teruaki Kurobe
Rumours and Rumblings
World Youth are the First Casualty of War
On March 6, FIFA finally made the announcement that many had been fearing for the past month or more. The World Youth Championships due to begin on March 25, in the UAE, will be postponed "until a later date", due to the danger that a US-led attack on Iraq will begin during the tournament.
According to FIFA officials, everything possible will be done to ensure that the match does take place, and that it is held in the UAE. However, there has been some talk of rescheduling the event to Japan or to Lebanon, both of which have held tournaments recently (Lebanon held the Asian Cup in 2001 and Japan was a host of the World Cup, last year). No date mas mentioned in the official FIFA announcement, since the organisation obviously has no control over if and when a war might occur, or when it would end. However, the spokesperson pledgd that FIFA would do its best to hold the event "at the earliest date possible".
Japan is one of 24 nations that have qualified for the World Youth Championships, which are held every two years and are generally viewed as FIFA's second most prestigeous event, after the World Cup. Japan's youngsters were at the J-Village training facility in Fukushima prefecture, making their final preparations for the tournament, when the news was announced. They, and the other 23 groups of young athletes from around the world, will now be forced to put their dreams of a championship on hold, until the bitter reality of world politics no longer intrudes.
Emerson Trip to Carnival Costs Y3 Million
Urawa Reds' ace striker, Emerson, returned to Japan on Wednesday to face a rather unhappy front office. The 21-year-old Brazilian was two weeks late in returning from his winter vacation, and failed to take part in the Reds training camp in Australia. Although there were apparently some visa-related issues that delayed his arrival, it is fairly evident that Emerson was consciously stalling his efforts to return to Japan, so that he could take part in at least some of the "Carnival" festivities in Rio de Janeiro.
Upon his return to the Reds front office, Emerson was allowed to explain his side of the story. It would seen that he was able to offer at least some excuse, since the front office decided not to dock him the full one-month's pay that they had initially suggested. Nevertheless, Emerson's trip to Carnival will cost him 3 million yen in docked pay. Meeting the news media after his conference with the Reds management team, Emerson offered both apologies and excuses. However, he seemed eager to put the whole thing behind him. "Im in prety good shape -- at least 80%. I want to get into a match as soon as possible." Although coach Hans Ooft initially said that he would insist that Emerson ride the bench for at least a month, it now appears that he may be available for the team's league opener on March 23. However, he probably will not feature in the Reds' Nabisco Cup matches, scheduled for March 8 and 15.
Interestingly enough, if Emerson is not available for striker duty, his place will probably be filled by another Brazilian with similar experience in dodging practice to go to Carnival. Edmundo, who was docked one month's pay by Fiorentina after failing to return to his club in time for the restart of the Serie A season, has been a bit more circumspect in his behaviour these days, but he also was a few days late reporting to camp. Edmundo is expected to start at striker in the Reds' Nabisco Cup match against Jubilo, this week. But sadly, he missed all the fun in Rio this year.
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