April 27, 2003
Shootout at the OsaKa Corral

In Saturday afternoon, fans at Osaka's Nagai Stadium were treated to what probably will be the match of the season, capped in the late second half by what might well be the goal of the decade. Two high-powered offenses went at it for 90 minutes and produced a total of 10 goals between them. Nor was this simply a matter of defensive incompetence. The level of play was extremely high from start to finish; it was just that both teams came out with the aim of outscoring their opponent, and kept at it from start to finish.Although this was the high spot of a rather mixed day in terms of match quality, it is encouraging to know that the J.League is still capable of throwing up matches like this one, from time to time.

Since April 26 marked the start of Japan's "Golden Week" of national holidays, and another slate of matches is scheduled on Tuesday, all eight J1 matches and 6 J2 matches were played on Saturday. Lets have a quick look at the scores in the top-flight division:

Date	.	Venue
26 Apr	0-2	Sendai Stadium
26 Apr	1-0	Iwata Stadium
26 Apr	1-1	Mizuho Stadium
26 Apr	0-3	Nishikyogoku Std.
26 Apr	6-4	Nagai Stadium
26 Apr	2-0	Kashima Stadium
26 Apr	0-2	Ajinomoto Stadium
26 Apr	3-1	Ichihara Seaside

6 - 4

WOW!

It is difficult to think of any other words to describe this match. Indeed, any attempt to detail the "key moments" of this shootout in Osaka would either be incomplete, or create a file size big enough to crash my host's servers. For those who are able to obtain a video of the match, spare no effort or expense to watch it. There have been one or two matches in J.League history that may have cntained more drama (A 4-3 extra-time victory by Yokohama over Kashima Antlers, in 1999 comes to mind), it has become rare in recent seasons to watch two teams throw themselves into attack with such abandon -- and such artistic beauty -- as the Urawa Reds and Cerezo Osaka did on Saturday afternoon.

The drama was heightened by the improbable nature of the final result. After defender Ichiei Muroi headed home a free kick from Keita Suzuki in the 5 minute, and Nobuhisa Yamada dashed down the right wing two minues later to send a cannon shot into the top far corner, it looked like the Reds were on their way to an easy win. When Yuichiro Nagai weaved his way through the defence on a goal dash worthy of Rudolph Nurayev, making the score line 3-0 after just 11 minutes, the home fans were pulling their uniforms over their faces to hide their shame.

But the drama was barely beginning, and when Akinori Nishizawa headed home a corner kick from the left side just shy of 15 minutes into the contest, it was clear that this match still had a long way to go. By this point both teams seemed to abandon any pretence of playing deny defence, and threw everyone into the attack with the clear aim of outscoring their opponent. In the 30 minute, a dazzling exchange on the right side sent Hiroaki Morishima into the box, and a clever drop pass just as the defenders arrived provided Takaaki Tokushige with a wide-open shot from just beyond the penalty spot. Cerezo were very much back in the match.

At this point, the snarling star striker of Japan's U-23 team, Yoshito Okubo apparently decided that everyone else was having too much fun, and he decided to take over the match and make it his own. In the 33 minute, Okubo turned in an individual performance that would have been the goal of the week if not for what he would do for an encore, later in the match. The Reds made a steal at midfield and had just launched themselves into attack, but defender Satoru Suzuki took a high-risk gamble and dashed into the passing lane, stealing the outlet pass intended for Emerson. While the Reds were still off-balance, he fired the ball to Okubo, who was standing at the top of the penalty arc with a defender hanging on his back. Okubo took one step towards the pass to give himself a sliver of space, then flicked the ball on into the box. Wheeling about, Okubo spun past his defender and went from a standing start to a full sprint in two strides. Catching up with the ball at about the penalty spot. Okubo toed a blast underneath the outrushing keeper, and the match was tied at 3-3.

At halftime, fans were shaking their heads in amazement, surely thinking that nothing could top the performance they had witnessed in the first half. They would soon be proven wrong.

Just two minutes after the restart, Okubo stole the spotlight once more, after carrying a ball down the right sideline. As two defenders came out to meet him, Okubo seemed to be contained at the right edge of the box. But the diminutive striker had apparently made up his mind that he would turn the corner, and he wasnt going to let two defenders stand in his way. With a series of slashing feints, cutbacks and cross-overs, Okubo turned his defenders one way and then the other, finally managing to create a minute seam between Keisuke Tsuboi and the end line. Lunging into this space, Okubo turned the corner and lofted a cross in front of net. The pass was perfect, meeting Tokushige directly in front of goal for a thundering header.

Shortly thereafter, a beautiful through pass from Kiyokazu Kudo found Morishima streaking into the box, and the Cerezo captain managed to flick the ball on net before the keeper could reach it, pushing Cerezo's lead to 5-3.

Now it was the Reds turn to look for some way to reverse the tide. After the three quick goals in the first thalf, their offence had stuttered and struggled, largely because Emerson was nursing a sore leg, and was unable to display his speed and sharp dribbling moves up front. So in the 66 minute, Hans Ooft pulled Emerson and Makoto Hasebe, bringing in two of Okubo's U-23 compatriots, Tatsuya Tanaka and Koji Yamase. This breifly seemed like a brilliant move. On his very first touch of the ball, Tanaka broke down the right flank and fired a pass to the opposite corner of the penalty area, for Yamase. On his first touch of the ball, Yamase chested the ball down and, while still in full sprint, blasted it underneath the keeper to close the gap to 5-4.

But Okubo seemed to realise that his name was on the top of the marquee in this match, and he wasnt about to be upstaged by a few supporting actors. With ten minutes to go, he provided a stunning finish to a scoring play that just may go down in J.League history. Morishima got the play started with a streaking run down the right side. As he approached the box, he lofted the ball for the far post, and Baron headed it back to Okubo, standing with his back to goal at the penalty spot.

The pass was a bit off target, and Okubo had to lean back in order to chest the ball down. As he did so, Ned Zelic -- who had been reacting towards Baron -- flashed by behind him. Realizing that he could not hope to stop his momentum in time to cover Okubo, Zelic reached out and grabbed a handful of uniform, pulling Okubo off his feet and into a back somersault. it is possible that the referee saw the incident, and would have blown a PK, but Okubo would makes such speculation moot. Keeping his eye on the ball as he tumbled heels-over-head backwards, Okubo lashed out his left boot in an off-balance bicycle kick, looping a shot that caught the inside of the right post and bounced into the empty net. Game Over. Welcome to the next level.

Lineups:

Norihiro Yamagishi, Nedijelko "Ned" Zelic (Toru Chishima 86), Keisuke Tsuboi, Ichiei Muroi, Nobuhisa Yamada, Hideki Uchidate, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Keita Suzuki, Makoto Hasebe (Koji Yamase 63), Yuichiro Nagai, Emerson (Tatsuya Tanaka 66).

Seigo Shimokawa, Satoru Suzuki, Joao (Ryu Saito 83), Takuma Koga, Takanori Nunobe, Yuji Hironaga, Kiyokazu Kudo (Yusuke Sato 69, Takaaki Tokushige, Hiroaki Morishima (Yasuo Manaka 74), Akinori Nishizawa (Baron 74), Yoshito Okubo .

1 - 0

For the second week in a row, Jubilo Iwata turned in a rather indifferent performance yet still managed to claim victory by being just a shade better than their opponent in all phases of play. However, this match was far closer than Jubilo's 2-0 win over Shimizu S-Pulse last week, and indeed, without the intervention of the referee on a highly questionable call, this match would have ended in a scoreless draw.

Vissel Kobe played well throughout this match, conceding a slight advantage to Jubilo in terms of ball possession and field position, but using solid defensive work and occasional counterattacks to remain basically even with last year's champions in every other sense. With 25 minutes left to play, Jubilo really did not look like scoring, and if anything, momentum was beginning to shift in the direction of Vissel. But catastrophe struck in the 66 minute, as Masashi Nakayama chased a long ball into the box. Sidicleiwas a half-step behind him, but it looked like the ball was going out of bounds. However, Nakayama cut directly in front of Sidiclei, forcing a collision. The big defender saw that Nakayama was cutting him off, and threw up his hands to make it clear that he was not deliberately initiating contact. But Nakayama is a brilliant diver, and he threw himself to the gound convincingly as body contact was made. Replays show that Nakayama was clearly the one who initiated the collision, and although he WAS between Sidiclei and the ball, it seems highly unlikely that he could have kept it from going over the end line. Nevertheless, the referee bought his performance and awarded a penalty kick.

a href="../../jleague/jubilo/gral.html"> Rodrigo Gral collected the PK, and that would be the only score of the match. Both teams had opportunities late in the match, as Vissel began pushing up in an effort to equalise, but in the end, the questionable PK was all that separated the two teams.

Lineups:

Arno Van Zwam, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Norihiro Nishi (Takahiro Kawamura 76), Takashi Fukunishi, Aleksandr Zivkovic (Nobuo Kawaguchi 84), Toshihiro Hattori, Hiroshi Nanami, Rodrigo Gral (Ryoichi Maeda 67), Masashi Nakayama.

Makoto Kakegawa, Keisuke Tsubouchi (Naoto Matsuo 36), Sidiclei, Kunie Kitamoto, Yuji Tabuchi, Tomo Sugawara, Koji Yoshimura, Harison (Park Kan-Jo 63), Masaya Nishitani (Kazuyoshi Miura 72), Ryuji Bando, Oseas.

2 - 0

The Kashima Antlers offence is still not functioning perfectly in the absence of striker Atsushi Yanagisawa. However, the rest of the team is performing well enough to move to the top of the league table this week, and with Yanagisawa making quick progress towards recovery, the team is starting to look like the favourites to take the first stage title.

Against FC Tokyo, this week, the midfield and defence controlled he match virtually from start to finish, and once an early goal by Fernando put them in the lead, it was an easy cruise for the remaining 85 minutes. The match got off toa fast start as Takeshi Aoki fired a blast from the right corner that keeper Yoichi Doi barely managed to parry. But the ball bounded out to Fernando at the top of the penalty arc, and he took two steps into the box before blasting a left-footed rocket into the nylon.

Thereafter, the Antlers were on cruise control, holding the ball brilliantly in midfield and probing the Tokyo defence again and again. Though Doi had an excellent performance in this match, and FC Tokyo created occasional counters through Naohiro Ishikawa and Amaral, nothing really threatened to break the Antlers back line. Towards the end of the match, Yanagisawa came in for a brief appearnace and contributed to the final goal. After cutting into the box to draw up the defence, Yanagisawa dropped the ball to Naoto Honda on the right wing, and his cross found Euller at the far post for a wide-open finish.

Lineups:

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Naoki Soma, Koji Nakata, Takeshi Aoki, Fernando (Takuya Ishikawa 85), Mitsuo Ogasawara (Atsushi Yanagisawa 83), Tomoyuki Hirase (Naoto Honda 71), Euller .

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruyuki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa, Satoru Asari (Fumitake Miura 71), Masashi Miyazawa (Mitsuhiro Toda 76), Naohiro Ishikawa, Clesley "Kelly" Guimares, Yoshiro Abe (Yuta Baba 64), Amaral.

3 - 1

The Yokohama Marinos started off the season well, but it has been clear fromthe start that the team is still struggling with its mental preparation. In this match, the team's inbility to read from the same page on offence was particularly noticeable, but a more important concern for coach Takeshi Okada will surely be the performance of his defence. Up to now, the Marinos have looked excellent on defence, even when their strikers have been struggling. But on this particular occasion, they were dissected by a very active and well-organised JEF attack. Choi Yong-Soo had a stellar performance, collecting a hat trick and a large bandage around his head to cover a gash on the forehead. The bik Korean striker was in fine form, but he owed much of the final results to his teammates, particularly Shinji Murai andYuto Sato, who provided excellent service throughout the match.

On the other side,Tatsuhiko Kubo and Yukihiko Sato seemed to get in each others' way more often than not, and Daisuke Oku spent the entire evening making aggressive drives into traffic that would invariably result in him losing the ball to a defender.

JEF got the match off to a quick start in the 2 minute, when Murai drove the left flank and sent a long cross into the box. The ball was headed on, possibly by a defender, and fell at Choi's feet just five meters outside the far post. Choi fired a blast inside the post to give JEF a 1-0 lead.

Midway through the half, Sato made a brilliant individual play, pressuring a Marinos defender into a poor back pass, and then stealing the ball from the keeper before lobbing it to Choi directly in front of net. Yokohama responded almost immediately, albeit on a PK that was awarded when keeper Ryo Kushino tried to chase down a high cross from the right corner and bowled over Yoshiharu Ueno in the process.

However, midway through the second half, Choi finished off his hat trick with a dazzling drive into the box and a pinpoint finish. The result knocks Yokohama out of their top spot in the league table, while lifting JEF to second place, just behind the Antlers. Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Eisuke Nakanishi, Zeljko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai (Satoru Yamagishi 83), Naotake Hanyu, Sandro Cardoza (Takenori Hayashi 85), Choi Yong-Soo

Tatsuya Enomoto, Yasuhiro Hato, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Dutra, Yukihiko Sato, Yoshiharu Ueno (Daisuke Sakata 45), Daisuke Nasu, Yasuhiro Endo (Yuzo Kurihara 80), Daisuke Oku,, Tatsuhiko Kubo (Yutaro Abe 69).

0 - 2

Gamba Osaka were hoping to be one of the frontrunners at the start of this season, having put together a very solid lineup of experienced players on both offence and defence. The team started the season off a bit sluggishly, but they are finally starting to hit their stride, as the match against Sendai showed. As usual, when a visiting team enters the lion's den of Sendai Stadium, a huge partisan crowd provided Vegalta with the proverbial "extra man", cheering their team enthusiastically and buoying their momentum particularly in the early stages of the match. Vegalta have been playing extremely well this season, and entered the match level with the Yokohama Marinos on points, at the top of the table. The early stages of the match were contested fiercely by both teams, but Vegalta had several good opportunities created by the wing play of Yuichi Nemoto and Toshiyuki Abe, as well as some good runs up front by young Hisato Sato

However, Gamba's defence was extremely composed throughout the match, and the team was quick to launch counterattacks through the speedy Toru Araiba and zMasashi Oguro. Neither team was able to score in the first half, but as the break approached, Gamba began to create more and more dangerous opportunities.

When the first goal did come, though, it was a somewhat unexpected strike that did not come from the run of play. Shortly after the intermission, Gamba won a corner kick on the right side, and the cross was headed on net through a crowd of players, perhaps by Takahiro Futagawa . The keeper slapped at the shot, but only succeeded in deflecting it towards the right post. Magrao, ever the opportunist, swooped in to stuff the ball home.

Just five minutes later, Oguro doubled the lead on a fine individual effort, turning on the speed as he neared the penatly area on a break and angling away from the final two defenders. Slicing into the box towards the right post, Oguro got a half-step ahead of the defender and fired off a quick, line drive that sliced into the top opposite corner to make the score 2-0. Though the remaining 40 minutes of the match were hard-fought and included several scoring opportunities for both teams, the score line would remain unchanged and Gamba claimed a well deserved victory.

Lineups:

Kiyomitsu Kobari, Takumi Morikawa, Fabiano, Norio Omura, Yuichi Nemoto, Toshiya Ishii (Naoki Chiba 67), Toshiyuki Abe (Hajime Moriyasu 60), Silvinho, Teruo Iwamoto, Hisato Sato (Takayuki Nakahara 56), Yoshiteru Yamashita.

Naoki Matsuyo, Masao Kiba, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Francisco "Chiqui" Arce , Toru Araiba, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa (Marcos Aurelio Galleano 70), Masashi Oguro (Satoshi Nakayama 76), Magrao (Masanobu Matsunami 89).

0 - 3

Shimizu S-Pulse have been struggling badly in the early stages of the season, and the outlook was not bright as they entered Nishikyogoku stadium to take on Kyoto Purple Sanga. Alessandro Santos, who has typified the team's woes as well as anyone on the team, was relegated to the bench for this match and S-Pulse started with a 4-5-1 set with Ahn Jung Hwan as the lone striker.

Though S-Pulse were not able to generate a great deal of offence in the first half, this lineup actually seemed to work rather well. Given Kyoto's hyperactive, pressing style of play, the relatively defensive, laid back stance that S-Pulse created was able to keep the purple gang at bay, and midfielders Teruyoshi Ito and Masaaki Sawanobori concentrated on making quick outlet passes to Ahn and letting him try to create offence on his own. Though this limited the number of scoring chances, at least S-Pulse were able to keep Kyoto off the scoreboard as well.

Early in the second half, Ahn's individual work paid off as S-Pulse won a free kick at the top right corner of the penalty box. Rather than aiming for net, Sawanobori looped his free kick over the wall to Shohei Ikeda at the far post, and the tall defender headed it home.

The S-Pulse goal changed the character of the match slightly, forcing Kyoto to intensify its attacking pressure. At this point, coach Oki made a fine tactical move, bringing in Santos for Sawanobori and playing him just a step behind Ahn, up front. Though he has been having difficulty working well with his teammates in recent matches, the spell on the bench may have cured him of the desire to do everything himself. More importantly, Alex was the freshest player on the pitch, and was able to use his speed to good effect. In the 60 minute, Ahn took a ball down the right flank and, seeing an opening, fired a long shot on net. The keeper was able to react in time to deflect the shot, but Santos swooped in from the left, pounced on the deflection and drove it into the low left corner..

With three mintues left to play, Ahn closed out the scoring with a fine play, collecting a cross on his chest with his back to goal and then whipping a shot across his body as he pirouetted on his left foot. The blast caught the crossbar and snuck into the left corner, giving S-Pulse a 3-0 victory, and their first win of the season.

Naoto Hirai, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Kazuki Teshima (Makoto Atsuta 73), Shigeki Tsujimoto, Yusuke Mori, Daisuke Nakaharai, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Shingo Suzuki, Ko Jung-Yun (Teruaki Kurobe 68), Shinya Tomita, Daisuke Matsui.

Takaya Kurokawa, Daisuke Ichikawa, Shohei Ikeda, Ryuzo Morioka, Jun Muramatsu (Kazumishi Takaki 66), Yasuhiro Yoshida, Tomoyoshi Tsurumi, Teruyoshi Ito, Masaaki Sawanobori (Alessandro Santos 78), Yoshikiyo Kuboyama, Ahn Jung-Hwan.

Elsewhere

Patrick Mboma made his first start for the struggling Tokyo Verdy, but he was clearly not yet in peak condition, and bowed out after an undistinguished 70 minutes. Meanwhile, Oita got goals from Takashi Umeda and Yoshito Terakawa to claim a 2-0 victory.

At Nagoya, the young guns of Kashiwa Reysol got their team off to an early lead, as a steal and long pass by U-20 defender Toru Nagata sent Keiji Tamada off on a flashing run down the right sideline. As he angled into the box he unleashed a low-angle shot that eluded the keeper and found the left corner. However, Grampus struck back just a few minutes later on a corner kick that was headed in by Takumi Koga. Neither team could alter the score line for the remaining 75 minutes and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

With their loss to JEF, the Marinos fall out in the top spot while the Kashima Antlers take over the lead. JEF moves up to second place two points off the pace, level with the Marinos, Jubilo and Vegalta on points but with a superior goal difference. Here is how the league table looks after five matches:

. Team Pts GP W D L GF GA GDif
1 Kashima Antlers 12 5 4 0 1 8 3 +5
2 JEF United Ichihara 10 5 3 1 1 12 8 +4
3 Yokohama Marinos 10 5 3 1 1 10 6 +4
4 Vegalta Sendai 10 5 3 1 1 7 5 +2
4 Jubilo Iwata 10 5 3 1 1 7 5 +2
6 Gamba Osaka 8 5 2 2 1 10 8 +2
7 Cerezo Osaka 7 5 2 1 2 13 12 +1
8 Nagoya Grampus 7 5 1 4 0 5 4 +1
9 Kashiwa Reysol 7 5 2 1 2 7 7 +0
10 Vissel Kobe 6 5 2 0 3 5 5 +0
11 Oita Trinita 6 5 2 0 3 5 8 -3
12 FC Tokyo 5 5 1 2 2 4 6 -2
13 Shimizu S-Pulse 4 5 1 1 3 10 12 -2
14 Urawa Reds 4 5 1 1 3 7 10 -3
15 Kyoto Purple Sanga 3 5 1 0 4 3 8 -5
16 Tokyo Verdy 3 5 1 0 4 3 9 -6

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April 27, 2003Shootout at the OsaKa Corral