May 6, 2003
JEF Jump to Top of Table
| Date | Home | . | Visitor | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 May |  | 1-0 |  | Ajinomoto Stadium |
| 5 May |  | 7-2 |  | Shizuoka Stadium |
| 5 May |  | 1-3 |  | Nagai Stadium |
| 5 May | <  | 1-3 |  | Kashima Stadium |
| 5 May |  | 2-1 |  | Mizuho Stadium |
| 5 May |  | 1-0 |  | Nishikyogoku Std. |
| 5 May |  | 1-0 |  | Saitama Stadium |
| 5 May |  | 0-1 |  | Kashiwa Stadium |
1 - 3
In a head-t-head matchup between the two hottest scoring machines in the league, JEF United claimed a win that was narrower than the score line might suggest, and moved to the top of the league table as a result. JEF got an early break which helped to set the tone for this match, when a Cerezo defender headed away a cross at the left edge of the penalty area, and the ball fell to Sandro Cardoza about 30 meters from goal. The young Brazilian has been serving more as a set-up player this year than a scorer, but he demonstrated why he was the K-League's leading scorer last season with a wicked drive that spun into the top left corner to give JEF the lead after just 8 minutes.
1 - 3JEF's second goal also was spawned by a loose ball in the Cerezo zone, though this time Naoto Hanyu provided a bit of flash and flair to the play. In the 15 minute, a Cerezo challenge at midfield on Choi Yong-Soo sent the ball spinning high into the air, and as it came down Takaaki Tokushige, who was smothered by a challenge from Sandro stuck out a leg to try to prod it away from danger. BUt the ball fell into empty space, and Hanyu surged out of midfield to collect the ball and race towards the Cerezo goal. A slight change of direction gave him some space, and he lofted a tremendous line drive than arced just over the fingertips of the retreating keeper and snuck in milimeters under the crossbar.
The remainder of the first half was largely controlled by JEF, as the Cerezo offence seemed unable to get into gear. The main problem seemed to be the lack of offensive flow. Cerezo look most effective when the entire team is moving towards the goal. They are somewhat less dangerous if an opponent can force them to move laterally rather than forward, but on this particular day, the players were not moving at all. They were playing very static positions in midfield, exchanging short passes and then holding the ball while looking for an open teammate. This type of offensive format may be extremely effective for a team like Jubilo (see next story), but Cerezo need rapid movement to be effective, and for most of the first half, it seemed like many of the players had spilled super glue on the soles of their shoes. JEF, meanwhile, have become not only an exciting team, but also a far more intelligent group of players under the tutelage of Ivica Osim. With a two-goal lead, they recognised that they were better off trying to keep the match in stasis, rather than getting into a shooting match and taking the chance that this might jolt the Osaka engine to life. The remainder of the first half was a bit slow, when you consider which two teams were on the pitch, but JEF remained in overall control.
During the break, however, Cerezo seemed to wipe the glue off their boods and they came out with much more active and flowing style of play in the second stanza. This immediately began to produce scoring chances, and Cerezo came within a whisker of scoring at least three times in the first ten minutes of the half. JEF continued to favour containment over attack, but they did generate several counterattacking opportunities of their own, producing the sort of match that most people expected going into this matchup. Finally, in the 60 minute, Hiroaki Morishima completed a fine exchange of passes at midfield with a through ball that sent Kiyokazu Kudo off on a sprint towards the right edge of the box. Before he could pull away, a JEF defender pulled him down, conceding a free kick about four meters outside the top right corner of the penalty area. Yusuke Sato drilled a shot over the wall and into the top far corner for his first goal in a flaming pink uniform.
This goal brought Cerezo's attack to life, and the subsequent five minutes provided a flurry of offensive surges and several shots on net. However, in the 71 minute, coach Nishimura make what proved to be a fatal error in substitution. After playing two matches in three days, against Myanmar, for Japan's Olympic team, Yoshito Okubo looked a bit sluggish throughout this match, and Nishimura opted to bring him off and replace him with veteran Yasuo Manaka. Theoretically, this should have been a good move, since Manaka is good at providing an offensive spark and Okubo was perhaps the tiredest player on the pitch. But even when he is playing on half a tank, Okubo provides a dimension which no other Cerezo player can offer, forcing defenses to cover him with at least two men, and maintain a deep zone to respect his ability to dribble through defences. As soon as Okubo left the pitch, the Cerezo attack withered as JEF clamped down with man-to-man coverage and tightened their formation. All Cerezo's forward pressure did was to create bigger holes in their own back line for JEF to exploit.
With 10 minutes to go, JEF finally launched the fatal blow, on a lightning-fast counterattack. After a Cerezo thrust was broken up by the JEF defence, Sandro collected a long clearance passs at the left edge of the center circle, and began to surge towards goal. As he neared the last line of defenders, Sandro slowed, as if preparing to pull the ball back and wait for support. But Shinji Murai was in full sprint just to his left, and in reality Sandro was just trying to freeze the defence for a second. As Murai flashed past, Sandro pushed a long lead pass into the open pasture behind Cerezo's right back, and Murai made a curling run to collect the ball on the left wing, level with the top of the box. Slanting towards the goal, Murai measured the keeper, then fired a shot with the outside of his right foot which caught the inside of the near post and bounded across the face of goal, slipping just inside the opposite upright.
Lineups:
Seigo Shimokawa, Satoru Suzuki, Joao, Takuma Koga, Takanori Nunobe, Yuji Hironaga (Baron 56), Kiyokazu Kudo, Takaaki Tokushige (Yusuke Sato 55), Hiroaki Morishima, Akinori Nishizawa, Yoshito Okubo (Yasuo Manaka 71).
Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano (Sozo Yuki 81), Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai (Satoru Yamagishi 81), Naotake Hanyu (Shigeyoshi Mochizuki 88), Sandro Cardoza, Choi Yong-Soo.
7 - 2
Jubilo Iwata finally decided to demonstrate to both fans and detractors fans that they still know how to play football. The result was a breathtaking display of deft coordination and deadly force that shows what the team is capable of doing when they set their minds to it. Unfortunately, they also provided another brief glimpse of the sort of unsportsmanlike play that has typified their performances in recent weeks, collecting their third goal in as many matches on a blatant and completely inexcusable display of diving and acting. Indeed, there are rumours that a British film company is planning a sequel to the recent hit movie "Bend it Like Beckham", starring the Jubilo Iwata eleven, and entitled "Fake it Like Rivaldo".
7 - 2 But thankfully, apart from this one annoying incident, Jubilo exchanged their black hats for white ones this week, and treated the 25,000 fans at Shizuoka Stadium to a very entertaining and highly skilled display of scoring prowess. Surprisingly, given the score line, this match actually started out looking like it might be a difficult one for Jubilo. After sitting out the first two months of the season, Patrick Mboma started the contest for Verdy, and the team from Tokyo actually produced some estimable offence in the first ten minutes or so of the match. In the 11 minute, Verdy won a throw in on the left sideline and Atsuhiro Miura provided one of his trademark heaves to Mboma, posting up near the penalty spot. The tall Cameroonian striker held off two defenders while collecting the pass with his chest, then spun his big body around for a wheelhouse kick that drove the ball just inside the left upright.
However, Verdy's early lead would not last long. Just two minutes later Aleksandr Zivkovic zipped down the left sideline and sent a cross for Masashi Nakayama at the far post. Keeper Yoshinari Takagi cut the ball off, but was not able to field it cleanly, and spilled it into the path of Toshiya Fujita who put a quick toe to the ball and levelled the score line.
The go-ahead goal was perhaps the most impressive of the aftgernoon, as Takashi Fukunishi played a precise one-two with Nakayama at the top of the penalty arc and received the return pass just inside the box. Two Verdy defenders scrambled back desperately, but Fukunishi stopped on a dime, pulled the ball back to allow both to stumble past, then looped a soft floater over the keeper's head and into the back of the net.
Sadly, Jubilo followed up this sterling display of balletic precision with the sort of cynical acting that has become their hallmark of late. In the 23 minute, Nakayama took a pass at the tol left corner of the penalty area and began dribbling across the top of the box. A defender made a brief challenge, but Nakayama pushed the ball away and continued on his course. He took two full strides, in perfect balance, after the Verdy player had pulled back his foot (you can actually count them in slow motion on the video tape), before deciding that perhaps he had pushed the ball too far and would not be able to reach it before the defender. Only then did he pitch forward and belly flop to the Shizuoka Stadium turf. The always-obliging referee pointed to the spot, and Rodrigo Gral converted. Surprisingly, though, someone in the NHK booth must have goofed since the play was shown again in slow motion. Usually Japanese TV refuses to show controversial replays (apparently to avoid showing up the referees). As soon as it became obvious that Nakayama was still perfectly in balance, one full step after the challenge, the two announcers suddenly stuttered in embarrassment and cut off the replay without further comment.
Thankfully, Jubilo did not feel the need to continue their antics beyond this one incident, and the remainder of the match was a very impressive display of offensive rhythm. Before the end of the half, Nakayama extended the lead to 4-1, playing a one-two exchange with Gral as he drove through the middle of the Verdy defence. The return pass was flawless, and Nakayama was able to snap off a qhich shot before the keeper could reach him, sliding a grounder into the left side of the net.
After half time, Hiroshi Nanami extended the lead with a blast from the edge of the box, after being set up by Fukunishi, and Gral added one more on an easy stuff-in, after a Nakayama header came back off the left post. Patrick Mboma still is clearly not back to 100%, but he is getting sharper with each outing, and he collected a second goal om the 67 minute to reduce Verdy's embarassment slightly. But with time running down, substitutes Ryoichi Maeda and Nobuo Kawaguchi combined for one last goal, with Maeda crossing from the left corner and Kawaguchi volleying in at the far post.
Lineups:
Arno Van Zwam, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Taskahiro Yamanishi (Taikai Kamimoto 57), Takashi Fukunishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Hiroshi Nanami, Toshiya Fujita (Nobuo Kawaguchi 80), Aleksandr Zivkovic, Rodrigo Gral (Ryoichi Maeda 63), Masashi Nakayama.
Yoshinari Takagi, Takuya Yamada, Alexandre Lopes, Seitaro Tomizawa (Shingo Nejime 65), Takeshi Hirano (Hayuma Tanaka 45), Kentaro Hayashi, Atsuhiro Miura, Ramon Mendez Hubner, Daigo Kobayashi (Naoto Sakurai 45), Yugo Ichiyanagi, Patrick Mboma.
1 - 3 
The Yokohama Marinos stalked and shot down the Antlers at Kashima Stadium on Monday afternoon, though for a good portion of the match the momentum seemed to be flowing in the opposite direction. The player of the day was the much-maligned Tatsuhiko Kubo, who has been either awesome or invisible in most of the Marinos' matches this season. In the team's last two matches Kubo had a hard time even finding the ball, much less the net, but in the second half of this weekend's contest, he collected an impressive hat trick to bring Yokohama from behind and help defeat the team's long-time nemisis, Kashima.
1 - 3 The Antlers took an early lead on a thundering three-on-one breakaway that saw Mitsuo Ogasawara deliver the final feed to Atsushi Yanagisawa for the easy finish. The remainder of the first half was dominated by the home team, who could have extended their lead on two or three occasions, but were ultimately held at bay by the scrambling Marinos defence.
But as they came out for the second half, it seemed that coach Takeshi Okada had made the necessary technical adjustments, and the Marinos began to produce far more effective attacks. Just a minute into the second stanza, a long ball from the back line fell into empty space deem in Antlers territory, and Kubo demonstrated the speed and finishing ability that can make him deadly when he is having a good day. He outsprinted defender Go Oiwa to the ball, then ripped a blast int the netting to level the scores.
The subsequent 20 minutes were far more balanced than the first 45, but the Antlers still seemed to have a narrow edge in both possession and field position. However, the Marinos counters were beginning to connect, and one could sense that even a minor bit of luck could allow them to split open the Antlers defence. That chance came in the 66 minute, when Naoki Soma got a bit too ambitious on the left flank and lost the ball on the Antlers side of midfield. Yukihiko Sato quickly lofted the ball into the box and Kubo drilled a powerful header past Hitoshi Sogahata, who could only watch helplessly as the ball thundered past.
While the Antlers were still reeling from the second goal, Kubo used a clever bit of deception to extend the lead. Daisuke Oku carried a ball through the middle on yet another Marinos counter, looking for an outlet man. Kubo had been late to retreat from the earlier play, and the Antlers defenders apparently thought they had him caught offside. But Kubo sprinted AWAY from goal as Oku came upfield, getting back onside just as Oku released a pass into the space behind the Antlers defenders. Kubo wheeled about and dahsed into the open pasture behind Akira Narahashi and Yutaka Akita for an easy, one-on-one with the keeper
Though the Antlers recovered their composure, and produced some opportunities in the final 20 minutes, the Marinos back line was more than competent to protect a two-goal cushion, and with the victory, Yokohama clawed their way back to within two points of the league leaders, JEF, and just a point adrift of Kashima.
Lineups:
Tatsuya Enomoto, Yasuhiro Hato, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Dutra, Yukihiko Sato, Daisuke Nasu, Yasuhiro Endo, Daisuke Oku, Marquinhos (Daisuke Sakata 66), Tatsuhiko Kubo.
Hitoshi Sogahata, Jun Uchida, Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Naoki Soma, Koji Nakata, Naoto Honda, Masashi Motoyama (Masaaki Fukai 63), Mitsuo Ogasawara (Takuya Ishikawa 78), Tomoyuki Hirase (Atsushi Yanagisawa 62), Euller .
1 - 0
Perhaps ome of the most exciting matches of the day took place in the red-packed confines of Saitama Stadium, where a deafening crowd of 50,000 turned out to watch the Urawa Reds take on the struggling Shimizu S-Pulse. Despite the score line, this match was played at a furious pace, and both teams had numerous chaces, but were denied by a combination of good defending, poor finishing and sheer bad luck. On the Reds side of the pitch, Emerson still has not reclaimed the lightning speed that he displayed prior to his injury, but he is quickly getting back into form, and was just a quarter-step short of connecting with some of the through balls provided by his teammates. Meanwhile, Yuichiro Nagai is maturing up front, and no longer goes on as many wild, aimless dashes as he did in the past. With a bit more polishing, he should be able to learn when to lay the ball off, when to look for a cutting teammate and when to try to penetrate on his own. Best of all, for Urawa fans, Koji Yamase is finally back in the starting lineup after missing nearly a year with torn knee ligaments, and is showing flashes of the form he displayed at Sapporo. Since the Reds' big weakness at the moment is their lack of a playmaker and ball-distributor, his return could be very important to the team's hopes in the second stage.
1 - 0 For S-Pulse, meanwhile, Ahn Jung Hwan finally started to get some support, particularly from Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel, who is also just returning from an injury. Tragically, though, Tuto went down in painin the latter stages of the match, and appear to have re-injured his pulled hamstring. If so, this would be more bad news to a team that has been struggling this season. Alessandro Santos continues to try to do too much on his own, but at least in this match he was making occasional passes to set up Ahn and Tuto.
Nevertheless, despite a lot of hard running and aggressive attacking by both teams, the score remained 0-0 with no time left on the stadium clock. But in the first minute of injury time the Reds finally got their break. Keita Suzuki lobbed a ball for Yamase who was setting up just outside the box, to the right of the penalty arc. Yamase collected the ball with his chest and then, before it hid the ground he gave it a little flick into the box. Emerson lunged forward to trap the ball, then fired a quick shot that slipped underneath the outrushing keeper and gave the Reds an injury-time victory.
Lineups:
Norihiro Yamagishi, Nedijelko "Ned" Zelic, Keisuke Tsuboi, Ichiei Muroi, Keita Suzuki, Hideki Uchidate, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Koji Yamase, Makoto Hasebe, Yuichiro Nagai (Tatsuya Tanaka 80), Emerson.
Takaya Kurokawa, Daisuke Ichikawa, Shohei Ikeda, Ryuzo Morioka, Kazumichi Takaki Teruyoshi Ito, Yasuhiro Yoshida, Tomoyoshi Tsurumi, Alessandro Santos, Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel (Kohei Hiramatsu 82), Ahn Jung-Hwan.
1 - 0 
In one of the only matches of the day that failed to draw over 10,000 fans, two of the league's mid-level clubs gave a demonstration of how close the competition is in the league this year. Kyoto Purple Sanga have struggled in the early stages of the season while Vegalta Sendai surged out to a strong start before hitting a speed bump. Yet it was Kyoto who looked the stronger in this match, which was defined by the fine play of Kyoto's attacking midfield.
1 - 0 Some sloppy finishing kept the match scoreless until just before half time, when Kyoto finally connected on a fine combination play. Daisuke Matsui carried a ball forward from midfield and spotted Shingo Suzuki raging down the left wing. Matsui's pass slipped in just behind the defender, and Suzuki quickly curled into the box looking for teammates. He spotted Daisuke Nakaharai moving into the box and dropped a pass back to the veteran midfielder, who sent a wide-open drive into the right side of the net.
Neither team could alter the score line in the second half, and Kyoto moved back to a more respectable place in the league table, while Vegalta tumbled out of the ranks of top contenders.
Lineups:
Naoto Hirai, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Makoto Kakuda, Shigeki Tsujimoto, Shinya Tomita (Yusuke Mori 68), Daisuke Saito, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Shingo Suzuki, Daisuke Nakaharai, Tadamichi Machida, Daisuke Matsui (Makoto Atsuta 45).
Kiyomitsu Kobari, Takumi Morikawa, Fabiano, Masahiro Kazuma, Ichizo Nakata (Yuichi Nemoto 45), Toshiya Ishii, Hajime Moriyasu, Toshiyuki Abe (Naoki Chiba 61), Teruo Iwamoto, Hisato Sato (Eder 63), Yoshiteru Yamashita.
1 - 0 
Gamba Osaka and FC Tokyo played a rather defensive and inconclusive match at "The Soup Bowl" (Tokyo's Ajinomoto Stadium) which gave the 27,000 fans in attendance relatively little to cheer about until the final stages of play. Even Gamba's introduction of a third striker, when Satoshi Nakayama entered the match in place of Francisco "Chiqui" Arce at half time, faled to produce the desired offensive thrust.
1 - 0 But just when it seemed like the match might end in a scoreless draw, right wing Naohiro Ishikawa demonstrated the pinpoint accuracy that his team was sadly missing earlier in the week. Though he started on the bench, after playing two matches against Myanmar over the weekend, Ishikawa came on as a substitute to liven up the Tokyo offence in the latter stages. Taking a pass from Amaral at midfield, in the 85 minute, Ishikawa drifted forward until he was level with the top of the box, then looped a perfect pass onto the head of Clesly "Kelly" Guimares, who drilled the ball past the keeper's outstretched fingertips and gave FC Tokyo the victory.
Lineups:
Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Ryuji Fujiyama, Jo Kanazawa, Satoru Asari, Fumitake Miura (Masashi Miyazawa 79), Yoshiro Abe (Yuta Baba 76), Mitsuhiro Toda (Naohiro Ishikawa 54), Clesley "Kelly" Guimares, Amaral.
Naoki Matsuyo, Masao Kiba, Noritada Saneyoshi (Shigeru Morioka 70), Satoshi Yamaguchi, Francisco "Chiqui" Arce (Satoshi Nakayama 45), Toru Irie, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Masashi Oguro, Magrao.
2 - 1
Nagoya Grampus got back on a winning track this week as they overcame Oita Trinita at home, in front of nearly 15,000 fans. Grampus took the early lead on a goal from defender Andrej Panadic. Oita managed to equalise just after half time, as Daiki Takamatsu continues to provide what little offence tiny Trinita can muster. But Nagoya managed to eke out victory on a late strike from their other Balkan footballer, Andrej Panadic.
2 - 1
Lineups:
Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori, Andrej Panadic, Masahiro Koga, Tomoyuki Sakai (Ryuta Hara 61), Keiji Yoshimura (Keiji Kaimoto 85), Naoshi Nakamura (Tetsuya Okayama 79), Kunihiko Takizawa, Chikara Fujimoto, Ivica Vastic, Ueslei.
Hayato Okanaka, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Sandro Chaves Rosa, Takashi Miki, Tomohiro Katanosaka, Tomoaki Komorida, Takashi Umeda, Yoshito Terakawa (Rodrigo Mendes 52), Andradinha (Yoshihiro Uchimura 69), Daiki Takamatsu (Tetsuro Uki 83), .
Lineups:
0 - 1 
Once again, Vissel Kobe's defence did all the work, while their offence struggled badly. Not surprising when you consider that Kazu Miura got his first start in a couple of years. Though conditions improved slightly when Ryuji Bando replaced him in the 53 minute, Vissel even had to depend on a defender to get their lone goal of the match, in the 77 minute, when Yukio Tsuchiya tallied the deciding goal. Although Vissel's back line have been showing some really impressive tenacity in recent matches, which will probably keep them in matches, it is hared to win very often if your strikers (and even your midfielders!) cant score. 0 - 1
Lineups:
Yuta Minami, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Norihiro Satsukawa, Toru Nagata, Tomonori Hirayama, Takahiro Shimotaira, Tomokazu Myojin, Ricardinho (Harutaka Ono 31), Tadatoshi Masuda (Ryota Nagai 55), Marcio, Keiji Tamada (Kisho Yano 84)
Makoto Kakegawa, Yuji Tabuchi, Sidiclei, Yukio Tsuchiya, Shusuke Tsubouchi, Tomo Sugawara, Takayuki Yamaguchi, Mitsunori Yabuta (Masayuki Okano 76), Harison, Kazuyoshi Miura (Ryuji Bando 53) , Oseas (Kunie Kitamoto 87) .
JEF jump to the top of the table with their win over Cerezo, while the Antlers slip to second place, a point ahead of the Marinos and Jubilo. Here is the league table after seven matches
| . | Team | Pts | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GDif |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JEF United Ichihara | 16 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 10 | +10 |
| 2 | Kashima Antlers | 15 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 7 | +4 |
| 3 | Jubilo Iwata | 14 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 8 | +7 |
| 4 | Yokohama Marinos | 14 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 7 | +6 |
| 5 | Nagoya Grampus | 11 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 5 | +2 |
| 6 | Vegalta Sendai | 11 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 |
| 7 | FC Tokyo | 11 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | +0 |
| 8 | Kashiwa Reysol | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 8 | +1 |
| 9 | Cerezo Osaka | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 16 | +0 |
| 10 | Urawa Reds | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 10 | +0 |
| 11 | Vissel Kobe | 9 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 6 | +0 |
| 12 | Gamba Osaka | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 11 | +0 |
| 13 | Oita Trinita | 6 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 12 | -5 |
| 14 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 6 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 13 | -8 |
| 15 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 15 | -5 |
| 16 | Tokyo Verdy | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 18 | -13 |
Rumours and Rumblings
Nigeria May Back Out of Kirin Cup
The JFA are working overtime to try to prevent the cancellation of a Kirin Cup match scheduled to take place on June 11 against Nigeria. This follows the Nigerian sports ministry's surprise announcement on Wednesday that they were ordering the national team not to travel to Japan, due to fears regarding severe acute respiratory syndrom (SARS).
Speaking to reporters, JFA captain Saburo Kawabuchi made it clear that Japan would do its utmost to ensure that the match went on. Noting that there has yet to be a single case of SARS in Japan, Kawabuchi commented that "we are not calling off the match for the time being" Kawabuchi seemed confident that once the Nigerian officials understand the facts, they will honor their commitment to participate in the Kirin Cup. JFA officials intend to provide data from the World Health Organisation to the Nigerian government and football association, and help the visiting team plan a travel route that will allow them to avoid any SARS-infected regions. However, he sounded a note of caution, stating "At present, there is no reason to worry about health problems in Japan. But if cases of SARS do occur in Japan (in the future), it is understandable that they (Nigeria) will be reluctant to come. We will be watching this situation very carefully."
U-20 Squad Outplay Reysol
Japan's U-20 national team, who are preparing to compete in the Toulon Youth Festival for the third consecutive year, beginning June 5, completed a three-day training camp this week with a match against Kashiwa Reysol. The results would seem to indicate that the team is in good form. The nats forged an early lead on a PK by Vegalta Sendai striker Takayuki Nakahara (18), after midfielder Shuhei Tokunaga (19) was pulled down in the penalty box following a dangerous break on goal.
Several of the U-20 players had standout performances, but by far the most impressive member overall was Jubilo Iwata's 18-year-old midfielder Sho Naruoka. Though he has yet to take the field in a J.League match, Naruoka showed both fine footballing skills and real leadership capacity, directing both the offence and the defence as he played three positions over the course of the match (center MF, volante and left back).
Although Reysol managed an equaliser in the early second half, desipite being outplayed for most of the first, the match ended with poetic justice, as midfielder Tatsuya Tanizawa (of Kashiwa Reysol) played a perfect through pass to Yuji Unozawa (also of Reysol), to tally the winning goal against their club teammates.
An Order that MY Boss Never Gave Me
Tokyo Verdy officials held a press conference on Wednesday and announced that, following the team's 1-0-6 start to the season, coach Lori Paulo Sandri was being "ordered" to "take a vacation" until July, when League play resumes after the summer break. This would mean that he will be absent for the team's next three matches. It is a bit difficult to interpret this move; if the team was truly dissatisfied with the coach's performance, they might simply have fired him. On the other hand, while forcing a player to take a rest can be productive, allowing him to recover from injuries and regain energy, it is hard to see what value there is in forcing a coach to "take a rest". The Rising Sun News speculates that Coach Lori will not return, and that the team simply wants to wait until a break in the season to make the formal cut, to limit the turmoil and its potential impact on players' performances.
In any event, it is hard to ignore the fact that something is seriously wrong at Verdy, and coaches are usually the ones to take the fall for such problems. At the start of the season, we were optimistic that Verdy would be a reasonably competitive mid-table club. They have a number of highly promising youngsters, and at the tail end of last year they were playing some very exciting football. Patrick Mboma's pre-season injury certainly hurt them, but an even bigger problem seems to be Coach Lori's reluctance to play the team's youngsters in anything more than bit roles. Hayuma Tanaka, Daigo Kobayashi, Yuya Sano and particularly Jun Tamano have all been core members of Japan's U-20 squad, yet they have seen little action this season. Most Verdy fans, though, recognise that these players represent the future of the team. If Verdy are going to post totals like 5 goals scored against 18 conceded, they might as well do so while giving their tremendous teenagers some useful experience. Yet Coach Lori has stuck mainly with his veterans, giving most of the kids only 30 or 40 minute appearances, as substitutes. Though it is merely speculation, we believe that Verdy will field a very different sort of lineup over the next three matches, giving the younger generation a chance to show what they can do. If this turns out to be a total disaster, the team can approach Coach Lori, admit that he was right all along, and ask him to come back. On the other hand, if Verdy does as well, or better, than they did in their first seven matches, Coach Lori can be told not to bother purchasing a return ticket. In our view, this is a positive move. Surely nothing can be worse than what the team has demonstrated thus far in 2003.
Bad Boy Will Charged in Bar Bashing
Consadole Sapporo's star striker, Will, faces battery charges in a Sapporo court following an incident in which he allegedly roughed up a woman at a bar in the city following a late night round of drinking. According to the police report, the woman and her friend were speaking with Will and some of his mates at the bar, at around 2AM on a Saturday evening. The two were propositioned by the Brazilian, who was reportedly very drunk. When they declined his "offer", the plaintiff was reportedly grabbed, shaken and then struck several times by the big Sapporo striker.
Will is certainly no stranger to controversy. He has received disciplinary suspensions by the league on several occasions, including one three-match ban for punching an opponent in a JEF United - Yokohama Marinos match in 2002. The most widely reported incident, though, was one in which he kicked his own teammate, Naoki Matsuda, on whis way off the pitch after being shown a red card. This incident led the Marinos to drop him form their roster before the 2002 season had ended. Sapporo, which earned promotion in 2000 thanks mainly to the efforts of Will and strike partner Ryuji Bando, decided to take the chance that he could overcome his tempermental nature, but they may now be forced to reconsider. The team intends to speak wil Will on Wednesday to get his version of events before making a final decision on what punitive action, if any, to take.
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