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May 11, 2003
Payback Time

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
10 May		1-2		Matsumoto Stadium
10 May		2-3		"Banpaku" Stadium
10 May		2-1		Yokohama Int'l
10 May		vs		Ajinomoto Stadium
10 May		1-2		Sendai Stadium
10 May		1-1		Oita Stadium
11 May		3-2		Kobe Wing Stadium
11 May		5-0		Iwata Stadium

1 - 2

The match was hard-fought, and produced a log ot good offensive chances, though Grampus expended much of their effort in defense, trying to stall the explosive offensive capabilities of JEF United. Their strategy paid off, as they were able to produce good counterattacking chances for both of their goals. The first strike came in the 33 minute, on something of a fluke play. Nagoya striker Ivica Vastic led a counterattack through the left side of midfield, but the JEF defence managed to retreat and he had to turn the ball back away from goal. As he did, he spotted young Naoshi Nakamura on the other side of the penalty area, and fired a long line-drive cross. Nakamura had two defenders in front of him, but he also saw that there was a bit of space available, so he made a quick trap and fired off a shot. Defender Zeljko Milinovic was surging forward to try to block the shot, and he did manage to get in the way. However, the ball deflected off his leg into an arcing loop towards the goal. The deflection gaught the keeper off guard, and the ball looped just over his fingertips and into the back of the net.

JEF managed to equalise just before the break, on a brilliant shot by U-22 midfielder Yuki Abe. Milinovic fed the youngster at the top left corner of the box, and Abe did the rest. He trapped the ball on the fly, then crushed the ball on the short-hop, sending it like a bullet on a rising trajectory, into the opposite top corner.

But it was an equally fine play by another prospective member of Japan's youth team, Ryuta Hara, which decided the match. In the 78 minute, Ueslei took a ball deep into the left corner, danced a bit, trying to find an opening, then snapped off a low cross that looped across the face of goal. Hara was dashing towards the pass in a full sprint, but the cross was a bit to his side and he couldnt change course in time to get a head on it, or meet it with a direct volley. Instead, he leaped into the air and swung his foot sideways, a bit like a kung fu practitioner throwing a side kick. He caught the ball with the outside of his right foot, and deflected it inside the right post, giving Nagoya the margin of victory

Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai (Takenori Hayashi 85), Naotake Hanyu (Shigeyoshi Mochizuki 85), Sandro Cardoza (Kentaro Maki 87), Choi Yong-Soo.

Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori, Andrej Panadic, Masahiro Koga, Tomoyuki Sakai, Keiji Yoshimura (Ryuta Hara 75), Naoshi Nakamura, Kunihiko Takizawa (Keiji Kaimoto 89), Chikara Fujimoto, Ivica Vastic, Ueslei.

2 - 3

The Marinos seem to have overcome the offensive difficulties that plagued them earlier in the season, and although it remains to be seen whether the on-again off-again performancs of Sato and Tatsuhiko Kubo will persist, coach Okada does seem to have his squad performing up to their abilities, at last. Kubo followed up his hat trick against the Kashima Antlers, last week, with another quick goal in the 5 minute, volleying home a perfect cross from Sato. The former Tokyo midfielder lobbed a lead pass into the area for Kubo to chase, and the speedy striker, flanked by two defenders, managed to stick out a boot just centimeters ahead of his defenders and folley the ball on net.

FC Tokyo responded in the 39 minute, on a fine play of their own. Yoshiro Abe took the ball down the right wing and centered to Clesly "Kelly" Guimares, just beyond the penalty area. Kelly played a half-volley in front of net, and veteran Fumitake Miura, himself a former Marino, headed the ball back into the low right corner.

But the Marinos responded immediately with two quick goals before half time, giving themselves a comfortable lead. The frist strike was set up by Kubo and Sato, once again. Kubo carried the ball down the right wing on a breakout, crossing in just as he drew level with the box. Sato was directly in front of net, but the cross was a bit high and two defenders had him closely marked, so Sato decided to let the ball bounce past, towards the far post. Sotaro Yasunaga was trailing the play, and he slammed the cross in at the back post. Just moments later, Sato slipped a pass to Akihiro Endo on the right side, and the Marinos midfielder made a remarkable, twisting run through three FC Tokyo defenders before ripping a shot past the keeper.

In the second half, FC Tokyo struggled to get back into the match byt the Marinos defence was a bit too solid. With five minutes to go, Tokyo finally pulled one goal back when Jo Kanazawa got his toe to the ball following a mad scramble in front of net, and pushed it over the line. But that was all that FC Tokyo could manage, and the Marinos used victory to move back into first place on the league table, at least for one day.

Lineups:

Tatsuya Enomoto, Yasuhiro Hato, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Dutra, Yukihiko Sato (Kazuyoshi Mikami 67), Daisuke Nasu, Yasuhiro Endo, Daisuke Oku (Daisuke Sakata 60), Sotaro Yasunaga (Norihisa Shimizu 45), Tatsuhiko Kubo.

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.

1 - 1

But even without Ogasawara, the Antlers should have been able to win this match, if not for a disastrous blunder by Yutaka Akita. In the 36 minute, Akitareceived a back pass from midfield, and tried to volley it on to his keeper. But he apparently took his eye off the ball for a crucial instant, and the result was a weak dribbling grounder towards the outside edge of the penalty area. As fate would have it, a former Antler was lurking just a few meters away. Rodrigo Mendes, who played for Kashima in 1996 and '97, pounced on Akita's mistake and ripped off a shot before keeper Hitoshi Sogahata could clean up the mess. The home crowd went wild, and the Antlers were consigned to a 0-1 halftime deficit.

In the second half, Kashima piled on the pressure, and the match became very one-sided. But try as they might, the Antlers couldnt create a goal. Finally, with just 10 mintues to play, Fernando sent a free kick to Koji Nakata at the right post, and Nakata headed the ball past the keeper. But that was all Kashima could muster, and they were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw. Lineups:

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Naoki Soma, Koji Nakata, Fernando, Takeshi Aoki (Masaaki Fukai 71), Masashi Motoyama (Claudicir 75), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Tomoyuki Hirase 69), Euller.

Hayato Okanaka, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Sandro Chaves Rosa, Takashi Miki, Tomohiro Katanosaka (Koji Arimura 73), Tomoaki Komorida, Takashi Umeda, Takayuki Yoshida, Yoshito Terakawa (Yoshihiro Uchimura 63), Rodrigo Mendes (Andradinha 78), Daiki Takamatsu.

1 - 2

S-Pulse scored first, forging a 1-0 halftime lead on a strike by Yoshikiyo Kubouama. Kuboyama collected a lob pass from Alessandro Santos at the top left corner of the penalty area and drove a looping line drive into the far corner.

Mboma leveled the scores in the 56 minute, heading home a corner kick, but S-Pulse took the victory as Kohei Hiramatsu struck for his first goal of the year, heading home a nice cross from Jumpei Takaki

Lineups:

Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Yugo Ichiyanagi, Alexandre Lopes, Kentaro Suzuki, Shingo Nejime, Takuya Yamada, Kentaro Hayashi (Daigo Kobayashi 73), Atsuhiro Miura, Ramon Mendez Hubner, Naoto Sakurai (Yuya Sano 83), Patrick Mboma (Kazuki Hiramoto 79).

Takaya Kurokawa, Daisuke Ichikaw (Jumpei Takagi 82), Shohei Ikeda, Ryuzo Morioka, Kazumichi Takaki, Teruyoshi Ito, Yasuhiro Yoshida (Kohei Hiramatsu 61), Tomoyoshi Tsurumi, Masaaki Sawanobori, Alessandro Santos, Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Hideaki Kitajima 73).

2 - 3

Actually, Gamba played well for the first 45 minutes, but were not able to create many shots against Reysol's tenacious defending. However, Magrao did manage to head home a free kick just before half time to give Gamba the lead.

After the break, it was all Reysol, with midfielder Ricardinho providing much ofthe spark. He leveled the score line just a few minutes after the break with a perfectly-placed free kick, then fed Mitsuteru Watanabe on another free kick, a few minutes later, for a header from close range. Ricardinho finished off a fine performance with a weaving run down the right side in the 69 minute which he ended with a low-angle drive inside the far post.

Gamba struggled to come back, eventually getting a second tally from Magrao, but the lead was too much to make up, and in the end, their comeback fell short. Lineups:

Naoki Matsuyo, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Arata Kodama 85), Masao Kiba, Francisco "Chiqui" Arce (Shigeru Morioka 62), Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Satoshi Nakayama, Takahiro Futagawa, Kota Yoshihara (Masanobu Matsunami 62), Magrao.

Yuta Minami, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Norihiro Satsukawa, Toru Nagata, Tomonori Hirayama, Takahiro Shimotaira, Tomokazu Myojin, Ricardinho (Toru Watanabe 85), Jussie Ferreira Rivera (Hidekasu Otani 71), Marcio (Yuya Unozawa 89), Keiji Tamada.

1 - 2

With so many players enjoying sweet revenge against their former clubs, only one match failed to follow the script on Saturday. In the noisy confines of Sendai Stadium, which was packed to the rafters with screaming Vegalta fans, Cerezo Osaka managed to stave off the pressure from two key players who were pivotal to the team's success in winning promotion last year. Which is not to say that Yuichi Nemoto and Hisato Sato performed poorly. Indeed, Sato made an important contribution to Vegalta's lone goal, while Nemoto provided strong contributions on both offence and defence, playing the left wing back position.

However, Cerezo have been scoring goals in bunches lately, and they proved to have just a bit more firepower than their opponent on Saturday. Vegalta got off to an early lead on a beautiful combination play. Silvinho fired a long pass from around the midfield stripe to Sato, who was standing just above the penalty arc. The young striker made a fine play on the ball, volleying it out of the air directly into the path of his strike partner Yoshiteru Yamashita , who was breaking into the box. Yamashita settled the ball once, then ripped a spinning shot with his left foot, into the top right-hand side of the net.

This strike stood up until half time as the difference betwen the two teams. However, Cerezo came out with much greater intensity in the second half, and began to inch closer to an equaliser. In the 72 minute, the goal finally came, served up (naturally) by the team's ace playmaker Yoshito Okubo.. Taking a ball down the right side, Okubo faked and twisted his way around two defenders before finally looping a cross in front of the goal mouth. Baron was drifting through the box, and he put a powerful header into the low left corner before the keeper could budge.

With time running down, Cerezo stepped up the pressure further, and just two minutes before full time, Kiyokazu Kudo once again found Baron with a cross, this time from the left flank. Once again, Baron's height and finishing ability prevailed over the defenders, as he nodded home the winner.

Lineups:

Seigo Shimokawa, Satoru Suzuki, Joao, Takuma Koga, Takanori Nunobe, Yuji Hironaga (56), Kiyokazu Kudo, Takaaki Tokushige (Yusuke Sato 55), Hiroaki Morishima, Akinori Nishizawa, Baron Yoshito Okubo (Yasuo Manaka 71).

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.

5-0

Though Kyoto Purple Sanga have been one of the most hapless teams in the league this season, they actually played Jubilo pretty even for the first half hour. This was partly due to some heavy ball pressure by Kyoto, but it also reflected Jubilo's willingness to flop to the turf when challenged, rather than trying to beat their defender and drive for goal. But in the 35 minute, Jubilo finally got on the board, and this changed their approach to the match completely. Hiroshi Nanami won a free kick after being fouled (?) about four meters to the left of the penalty box, and he lined up to take the free kick himself. As a crowd of Jubilo players all rushed for the near post, Nanami sent the ball long, and found Makoto Tanaka wide open at the far post for a thundering header.

This goal seemed to relax the Jubilo players, and they started to exchange passes at minfield far more effectively than they had earlier. Just before half time, Rodrigo Gral made a sparkling run around the left corner, dancing between two defenders before lofting a line drive in front of net. Nanami was camped out at the penalty spot, awaiting the ball, and he nodded the cross down into the low right corner for Jubilo's second goal.

After half time, Sanga came out with aggessive trapping pressure and temporarily turned the momentum around, but their finishing was unimpressive, and after about 10 minutes the surge of momentum waned, returning the initiative to Jubilo. The killer blow came in about the 60 minute, on a beautifully executed play that scrambled the Kyoto defence and basically put the match out of reach. Once again, Gral made penetration down the left wing, but as he searched for a teammate, he saw a crowd of purple jersies clogging up the middle. Instead of crossing on net, he lofted a long, powerful cross to the opposite sideline to Tanaka, who had overlapped into the offensive zone from his right back position. The entire Kyoto defence reacted to the ball, drifting to their right. But as soon as the ball arrived, Tanaka stopped it with a quick trap, then fired it back across the face of goal a second time. All of the Kyoto players were caught moving in the wrong direction, and Takashi Fukunishi had enough space to drive the ball on net and extend Jubilo's lead to three.

Kyoto still did not give up, but when a team is three goals down and pressing desperately forward (particularly against a veteran outfit like Jubilo), they tend to open up large holes in their own defence. Jubilo exploited this twice in a span of less than ten minutes, with Gral collecting two additional goals to add icing to the cake.

Lineups:

Arno Van Zwam, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Toshihiro Hattori, Takashi Fukunishi, Hiroshi Nanami, Norihiro Nishi, Nobuo Kawaguchi, Aleksandr Zivkovic, Rodrigo Gral, Masashi Nakayama.

Naoto Hirai, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Makoto Kakuda, Shigeki Tsujimoto, Shinya Tomita (Yusuke Mori 68), Daisuke Saito (Teruaki Kurobe 75), Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Shingo Suzuki, Daisuke Nakaharai, Tadamichi Machida, Daisuke Matsui.

3-2

With JEF's loss this week, Jubilo Iwata and Yokohama Marinos vault to the top of the table, with Jubilo in the lead based on goal difference. JEF now lies level on points with the Kashima Antlers, just one point behind the two leaders, while Nagoya Grampus move up to within three points of the league leadership.