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July 6, 2003
Back with a Bang

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
5 Jul		5-2		Kashima Stadium
5 Jul		2-1		Komaba Stadium
5 Jul		0-2		Kashiwa Stadium
5 Jul		01		Tokyo Nat'l Stadium
5 Jul		1-1		Toyota Stadium
5 Jul		4-3		Kobe Wing Stadium
6 Jul		2-0		Ajinomoto Stadium
6 Jul		0-2		Nagai Stadium

5 - 2

Jubilo entered the match at the top of the table, and although some of their results this season may have been a bit dodgy, their fans certainly could not have expected the fate that befell them on this particular evening. Despite their third-place standing in the league table going into this weekend, the Antlers have taken some heavy criticism in recent weeks, with some commentators going so far as to claim that the team is worn out and washed up. Zico dropped nearly all of the Antlers starters from his lineup at the Confederations' Cup, adding to the impression that the Antlers are losing their touch. But if anything, these tribulations seem to have done little more than fire the Antlers up. As a packed house of over 40,000 in Kashima Stadium roared their approval the red-shirted herd galloped out into the muggy evening and proceded to blow their visitors off the pitch.

The stampede took all of fifteen minutes to turn a tense confrontation into a joyous celebration. Nine minutes after the opening whistle, Kashima won a throw in on the right sideline, and Akira Narahashi inbounded to Mitsuo Ogasawara, 30 meters from goal. Ogasawara quickly spun away from his man and lobbed a long ball that found Euller posting up two paces inside the penalty box, directly in frong of goal. As his defenders rushed to bottle him up, Euller pivoted to his left and slid a pass to Fernando , ten meters out from the right post and almost completely unmarked. The Brazilian midfielder took one touch to settle the ball, then ripped a shot across the face of goal, beating the keeper and catching the inside of the far post before bounding into the net.

This strike was all the momentum the Antlers needed, and immediately they were pressing Jubilo again. Eager to turn the tide back in their favour, Jubilo pressed forward as well, trying to compress the field and use their short passing game on offence. But a steal in midfield gave Koji Nakata an opportunity to remind doubters that he still has one of the deftest left feet in the league. on his first touch of the ball, Nakata lobbed a 50-meter pass that sent both Euller and Yanagisawa away on a stampeding run, and virtually hit Euller in the bootlaces. The Jubilo defence was caught totally unprepared, leaving only keeper Arno VanZwam to face the charge of two Antlers strikers. Racing out of his net, VanZwam tried to anticipate Euller's first long touch and race out to clear the ball, but Euller got there first, and lobbed the ball over the keeper's head. Surely VanZwam knew that he was outside his box, but apparently in the heat of the moment he must have felt that if he let the ball go it would be a certain goal anyway, so he threw up his arms and swatted the ball away.

Unfortunately for Jubilo, the referee Masayoshi Okada was not in a forgiving mood, and he immediately produced a red card. VanZwam didnt even pause to argue, stripping off his gloves and marching for the locker room. To make matters worse, VanZwam's sacrifice didnt even spare Jubilo a goal, since Fernando drilled the ensuing free kick into the low left corner to make the score 2-0.

Kashima was in full gallop now, and just three minutes later they had yet another opportunity which produced a corner kick on the left side. As Ogasawara prepared to take the kick, he caught Jubilo packing their penalty box a bit too tightly, and slipped the ball back to Fernando, advancing from his defensive position on the set play. Fernando received the ball just two meters beyond the top left corner of the box, with no defender in shouting distance. Carefully scanning the pack of players in front of net, Fernando looped a cross onto the head of Go Oiwa and the former Jubilo defender made the score 3-0.

After the third goal, the Antlers may have grown a bit complacent, though one should give Jubilo credit for some very hard work over the subsequent 20-25 minutes, as they strugled to stem the tide. Kashima started moving the ball around the pitch with long, pinpoint passes in what seemed a deliberate strategy to make the ten-man Jubilo run as much as possible. Though they did not create any more truly dangerous chances over this spell, Kashima remained firmly in control and seemed intent on just wearing down their opponent. As half time approached, the pace finally seemed to get to the Iwata defenders, and Kashima pressed forward for another thrust on goal. After three abortive surges into the box, the Antlers won another corner kick, and although the initial cross was cleared, the ball came out to Fernando on the right sideline. Again the Brazilian midfielder used his accurate left boot to send the ball in, this time finding Yutaka Akita on the opposite side of the box. Akita headed back across the goal mouth to Oiwa, who had his back to goal but briefly displayed an inclination to try a bicycle kick. At the last second, though, Oiwa saw Yanagisawa slanting in from the right side, and aborted his overhead kick. Yanagisawa met the ball on the short hop and drilled it off the underside of the crossbar to tally his last goal before departing for Serie A and send the crowd into wild celebrations.

The Antlers probably would have liked the match to end right there, but a further 45 minutes of football remained to be played, and Jubilo were not about to slink away from a whupping, with their tails between their legs. If anything is true about the Antlers-Jubilo rivalry, it is that neither team ever gives up until the final whistle. Jubilo apparently got an earful in the locker room, and emerged with fire in their eyes. The Antlers, on the other hand, seemed to be too complacent, and would quickly be made to pay. Five minutes after the restart, Norihiro Nishi made a nice steal in midfield and fed the ball to young striker Ryoichi Maeda, isolated on Oiwa at the right edge of the box. Maeda has been gaining confidence this season, and has some impressive moves on the dribble. Oiwa realized that he had no support, and a bit foolishly he went for a steal rather than shadow Maeda and wait for help. The young striker was having none of that, fending off the schallenge and turning the corner to slant in on goal. Before any more help could arrive, Maeda snapped off a quick shot that snuck inside the far post and reduced the deficit to 4-1.

This brought a surge of adrenaline to the Jubilo players, and less than two minutes later they were making another rush down the right side. This time Toshiya Fujita was the player who took on Oiwa for the drive into the box. Having been beaten once, Oiwa seemed determined to avoit being beaten a second time. But the crafty veteran Fujita let Oiwa make his move and then pushed the ball away into empty space. As soon as he felt the contact with Oiwa's leg, Fujita flopped to the turf, knowing that Mr. Okada would oblige with a PK. Rodrigo Gral collected the goal from the spot, and suddenly the score was 4-2.

But this goal simply served to shake the Antlers out of their post-half-time complacency. With a man advantage and a two-goal lead, Kashima were not about to let this one slip away. Immediately they went back to the ball-control game, forcing Jubilo to chase. Although the Iwata players deserve a great deal of credit for the effort, bu the 60 minute mark they were starting to droop and the Antlers had settled down to the task at hand. Yanagisawa came off to a well-deserved ovation, with defensive midfielder Takeshi Aoki taking his place, giving Kashima even more ball control and precision in midfield. Time took its toll, and by the 70 minute, Jubilo's gas tank was close to empty. The coup de grace was delivered by Ogasawara from the left sideline, on a perfectly struck free kick that needed just a tiny flick of the head from Euller to find the net. This goal broke Jubilo's resistance, and in the final 20 minutes they were largely reduced to defensive scrambling to maintain some degree of respectability. And so, another chapter in this great rivalry went into the history books. But considering the drama and ferocious competitiveness displayed by both teams, it seems more than likely that this scene may be replayed once again in November.

Lineups:

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Naoki Soma, Koji Nakata, Fernando (Claudicir 76), Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama (Takayuki Suzuki 72), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Takeshi Aoki 59), Euller .

Arno Van Zwam, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Taikai Uemoto (Toshiyasu Takahara 12), Norihiro Nishi, Takashi Fukunishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Toshiya Fujita, Hiroshi Nanami, Rodrigo Gral (Nobuo Kawaguchi 75), Ryoichi Maeda.

4 - 3

But Kobe clawed back to equal terms midway through the period on a dizzying play from a corner kick. The ball was crossed for the far post, and headed back into the pack, but thereafter any suggestion that the exchange had been orchestrated would be ludicrous. The ball bounced around from one corner of the penalty area to the other like a ball in a turbo-charged pachinko machine. After what must have been the eighth or ninth volley, Sidiclei swung a boot at the ball and slammed it into the net.

Just before half time, though, Gamba restored their advantage on a fine run by Oguro. Kobe were pressing forward from midfield when a Gamba defender leapt high to head a lob pass back towards the midfield stripe. The ball fell at Oguro's feet and he took off upfield at a sprint. The Kobe defence were caught on the wrong foot, and rushed to fall back into defensive positions. But as they retreated to cover the wings, Oguro was left unchallenged to carry the ball down the center of the pitch. About 30 meters from goal, Oguro still had a wide open look at net, and apparently decided to try his luck. His blast was well struck, curling into the high corner and giving his team a lead to take into the locker room.

But despite their strong start in this match, things went awry for Gamba right from the restart. Vissel came out in a rush that pushed Gamba back on their heels. In the very first foray down field, a cross from the left sideline found Oseas open in front of the net for an easy volley, and the score was knotted once more. Then, just three minutes later, a cross into the box was deflected high into the air, and happened to fall right at the feet of Kazuyoshi Miura, a step inside the penalty box. Kazu, who has been rediscovering his form this season, showed a fine bit of body control, leaning back to let the ball fall at his feet and then connecting on the short-hop to drive it into the net.

After the initial surge by Vissel, Gamba fought back to reestablish ball control, and midway through the second half they got back on level terms when Takahiro Futagawa's cross from the left side found Magrao for a header directly in front of the goal mouth. But as the seconds ticked down in the final minute of regulation time, a defensive blunder in the back line sealed Gamba's fate. Oseas snuck in between two defenders to steal a pass and burst into the clear, finishing with a low shot underneath the outrushing keeper to give Kobe the last-second win.

Lineups:

Makoto Kakegawa, Yuji Tabuchi, Sidiclei, Kunie Kitamoto, Naoto Matsuo, (Yukio Tsuchiya 80), Tomo Sugawara, Takayuki Yamaguchi (Yasutoshi Miura 66), , Masayuki Okano (Hiromi Kojima 75), Harison, Oseas, Kazuyoshi Miura (Ryuji Bando 64) .

Naoki Matsuyo, Masao Kiba, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Shigeru Morioka (Satoshi Nakayama 60), Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Toru Araiba, Takahiro Futagawa (Noritada Saneyoshi 76), Masashi Oguro (Masanobu Matsunami 80), Magrao.

2 - 1

It got worse.

On the very next play, as Yuichiro Nagai dribbled forward, an Oita player went to challenge him, then pulled back at the last second. Nagai lost his dribble, and immediately threw himself to the pitch, right in front of Mr. Sunakawa. The look on the referee's face made it obvious that he had seen the dive, but he was too gutless to make two adverse calls against the Reds in a row, especially in front of a vocally hostile home crowd. He awarded a free kick to the Reds, though he must have known that it was the wrong call.

As the Reds grew increasingly frustrated, Trinita got the counterattacking opportunity they were waiting for. Takashi Umeda made a break into the corner, and although he was corralled by two defenders, he managed to struggle free and lob a hopeful ball into the box. Daiki Takamatsu, a 21-year old unknown who is quickly gaining a lot of attention with his play this season, leapt high to head the ball away from the last Reds defender and into the path of Takayuki Yoshida, slanting into the box as he trailed the play. Yoshida volleyed the ball in from short range and Trinita had a 1-0 lead to take into the locker room.

The Reds continued to struggle as they have for much of the season, not so much because they are unable to create breaks. On the contrary, Emerson and Nagai were sent off on numerous breaks, while Nobuhisa Yamada raced up and down the right sideline to provide service to the two forwards. However, with Koji Yamase out again with knee problems, there was never anyone following up behind the two speedy strikers. Time and again, the play would stall out as Emerson and Nagai got too far in front of their support and had no one to pass the ball to.

Early in the second half, Hans Ooft made a fateful decision that one hopes he will repeat in future matches. Pulling one defensive midfielder, he brought on Tatsuya Tanaka, and shifted to a 3-4-3. This move brought instant results. Suddenly, the Reds had one more player who could keep up with Emerson and Nagai on the break, and the Trinita defence which had been stubbornly resilient throughout the first 60 minutes, collapsed like a cheap tool shed in an earthquake. In the 67 minute Keita Suzuki collected a ball at midfield and had three targets in front of him on the break. He threaded a pass to Emerson who accelerated between the last two defenders, and Koji Arimura had no choice but tho haul him down (though once again, he was spared a yellow card for his cynical play). Emerson drilled the resulting free kick through the wall and into the low left corner to bring the Reds even.

Just three minutes later, the top three were again on the gallop, this time with Tanaka out front. With a burst of spe3ed, Tanaka dashed around the left flank and pulled the ball across the face of goal. Nagai slashed in at the near post and bundled the ball into the net, giving the Reds the lead.

Oita were fortunate to avoid conceding one or two more goals, as the Reds atack was suddenly transformed into a pounding force that left the defenders reeling. It is an open question whether Urawa could sustain such pandemonious running over the entire course of a game, but based on the performance in the final thirty minutes of this match, one certainly hopes that Ooft will get the message, and make the 3-4-3 lineup his starting set. Defenders Ichiei Muroi and Keisuke Tsuboi have provided clear evidence that they can handle the defensive assignments that would be required in such a set, and Suzuki, at volante, seems to function better when he is forced to cover a lot of space by himself. With stability at the back, the Reds offence -- which effectively becomes a six-man attacking line -- can create havoc for even the most experienced defences. It will be interesting to see if Ooft goes with this formation in Urawa's next match.

Lineups:

Norihiro Yamagishi, Nedijelko "Ned" Zelic, Keisuke Tsuboi, Ichiei Muroi, Nobuhisa Yamada, Hideki Uchidate (Tatsuya Tanaka 59), Keita Suzuki, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Makoto Hasebe, Yuichiro Nagai, Emerson.

Hayato Okanaka, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Sandro Chaves Rosa, Takashi Miki, Koji Arimura, Yoshito Terakawa, Takashi Umeda, Shinichi Muto (Yoshiaki Komorida 71), Rodrigo Mendes (Shota Matsuhashi 77), Taskahiro Yoshida (Daiki Wakamatsu 81), Daiki Takamatsu.

1 - 1

They did come close, however. Grampus dominated this match against a slumping Kyoto Purtple Sanga who have been further damaged by a self-inflicted wound -- the dismissal of Gert Engels during the June break. Without their inspirational coach, Kyoto could be destined for relegation, after the team won its first-ever trophy on New Year's day of this year. Grampus dominated possession and had several clear-cut opportunities to score, but it took until the 42 minute and a free kick opportunity before they could finally break the deadlock. Ueslei drilled the ball into the top right corner to give his team what looked like the only goal they would need. But after sputtering and stuttering for almost an hour, the Purple Sanga got back into the match right at the 60 minute mark on a goal that came against the run of play. Shingo Suzuki lofted a long ball into the box from the left sideline and Ko Jung-Yoon raced in at the far post to volley it home for his first J.League goal.

With time running down, Grampus appeared to get the deciding goal on a breakaway that was headed in by Andrej Panadic, but after celebrating for almost a full minute, he turned and saw that the linesman's flag was up, nullifying the goal. Once more, Nagoya had to settle for just a single point. Lineups:

Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori, Andrej Panadic, Masahiro Koga (Keiji Kaimoto 82), Tomoyuki Sakai (Taku Harada 78), Kei Yamaguchi, Naoshi Nakamura, Kunihiko Takizawa, Tetsuya Okayama (Ryuta Hara 45), Marques, Ueslei.

Naoto Hirai, Makoto Kakuda, Yuki Hayashi, Kazuki Tejima, Shingo Suzuki, Shinya Tomita (Yusuke Mori 55), Tadashi Nakamura, Kiyotaka Ishimaru (Takayuki Ono 55), Ko Jung-Yoon, Daisuke Nakaharai (Kazuhiro Suzuki 86), Daisuke Matsui, .

0 - 1

The Marinos, meanwhile, squandered far too many easy opportunities in this match, which they should have won by at least three goals. Nevertheless, the attacking pair of Marquinhosand Tatsuhiko Kubo are beginning to develop some degree of coordination and they are receiving improved service from midfielders Yukihiko Sato, Akihiro Endo and Daisuke Oku. If they improve their finishing, they should remain in the race for the first stage title right to the end.

Yokohama got the only goal they needed in the 44 minute, when Endo lobbed a long pass to Marquinhos on the left side of the box. Marquinhos immediately cut the ball back across the face of goal, and although the pass caught Kubo a bit by surprise, the tall striker was able to get enough of a foot on the ball to deflect it into the net.

Lineups:

Tatsuya Enomoto, Yoo Sang-Chul, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Dutra, Yukihiko Sato, Daisuke Nasu, Yasuhiro Endo, Daisuke Oku, Marquinhos (Nobuhisa Shimizu 73), Tatsuhiko Kubo (Daisuke Sakata 85).

Takaya Kurokawa, Daisuke Ichikawa, Shohei Ikeda, Ryuzo Morioka, Kazumichi Takaki, Yasuhiro Yoshida (Yoshikiyo Kuboyama 71), Tomoyoshi Tsurumi, Teruyoshi Ito, Masaaki Sawanobori (Jumpei Takaki 83), Alessandro Santos, Tuto.

0 - 2

Lineups:

Yuta Minami, Naoya Kondo (Masayuki Ochiai 71), Norihiro Satsukawa, Toru Nagata, Yuta Nagia, Tomokazu Myojin, Takahiro Shimotaira (Tatsuya Tanizawa 45), Ricardinho, Jesse (Kisho Yano 68), Marcio, Keiji Tamada

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano, Eisuke Nakanishi, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Masataka Sakamoto (Satoru Yamagishi 86), Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu (Seiichiro Maki 81), Sandro Cardoza.

2 - 0

FC Tokyo are struggling this year mainly because of their lack of a reliable finisher. Ishikawa and Clesly "Kelly" Guimares, as well as a strong supporting cast of midfielders, provided good service throughout the match, but the so-called "King of Tokyo", Amaral, demonstrated without question that it is about time for him to turn in his crown. Age has finally caught up with the 37-year-old strike\r, who struggled gamely to make an impact but was always a step too slow or his leaps an inch too low to finish off the opportunities provided by his teammates. On a very youthful team, Amaral has provided a valueable veteran presence for the past year or so, but it looks like it may finally be time for him to hang up the boots.

Nevertheless, FC Tokyo managed to get out to an early lead on a free kick in the 24 minute, from about eight meters outside the penalty box. MAsashi Miyazawa curled the kick over the wall and into the low right hand corner, catching the keeper by surprise and just eluding his diving reach. Tokyo dominated the remainder of the first half, but poor finishing kept the score at 1-0 through half time.

In the second half, Vegalta began to create a few more opportunities, with Toshiyuki Abe and Toshiya Ishii controlling the ball at midfield and trying to feed passes to their strikers. However, with their ace striker Marcos still out of commission, both Yoshiteru Yamashita and Hisato Sato are a bit too small to present a decent target. Vegalta created several chances, particularly when Nemoto managed to shake Ishikawa and run the overlap. However, Tokyo's tall defenders were able to prevent the Vegalta strike team from getting any solid shots on net.

As time ran down, Coach Hiromi Hara finally pulled Amaral off the pitch and sent in youngsters Yuta Baba and Mitsuhiro Toda. The move paid dividends almost immediately, with Ishikawa finding space in the right corner and lobbing a long ball to Toda at the far post. Toda showed how it is supposed to be done, shaking his defender and volleying the cross into the nylon to put the final flourish on the match.

Lineups:

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Ryuji Fujiyama, Masashi Miyazawa, Shuhei Tokunaga (Satoru Asari 85), Fumitake Miura, Yoshiro Abe, (Yuta Baba 72), Clesley "Kelly" Guimares, Amaral (Mitsuhiro Toda 80).

Daijiro Takakuwa, Takumi Morikawa, Fabiano, Norio Omura, Hajime Moriyasu (Ichizo Nakata 78), Yuichi Nemoto, Toshiya Ishii, Toshiyuki Abe, Nobuyuki Zaizen (Yasushi Fukunaga 75), Hisato Sato, Yoshiteru Yamashita (Takayuki Nakahara 86).

0 - 2

The first ten minutes of the match were a bit ragged,with both teams wasting a lot of long balls to nowhere. But in the 12 minute Verdy struck like lightning out of a clear blue sky. After breaking up a pass near midfield, Second-year wing back Masayuki Yanagisawa pushed forward on the right wing and received the outlet pass from Atsuhiro Miura. Taking off upfield, Yanagisawa dribbled for almost forty meters without drawing a challenge. Since he had few teammates in support, he apparently decided to have a go on his own, and his shot flew like a bullet into the low left corner, just eluding the lunge of the Cerezo keeper.

This shock goal unsettled Cerezo for a few minutes, but by the middle of the first half they were on the attack, creating one surge into Verdy territory after another. Yoshito Okubo had four or five shots on goal, but they all somehow managed to hit the keeper squarely in the chest. Despite dominating play over the first 45 minutes, Cerezo went into the locker room with a one-goal deficit.

From the moment the match restarted, Cerezo let fly with all their guns, pushing Verdy back on defence and keepint them therre for about fifteen desperate, scrambling minutes. But as the half wore on, Verdy seemed to ride out the surge, and began to launch counterattacks of their own which grew increasingly dangerous as time went on. With ten minutes to go and Cerezo throwing everything they had into the attack, Ramon Mendez Hubner collected a loose ball and fed it to veteran midfielder Takuya Yamada just as he surged past his defender and into the box. Yamada settled the ball once, then fired low underneath the outracing keeper to put the final nail in Cerezo's coffin

Lineups:

Seigo Shimokawa, Satoru Suzuki, Joao, Ryu Saito, Takanori Nunobe, Yuji Hironaga, Kiyokazu Kudo, Yusuke Sato (Baron 69), Takaaki Tokushige, Hiroaki Morishima (Yasushi Kita 80), Akinori Nishizawa.

Yoshinari Takagi, Takuya Yamada, Alexandre Lopes, Takeshi Hirano, Yugo Ichiyanagi, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsuhiro Miura, Ramon Mendez Hubner, Daigo Kobayashi, Shingo Nejime (Jun Tamano 61), Patrick Mboma (Kazuki Hiramoto 61)

With their victory over Jubilo, the Antlers move into second place, while Jubilo drop to third and JEF United advance to the top of the table. However, the race for the league title could not possibly be tighter. With four matches left to play, eight teams are all within two wins of the league leaders, and four teams -- Marinos, Jubilo, Antlers and JEF -- are all within three points of the lead. The stretch run is shaping up to be a real thrilling ride!

Rumours and Rumblings

Ono Faces Possible Ankle Surgery

The examination disclosed a slight fracture of the ankle bones and damage to the sheath encasing bone and tendons. Ono has been advised by Feyenoord's medical team to take three weeks of complete rest, and will travel back to Japan this weekend for at least the next few weeks. According to team doctors, if the injury does not heal properly by the end of July, there is a chance that he may require corrective surgery to repair the tendon sheath.

Purple Sanga Pin Hopes on Pim