---

July 27, 2003
Down to the Wire

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
26 Jul		3-2		Saitama Stadium
26 Jul		0-1		Tokyo Nat'l Stadium
26 Jul		3-0		Nihondaira Stadium
26 Jul		1-4		Mizuho Stadium
26 Jul		1-2		"Banpaku" Stadium
26 Jul		0-8		Kobe Wing Stadium
27 Jul		0-1		Kashima Stadium
27 Jul		1-0		Tokyo Nat'l Stadium

3 - 0

As this writer noted even before the match started (see our message board), the key for S-Pulse was to exploit JEF's tendency to apply little pressure in the deep midfield, and to use the openings to launch swift, long attacks aimed at Ahn Jung-Hwan , up front. This is precisely the strategy that S-Pulse employed, and for some reason JEF did not make the adjustments necessary to contain the Korean ace, or to address S-Pulse's very busy midfield unit.

Just three minutes into the match, Daisuke Ichikawa statched a loose ball in the deep midfield and played a brilliant long bass with the outside of his foot that led Hideaki Kitajima into the left corner. Ahn was double-covered in the JEF penalty area, but Kitajima cut his cross back behind Ahn, and found Yoshikiyo Kuboyama trailing the play. Kuboyama fired inside the left post, and S-Pulse were out to an early lead.

Just ten minutes later, another steal in midfield and a quick pass for the front line sent Teruyoshi Ito away on coal. Ito made a beautiful cutback move to beat a defender, then fired a shot on net. Although keeper Ryo Kushino was able to deflect the shot, it fell right at the feet of the completely unguarded Ahn, who strolled into the net at the left post.

The second goal finally shocked JEF back to reality, and they started to pressure the ball better at midfield and be more cautious in their buildup passes, However, S-Pulse had snatched the early lead they were hoping for, and they quickly adjusted their formation into a sagging, counterattacking stule aimed at preventing the swift one-touch-per-player thrusts that are JEF's forte. Heavy pressure on the attackiig midfielders and man-to-man marking prevented JEF from developing any momentum, and although Masataka Sakamoto managed to nit the crossbar on one chance midway through the half, JEF were unable to get on the scoreboard. Just as the first half was drawing to a close, another steal in midfield created one more crucial opportunity for S-Pulse. A long ball from Ichikawa on the right wing sent Ito towards goal, and as he neared the top of the penalty arc, he played a beautiful lead pass to Ahn on the left flank. Ahn was unable to pull the trigger in time, and the defence collapsed on him. But wisely, Ahn did not waste a shot, but instead pulled the ball back and looked for an opening. When a third defender arrived hoping to close Ahn down completely, the Korean tried to chip the ball over his markers. Although the half-shot was easily deflected, it fell right to Ito, who was again completely unmarked in the penalty area. Ito rolled the ball casually into the net and S-Pulse had a three goal lead to take into the locker room.

The second half was anticlimactic. S-Pulse had achieved their intention, creating quick goals while JEF were still unprepared for a battle. In the second half, they set up a preventive wall in their end, and simply concentrated on fending off the JEF attacks. But even in this stage of the match, JEF's youthful inexperience worked against them. As the JEF players began to lose their composure, Choi Yong-Soo reacted to a ferocious sliding tackle at the top of the S-Pulse penalty arc by deliberately stomping on Emerson's ankle. The referee had a clear view of the incident and immediately sent Choi to the showers. The rest was simply a formality, as S-Pulse used their man advantage to control midfield and keep Ichihara at bay. And so, the Cinderella's from Chiba tumbled out of the lead, and into third place

Lineups:

Takaya Kurokawa, Shohei Ikeda, Emerson, Ryuzo Morioka, , Daisuke Ichikawa, Teruyoshi Ito, Tomoyoshi Tsurumi (Yasuhiro Yoshida 65), Alessandro Santos (Jumpei Takaki 86), Yoshikiyo Kuboyama, Ahn Jung-Hwan, Hideaki Kitajima (Kohei Hiramatsu 56).

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito (Shigeyoshi Mochizuki 69), Eisuke Nakanishi, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai, Satoru Yamagishi (Takenori Hayashi 55), Naotake Hanyu (Seiichiro Maki 89), Choi Yong-Soo.

0 - 1

But as has been the case on several occasions this season, when Jubilo has been in this situation, the referees stepped in to bail the team out. In the 55 minute, Hiroshi Nanami lobbed a pass over the Reysol defence to Rodrigo Gral on the left side of the box. Gral headed back across the face of goal to Toshiya Fujita, who the defenders had allowed to run free. . . . and for good reason. Fujita was at least one full step offside! But the linesman and referee both ignored the offside trap and allowed Fujita to tuck the ball home from close range. Replays confirm that when the ball hit Gral's head, Fujita had already passed the last defender, and another Jubilo player, Ryoichi Maeda, was even further offside just a few meters to the right of Fujita.

To their credit, Reysol responded to the goal in a very aggressive and positive way. As the veteran Jubilo players began to droop in the muggy Tokyo evening, Reysol's young guns stepped up the pressure, and forced Jubilo into a dreadfully cynical catenaccio, fouling Reysol players deliberately whenever they seemed opn the verge of breaking free. Toshihiro Hattori picked up two yellow cards in the space of six minutes, both for deliberate fouls on opponents who had worked their way free. The latter foul was so obvious that Hattori started walking off the field before the referee even reached for his disciplinary book.

But despite a laudable effort, Reysol simply didnt have the personnel necessary to crack the Jubilo defence, and in the end, Iwata preserved their one-goal lead and collected the full three points.

Lineups:

Yuta Minami, Takeshi Watanabe (Tatsuya Tanizawa 70), Masayuki Ochiai, Naoya Kondo Norihiro Satsukawa, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Tomokazu Myojin, Ricardinho, Tomonori Hirayama (Shinya Tanoue 85), Keiji Tamada, Yuji Unozawa (Marcio 74), Jesse .

Arno vanZwam, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Norihiro Nishi (Aleksandr Zivkovic 89), Takashi Fukunishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Toshiya Fujita, Hiroshi Nanami, Rodrigo Gral (Nobuo Kawaguchi 85), Ryoichi Maeda (Taikai Kawamura 71) .

1 - 2

Gamba Osaka, meanwhile, seem to be in disarray, and although they played a very good match over the first 45 minutes, Yokohama held the initiative and the momentum right from the opening whistle. Only some desperate defending by Gamba held the match scoreless through the end of the first half. But just five minutes after the break, the dam finally burst as Dutra surged down the left wing and crossed into the box. Spaceship Kubo soared above the petty earthlings in the Gamba back line and powered home a header to put Yokohama on top 1-0. Just three minutes later, Oku eluded a defender at the top left corner of the penalty box and found space to cross in for Kubo at the opposite post. The Marinos ace probably could have chested the ball down and still had time for an easy finish, but instead, he launched himself skyward and swung a wheelhouse side kick that connected with the ball in midair and sent it it rocketing inside the right post for a goal that will be a staple of highlight reels for the rest of the year.

Gamba traid gamely to get back into the match, but Yokohama had the match firmly locked up, and apart from a last-gasp goal by Satoshi Nakayama in injury time, the effort was largely in vain. Yokohama collected the full three points they were looking for, and moved to the top of the league table.

Lineups:

Naoki Matsuyo, Masao Kiba (Masanobu Matsunami 80), Satoshi Yamaguchi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Toru Irie, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Toru Araiba (Arata Kodama 83), Takahiro Futagawa, Kota Yoshihara (Masashi Oguro 61), Satoshi Nakayama.

Tatsuya Enomoto, Yoo Sang-Chul, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Dutra (Kunio Nagayama 89), Yukihiko Sato, Yasuhiro Endo (Nobuhisa Shimizu 73), Daisuke Nasu, Daisuke Oku, Marquinhos, Tatsuhiko Kubo (Daisuke Sakata 83).

3 - 2

Nevertheless, individual skill does count for someting, and this week, against Vegalta Sendai, it was sufficient to carry the Reds to victory. Still, the win did not come easily. In the 4 minute, a bit of luck and some clever thinking by Vegalta's ace striker Marcos gave Sendai the early lead. A long ball from the back line bounded high into the Reds box, and Ryota Tsuzuki came off his line to collect it. However, Tsuzuki failed to warn Keisuke Tsuboi, who retreated and cleared the ball with an overhead kick before Tsuzuki could reach it. The clearance fell to Marcos, who instantly recognised that Tsuzuki was too far out, and immediately lobbed the ball back on net. His volley was just beyond the reach of the retreating keeper, yet just soft enough to slip under the crossbar.

Urawa responded with a surge of offensive pressure, but poor coordination up front caused several good opportunities to go begging. But in the 26 minute, the Reds finally managed to equalize. A free kick from about 40 meters out was sent into the box but cleared. Ned Zelic tried to drive the rebound through the crowd of retreating defenders, but once again it was deflected out of the area. But the second clearance was collected by Hideki Uchidate, who made eye contact with striker Yuichiro Nagai and lobbed a pass that caught the defence trying to clear the zone. Nagai was onside, but dashed into the deserted penalty area to collect the lob pass and then slid a shot underneath the keeper to level the score.

Ten minutes after the first goal, a bit of individual brilliance from Tatsuya Tanaka gave Urawa the lead. Uchidata was carrying the ball up the left side, and he provided a square pass to Tanaka who was moving towards him, across the top of the penalty arc. Tanaka, who had a defender shadowing him, gave the ball a subtle touch just as it arrived, and wheeled 180 degrees about to dash in the opposite direction. The move caught his defender flat-footed and provided Tanaka with an open look at goal from the top of the circle. His drive found the low left corner, just beyond the fingertips of the diving keeper, and Urawa were on top.

But Marcos, who has been in fine form since recovering from a serious injury that kept him out of action until early July, brought Sendai back level shortly after half time. Again, he used speed and opportunism to pounce on a clearance just outside the Reds penalty area. Racing towards the left post a half-step ahead of his defender, Marcos cut the ball back sharply, and it just caught the inside of the far post, to knot the score at 2-2.

Again, Urawa responded with a surge of offensive pressure, and this time it was capped off by an unlikely contributor. As the three Reds strikers manoevered the ball around the edge of the Vegalta defence, big Ned Zelic stole forward from his defensive position and ran an overlap down the right sideline. Emerson spotted him perfectly, and played a ball that just beat the offside trap and allowed Zelic to cruise into the box unmarked. A powerful drive for the near post just barely squeezed underneath the keeper, giving the Reds the final margin of victory.

Lineups:

Ryuta Tsuzuki, Nedijelko "Ned" Zelic, Keisuke Tsuboi, Ichiei Muroi, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Hideki Uchidate, Satoshi Horinouchi, Keita Suzuki, Tatsuya Tanaka, Yuichiro Nagai (Toru Chishima 64), Emerson .

Daijiro Takakuwa, Takumi Morikawa, Susumu Watanabe, Norio Omura, Yuichi Nemoto, Toshiya Ishii, Silvinho, Teruo Iwamoto, Hisato Sato (Yasushi Fukunaga 58), Yoshiteru Yamashita (Naoki Chiba 76), Marcos, .

1 - 4

Twenty minutes later, Atsuhiro Miura demonstrated that he is very comfortable now that Ardilles has moved him to the left wing back position. Miura has been playing some fine defence at the left back spot, but his greatest value is in running the overlap when Verdy counterattacks. As his teammates carried the ball through midfield, Miura suddenly put on a burst of speed and streaked down the sideline from his own side of midfield. Takuya Yamada played a slant pass that Miura collected in full stride. As the last Nagoya defender came out to challenge, Miura simply accelerated, rounding the defender and turning into the box. He then uncorked a curling drive that hit the inside of the far post and bounded into the net.

Nagoya responded soon afterward with a speedy strike in which Chikara Fujimoto put Marques through the Verdy back line for an uncontested finish, and the deficit was cut to just one goal at half time. But unfortunately for Nagoya, their excessive concentration on defending leaves them in poor shape to mount a comeback if they happen to fall behind. The team simply couldnt generate much momentum going forward, and as the second half began, Verdy were soon back in control. A cross from Kentaro Hayashi for Mboma, in the 64 minute, gave the big Cameroonian striker a good shot on net, but his header came back off the crossbar. Fortunately, though, Yamada was following up the play with a dash for the right post, and he was able to volley the rebound back into the net. Mboma but the cap on the evening with a brilliant overhead kick from a Hirano cross, which thundered into the right side of the net and snuffed out any hopes of a Grampus comeback.

Lineups:

Seiji Honda, Masayuki Omori, Andrej Panadic, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto (Ryuta Hara 83), Naoshi Nakamuira, Keiji Yoshimura, Kunihiko Takizawa (Kei Yamaguchi 68), Chikara Fujimoto (Tetsuya Okayama 81), Marques, Ueslei, .

Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsushi Yoneyama, Atsuhiro Miura, Takuya Yamada Ramon Mendez Hubner (Daigo Kobayashi 37) (Alezandre Lopes 59), Yasuyuki Kobayashi, Takeshi Hirano, Naoto Sakurai, Patrick Mboma (Kazuki Hiramoto 81) .

0 - 8

For Vissel fans, it only got worse. Trinita came out with a surge of pressure in the second half which prompted Matsuo to commit another professional foul, earning his own trip to the showers. WIth a two man advantage, Oita piled on the pressure and added four more goals in the second half to humiliate their guests and send the home fans into a dancing frenzy of celebration.

Lineups:

Fumiya Iwamaru, Yuji Tabuchi (Kunie Kitamoto 45), Sidiclei, Masao Tsuchiya, Naoto Matsuo, Tomo Sugawara, Yasutoshi Miura (Hiromi Kojima 45) (Takayuki Yamaguchi 70), Harison, Mitsunori Yabuta, Oseas, Ryuji Bando . Masayuki Okano Kazuyoshi Miura

Hayato Okanaka, Tetsuya Yamazaki (Taiki Wakamatsu 75), Sandro Chaves Rosa, Takashi Miki, Koji Arimura, Takashi Umeda, Yoshito Terakawa, Teppei Nishiyama (Shinichi Muto 62), Rodrigo Mendes, Takahiro Yoshida, Daiki Takamatsu (Will 55) .

0 - 1

This sort of insanity prevailed from the opening whistle to the end, and it is really hard to describe the match itself, since nothing much sticks in the mind apart from Okutani's incessant and incompetent whistle. Cerezo managed to take the early lead, though not before missing a penalty kick that was awarded in the 30 minute. Former Antlers midfielder Yasuo Manaka took the kick, but managed to send it wide to the right. However, four minutes later he made up for this error by flicking in the rebound of a corner kick that Hiroaki Morishima headed on goal. The keeper blocked the initial shot but Manaka, camped out in front of the goal mouth, reacted brilliantly and flicked the ball into the net with a back heel.

For the rest of the match, the Antlers tried in vain to create an equalizer. The absence of Masashi Motoyama, who was sitting out a suspension for accumulated yellow cards, was one factor in the Antlers' inability to score, as was the suspension of Naoki Soma , who could have provided some useful support on the left flank. However, the real problem for the Antlers seems to be that Tomoyuki Hirase and Euller are both proving to be completely clueless up front. The team created some good chances thanks to the midfield play of Mitsuo Ogasawara and Koji Nakata , but the lack of a competent striker is becoming a serious problem for Kashima. Cerezo Osaka also deserve credit for playing some inspired defence. Joao, in particular, was a rock in defence for Osaka.

At the end of the day, though, this match could not really be described as exciting. The only lasting impression that it leaves is the desire to see Mr. Okutani carried out of town on a stake. If the J.League cannot resolve its officiating problems soon, the league could descend into pure farce.

Lineups:

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi (Takeshi Aoki 57), Tomohiko Ikeuchi, Go Oiwa, Tatsuya Ishikawa (Naoto Honda 75), Koji Nakata, Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Claudicir, (Takayuki Suzuki 57) Tomoyuki Hirase , Euller .

Daisuke Tada, Satoru Suzuki, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Joao, Takanori Nunobe, Axel, Kiyokazu Kudo, Nobuki Hara, Hiroaki Morishima, Baron, Yasuo Manaka (Yoshito Okubo 55) .

1 - 0

Lineups:

Yoichi Doi, Shuhei Tokunaga, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruyuki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa, Satoru Asari, Masashi Miyazawa (Oh Jang-Eun 83), Naohiro Ishikawa Clesley "Kelly" Guimares, Mitsuhiro Toda (Yuta Baba 56), Yoshiro Abe (Yuhei Momoyama 68).

Naoto Hirai, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Makoto Kakuda, Yuki Hayashi, Kazuki Tejima, Daisuke Nakaharai (Tadamichi Machida 61), Tadashi Nakamura (Daisuke Saito 45), Kiyotaka Ishimaru (Yoshitaka Ono 72), Shingo Suzuki, Daisuke Matsui, Ko Jung-Yoon,.

Rumours and Rumblings

Fujita Signs with Utrecht