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August 3, 2003
And the Winner Is . .

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
2 Aug		1 - 2		Sendai Stadium
2 Aug		1 - 2		Tokyo Nat'l Stadium
2 Aug		2 - 3		Ajinomoto Stadium
2 Aug		3 - 0		Yokohama Int'l
2 Aug		1 - 0		Iwata Stadium
2 Aug		3 - 1		Nishikyogoku Std.
2 Aug		2 - 1		Nagai Stadium
2 Aug		0 - 0		Oita Stadium

3 - 0

As the second half began, the tension built higher, as the Marinos poured forward in search of the goal they needed to ensure themselves a title, while Vissel did their utmost to keep the home team at bay. Eventually the pressure began to take its toll, and from the 60 minute, the Marinos wopnm a series of free kicks and corner kicks, putting one ball after another into the penalty area in hopes that one of their tall players could ram it home. Following one such sequence, in which all of the Marinos defenders except Dutra joined Tatsuhiko Kubo and Marquinhos in the penalty box, Vissel cleared the zone only to have Nobuhisa Shimizu collect the ball five meters outside the box, on the right side. Shimizu sent the ball back into the box, and a melee ensued in which Yokohama put four shots on net in quick succession. As the ball bounced around in pachinko-like fashion, Yuji "Bomberhead" Nakazawa reacted brilliantly to flick a header just inside the left post, and the entire stadium erupted in celebration as the Marinos finally forged into the lead.

After the first goal was tallied, Kobe's resistance crumbled, and just a short while later, Nakazawa doubled the lead on a corner kick from the left side. The cross was a bit too long and the tall defender was unable to get a solid "bomberhead" on the ball, but he did manage to stop its momentum, and as it dropped in front of him, got a toe to it beforethe keeper could pounce. The ball slipped past the keeper and into the low right side of the net, putting Yokohama in a commanding position.

As the clock wound down, Daisuke Oku added one more goal on a well-struck free kick from 25 meters, which swerved over the wall and into the top left corner. After that, there was nothing left to do but prepare the champagne bottles, as the Bay City celebrated their stage title, and indeed, their first piece of silverware in three years.

Lineups:

Tatsuya Enomoto, Yoo Sang-Chul, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Dutra, Yukihiko Sato (Nobuhisa Shimizu 61), Yasuhiro Endo, Daisuke Nasu, Daisuke Oku (Kunio Nagayama 89), Marquinhos (Daisuke Sakata 85), Tatsuhiko Kubo.

Makoto Kakegawa, Kunie Kitamoto, Sidiclei, Koji Yoshimura, Shuusuke Tsubouchi, Tomo Sugawara, Yasutoshi Miura, Takayuki Yamaguchi (Masayuki Okano 70), Mitsunori Yabuta (Masaya Nishitani 83), Oseas, Kazuyoshi Miura (Ryuji Bando 70) .

1 - 2

JEF tried to reverse the momentum, but without their ace striker Choi Yong-Soo, who earned a two-match suspension last week for stomping on an opposing player's ankle, the attack was blunted, and Ichihara was not able to create much pressure on the offensive end. On the contrary, by half time the Reds were again in clear control of the momentum, and pressing for a second goal.

The crucial tally finally arrived in the 74 minute, as Emerson played a magnificent exchange with Hideki Uchidate on the right sideline. Emerson fed the ball to Uchidate down the wing, on what looked like an attempted overlap play, but as the defenders shifted their attention to Uchidate, Emerson took off on a sprint towards goal. Uchidate stopped suddenly and cut the ball back into Emerson's path, and the dashing Urawa ace slashed through the final line of defence to drive yet another uncontested shot on goal.

Wath their hopes of a title virtually erased, JEF made one last valiant effort, which produced a goal in the 80 minute. After winning a free kick just outside the box on the right side, Masataka Sakamoto found the head of Seiichiro Maki who flicked the ball into the net and cut the deficit to one goal. But that was all that JEF could manage, and the Reds walked off with a hard-fought victory.

Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Eisuke Nakanishi (Takenori Hayashi 55), Zeljko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai (Seiichiro Maki 71), Naotake Hanyu, Sandro Cardoza Satoru Yamagishi .

Ryuta Tsuzuki, Nobuhisa Yamada, Nedijelko "Ned" Zelic, Keisuke Tsuboi, Ichiei Muroi, Keita Suzuki, Hideki Uchidate, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Makoto Hasebe, Yuichiro Nagai (Tatsuya Tanaka 60), Emerson .

1 - 0

Lineups:

Arno vanZwam, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Toshiya Fujita, Takahiro Kawamura, Takashi Fukunishi, Aleksandr Zivkovic (Nobuo Kawaguchi 67), Hiroshi Nanami (Sho Naruoka 84), Rodrigo Gral, Ryoichi Maeda (Yasumasa Nishino 84) .

Yoichi Doi, Shuhei Tokunaga, Jean Carlo Witte (Ryuji Fujiyama 45), Teruyuki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa, Fumitake Miura, Masashi Miyazawa (Satoru Asari 75), Naohiro Ishikawa, Mitsuhiro Toda, Yoshiro Abe (Yuta Baba 53), Amaral .

2 - 1

Unfortunately, it may be a while before Grampus can adjust their strategy and begin playing more competitive football. In their match against Cerezo Osaka, on Saturday, the team continued to struggle on offence, and were eventually dispatched by Cerezo's swarming attacks. Grampus actually took an early lead, when Chikara Fujimoto spotted a seam and unleashed a long shot from midfield. The surprise blast caught the keeper off guard and Grampus were in front. But just before half time, Cerezo responded. Kiyokazu Kudo found Hiroaki Morishima cutting into the box, and Morishima flicked the ball on net. His shot caught the leg of a Grampus defender, wrong-footing the keeper and resulting in a goal. Although it was scored as an own goal, the defender really could not have done anything to avoid the ball, and perhaps the goal should have been awarded to Morishima.

As the second half wore down, it looked for a bit like Grampus would collect yet ANOTHER 1-1 draw. But in the dying seconds of the match, Yusuke Sato lobbed a ball for the right post, and Baron outjumped his defender, heading in the winning goal as injury time expired.

Lineups:

Daisuke Tada, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Satoru Suzuki, Takuma Koga, Takanori Nunobe, Axel, Kiyokazu Kudo, Nobuki Hara (Yusuke Sato 59), Hiroaki Morishima, Baron, Yasuo Manaka (Takaaki Tokushige 72).

Seigo Narazaki , Masayuki Omori, Masahiro Koga (Ryuji Akiba 81), Hideaki Tominaga, Kojiro Kaimoto, Naoshi Nakamura (Tertsuya Okayama 75), Keiji Yoshimura, Kei Yamaguchi, Kunihiko Takizawa, Chikara Fujimoto , Ryuta Hara, Marques (Ryoji Ujihara 45) .

3 - 1

Kashima actually got out to the early lead in this match, when Fernando took a free kick from about 35 meters out on the rigth side and placed a lovely ball onto the head of Koji Nakata , who flicked the ball on and into the far side of the net. But Kyoto quickly responded thanks to the long-awaited return of Teruaki Kurobe, who has been sidelined by injury for most of the first stage. In the 30 minute, the Purple Sanga won a corner kick on the left side, and Kurobe sailed over his defenders to head the ball home.

Shortly after half time, Kurobe put his team in front with a spectacular diving header to meet a centering pass from Daisuke Matsui. The Antlers made some abortive attempts at a comeback, with rookie Masaaki Fukai coming on midway through the second half and proving far more dangerous than either Euller or Hirase. However, it was Kyoto who had the final word, as Tadamichi Machida again outjumped the Antlers defenders on a cross from Shingo Suzuki, and headed in the final goal of the match

Lineups:

Naoto Hirai, Makoto Kakuda, Yuki Hayashi, Kazuki Tejima, Shingo Suzuki, Daisuke Nakaharai, Kiyotaka Ishimaru , Daisuke Saito, Yoshitaka Ono (Kazuhiro Suzuki 64), Daisuke Matsui (Tadashi Nakamura 85), Teruaki Kurobe (Tadamichi Machida 71).

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Naoki Soma, Koji Nakata, Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama (Masaaki Fukai 66), Tomoyuki Hirase (Takeshi Aoki 59), Euller (Takayuki Suzuki 66) .

2 - 3

Lineups:

Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa (Kazuki Hiramoto 84), Alexandre Lopes (Daigo Kobayashi 77), Atsushi Yoneyama, Atsuhiro Miura, Kentaro Hayashi, Yasuyuki Kobayashi, Takuya Yamada, Takeshi Hirano (Hayuma Tanaka 62), Naoto Sakurai, Patrick Mboma.

Naoki Matsuyo, Masao Kiba, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Noritada Saneyoshi, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Toru Araiba (Toru Irie 62), Takahiro Futagawa, Masashi Oguro, Satoshi Nakayama (Masanobu Matsunami 51) (Kota Yoshihara 89).

1 - 2

Lineups:

Daijiro Takakuwa, Kazuhiro Murakami, Norio Omura, Fabiano, Yuichi Nemoto, Toshiya Ishii, Toshiyuki Abe, Nobuyuki Zaizen (Toshihiro Yahata 77), Silvinho, Hisato Sato, Yoshiteru Yamashita.

Yuta Minami, Takeshi Watanabe, Norihiro Satsukawa, Naoya Kondo, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Tomokazu Myojin (Masayuki Ochiai 45), Ricardinho, Tomonori Hirayama, Jesse , Keiji Tamada, Yuji Unozawa (Kisho Yano 87) .

0 - 0

Lineups:

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, Taskahiro Yoshida, Daiki Takamatsu (Will 55) .

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).

And so, The Marinos hold on to clinch the first stage title, winning a ticket to the league championship series in November. However, the league has achieved a level of equity that it may never have experienced before, and there is no telling which team may emerge as the second stage winner. Second stage play resumes on August 16, so keep your summer vacation short and tune in to the Rising Sun News in two weeks for reports on all the matches. Here are the final standings for the first stage:

Rumours and Rumblings

Jomo All-Star Match Won by the East

In the first five or ten minutes of the match ,the West tried to push for a quick score with long basses and aggressive running. The East players seemed a bit less active, but this may simply have reflected greater confidence on their part, and the patience of knowing that they would gain control of the match as soon as the West players ran out of energy. Given the level of talent on the pitch, the match was very high quality, but what was perhaps most interesting was that the teams -- and particularly the East -- played team football, with crisp short passes and good off-the-ball movement, rather than the individual forays one might expect in a match where the players had little experience playing together as a team. The individual skills of West stars Yoshito Okubo, up front as well as Sidiclei and Kazuki Teshima in defence, was impressive, but what made the greatest impression of all, over the course of the first half, was the remarkable fluidity and stability of the East's back three, of Naoki Matsuda, Keisuke Tsuboi and Koji Nakata. The Rising Sun News has tended to take the view that Zico should have a chance to prove whether or not a back four can be effective for the national team. Logically, it makes a great deal of sense for a team that tends to be smaller and less "athletic" than most other national teams. However, the precision and simplicity of the back line play during the first half was, in a word, stunning!! Tsuboi and Matsuda swapped positions between right and central back on the average of once every two minutes, with never the slightest break in fluidity. And all three players took turns surging forward, creating several of the match's most interesting counterattacks. The speed of Tsuboi in covering back against the break stalled every single West counterattack in the first half, while Matsuda and Nakata blanketed the passing lanes with amazing positional instincts. If Matsuda, Tsuboi and Nakata can play this effectively together on a regular basis, then by all means, it may be time for Zico to try out a three back system.

The first goal of the match came on a fine compination play between Nakata and Antlers teammate Mitsuo Ogasawara, who got little recognition from the announcers but was an integral part of all the East's best scoring opportunities. In the 26 mintue, Ogasawara took a pass just beyond the right top corner of the box, and demonstrated his amazing body balance as he fought off the challenges of three players, eventually forcing them to foul him before he could find Patrick Mboma or Choi Yong-Soo in front of net. On the ensuing kick, both Choi and Mboma were blanketed by defenders, but Oga placed a perfect floater over the entire pack of players in front of goal that landed squarely on the head of Nakata, at the far post. Nakata, whi slightly overran the pass, did a good job of twisting his body back against his own momentum and deflecting the baqll into the low right corner of the net.

Five minutes later, Patrick Mboma proficed an individual highlight that would win him the match MVP award, taking a ball at midfield and driving all the way to the top of the penalty arc before releasing a wicked right-footed blast that shot inside the right post before keeper Seigo Narazaki could react.

Shorly after the break, Ogasawara and Mboma combined on a play that very nearly created the third goal, with Oga lobbing a ball onto Mboma's head and the big Cameroonian striker heading the ball down for Ogasawara as he broke for the goal. Sidiclei managed to throw himself into the play, driving both the ball and Ogasawara across the end line. Though the call was a corner kick, not a PK, Ogasawara took his revenge by placing a line drive onto the foot of Takuya Yamada at the near post. Yamada flicked the ball on and it caught the far side of the net.

As time ran down, the East eased off the pressure and began playing a more defensive game, and the West began to produce opportunities of their own. With about ten minutes to go, a corner kick from the left side finally produced a goal, as veteran Kazuyoshi Miura volleyed the ball in at the far post. But the match was already effectively over, and ten minutes later Mboma collected his MVP trophy and a brand new car.

Rosters:

West
Pos.	Name	Team
GK	Seigo Narazaki	Nagoya Grampus
GK	Naoki Matsuyo	Gamba Osaka
DF	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto	Gamba Osaka
DF	Ryuzo Morioka	Shimizu S-Pulse
DF	Daisuke Ichikawa	Shimizu S-Pulse
DF	Hideto Suzuki	Jubilo Iwata
DF	Sidiclei	Vissel Kobe
MF	Yoshito Okubo	Cerezo Osaka
MF	Hideaki Morishima	Cerezo Osaka
MF	Hiroshi Nanami	Jubilo Iwata
MF	Daisuke Matsui	Kyoto Purple Sanga
MF	Takashi Fukunishi	Jubilo Iwata
MF	Yoshito Terakawa	Oita Trinita
FW	Teruaki Kurobe	Kyoto Purple Sanga
FW	Kota Yoshihara	Gamba Osaka
FW	Kazuyoshi Miura	Vissel Kobe

Yawning in Yokohama

The Reggina players can hardly be blamed for the disappointing nature of the match. Though they did seem to be a bit out of shape, they played hard and tried to bgive the fans a good match. Unfortunately, they faced a Marinos team which even in flattering terms could only be described as the "B" team, and probably would be better characterized as a "taxi squad". Missing from the lineup were Naoki Matsuda, Yuji Nakazawa, Tatsuhiko Kubo, Tatsuya Enomoto, Yoshiharu Ueno, Akihiro Endo and Daisuke Nasu, not to mention Yasuhiro Hato and Sotaro Yasunaga, who have been out for several months with injury. By the early second half, when remaining key players like Daisuke Oku, Yukihiko Sato and Daisuke Sakata had been substituted, you could almost hear the rustling of match programmes, as fans struggled to figure out the names of the players on the pitch.

Reggina did their best to make up for this lack of meaningful competition, but unfortunately this was also an off night for Nakamura, who had one or two good touches over the course of the evening, but generally looked jet-lagged and a bit disoriented. The first half was somewhat interesting, with Reggina scoring early and the Marinos fighting back to equalise. In the 15 minute, Francesco Cozza took advantage of rookie Yuzo Kurihara in defence, cutting in to intercept a pass and triggering a 4-on-3 break. David Baiocco carried the ball to the verge of the penalty area before dropping a pass to Roberto Stellone on the right. Stellone waited for the keeper to break off his line, then fired low and just inside the left post.

Shortly before the intermission, Yokohama got a quick counterattack of their own, as a long pass from Daisuke Oku was tipped past a defender and into space by Yukihiko Sato. He reached the ball a step ahead of the defence, and on the edge of the penalty area, and Gianluca Falsini's desperate effort to make a sliding tackle simply knocked Sato to the turf. Oku slotted home the PK and the two teams went in at half time with the score level.

But by the time the two teams returned, Yokohama were down to the bottom of their bench, fielding several players who are not even on the official J.League roster, and the match turned into a painfully disorganised muddle of errant passes and confused scrambling. The Marinos rookies certainly had the desire, running hard enough to keep Reggina from creating too many serious scoring chances, but by the 75 minute fans were no doubt wondering to themselves "when is this match going to end!?" Reggina got the final goal of the match on a play set up by Nakamura, who was able to bive the crowd at least one highlight to remember. Collecting a pass on the right sideline, at midfield, Nakamura cut to the middle, bewteen two defenders, then threaded a perfect lead pass to David Di Michele. The Regina striker made a lovely cutback to strand both the keeper and one last defender, then slid the ball to an unmarked Emiliano Bonazzoli, in front of the open net, for the easy tap-in.

Joao Carlos Cut Loose Once Again

FC Tokyo Trouble Real Madrid

Of course, Real Madrid were obviously a class above their opponents and once they really set their minds to it, they were able to break down the swarming, pressing defence of their opponents. But for the first 30 minutes the team was clearly taken aback by the quality and energy of the team from Tokyo. Even the crowd was mildly hostile, providing adulation when Real Madrid eventually did score, but booing and whistling at the team's over-cautious tactics, and particularly at the horrendous officiating of Masayoshi Okano, who seemed to think that his job was to ensure that Real Madrid .had every possible opportunity to run up the score.

FC Tokyo came out with some ferocious pressure that provided them with a majority of ball possession for the first 20 minutes of the match. More than that, the team produced some excellent attacking runs down the wings, courtesy of Mitsuhiro Toda and Masashi Miyazawa, usually off good set up work by Clesley "Kelly" Guimares. In the 7 minute, David Beckham was forced to commit a professional foul to keep midfielder Yuta Baba from breaking free on goal on a counterattack, earning the only yellow card of the match. He looked a bit surprised when the FC Tokyo contingent at one end of the stadium erupted in a chorus of resounding boos and catcalls. Just a few minutes later FC Tokyo came close to grabbing the lead as a set play off a corner kick saw defender Teruyuki Moniwa head the ball just inches wide of the left post.

By the 20 minute, both the Real Madrid players and their coaching staff recognised that they were facing legitimate opposition, and that they would need to put in some serious effort if they wanted to escape an embarassment. Mr. Quieros called out instructions and Beckham dropped back to a volante position while Luis Figo moved to central midfield. This adjustment succeeded in blunting FC Tokyo's counterattacks, while the Madrid players stepped up their movement and began using one-touch passes rather than trying to carry the ball themselves. The adjustments were successful in producing more dangerous attacks for Real, and more importantly, forced Tokyo to run even harder to keep up with the ball. As the first half wore on, this began to take its toll in the hot, rainy evening. By about the 30 minute, Real Madrid had taken a slight advantage in possession and scoring opportunities, and the only thing they needed to completely reverse the momentum was a goal.

At this point, Mr. Okano stepped in to provide the necessary assistance, calling a foul just outside the left upper corner of the penalty box on a play in which Solari clearly dove to the pitch on incidental contact. But once the call had been made, the superiority of Real Madrid, and particularly David Beckham's free kick capabilities, turned the tide. Beckham played a perfect curling shot beyond the dive of Yoichi Doi and into the top right corner. This goal deflated the Tokyo players considerably, and as their ball pressure dropped off, Real Madrid had a series of scoring opportunities. Just before the first half ended, a lovely bit of one-touch passing through midfield gave Portillo an open shot from the right side of the box. Although Doi was able to punch it out, the deflection fell right to Solari, who slammed it in at the left post.

When they returned for the second half, FC Tokyo had regained their spirits anr resumed their ball pressure, but by now Real Madrid had a comfortable cushion and seemed happy to just play the ball around the pitch with careful, crisp passes and wait for Tokyo to run out of gas. They were subjected to some thunderous jeering for some of their back passes to the keeper. However ,the Madrid players seemed to realise that their opponents were not going to lie down and allow them to put on a show of scoring, so it was perhaps "the better part of valour" to simply preserve a respectable score line for both teams, and avoid the chance of an accidental injury. Toweards the end of the match, as FC Tokyo tired, and bought on a number of substitutes including 18-year-old Oh Jang-Eun and Japan U-20 prospect Yusuke Kondo, Real got their final goal as Cambiaso fed Ronaldo on the left side of the box, and the Brazilian ace made a quick feint to turn his defender and put a shot into the low right corner.

Verdenik Takes the Fall for Grampus

Though Nagoya finished the stage in seventh place overall, many (including the Rising Sun News) will be happy to see Verdenik go. He earned the ire of many casual fans when he jumped ship at JEF United following the 2001 season, leaving the team in the lurch because he had been offered more money by Grampus. This lack of team loyalty certainly did not earn him much respect despite his record of reviving JEF's fortunes, and his uber-conservative strategy at Nagoya depleted any remaining political capital he might have possessed. Apparently, a complaint from one of the team's top players, Ueslei, was sufficient cause to convince the Grampus bureaucrats to send him packing.

Verdenik will be replaced by Nelsinho Baptista, a veteran Brazilian coach who sat in the driver's seat at Verdy Kawasaki from 1994 through 1996, in addition to stints at Corinthians, Guarani, Palmeiras, Portuguesa, Internacional, Vasco da Gama and Saudi club Al-Hilal.