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September 7, 2003
Young Guns Start Firing

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
6 Sep		2-2		Jubilo Stadium
6 Sep		0-3		Sendai Stadium
6 Sep		4-1		Ajinomoto Stadium
6 Sep		1-0		Yokohama Int'l
6 Sep		2-1		Expo'70 Stadium
6 Sep		1-2		Kobe Wing Stadium
7 Sep		2-3		National Stadium
7 Sep		0-0		Oita "Big Eye"

2 - 2

Unfortunately, Jubilo are not the team that they once were, and even a home venue and a friendly officiating crew could not rescue them from the boots of the league's rising star, Yoshito Okubo. Though the spotlight of this matchup was captured by the Cerezo ace, there were quite a few players from the "younger generation" who made a mark in this match. Sho Naruoka, for example, received his first league start for Jubilo and looked very effective in central midfield, while another relative youngster, Takahiro Kawamura, picked up his first J.League goal. But these contributions were nullified, in the end, by the performance of just one player in flaming pink.

The match as a whole was very competitive, and well-played, if a bit physical, by both teams. Unfortunately, though, horrendous officiating very nearly caused the match to get out of hand. Early on, the ref ingored a number of professional fouls at the Jubilo end which were protested strenuously by Cerezo players. Though they may not have won their point, they did apparently put him on the defensive, and caused him to allow even more rough play to go uncalled. As a result, when Cerezo players began to retaliate, it was difficult for him to crack down without looking totally biased. Two players -- Jubilo's Ryoichi Maeda and Cerezo's Okubo -- took completely unnecessary knocks which could potentially sideline them from next week's match, merely because the official had created a situation where players felt it was necessary to employ dangerous play in order to remain competitive in the match. Once again, the poor standard of J.League officiating is rearing its ugly head.

But apart fropm the men in stripes, the match featured some good play from both teams. Jubilo, who are accustomed to dominating opponents like Cerezo, may be less than satisfied. However, the performances of Naruoka, Maeda and Kawamura show that Jubilo's next generation is coming up, and should soon begin to fill the holes created by the aging of Jubilo veterans. Jubilo had a slight edge in possession during the first half, and got off to the early lead on a corner kick in the 15 minute, as Kawamura leapt high over the pack to head home a floater from Niroshi Nanami. Cerezo had a few counterattacking opportunities, but in general, the tight Jubilo defence was able to turn them away without a shot.

In the second half, though, Cerezo's counters began to create more havoc, as Baron dropped further back to provide support fro the build-up, and Okubo was isolated on the two central defenders. Just four minutes after half time, this adjustment took its toll, as Hiroaki Morishima fed another promising youngster, Takeshi Hamada, down the right wing. Hamada used a brief burst of acceleration to get the two central Jubilo defenders thinking about which one should break off to chase him down the sideline, then fired a lead pass to Okubo that allowed the ace striker to outrun the flatfooted defenders to the edge of the box. Arno vanZwam was off his line, but Okubo got there first, stepping around the keeper and tucking the ball into the right corner.

Though this goal gave Cerezo a lift, and put Jubilo on the back foot, the defending league champions were not about to give up that easily. Just a few minutes after Okubo's goal, Naruoka made a nice one-on-one drive around the left flank, cut towards the box and dropped a pass to Nishi directly in front of net. Two defenders managed to screen off the direct shot on net, but Nishi used a one-touch pass to find Rodrigo Gral at the far post for an easy tap-in.

There were signs that the momentum might be swinging back in Jubilo's favour, but five minutes after Jubilo regained the lead, Okubo provided the play of the match to knot the scores again. Once again, a Cerezo counter and long pass allowed Okubo to race away from his defenders chasing the ball towards the box. This time, though, the pass was a bit too long, and vanZwam was off his line, raging to reach the ball first. However, the Jubilo keeper made a slight misjudgement, dashing forward so fast that his momentum threatened to carry him completely outside his penalty box. As he reached the ball, he realised that he would have to stretch his arms back and hold the ball inside the box as the rest of his body slid out into the playing field. Okubo's excellent understanding of the tactical situation shone through, as he clearly recognised this as well. He slowed his run just slightly, and watched for vanZwam to make the catch and draw the ball back, away from his body. As he dashed past, Okubo flicked his toe out and caught a piece of the ball, knocking it from the keeper's grasp. vanZwam could only flail helplessly as Okubo collected the loose ball and tucked it into the open net

Lineups:

Arno Van Zwam, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Norihiro Nishi, Takahiro Kawamura, Toshihiro Hattori, Sho Naruoka (Nobuo Kawaguchi 62), Hiroshi Nanami, Rodrigo Gral , Ryoichi Maeda (Yasumasa Nishino 45).

Daisuke Tada, Yuji Hironaga, Joao, Yasushi Kita, Takanori Nunobe (Takeshi Hamada 45), Axel, Kiyokazu Kudo (Hiroshige Yanagimoto 76), Nobuki Hara, Hiroaki Morishima, Baron (Akinori Nishizawa 59), Yoshito Okubo .

1 - 0

But even so, the Marinos are still far from the team they were in the first stage. Reysol -- a young and improving team but a second-rate opponent nonetheless -- gave as good as they got for most of the match, and the contest was developing into a rather inconclusive, defensive battle with most of the action taking place in midfield. But just after the break, Yokohama got a bit of luck, winning a free kick on the left sideline, almost level with the top of the box. Dutra placed a lovely free kick that soared over a pack of about ten players to Yoo, at the far side of the box, and the Korean ace headed a bullet just inside the right post to give the Marinos all the scoring they would need in this downbeat contest.

Lineups:

Tatsuya Enomoto, Shogo Kobara, Yuji Nakazawa, Ryuji Kawai, Yukihiko Sato (Kazuki Sato 58), Daisuke Nasu, Nobuhisa Shimizu, Dutra, Yoo Sang-Chul, Marquinhos, Daisuke Sakata (Yutaro Abe 78) .

Yuta Minami, Toru Watanabe (Nozomu Kato 88), Norihiro Satsukawa, Toru Nagata, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Ricardinho, Tomokazu Myojin, Tomonori Hirayama, Jesse, Keiji Tamada Kisho Yano (Yuji Unozawa 66).

2 - 1

Lest that comment sound overly dismissive of Gamba, it is becoming clearer and clearer with each passing week that they are developing a very solid midfield, which can carry the team on both offence and defence. If not for the absence of their ace striker, Magrao, and some continued shakiness on defence, Gamba might be in the thick of the title race. Three players in particular -- Takahiro Futagawa, Yasuhito Endo and Masashi Oguro -- have blossomed into top-quality players since the start of this season, with Endo even establishing himself in the national team. These three are all busy, tireless, two-way players who seem to be constantly near the ball, and all three know how to finish when given the chance.

But in this particular match, blunders by the Reds were almost entirely responsible for "giving them the chance" in the first place. Gamba took an early lead when a long, harmless-looking ball from the left wing bounded twice, past three Reds players, without anyone in the deep midfield reacting to cut it off or clear it. Eventually, it bounded through to Futagawa at the right side of the penalty box. Futagawa seemed astonished to receive such a gift, but after a slightly clumsy trap, he managed to hook the ball across the face of goal and inside the left post.

Ten minutes later, Gamba got a second goal on a play that was a bit less egregious, but nevertheless should have been prevented. Oguro was carrying a ball across midfield, from left to right, and noticed that the defenders were hanging a bit too far off him. Given the opening, he decided to take a shot. His drive, though aimed very well at the low right corner, was not particularly powerful and should have been easily saved. But the Reds keeper seemed to have his mind on other matters, and by the time he finally reacted to the shot, the ball was past him and into the net

After going two goals behind, the Reds finally got their act together and began dominating possession and attacking opportunities. But with a two-goal advantage, Gamba played a very clever catenaccio with a packed penalty box and a had-running midfielder to screen every possible angle on goal. Urawa still have not learned how to attack as a team, and break down opposing defences. Though the individual skills of Tatsuya Tanaka, Koji Yamase, Nobuhisa Yamada and Emerson are not in doubt, they seem unable to coordinate their play to break through a determined defensive line. And so, for the next 60 minutes the Reds attacked almost without letup, yet were able to produce only one real dangerous shot -- a quick drive by Makoto Hasebe off a deflection which gave the Reds one consolation goal. As we have been saying for the past several weeks, the Reds need a team concept that can generate results that are, at the very least, equal to the sum of all individual players' talents. So far, Hans Ooft has been unable to provide it, and with each week that goes by, Ooft's competence as a strategic leader who can develop a team game plan is cast further into doubt.

Meanwhile, Akira Nishino seems to be getting a great deal from his team, despite the lack of quality in several key positions (particularly striker). The team badly needs Magrao back in the lineup, asnd even then they may be a bit short of a championship contender. However, at least they now seem to be playing up to their potential after some very disappointing play early in the year, and should be a tough opponent over the remainder of the season.

Lineups:

Naoki Matsuyo, Noritada Saneyoshi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Toru Irie, Takahiro Futagawa, Hideo Hashimoto, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Yasuhito Endo, Toru Araiba (Harison 75), Masashi Oguro (Kota Yoshihara 89), Satoshi Nakayama (Arata Kodama 87) .

Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Yuri Nikiforov, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe, Keita Suzuki, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Koji Yamase (Toru Chishima 60), Tatsuya Tanaka, Emerson.

4 - 1

Verdy got the scoring started early, on a slightly flukish play from a Ramon Mendez Hubner corner kick. The low cross was headed directly back to Ramon in the right corner, and he moved a few steps closer to goal before sending a second low drive through the Kyoto defence. The ball took a slight deflection off a defender, and careened into the Purple Sanga net, putting Tokyo on top.

Midway through the first half, young Kazuki Hiramoto doubled the score on a fine reaction play. Hiramoto has been developing into a good finisher, as Mboma's junior strike partner, but in this match he showed that he can take over the burden of offence on his own. In the 28 minute, Hiramoto made a slashing run into the box to meet a centering pass from the right side of midfield. Naoto Hirai was off his line quickly, and Hiramoto had time for only one touch, but he made a fine, leaping kick that sent the ball looping over the keeper's head and into the net

Just before half time, Hiramoto turned set-up man, collecting a long outlet pas on the counterattack, racing down the right wing, then crossing in for Takuya Yamada at the left edge of the penalty arc. Yamada sent his first touch screaming into the low left corner to give Verdy a three-goal cushion at the halftime break.

Kyoto looked a bit more solid in the second half, but they really do not look like a team that can escape what now looks like certain relegation. Teruaki Kurobe demonstrated his individual skills with a drive from the top right corner of the box, to get one goal back, but apart from this one strike, the match was all Verdy. With time running down, Hiramoto closed out a fine match, taking a well-weighted through pass from Yasuyuki Kobayashi, cutting past one defender and driving a shot off the right post and into the net.

Lineups:

Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsushi Yoneyama, Atsuhiro Miura, Yasuyuki Kobayashi, Takuya Yamada, Takeshi Hirano, Ramon Mendez Hubner (Daigo Kobayashi 45), Kazunori Iio (Alexandre Lopes 54), Kazuki Hiramoto (Yuya Sano 89)

Naoto Hirai, Makoto Kakuda, Yuki Hayashi (Takayuki Ono 67) , Kazuki Teshima, Shingo Suzuki, Tadashi Nakamura (Daisuke Matsui 45), Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Biju (Shinya Tomita 39), Daisuke Saito, Ko Jung-Yoon, Teruyuki Kurobe.

0 - 3

This match started out with a rush of Vegalta pressure, and it looked like the result might be very different. However, Teruo Iwamoto and Yoshiteru Yamashita both flubbed golden opportunities to put the ball in the net, and the match remained scoreless until just before the half. Then, on a play that seemed to come completely out of the blue, Ueslei received a pass about 30 meters out, a bit to the right of midfield, and suddenly unleashed a screaming shot that curled into the top left corner, just beyond the reach of the diving keeper.

This turn of events seemed to shatter Vegalta's confidence, and they came out after the halftime break looking like a bunch of whipped puppies. Though the match remained close, Vegalta lacked the spark and that extra bit of sharpness needed to turn offensive pushes into scoring opportunities. With ten minutes to play, a lovely combination by Grampus doubled their lead. Veteran Tetsuya Okamoto played a nice one-two with Ueslei and cut past his defender, into the box from the right wing. Ueslei followed Okamoto on his cut, and when the keeper came out to cut off the angle, Okamoto lobbed the ball to a wide-open Ueslei at the back post. Inexplicably, the Brazilian ace flubbed his shot, but the ball bounded to Kojiro Kaimoto who collected the easy tap-in.

This broke the spirit of the team from Sendai, and in the dying moments they conceded another goal. Marques dashed down the left wing, beating the deflated Sendai defence and crossing to Ueslei at the far post. This time the Brazilian took his shot well, driving it inside the right post to give Grampus a 3-0 victory.

Lineups:

Kiyoshi Kobari, Takayuki Komine, Fabiano (Kazuhiro Murakami 40), Norio Omura, Yuichi Nemoto, Takuya Ishii, Shigeyoshi Mochizuki (Yasushi Fukunaga 65), Silvinho, Teruo Iwamoto (Hayato Sato 82), Yoshiteru Yamashita (Kenji Fukuda 74), Kim Dong-Ju.

Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori, Andrej Panadic, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto, Keiji Yoshimura, Kunihiko Takizawa, Yusuke Nakatani, Tetsuya Okayama (Keiji Kaimoto 88), Marques, Ueslei .
Tomoyuki Sakai,

2 - 1

Kobe responded just five minutes later as Oseas overlapped on the left sideline and crossed in to Kasu Miura , who headed the ball out of a huge crowd of players and into the net. But with 15 minutes to play, Santos again provided a good corss in front of the net, and Ahn Jung-Hwan brilliantly volleyed the ball out of the air and into the low corner, giving Shimizu victory. Lineups:

Makoto Kakegawa, Koji Yoshimura, Yukio Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Naoto Matsuo, Sidiclei, Masayuki Okano (Kazuhiro Mori 78), Tomo Sugawara,Park Yu-Soh (Yasutoshi Miura 86), Oseas , Kazuyoshi Miura .

Takaya Kurokawa, Shohei Ikeda, Ryuzo Morioka, Kazumichi Takagi Daisuke Ichikawa, Teruyoshi Ito, Yasuhiro Yoshida, Alessandro Santos, Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Keisuke Ota 66), Tuto, Ahn Jung-Hwan .

Tomoyoshi Tsurumi

2 - 3

There were subplots aplenty in this match, but the one that received the greatest attention prior to he match was a debilitating knee injury that Koji Nakata suffered last week, which will keep him out of action for the next six months. In light of this tragedy, many pundits thought that JEF would dominate the match, but the actual contest would provide a lesson in several key elements of the game of football. First, championship teams are far more than just a single player. Second, no matter how much skill and energy a team possesses, then need to learn poise, discipline and mental resilience if they want to be true champions. JEF United are quickly gaining those qualities under the tutelage of Ivica Osim, and perhaps in a year or two they will reach the heights that Kashima and Jubilo Iwata have displayed over the past six to eight seasons. In this contest, they showed themselves to be a very hungry team that is developing in a highly encouraging direction. But as the final score line of this match shows, they do not have "IT" yet, while the Antlers have never lost it.

For all the pre-match hype about Nakata's injury and how it might affect the Antlers' play, the team showed no ill effects to speak of. Substitute Takeshi Aoki filled in brilliantly, and although he seemed more preoccupied with defensive assignments, failing to provide the offensive support that Nakata usually does, this may be more a testament to JEF's high-quality offence than anything else. As it was, Aoki did a brilliant job of taking JEF's creative force, Naoto Hanyu, out of the action, and apart from one or two crosses into the box, Hanyu was nearly invisible in this match. Meanwhile, Mitsuo Ogasawara seemed to recognise the additional burden that he would have to carry for the team, and came through with flying colours, driving the offence from start to finish, and showing the sort of pursuit and off-the-ball movement that is usually cited as his main weakness.

On the other side of the ball, Yuki Abe had a brilliant performance, both offensively and defensively. His accuracy on set plays is already well known, but he is beginning to develop the ability to surge forward on the attack more efficiently, providing through passes that demolish opposing defences. Though he still has a way to go before he can match Ogasawara in this area, he is definitely moving in the right direction

The Antlers came out in this match showing a great deal of fire. Perhaps it was the desire of every player to make up for the absence of Nakata, or perhaps merely a sign of a veteran team determined to show that they are still championship quality. Whatever the case, they dominated possession over the first 20 minutes or so, creating a number of good scoring opportunities. If not for the horrendously poor finishing of Tomoyuki Hirase, Kashima might have taken an early lead. But in the 25 minute, very much against the run of play, JEF got the scoring opportunity that would transfer a somewhat cautious jousting session into a wild offensive spectacle.

On a JEF counterattack, Abe slipped a pass to Choi Yong-Soo near the top right corner of the box, and Choi attempted to turn the ball around Naoki Soma to penetrate the flank. Soma had position on Choi, though, and the two collided, with Choi doing all he could to exaggerate the impact. The referee awarded a free kick, on what the replay showed to be a rather harsh call. But regardless of the merits, JEF's Abe made sure to exploit the opportunity. His kick was perfectly placed, curling just over the wall and inside the right post, and the home team was on the scoreboard.

This strike opened the floodgates for fifteen minutes of wild, pell-mell action from one end of National Stadium to the other. Just moments after the Abe goal, the Antlers surged deep into JEF territory with precision, one-touch passes, and eventually Ogasawara set up Fernando for a shot from the top of the penalty arc. The shot was deflected wide, but Hirase collected the loose ball on the right edge of the box, and dribbled away from goal, looking for space. Considering how many easy opportunities Hirase squandered in the early stages of this match, one could never have expected what happened next. With his back still to the goal, the Kashima striker found a patch of space at the top right corner of the box, and suddenly whirled about and pulled a looping shot across his body that looped over the JEF keeper and caught the top left corner of the net. The scoreless wonder had pulled Kashima even on a remarkably improbable shot, but that mattered little to the Kashima fans, who roared their approval.

Not to be outdone in generating quick offence, JEF came back immediately, and nearly restored their lead. Once again Ichihara won a free kick at the edge of the box, this time on a much more legitimate call, and Abe again took the kick. But this time his placement was just a bit off, and the ball ricocheted off the crossbar and into touch.

As halftime approached, the Antlers again took the initiative, and pulled ahead on what might well have been the most dramatic play of a highlight-studded match. On a counterattack break, Euller took the ball down the right side, and rolled a pass across the top of the penalty arc to where Hirase was posting up. Ogasawara suddenly spotted an opening, and dashed forward, down the left side, with no defender in the vicinity, and Hirase recognised his intention in time to fake a trap of the ball and then let it roll through. The pass met Oga in full stride, right at the edge of the box, and he continued to the left post before ripping a thunderous low shot at keeper Masahiro Okamoto . The young goaltender managed to fling out a fist and deflect the shot, but the ball caromed right into the legs of retreating defender Eisuke Nakanishi , nd then into the net.

JEF came out in the second half with an early surge of offence, but Kashima weathered the storm and seemed to be establishing control of the match once more, when yet another bit of drama sent the momentum reeling back in the opposite direction once more. On a a JEF counterattack, Choi managed to head a long pass onward into the box, and Sandro Cardosa chased after it. Soma was also dashing towards the ball, and the two collided at the edge of the box. The collision looked completely incidental, and might have even occurred outside the area. Though it would be hard to dispute the case for a PK, Soma showed no sign of having created the contact deliberately. But the official did not see it that way, and not only awarded a PK, but also showed Soma a red card. Reducing the Antlers to ten men. Choi sank the free kick, and suddenly JEF had a man advantage and a chance to seal their grip on first place with the winning goal.

But the Kashima Antlers have had their backs to the wall on more occasions than can be counted, and despite the unfortunate turn of events, they were not about to give up. Thoguh JEF began to create the majority of scoring opportunities, the Antlers players showed good poise, defending doggedly yet watching for opportunities to spring a counter. With fifteen minutes on the clock, one such breakaway saw Hirase tear down the wing and then cut back behind his defender with two teammates slanting through the middle. Zeljko Milinovic opted to foul Hirase rather than take a chance of allowing an easy shot, but the foul would come back to haunt him. Fernando took the free kick, and sent a curling line drive over a pack of players jumbled in the penalty box. Veteran defender Yutaka Akita managed a glancing header which flicked the ball on and into the far corner of the net, putting Kashima in the lead once more.

Now it was JEF's turn to show their poise and determination, as they mounted a furious sequence of offensive thrusts seeking to create the equaliser. As the tension mounted, though, Kashima held their poise, and JEF lost theirs, in an event that probably illustrates best the gap that still remains before JEF can reach the level of true champions. As all eleven JEF players surged towards the box, a well-executed offside trap caught Sandro on the wrong side of the Antlers back line, and the whistle sounded. But as the loose ball bounced in his direction, Choi angrily drove a shot into the back of the Antlers net. It was not a truly egregious offence, but Choi already had one yellow, and the referee was feeling the heat for having sent Soma off on a a very dubious call. In such a situation, with your team a man stronger, and badly needing the equaliser, Choi's reaction was just plain dumb, and both he and his team paid the full price. The referee immediately went to his pocket for a second yellow, and the two teams were suddenly back at even strength.

The remaining ten minutes or so were sheer anticlimax. Kashima are probably the best team in the league at riding out a one-goal lead, and they easily managed to squander ten minutes at JEF's expense, capturing the victory and moving top of the league table.

Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Eisuke Nakanishi, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai , Naotake Hanyu, Sandro Cardoza (Katsutomo Oshiba 80), Choi Yong-Soo (Takenori Hayashi 89) .

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Naoki Soma, Takeshi Aoki, Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama (Tatsuya Ishikawa 75), Tomoyuki Hirase (Naoto Honda 75), Euller .

0 - 0

Lineups:

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruyuki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa, Fumitake Miura (Satoru Asari 60), Masashi Miyazawa, Naohiro Ishikawa (Yusuke Kondo 87), Mitsuhiro Toda (Oh Jang-Eun 71), Clesley "Kelly" Guimares, Yoshiro Abe .

Hayato Okanaka, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Sandro Chaves Rosa, Takashi Miki, Koji Arimura, Yoshito Terakawa (Haruki Seto 83), Takashi Umeda, Teppei Nishiyama (Keita Kanemoto 65), Taskahiro Yoshida, Will, Daiki Takamatsu (Robson 45) .