September 21, 2003
Luck of the Draw
| Date | Home | . | Visitor | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Sep |  | 4-2 |  | Ajinomoto Stadium |
| 20 Sep |  | 1-1 |  | Ichihara Seaside |
| 20 Sep |  | 1-1 |  | Iwata Stadium |
| 20 Sep |  | 1-3 |  | Oita "Big Eye |
| 20 Sep |  | 2-2 |  | Sendai Stadium |
| 20 Sep |  | 5-1 |  | Yokohama Int'l |
| 20 Sep |  | 1-2 |  | Nishikyogoku |
| 20 Sep |  | 2-2 |  | Expo'70 Stadium |
1 - 1
The highlight match of the week pitted the two teams that have dominated the J.League for the past half-decade. And although the level of play at both clubs may no longer match the dominance that they displayed in past years, the head-to-head clash certainly was contested fiercely, even if the score line pales to many of the past clashes between Jubilo and Antlers
1 - 1Jubilo Iwata are in a transitional period, as the departure of Toshiya Fujita and Naohiro Takahara to Europe, plus the ageing of other core members forces the team to seek new blood. But even though they are struggling a bit this season, there are already signs that they may be back in the hunt for silverware in another year or two. In particular, Sho Naruoka and Ryoichi Maeda have emerged as youngsters who may quickly be able to fill the shoes of Fujita and Takahara.
Meanwhile, the Antlers are making a bid for yet another title this season, but doing so with a team that lacks much in the way of offence. Strikers Tomoyuki Hirase and Euller have been unable to find the net at all, this season, leaving the midfield to provide most of Kashima's offence. However, the depth of their midfield and the renewed toughness displayed by the veteran back line have the Antlers at the top of the table, at present. If they fall short this season, it will only be because they failed to sign a top-notch finisher after Atsushi Yanagisawa and Takayuki Suzuki moved to Europe. Like Jubilo, the Antlers will probably have to be reckoned with in years to come.
With both teams' offensive units in transition this match turned into a fierce battle for possession at midfield, coupled with some solid defending at both ends, apart from two brief lapses that produced the two goals. Early in the first half, Mitsuo Ogasawara collected a pass on the right sideline and dribbled forward, watching his teammates make their runs into the box. As they neared the goal mouth,. he lofted a beautiful cross towards the penalty spot. Thugh the ball was placed perfectly for Hirase, the impotent Antlers striker failed to even make contact. However, Jubilo's keeper was as surprised as Ogasawara that Hirase was unable to connect, and he stood rooted to his line as the ball bounced past and caught the inside of the far post, giving the Antlers an early lead.
The two teams then put on a fine display of ball pursuit that provided quite a bit of excitement but failed to produce any clear-cut chances on either end until the dying moments of the half. Jubilo won a corner kick on the left, and the ball was miskicked, soaring far past the top right corner where the apparent target, Rodrigo Gral, was waiting. However, Gral felt a tug on his shirt and threw himself to the ground, hoping to salvage a wasted set play. As so often happens when Jubilo are involved, the referee obliged by awarding a penalty kick. Replays showed that reserve defender Tatsuya Ishikawa did indeed have a handful of Gral's shirt, but had little to do with Gral falling to the turf. One might question whether or not such an incident -- on a play where Gral clearly was not going to get to the ball -- deserved a PK, but at least according to the letter of the law, the official had a case, and Gral immediately knotted the score.
The second half was much like the first, with both teams defending well and displaying good ball movement at midfield, but unable to produce many clear-cut chances. In the end, the 1-1 score line held up, and the two traditional league powers had to settle for one point apiece.
Lineups:
Hiromasa Yamamoto, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Sho Naruoka, Takashi Fukunishi, Toshihiro Hattori (Takahiro Kawamura 57), Aleksandr Zivkovic (Nobuo Kawaguchi 76), Hiroshi Nanami, Rodrigo Gral (Yasumasa Nishino 66), Ryoichi Maeda.
Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Tatsuya Ishikawa (Tomohiko Ikeuchi 87), Takeshi Aoki, Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama (Masaki Fukai 77), Tomoyuki Hirase (Naoto Honda 69), Euller .
1 - 1
Like the Kashima Antlers, JEF United have been held to a 1-1 draw in both of their past two matches, yet managed to remain close to the top of the table. This is encouraging in one sense, since it means that they still are in the thick of the race for the second stage title. However, the Antlers have already faced many of their top challengers and will have a comparatively easy schedule down the stretch, whereas JEF need to pull themselves out of the lethargy quickly, facing matches against the Urawa Reds, Yokohama Marinos and Jubilo Iwata over the next month. In the "Chiba Derby", a home contest against struggling Kashiwa Reysol, JEF dearly would have liked to take all three points, but lack of composure and a bit of lackadaisical play in the second half cost them dearly.
1 - 1 JEF got one bit of bad news before this match kicked off, as a medical check on star striker Choi Yong-Soo indicated that ne may miss the next two or three weeks with a calf injury. Nevertheless, the gold and green showed their trademark pressure and quick attacking dashes during the first half, scoring midway through the period on a nice rush down the right side. Yuki Abe started the counterattack with a 50-meter pass that landed right on the boods to Masataka Sakamoto on the right sideline. Sakamoto cut towardss the box, and as the defence came up to challenge, slid a beautiful lead pass through the back line for Naotake Hanyu, who flicked the ball over the last defender and caught the inside of the far post.
Unfortunately, JEF seemed to grow complacent with their lead, and allowed Reysol to control the pace in the second half. This would have deadly consequences. With about 15 minutes to play, defender Eisuke Nakanishi got turned around by a Reysol striker and desperately grabbed for the shirt to keep hm from speeding past. Nakanishi already had a yellow, and this offence won him a red ticket to the shower room. Not only did this reduce JEF to 10 men, but it also means that the team's veteran defensive leader will miss the match on Tuesday against the high-powered Urawa Reds.
Nevertheless, it looked like JEF were on their way to victory as the last seconds of regulation time ticked away. But in the first minute of injury time Reysol's constant probes and thrusts finally paid off. Ricardinho fed a ball to the top of the penalty arc where two young Reysol forwards were posting up. U-20 star Kisho Yano , with his back to goal, seemed to read his strike partner's intentions, and played a "wall pass" right through his defender's legs. Keiji Tamada chose that instant to cut for goal, and after pushing the ball past the flailing legs of the back line, was through for a wide-open shot on net. He made no mistake, drilling the ball into the roof of goal and giving Reysol a well-deserved point from the match.
Lineups:
Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Eisuke Nakanishi, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu, Sandro Cardoza (Takayuki Chano 79), Katsutomo Oshiba (Seiichiro Maki 58) .
Yuta Minami, Toru Watanabe (Takahiro Shimotaira 9) (Tatsuya Yazawa 69), Norihiro Satsukawa, Toru Nagata, Tomokazu Myojin, Shigenori Hagimura, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Ricardinho, Tomonori Hirayama, Jesse (Kisho Yano 76), Keiji Tamada.
1 - 3
With the Antlers and JEF marching in lockstep, with a single point apiece, several other teams were able to advance into contention with wins over the weekend. One of these was the Urawa Reds, who have had their ups and downs and still are unable to play well as a team, but who have so much individual talent that they can often overcome the poor chemistry and bad coaching that is their bane. Of course, it helped that their opponent this week was Oita Trinita, who had scored just one goal in their first five matches of the second stage.
1 - 3 Though Oita offset their pusillanimous offence with some very good defensive work, it didnt take the Reds long to create a lead. Just 18 minutes into the match, Tatsuya Tanaka played a beautiful one-two on the right sideline with his strike partner Emerson, and took the return pass to the right dge of the box. Though the angle was difficult, Tanaka ripped off a shot that caught the top far corner of the net and put the Reds in the lead.
Fifteen minutes later, the two strikers traded places, this time with Emerson dropping the ball inside to Tanaka and then dashing for space. Tanaka played a beautiful return pass, not worrying about pinpoint accuracy but just rolloing the ball softly into space and letting his speedy partner do the rest. Emerson's acceleration was clearly on display as he burst out of the blocks shoulder to shoulder with his defender, but was already two steps into the clear when he caught up with Tanaka's pass. But the time he took his shot on net, he had a three-meter lead, and could casually pick hisspot in the low left corner.
But just before half time, a defensive lapse brought he match a bit closer. Midfielder Yoshito Terakawa played a through ball to Trinita's ace, Will, and then followed up his pass by dashing towards the box. Although his direct path to goal was cut off by the Reds defence, Will had the presence of mind to dribble wide, pulling the defence further away from goal, then slid the ball back to Terakawa who was in full sprint. Terakawa easily finished off his wide-open shot and the score line closed to 2-1 at the half.
But the second half was much like the first, with Urawa dominating possession and the speedy duo of Emerson and Tanaka making one dash after another into the Oita back line. With ten minutes to go, Tanaka played yet another give-and go with emerson and once again received the return pass with only the goal in front of him. Tanaka fired a line drive past the keeper and the Reds vaulted to within two points of the league leading Antlers.
Lineups:
Hayato Okanaka, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Sandro Chaves Rosa (Taiki Wakamatsu 45), Takashi Miki, Koji Arimura, Teppei Nishiyama (Daiki Takamatsu 45), Yoshito Terakawa (Haruki Seto 83), Takashi Umeda, Keita Kanemoto, Will, Takahiro Yoshida .
Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Yuri Nikiforov, Ned Zelic, Nobuhisa Yamada, Keita Suzuki, Hideki Uchidate (Makoto Hasebe 45), Tadaaki Hirakawa, Koji Yamase, Tatsuya Tanaka, Emerson.
4 - 2
Another team that made strides in the league table this week was Tokyo Verdy, who are back on form now that Patrick Mboma has returned to the lineup. Though Cerezo Osaka gave them a fierce fight for the first hour, with ace striker Yoshito Okubo sitting out a suspension they did not have the firepower to keep pace with the high-octane attack of Verdy.
4 - 2Tokyo took the early lead on a long shot from Kazuki Hiramoto which took the keeper by surprise and caught the top left corner. However, Cerezo struck back quickly on a nice combination polay that saw young Nobuki Hara feed a cutting Hiroaki Morishima through the Verdy defence, for an easy finish. The deadlock persisted through half time, but the second 45 minutes turned into a wild free-for-all of attack and counterattack.
Shortly after the restart, Hiramoto got free on the right side ofthe box and was hauled down by his defender. Mboma struck from the penalty spot and Verdy resumed the lead. But just six minutes later, Morishima pounced on a deflected ball in the penalty box and drove it low into the net to knot the scores once more. After a ten-minut exchange of wild, end-to-end attacks, Verdy finally got back on top when Takeshi Hirano collected a clearance at the right edge of the box and passed up his own low-angle shot to slidethe ball back to Ramon Mendez Hubner, steaming in from midfield. Ramon drove a cannon shot into the back of the net, wich seemed to finally break the back of the visitors. With five minutes left, Alexandre Lopes headed home a corner kick to put the result beyond doubt.
Lineups:
Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa (Alexandre Lopes 76), Kentaro Hayashi, Atsushi Yoneyama, Atsuhiro Miura, Yasuyuki Kobayashi, Takuya Yamada, Takeshi Hirano, Ramon Mendez Hubner , Patrick Mboma (Kazunori Iio 72), Kazuki Hiramoto .
Daisuke Tada, Joao, Yasushi Kita, Hiroshige Yanagimoto Takanori Nunobe, Yuji Hironaga, Kiyokazu Kudo, Nobuki Hara (Yusuke Sato 61), Hiroaki Morishima, Takeshi Hamada (Sho Gokyo 64), Akinori Nishizawa (Takaaki Tokushige 79) .
2 - 1 
One other team that moved into the top ranks this week was the first-stage champion Yokohama Marinos, who demolished Shimizu S-Pulse on a rainy night in Yokohama with the sort of dominance they displaydd in the first stage. Although the Marinos have suffered some injuries, and do not look as commanding as they did earlier in the year, if they can put on the sort of performance they did in the final 30 minutes against S-Pulse, they have a chance of capturing the second stage as well, and wining the league crown outright.
2 - 1 This match actually remained quite close for the first hour. Just three minutes in, Yukihiko Sato dropped a cross onto the big head of Tatsuhiko Kubo and the Marinos striker celebrated his return from injury by sending the ball off the underside of the crossbar and into the net. Thereafter, the two teams jockeyed for position but did not produce too many chances until early in the second half. Curiously enough, a flock of sea birds found its way into the stadium at half time, perhaps attracted by the lights and the inviting green grass. When the teams took the field to play the second half, the birds were unable to find their way to safety. Their instinct was to fly in tight formation, low to the ground, as they sought some form of cover. But the only exit to the stadium was high overhead, and they seemed too terrified to find their way up, past towering stands . Frightened by the crowd, they spent the remainder of the match wheeling in tight formation about the field, at a furious pace, sometimes coming close to a collision with the ball or the players. No doubt, some people will suggest that this was a omen, since the Marinos count the seagull as their mascot. In any event, the second half would be quite a show, even without the antics of the "Flock of Seagulls".
On the stroke of the hour, Alex Santos slipped down the left wing with no defender in pursuit, and laid a lovely corss to the far post, where Ahn Jung-Hwan headed it home. For a moment it seemed that S-Pulse were back in the contest, but this impression would not last long.
Three minutes after Ahn scored the equaliser, his Korean compatriot Yoo Sang-Chul responded at the other end. Daisuke Oku provided the long ball that Yoo headed over the fingertips of the keeper and into the nylon. This strike seemed to bring down the entire house of cards that formed the S-Pulse defence, and for the next 12 minutes keeper Takaya Kurokawa faced a barrage of shots that turned the close contest into a runaway.
Dutra started things off, sending Marquinhos on a dash through the Shimizu back line for the third Marinos goal. Moments later, Kubo came off for U-20 star Daisuke Sakata, who produced two goals in ten minutes to cap off the evening.
Lineups:
Tatsuya Enomoto, Yoo Sang-Chul, Yuji Nakazawa, Ryuji Kawai, Dutra (Kazuyoshi Mikami 84), Yukihiko Sato, Akihiro Endo,, Daisuke Nasu, Daisuke Oku, Marquinhos (Daisuke Sakata 75), Tatsuhiko Kubo (Nobuhisa Shimizu 64) .
Takaya Kurokawa, Shohei Ikeda, Emerson, Ryuzo Morioka, Daisuke Ichikawa (Keisuke Ota 72), Teruyoshi Ito, Yasuhiro Yoshida (Kohei Hiramatsu 75), Alessandro Santos, Yoshikiyo Kuboyama, Tuto, Ahn Jung-Hwan .
1 - 2
In Kyoto, the struggling Purple Sanga were unable to extend on their short winning streak. Nagoya Grampus striker Ueslei gave his team an early lead, and although Kyoto equalised on a corner kick in the early second half, Ueslei quickly restored Nagoya's advantage, and Grampus climbed into the ranks of the contenders while Kyoto moved a step closer to relegation.
1 - 2
Lineups:
Naoto Hirai, Makoto Kakuda, Kazuki Teshima, Saisuke Saito, Shingo Suzuki, Daisuke Nakaharai, Harutaka Ono (Shinya Tomita 87), Biju, Daisuke Matsui, Tadamichi Machida (Regge 59), Teruyuki Kurobe.
Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori, Andrej Panadic, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto (Chon Yong-Dae 65), Kei Yamaguchi, Kunihiko Takizawa, Yusuke Nakatani, Tetsuya Okayama (Keiji Kaimoto 88), Marques, Ueslei (Chikara Fujimoto 89).
2 - 2
Full report will be posted later 2 - 2
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 .
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) .
2 - 2 
In Sendai, the luckless Vegalta made their loyal fans suffer disappointment for the second week in a row, playing well enough to raise hopes, but emerging with just a single point. The team has now gone 18 matches without a win, and faces a serious danger of relegation if they cannot break out of their slump soon.
2 - 2 FC Tokyo took an early lead in this match, as Kelly Guimares headed home a corner kick. But Vegalta fought back to equalise in the 60 minute, when Kim Dong-Ju prodded home the rebound of a long blast from Yuichi Nemoto. Fifteen minutes later, Vegalta took the lead on a cheeky look shot from Teruo Iwamoto that caught the keeper off his line and sent the home crowd into hysterical celebrations. But the joy was cut short three minutes from full time, when rookie striker Yusuke Kondo got a head on a free kick from 30 meters out, and deflected it into the top corner.
Lineups:
Kiyoshi Kobari, Takayuki Komine, Susumu Watanabe, Norio Omura, Yuichi Nemoto, Takuya Ishii, Shigeyoshi Mochizuki (Hajime Moriyasu 81), Silvinho, Teruo Iwamoto, Hayato Sato, Kim Dong-Ju.
Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruyuki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa, Fumitake Miura (Yusuke Kondo 76), Masashi Miyazawa, Naohiro Ishikawa, Mitsuhiro Toda, Clesley "Kelly" Guimares, Yoshiro Abe (Amaral 57) .
The lone point earned by the Kashima Antlers keeps them atop the table, but only just. Tokyo Verdy and Yokohama Marinos have moved to within a point, level with JEF United. Nagoya Grampus and Urawa Reds are just one point further back. Indeed, depending on the results of Tuesday's matches any one of nine teams could hold the pole position as the stage moves into its second half.
| . | Team | Pts | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GDif |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kashima Antlers | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 4 | +3 |
| 2 | Tokyo Verdy | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 9 | +6 |
| 3 | Yokohama Marinos | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 8 | +5 |
| 4 | JEF United Ichihara | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 8 | +3 |
| 5 | Nagoya Grampus | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 9 | +2 |
| 6 | Urawa Reds | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 |
| 7 | F.C.Tokyo | 9 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 9 | +3 |
| 8 | Gamba Osaka | 9 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 7 | +1 |
| 9 | Kashiwa Reysol | 9 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 |
| 10 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 8 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 11 | -2 |
| 11 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -3 |
| 12 | Jubilo Iwata | 6 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 9 | -2 |
| 13 | Cerezo Osaka | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 14 | -3 |
| 14 | Vegalta Sendai | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 12 | -5 |
| 15 | Oita Trinita | 3 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | -4 |
| 16 | Vissel Kobe | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 11 | -7 |
Rumours and Rumblings
Japan's Women Demolish Argentina in WC Opener
Homare Sawa put Japan in a commanding lead with two early first-half goals, and Mio Otani produced a hat trick in just ten minutes of the second half to complete a drubbing of Argentina. After Japan took the early advantage, Argentina were reduced to ten players when Natalia Gatti took down Tomoe Sakai with a vicious studs-up tackle and earned an early red card. This gave Japan complete control in the second half, though the well-drilled women used excellent positioning and quick movement to the ball to dominate their opponents from the outset. Emi Yamamoto added a goal in the early second half, breaking the back of the Argentine resistance and serving as a prelude to Otani's offensive explosion. The diminutive left wing put a fine cap on the evening with a magnificent diving header to complete her hat trick and close out the scoring. Japan now lead their group, and can effectively clinch a spot in the knockout round by getting a draw or better against Germany, on Thursday.
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