---

October 26, 2003
All Hollow's Eve

Although the top clubs may not have fared particularly well, this weekend, there was still a great deal of excitement, particularly among the teams fighting to avoid relegation. To make things even more exciting, the mixed results that occurred this weekend leave a remarkable seven teams within a single victory of first place, with just four matches left to play. The stretch run promises to be a wild, nail-biting battle.

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
25 Oct		3-1		Expo'70 Stadium
25 Oct		2-1		Kobe Universiade
25 Oct		1-0		Kumamoto Stadium
25 Oct		1-3		Nihondaira Stadium
25 Oct		0-0		Ajinomoto Stadium
25 Oct		1-1		Ichihara Seaside
26 Oct		2-2		National Stadium
26 Oct		0-0		Saitama Stadium

1 - 1

The result was a very physical and fiercely contested match, in which the momentum seesawed back and forth right to the final whistle. Jubilo held the initiative and controlled possession for much of the first half, but their attacks repeatedly broke down before reaching the penalty area. By contrast, JEF had less possession, but their counterattacks often created more dangerous scoring opportunities. When the two teams walked off at half time, both coaches expressed very cautious sentiments, as neither team seemed to have the upper hand.

But when Jubilo emerged from the locker room for the second half, they started to put together some more effective thrusts. Though the precision one-touch exchanges in the attacking midfield that used to characterise Jubilo Iwata have been replaced by more individualistic (and less effective) efforts, since the departure of Toshiya Fujita and Naohio Takahara, Jubilo's passing game in the first 20 minutes of the second half showed a bit of the old flair. Only some fine saves by Ryo Kushino kept the match scoreless. By the one-hour mark, however, it was clear that JEF were on the back foot, and Jubilo were on the verge of a goal.

The decisive strike finally came in the 66 minute, as Norihiro Nishi fielded a long outlet pass and broke down the right sideline with several teammates in support. Rodrigo Gral was probably in position, directly in front of net, to reach Nishi's cross if he had made the effort. But as all three JEF defenders converged on him, Gral unselfishly allowed the ball to soar past for the completely unmarked Aleksandr Zivkovic, at the far post. Zivkovic had time to trap the ball cleanly and take an open shot at net from just three meters out, and Jubilo had the lead.

This goal seemed to provide the wake-up call that JEF had lacked all evening long. Finally, the midfield seemed to break out of its lethargy and make the slashing runs that are characteristic of JEF's counterattacking game. Jubilo were pushed onto the defensive -- so much so that coach Yanagishita pulled Nishi for a defensive substitute, with about ten minutes remaining. Jubilo did their best to stall the JEF attack, and it looked for a while like they might hold on for the win. However, with just over a minute left in regular time, JEF threw a half-dozen players into the box to chase a cross from Sandro Cardosa Zeljko Milinovic was the first to get a head on the ball, nodding it towards the left post. Seiichiro Maki had the best play on the ball, but his back was to goal and he was well covered, so instead of trying for a low-percentage shot, he headed the ball back out to the penalty arc, where Choi Yong-Soo was waiting. The big Korean ace lashed a spinning shot throughthe crowd of players in front of net, which slipped inside the right post to knot the scores.

But JEF's lack of experience may have cost them, as the players spent almost a full minute celebrating Choi's goal. For some reason the players failed to realise that one point really did them no good, and they desperately needed to restart play and push for the winning goal. Ivica Osim was beside himself with impatience, waving his players furiously back to the midfield stripe. But time ticked away for both teams, as JEF and Jubilo were forced to share the points from this match. Though JEF still have an outside shot, if the other top contenders should stumble, the draw may have been the final blow to Jubilo's hopes for a title this season.

Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Eisuke Nakanishi (Takayuki Chano 70), Masataka Sakamoto (Seiichiro Maki 75), Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu, Takenori Hayashi (Sandro Cardoza 63), Choi Yong-Soo.

Hiromasa Yamamoto, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Norihiro Nishi (Takahiro Kawamura 84), Takashi Fukinishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Aleksandr Zivkovic, Hiroshi Nanami, Rodrigo Gral, Ryoichi Maeda (Yasumasa Nishino 89).

0 - 0

But what actually happened on Saturday evening will have sent many people home in disappointment -- particularly the large throng of Vegalta supporters who made the trip down from Sendai for a weekend in Tokyo. Though Vegalta have struggled throughout this season, at least earlier in the year they were playing exciting football. But in late September, the Sendai head office dumped long-time coach Hidehiko Shimizu, and replaced him with Zdenko Verdenik, who started the season as coach of Nagoya Grampus. At Grampus, Verdenik took an exciting, offense-oriented though still mediocre team, and turned them into a boring, defensively-dull yet still mediocre team that seemed to specialise in recording scoreless draws. Sadly, he seems to be adopting exactly the same strategy at Vegalta.

The result was a match that would have been impossible to watch if not for the occasional flashes of brilliance from Verdy striker Patrick Mboma. Unfortunately, even Mboma was unable to produce a goal against Vegalta's ten-man defending. The disgusting tactics employed by Vegalta took their toll on Verdy's tempers, as well. Nine yellow cards were handed out in the match, and it is only a surprise that there were not more. Needless to say, the match ended without a goal being scored.

Perhaps there are some people who can derive satisfaction from the single point that Vegalta captured, with this draw. The Rising Sun News, however, views this as a complete tragedy for a team and a fan base that deserves far better. Now that we know for certain that Verdenik's tactics at Nagoya were not just an aberration, one can only hope that Vegalta are relegated quickly. If the team returns to the J2, Verdenik will depart at the end of the season, and the team can work on rebuilding a positive, offensive oriented squad. With the fan support they receive, and the team's strong cash flow, Vegaslta should be back in the J1 in very short order. The wonderful fans of Sendai deserve no less. Far better to spend a year in the second division than to have Verdenik turn his contemptable strategies into a Vegalta trademark.

Lineups:

Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Alexandre Lopes, Kentaro Hayashi, Takahito Soma (Naoto Sakurai 51), Yasuyuki Kobayashi, Takuya Yamada, Takeshi Hirano (Daigo Kobayashi 07) (Shingo Nejime 82), Ramon Mendez Hubner, Kazuki Hiramoto, Patrick Mboma

Kiyomitsu Kobari, Kazuhiro Murakami , Fabiano, Susumu Watanabe, Yuichi Nemoto, Silvinho, Hitoshi Moriyasu, Shigeyoshi Mochizuki (Toshiya Ishii 45), Teruo Iwamoto, Hisato Sato (Yoshiteru Yamashita 77), Kenji Fukuda .

2 - 1

Though the Antlers remain a quality team, injuries to key players have decimated the team's offense, and the substitutes have not had the time to develop smooth coordination with their teammates. Last week, Masashi Motoyama underwent a hernia operation which rules him out for the remainder of the season. He will join Euller, Koji Nakata and Koji Kumagai in watching the team's remaining matches from the luxury box seats. As a result, Toninho Cerezo was forced to start defensive back/wing Takuya Nozawa at striker this week, alongside the ever-hapless Tomoyuki Hirase.

Vissel took good advantage of the openings that this makeshift lineup gave them, playing a soft, "cushion" defence in deep midfield and looking for chances to cut off errant passes from the unpolished Antlers reserves and spring a quick countreattack. The strategy worked well. Although Kashima had the vast majority of possession, they could not find any openings in the Vissel defence, and lacked the sharpness to create any. Kobe had fewer offensive chances, but was much more effective in making them count. Just before half time, one such countreattack sent former Antlers midfielder Bismarck down the right sideline, and he slipped a pass to Kazu Miura, posting up directly in front of goal. Though Kazu was well covered by Yutaka Akita, he used a sudden spin move to get off a weak but accurate shot. Fortunately, his sudden release caught the keeper moving the wrong way, and the shot trickled into the right corner to give Kobe a halftime lead.

The Antlers came out in the second half with a flurry of activity, and only two brilliant saves by Makoto Kakegawa, both on shots by Mitsuo Ogasawara, allowed Kobe to maintain its lead. But as the Antlers pushed for an equaliser, Vissel's defenders were once again able to make the play and spring a quick counterattack. In the 59 minute, Sidiclei stepped in front of a pass at midfield and sent Ryuji Bando dashing down the right sideline. Bando was isolated one-on-one with the last Antlers defender, and used a nice stop-and-go move to turn the corner. His shot was from a low angle, but he managed to curl it into the top left corner to double Kobe's lead.

The Antlers spent the rest of the match pushing furiously against a stubborn Vissel wall. As the match entered injury time, they finally managed to pull one back, when Naoki Soma volleyed in the rebound of a long shot from Akira Narahashi. But it was all for naught, as time ran out and Vissel claimed a well-deserved victory.

Lineups:

Makoto Kakegawa, Koji Yoshimura, Yukio Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Tomo Sugawara, Sidiclei, Yasutoshi Miura (Taro Sugawara 66), Park Kang-Jo, Bismarck (Mitsunori Yabuta 84), Kazuyoshi Miura , Ryuji Bando .

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Tatsuya Ishikawa (Naoki Soma 60), Takeshi Aoki, Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masaki Fukai (Tomohiko Ikeuchi 60), Takuya Nozawa (Yuki Nakashima 61), Tomoyuki Hirase .

1 - 0

Trinita took anm early lead in this contest, when a long lead pass from Sandro sent Takahiro Yoshida away on an unchallenged dash for goal. Yoshida waited for the keeper to move off his line then tucked the ball into the low right corner.

Though Oita would have occasional counterattacking chances, the rest of the match was almost entirely played in the Trinita end. Purple Sanga tried and tried to create the equaliser, but the closest they would come was a dash into the box by Daisuke Matsui which won a PK as two defenders knocked him off his feet.

But vetrean keeper Hayato Okanaka read Teruaki Kurobe's PK perfectly, diving to his left to push the ball around the post. Kyoto never got another real chance, and as Trinita escaped with the victory, the Purple Sanga moved one step closer to relegation.

Lineups:

Hayato Okanaka, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Sandro Chaves Rosa, Takashi Miki, Koji Arimura (Daiki Wakamatsu 18), Takashi Umeda, Haruki Seto, Edmilson, Yoshito Terakawa (Ryosuke Kijima 77), Will (Daiki Takamatsu 65), Takahiro Yoshida, .

Naoto Hirai, Makoto Kakuda, Daisuke Saito, Kazuki Teshima, Shingo Suzuki, Daisuke Nakaharai (Masaya Saito 64), Tadashi Nakamura (Shinya Tomita 64), Kiyotaka Ishimaru (Yutaka Tahara 77), Daisuke Matsui (34), Regillio "Reggie" Simons, Teruyuki Kurobe.

3 - 1

Gamba got off to a quick lead, in the 8 minute, when a long ball into the box by Yasuhito Endo was deflected in front of the goal mouth, and Satoru Yamaguchi was able to lash out a boot and drive it into the back of the net. The score line remained that way until just after the half time break, when Shigeru Morioka slipped down the right sideline and crossed for the near post. Seigo Narazaki was quickly off his line, and looked like he might be able to smother the ball, but Yoshihara reached the ball at exactly the same instant, and managed to knock it free. As Narazaki sprawled on the ground, Yoshihara collected the loose ball and tucked it into the nylon.

Grampus staged a bit of a comeback after the Yoshihara goal, and had the better of play for the next thirty minutes or so. In the 72 minute, they finally pulled a goal back on a free kick from just ouside the box. Ueslei took the kick and drove a looping shot over the wall and into the right side netting.

But this was the closest Grampus would get. Gamba turned up their pressure a notch and took over the match for the final 15 minutes. With time running down, reserve striker Masanobu Matsunami sent Toru Araiba into the box with a beautiful through pass that completely shredded the Grampus defence. As Nagoya players scrambled into full retreat, Araiba cut the ball back across the ace of goal and Yoshihara tapped it home with the outside of his right boot.

Lineups:

Naoki Matsuyo, Noritada Saneyoshi (Masao Kiba 45), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Toru Irie, Shigeru Morioka (Harison 78), Satoshi Yamaguchi, Yasuhito Endo, Toru Araiba, Takahiro Futagawa, Satoshi Nakayama (Masanobu Matsunami72), Kota Yoshihara .

Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori, Andrej Panadic, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto, Kei Yamaguchi (Ryoji Ujihara 45), Naoshi Nakamura, Yusuke Nakatani, Tomoyuki Sakai (Ryuta Hara 71), Ueslei, Kunihiko Takizawa (Keiji Yoshimura 59) .

1 - 3

Tokyo are almost the exact opposite of S-Pulse -- a team with few real stars, and a lot of blue-collar, journeyman-types, but which plays aggressively and smoothly as a unit, often achieving results superior to those of more star-studded opponents. Indeed, FC Tokyo can only boast two players who are recognised almost instantly by casual fans. The aging "King of Tokyo", Amaral, has carried the team for most of the past decade, but at 36 years of age he is starting to lose his touch. But his role as the driving force behind FC Tokyo is quickly being filled by a young prince who may soon claim the veteran's throne. Naohiro Ishikawa has already established himself as a key weapon on the U-22 squad, and this season he is gradually imposing himself as the most dangerous offensive threat on his club team, as well. This week, Ishikawa dismantled the S-Pulser defence almost single-handedly scoring two brilliant unassisted goals and contributing to a third.

It took Ishikawa just eight minutes to get things rolling for FC Tokyo. Though he generally plays on the right wing, Ishikawa has the freedom to switch sides whenever it suits him, under coach Hiromi Hara's flexible "rotating attack" strategy. Early in this match, he took advantage of a long clearance from the back line to make the switch, and collected a lob pass from "Kelly" Guimares near midfield and began carrying it down the left wing. The ball was still bouncing at around knee level as he carried it swiftly down the wing, with just one defender in pursuit, and when Ishikawa felt his man closing in on his shoulder, he suddenly pulled the ball back in a high, looping arch, stopped dead in his tracks, and let the defender rush past like a runaway train. Once free of his defender, Ishikawa tracked down the ball, sauntered a few steps closer to goal, and ripped a sizzling line drive into the high corner of the net.

Midway through the period, Ishikawa again exposed the S-Pulse defence, this time with a slashing run down the right side. With two defenders closing in, he chipped the ball into the box for Kelly, who reached the pass a half-step ahead of the outrushing keeper and pushed the ball underneath his diving fingertips, to double the lead.

The rest of the match went pretty much the same way, with FC Tokyo dominating play and S=pulse struggling just to fend off any more goals. With 15 minutes to play, Ishikawa showed his magic ball skills once again, turning in from the right sideline and weaving between three defenders before firing a blast from the bottom edge of the penalty arc that gave Tokyo its final goal. Ahn Jung-Hwan got a late consolation goal a few mintues later, on a long shot that surprised the keeper and slipped into the low corner. But that was about all the offence S-Pulse had to offer, and Tokyo cruised comfortably through the final minutes to claim victory.

Lineups:

Takaya Kurokawa, Shohei Ikeda (Tuto 45) , Naoki Hiraoka, Jumpei Takaki (Kohei Hiramatsu 66), Ryuzo Morioka, Kota Sugiyama, Teruyoshi Ito, Tomoyoshi Tsurumi, Hayato Suzuki (Daisuke Ichikawa 75), Hideaki Kitajima, Ahn Jung-Hwan .

Yoichi Doi, Ryuji Fujiyama, Teruyuki Moniwa, Jean Carlo Witte, Jo Kanazawa, Fumitake Miura (Satoru Asari 89), Masashi Miyazawa (Yoshiro Abe 84), Naohiro Ishikawa (Oh Jang-Eun 65), Clesley "Kelly" Guimares (Yoshiro Abe 85), Mitsuhiro Toda, Yusuke Kondo (Amaral 60).

2 - 2

But despite this shameful display of officiating, the Marinos and Cerezo put on a brilliant show of end-to-end attacking over the full ninety minutes. The huge crowd at National Stadium could not have asked for more drama and though Marinos fans will be very disappointed to have dropped two valuable points, both teams thoroughly deserved the 2-2 result.

After about 15 minutes of ragged play, interrupted every 30 seconds or so by Mr. Okutani's whistle, the fireworks got started when Yukihiko Sato came in late on a sliding tackle and upended Cerezo defender Yasushi Kita. Though many of the yellow cards awarded in this match were egregious, Sato could have no complaint about this one. Unfortunately, though, it was his second, and Yokohama found themselves reduced to ten men, just 23 minutes into the contest.

The loss of a key player at midfield was a temporary blow to the Marinos' confidence, and Cerezo quickly moved to exploit the opportunity. The next five minutes were a flurry of activity as the Cerezo offence pounded the ball into the Marinos end. In the 27 minute, Kiyokazu Kudo sent Yoshito Okubo down the right sideline with a long lead pass, and the Cerezo ace turned on the afterburners to get a step on his defender. As he neared the penalty area, Okubo played a cheeky loop shot that caught the keeper dashing off his line, and fell softly into the back of the net.

But tragedy struck on the very next play, as Cerezo captain Hideaki Morishima pulled a hamstring muscle trying to catch up with a long ball, and was forced to limp to the sidelines. While Morishima was still off the pitch, receiving attention, Yokohama struck back. Dutra played a very clever through pass behind the Cerezo defence, allowing Marquinhos to use his speed in a footrace. One of the two Cerezo defenders reacted the wrong way, as the pass ran through, and suddenly Marquinhos was off to the races with just one defender on his shoulder. The speedy Brazilian was forced a bit wide, but he fended off the attention of his defender, and hooked the ball back across the face of goal, catching the inside of the far post.

Immediately after the goal was scored, Morishima departed for the showers, and Takaaki Tokushige took his place. Though this may have blunted the Cerezo attack slightly, Tokushige would make a strong contribution over the remainder of the contest, providing a key contribution just before half time.

As the first half entered injury time, Okubo led a foray down the left sideline, stoppiong only when Yoo Sang-Chul came out to confront him at the top corner of the penalty box. Okubo could see no way through, so he dribbled back towards midfield a few paces and played what seemed like a casual back pass to Ryu Saito. But as soon as he released the ball, Okubo wheeled about and made a sudden dash into the box. Saito read the move perfectly, and his lob over the head of Yoo put Okubo free on goal. Though his angle on net was very narrow, Okubo ripped off a shot so powerful that the keeper could not control it. As the ball bounded through, Tokushige swooped in at the far post to tap the ball in, giving Cerezo a 2-1 halftime advantage.

After an offensively electric first half, the second half would belong to the defence -- specifically, the two goalkeepers. Both teams maintained a furious pace throughout the second period, but two remarkable saves by Tatsuya Enomoto and an equally impressive effort by Daisuke Tada at the other end kept the score line unchanged for the next 40 minutes. But as full time approached, the Cerezo players began to run out of steam, and Yokohama made one surge after another towards the Osaka goal. You could see the equalising goal coming long before it finally arrived, though it took quite a barrage to finally get the ball in the net. With five minutes to play, Dutra broke in from the left flank and fired at goal, only to have the ball deflect clear, off a defender. Marquinos retreived it on the opposite side of the box and drilled a shot off the right post. This time the ball fell to Daisuke Nasu, just beyond the penalty arc. He sent the ball into the box once more, and this time Yoo Sang-Chul was able to fight through the scramble of players in the penalty area and head it into the roof of the net.

Lineups:

Tatsuya Enomoto, Yoo Sang-Chul, Yuzo Kurihara, Yuji Nakazawa, Dutra, Yukihiko Sato, Daisuke Nasu, Daisuke Oku, Nobuhisa Shimizu (Yutaro Abe 71), Marquinhos, Tatsuhiko Kubo (Daisuke Sakata 56) .

Daisuke Tada, Satoru Suzuki, Yasushi Kita, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Takanori Nunobe, Takeshi Hamada, Kiyokazu Kudo (Taskuma Koga 88), Ryu Saito,, Hiroaki Morishima (Takaaki Tokushige 34), Baron, Yoshito Okubo (Akinori Nishizawa 89) .

0 - 0

Lineups:

Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Yuri Nikiforov, Ned Zelic, Nobuhisa Yamada (Makoto Hasebe 71), Hideki Uchidate, Keita Suzuki, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Koji Yamase, Yuichiro Nagai (Toru Chishima 79), Emerson.

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 .