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November 3, 2003
Reds Raise the Silver

The Reds entered this match as heavy favourites, against a Kashima Antlers team that has been decimated by injury and misfortune this season. The list of players unable to participate in the Nabisco Cup final was so extensive that Toninho Cerezo had to field a makeshift 5-3-2 lineup patched together with rookies and second-stringers. Yet the Nabisco Cup defending champions fought their way to the finals by overcoming this sort of adversity, and having lost a fiercely-contested final last year against the same team, the Reds were never taking this match for granted. The lopsided final score might suggest that this was an easy ride for the Reds, but the fact is that only a heroic effort in the first 60 minutes kept them in the lead and allowed them to cruise away to victory when the stubborn Antlers' finally collapsed, midway through the second half.

It was clear from the opening kick that this was going to be a wild and wooly affair. On their very first trip down the field the Antlers got a breakaway which led to a corner kick and a shot on net, while the subsequent offensive play for the Reds ended with the ball in the Antlers' net, though Emerson was caught offside before he managed to release the shot. The first half proceeded from there, with the two teams exchanging thrust and counterthrust in a very offense-oriented battle pitting the Reds' speed against the Antlers' precision. But 14 minutes into the match, Urawa got a very crucial break which would dictate the story line for the rest of the match. On what looked like a relatively harmless run down the wing, Tatsuya Tanaka made a fine spin move to break clear of Go Oiwa and lobbed the ball into the box. Defender Yutaka Akita had released his man as soon as he saw Tanaka break free, trying to cover the open end line, and Tanaka's cross looped directly to the man he had left uncovered -- Koji Yamase. Yamase had a wide open header from about six meters, and did a good job of looping it over the outstretched hands of Hitoshi Sogahata and into the back corner of the net.

The Antlers immediately surged forward looking for the equaliser, and in the subsequent 10 minutes they came very close on thre occasions. As the Reds scrambled to defend against a barrage of balls into the box, Emerson and Keisuke Tsuboi crashed head-to-head in a midair collision that left both players bleeding profusely. But fortunately, both were able to soldier on with a bit of bandaging about the head. The Antlers would not be as fortunate, as Euller was taken down heavily on an attempted breakaway and pulled a groin muscle, forcing him to retire as the already depleted Antlers front line lost yet another player.

The fierce contest continued through the end of the half, with the Antlers gradually establishing an advantage in possession and shots on goal. But Urawa's one-goal lead gave them an important advantage. The Reds are a team that thrives on the counterattack. Both Emerson and Tanaka are at their best when they can use their speed to beat opposing defenders. But the Reds offense often sputters when forced to create offence from midfield. With a goal advantage, the Reds were able to lay back on defence and look for opportunities to launch lightning-fast counterattacks. Though none managed to crack the Antlers defence in the first half, it was only a matter of time before this became a crucial factor.

The first ten minutes of the second half were much like the late stages of the first, with Kashima on the attack and controlling possession well. But the loss of Euller up front clearly had an impact, as the thrusts constantly fell short when the ball was sent into the front line. As the midfield pushed further and further forward, the deadly Reds counterattack finally ignited.

Ten minutes into the second half, A long clearance was picked up at midfield by Tanaka, who fired the ball long for Emerson. The speedy Brazilian dashed away from his defenders and reached the ball a half-step ahead of the outrushing keeper. Though his first touch was a bit too long, Emerson maintained his composure, stopped the ball before it could roll over the end line, and then simply picked a spot between the frantically retreating defenders to slip the ball into goal.

Just moments later, a similar break down the left side allowed Tanaka to beat the Antlers defence into the left corner. As he carried the ball back towards the middle, he feinted twice at goal, drawing enough of a reaction to freeze the defenders. As he reached the top left corner of the penalty box, a quick stride forward gave him the opening he needed to fire a shot for the far corner, and the ball just eluded the dive of Sogahata, giving Urawa a three-goal advantage.

This broke the back of the Antlers, as conditions went from bad to worse. First, the threatening sky which had dripped and drizzled all afternoon suddenly broke open and a downpour drenched the stadium. Then, just moments after the Tanaka goal, Mitsuo Ogasawara lost his composure and charged right over a Reds player at midfield, picking up a second yellow card. Even reduced to ten men, the Antlers continued to fight on, but by this point it was clearly a lost cause, inspired by pride alone.

As time ran down, Emerson put the finishing touch on the match with a weaving, individual run on the right side, capped by a perfectly placed looping shot that snuck inside the right post and put the match out of reach once and for all. With the thunderous cheers of the Red Army echoing through the stadium, the final whistle sounded and the weary but triumphant Reds hoisted a cup of silver, celebrating their first championship in team history and bringing their supporters a long-awaited reason to party.

Lineups:

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Tomohiko Ikeuchi (Takuya Nozawa 60), Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Tatsuya Ishikawa (Naoki Soma 60), Takeshi Aoki, Naoki Honda, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masaki Fukai, Euller (Yuki Nakashima 16).

Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Yuri Nikiforov, Ned Zelic, Nobuhisa Yamada, Hideki Uchidate, Keita Suzuki, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Koji Yamase (Makoto Hasebe 87), Tatsuya Tanaka (Yuichiro Nagai 85), Emerson.

Rumours and Rumblings

Ooft Opts Out

Some observers might think that this announcement, coming so soon after his team had claimed the first championship trophy in their history, would come as a big shock. But the following day, the lack of reaction from players and club officials offered all the evidence -- if any were needed -- that things are not quite as they seem. After meeting with Ooft briefly in a closed-door meeting, the company officials announced that they would not be offering him a contract for next season, and seemed to be deliberately hinting that this was a decision reached long before Ooft's announcement of the previous evening. Urawa Reds club president Motoaki Inukai offered polite compliments to Ooft for having "established a base for the team", but continued with the cool observation that the team "now needs a coach who can put some meat on the bones", and build a more competitive squad. The clear message was that Ooft jumped ship only in order to avoid being thrown overboard.

While the Reds have developed into a more competitive club, this season, than they have ever been in the past, much of this can be attributed to the club's deep pockets, and their ability to lure top players from other clubs. Meanwhile, there have been plenty of opportunities to question Ooft's abilities as a coach, and particularly as a strategist (regular readers will know that the Rising Sun News has offered such critiques on several occasions). At the start of the year, when Edmundo's sudden and inexplicable departure from the team was raising eyebrows, one rumour making the rounds held that the Brazilian ace did not see eye to eye with the coach, openly questioned Ooft's decisions and strategies, and griped that the team could never possibly win a title under such leadership.

Ooft will remain at the head coach spot until after the Emperors' Cup campaign, at the end of this year. This means that he will have a chance to add one or two more trophies to his team's record of accomplishments, before departing. Yet even if the Reds should win both the league and the Emperor's Cup this season, the Rising Sun News believes that Ooft's departure will be a boon to the team. Indeed, if the Reds *DO* manage to clinch a triple championship this season, one might easily attribute such success to the euphoria the players feel, knowing that the team will be under new leadership next season.