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November 9, 2003
Down the Stretch . . .

Lets begin by taking a look at the scores:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
8 Nov		2-2		Kashima Stadium
8 Nov		5-1		Komaba Stadium
8 Nov		1-3		Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
8 Nov		1-0		Iwata Stadium
8 Nov		3-2		Nishikyogoku
8 Nov		2-0		Nagai Stadium
9 Nov		4-1		Ajinomoto Stadium
9 Nov		3-2		Toyota Stadium

5 - 1

The teaser, in the pregame commentaries by NHK, was the offensive matchup between Patrick Mboma, for Verdy, and the Reds' dynamic duo of Tatsuya Tanaka and Emerson. But as it turned out, only one half of the show lived up to its billing. Although Mboma demonstated his dominant ball contol and power in front of net on a few occasions, he was pretty well taken out of the contest by Urawa's solid, man-to-man defending.

On the other side of the ball, Emerson and Tanaka were tilting at goal from the very first tap. Remarkably, they put three shots on net within the first two minutes of play. Though Verdy managed to stay close, on the scoreboard at least, until early in the second half, in reality this contest was even more lopsided than the final score.

Following a few over-eager efforts early in the period, the Reds settled down to create more serious chances, and went on top less than ten minutes into the match, on a corner kick. Keisuke Tsuboi played a short line drive to Ned Zelic on the near side of the box, and the tall Australian headed the ball on for the far post. Emerson pounced, and slammed it in through the back door, for a 1-0 lead.

Fifteen minutes later, Emerson doubled the advantage on a bit of individual play, using his speed to outrace the defenders to a long pass from Makoto Hasebe and driving a low shot past the outrushing keeper. Urawa could have added two or three more goals before half time, if not for a combination of fine saves by Yoshinari Takagi and poor shot placement by Tanaka.

In the second half, the Reds came out a bit too "loose", playing a sagging defence and showing a bit of complacency, They were outustled to the ball by Verdy for the first ten minutes or so, and for a few seconds it seemed like the tide might be turning. Though their lone goal of the match was a bit flukish, with a contested ball in the penalty area falling right into the path of Kentaro Hayashi, dashing in from midfield, the Verdy veteran made good use of the opportunity, slamming the ball into the high left corner to cut the deficit to a goal.

But any delusions about getting back into this match were soon dispelled, as Koji Yamase picked this moment to stop stumbling around the Reds midfield like a lost puppy and start displaying the ball skills that earned him fame in the U-20 team, two years ago, prior to his knee injury. Chasing a long pass down the right side, Yamase used his first touch to make a sparkling over-the-shoulder lob pass to himself, raced between two defenders to collect the ball, and then drilled a booming, low-angle shot that curled around the keeper and snuck inside the far post.

That goal pretty much crushed any hopes Verdy might have had of getting back into the match, but the Reds were far from finished. Ten minutes later, Tanaka dashed into space on the right side of the box and launched a low-angle rocket of his own, that followed almost exactly the same trajectory as Yamase's shot, and extended the lead to 4-1. Then, with the clock running down towards full time, the 19-year-old Hasebe claimed his first J.League goal, dashing out of midfield and weaving through the demoralised Verdy defenders to lash home the final goal of the match.

Lineups:

Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Yuri Nikiforov (Makoto Hasebe 17), Ned Zelic, Nobuhisa Yamada, Hideki Uchidate, Keita Suzuki, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Koji Yamase, Tatsuya Tanaka, Emerson (Yuichiro Nagai 71).

Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Yugo Ichiyanagi (Seitaro Tomisawa 52), Takushi Yoneyama, Atsuhiro Miura, Kentaro Hayashi, Takuya Yamada, Takeshi Hirano (Daigo Kobayashi 54), Ramon Mendez Hubner, Naoto Sakurai (Kazuki Hiramoto 65), Patrick Mboma .

3 - 2

In the early stages of this match, it looked like JEF would dominate, as Kyoto looked disorganised on both offence and defence, and JEF created two or three very close calls in the first 20 minutes, which were turned away only by some brilliant saves by the keeper, and one clearance off the line by the retreating defender Makoto Kakuda, after the keeper had been beaten. But the tide turned suddenly in the 24 minute, when a long lob pass from Kiyotaka Ishimaru found Teruaki Kurobe on the right side of the box, and the big striker fought off the challenge of his defender to curl the ball back across the face of goal and into the low left corner.

Suddenly, Kyoto seemed to be a completely different team, playing with energy, crispness and determination. Though they did not add to their lead in the first half, they dominated the final 20 minutes and went into the locker room on a high note. The momentum remained very much on their side in the second half, and on the stroke of the hour, a steal by Biju at midfield sent Kurobe off down the left side with no defender in his vicinity. Though still almost 35 meters from goal, Kurobe apparently decided to take his shot before JEF's defence could close in. His shot traced a perfectly straight line into the topriught corner, just eluding the keeper's fingertips and slipping under the crossbar.

This goal buoyed Purple Sanga even further, and they had several more chances over the next 20 minute, before a breakaway by Daisuke Matsui extended the lead to three goals with ten minutes to play.

But with victory almost at hand, Kyoto sudddenly fell apart and very nearly let it slip away. Takenori Hayashi, on as an offensive substitute, pulled one goal back with a shot that came completely out of the blue, from the top edge of the penalty arc. With just five minutes on the clock, JEF were moving the ball around the perimeter with Purple Sanga defenders in close pursuit, and Hayashi just suddenly sent the ball on net. Luck was with him, though, and it caught the keeper off guard, slipping past his right-handed lunge. Suddenly, Kyoto began to visibly panic, while JEF saw a chance to salvage the match suddenly appear. Moments later, a long loop pass from Biju at midfield fell between the keeper and the speedy Hayashi, who got to the ball a split-second sooner and deflected it into the nylon. As injury time began, JEF through everyone forward and barraged the Kyoto net, seeking the equaliser.

But Kyoto's luck held, and time ran out before JEF United could do any further damage. The victory gives Kyoto a big boost in their efforts to avoid relegation, as both Oita Trinita and Vegalta Sendai lost their matches on Saturday. JEF, meanwhile, appear to be out of the picture now, dropping four points back of the league leaders

Lineups:

Naoto Hirai, Makoto Kakuda, Daisuke Saito, Kazuki Teshima, Shingo Suzuki, Shinya Tomita, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Biju, Daisuke Matsui (Ko Jang-Eun 84), Yutaka Tahara (Tadashi Nakamura 45), Teruyuki Kurobe.

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Eisuke Nakanishi, Takayuki Chano (Takenori Hayashi 56), Satoru Yamagishi (Kohei Kudo 68), Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Shinji Murai, Koji Nakashima, Sandro Cardoza, Choi Yong-Soo (Seiichiro Maki 62).

2 - 1

The Antlers have managed to remain in contention despite a very long list of injuries, and this week their troubles mounted as Mitsuo Ogasawara was sidelined by a red card, picked up in the Nabisco Cup match, last weekend. Gamba, meanwhile, were back close to to full strngth as Magrao rejoined the lineup, and it didnt take long for him to get ivolved in the action. Midway through the first half, the tall Brazilian took a post pass at the top of the penalty arc and fed Shigeru Morioka into the right corner. As soon as he dropped the pass off to his midfield supporter, Magrao spun past his defender and into the box, in what almost resembled a "pick-and-roll" play in basketball. Morioka chased the pass into the right corner and fired a line drive cross in front of net, meeting Magrao on the cut, and Gamba's ace headed the ball home from close range to give his team an early lead.

The Antlers have struggled this year mainly because of their lack of strikers, following the departure of Takayuki Suzuki and Atsushi Yanagisawa to Europe, and exacerbated by repeated injuries to Euller. This week, though, the team got an important boost as rookie Masaki Fukai finally began to fulfill his early promise. Just before half time, the diminutive striker collected a ball in the right corner, dribbled around one defender and then played a one-two exchange with Takeshi Aoki. The return pass found Fukai breaking across the top of the box, and provided him with just enough space to release a shot into the low left corner, equalising the ledger as the two teams went in at the half.

Shortly after the restart, Fukai would do himself one better. Seven minutes in, the Antlers won a throw-in on the right sideline, and the ball came to Fukai in much the same position as on his first goal. This time, though, he needed no assistance, weaving his way through three defenders to create the space he needed all on his own. Once again, he released a low shot as soon as he got a loo at goal, and once again it slipped inside the far post, putting the Antlers on top.

But Gamba surged back with relentless pressure over the subsequent ten minutes, and though the Antlers are one of the best teams in the league at protecting a one-goal lead, this time it wold slip away. Paraguay captain Francisco "Chiqui" Arce, on as a substitute, managed to break past a defender on the right sideline and fire a pinpoint cross for Magrao, who may be slowing down a bit, but is still an imposing target in the center of the penalty box. Magrao twisted his body to meet the cross and headed the ball home, capturing a share of the points for Gamba.

Lineups:

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Go Oiwa, Tatsuya Ishikawa (Tomohiko Ikeuchi 81), Takeshi Aoki, Naoki Honda, Fernando, Takuya Nozawa (da Silva 60), Masaki Fukai, Tomoyuki Hirase (Yuki Nakashima 83), .

Naoki Matsuyo, Masao Kiba, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Arata Kodama, Shigeru Morioka (Francisco "Chiqui" Arce 57), Satoshi Yamaguchi, Yasuhito Endo, Toru Araiba (Satoshi Namayama 57), Takahiro Futagawa, Magrao, Kota Yoshihara (Harison 86) .

1 - 0

One might say that Vegalta deserve to lose the match more than Jubilo, since the dreary defensive tactics employed by coach Verdenik made this contest virtually unwatchable. Indeed, it was a contest that neither team can be particularly proud of. However, Vegalta used some truly heroic defending to keep thte match scoreless until the final seconds. For that, at least, they deserved a single point.

Incidentally, last week's edition of Weekly Soccer Magazine ran a comparison of top teams and how they tend to score goals in close matches. Comparing matches in which the team won by a single goal, over the course of J.League history, Jubilo Iwata has won nearly A THIRD of such contests by scoring the winning goal from a penalty kick! The only other team that comes close is Yokohama Marinos, who have won four matches in J.League history on a late PK . . . . Jubilo's record?

Fifteen!

Yes, you read that correctly,. According to the magazine, Jubilo have been awarded a victory by the officials on no less than FIFTEEN occasions in their history. Three times as many as any other team in the league!

No doubt, some people believe in coincidences. The Rising Sun News is not one of those people . . .

Lineups:

Hiromasa Yamamoto, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Sho Naruoka, Takashi Fukinishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Aleksandr Zivkovic, Hiroshi Nanami (Naoya Kikuchi 89), Rodrigo Gral, Ryoichi Maeda (Yasumasa Nishino 59).

Kiyomitsu Kobari, Kazuhiro Murakami , Fabiano, Susumu Watanabe, Yuichi Nemoto, Silvinho, Toshiya Ishii, Shigeyoshi Mochizuki , Teruo Iwamoto (Toshiyuki Abe 79), Hisato Sato (Kim Dong-Ju 740, Kenji Fukuda (Yoshiteru Yamashita 56).

0 - 0

Lineups:

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 .

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 .

2 - 0

After a relatively defensive first half, Cerezo took the lead shortly after intermission, when Yoshito Okubo played a beutiful lead pass to Akinori Nishizawa, who streaked down the right side and tucked a shot into the low, near corner.

Cerezo dominated play from that point on, with Trinita creating only a few real chances and Cerezo getting more and more dangerous counterattacking opportunities as the clock wound down. With fifteen minutes left, a clearance from the Trinita penalty area was headed back into the box by Kiyokazu Kudo, Okubo used his powerful body to screen off a defender and pull the ball down, then tucked it into the net from point-blank range to put the contest out of reach.

Daisuke Tada, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Satoru Suzuki, Ryu Saito, Takanori Nunobe, Takeshi Hamada, Kiyokazu Kudo (Taskuma Koga 88), Yusuke Sato (Takaaki Tokushige 66), Yoshito Okubo (Noriyuki Sakai 77), Baron, Akinori Nishizawa .

Hayato Okanaka, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Daiki Wakamatsu, Takashi Miki, Tomohiro Katanosaka (Tomoaki Komorida 84), Edmilson (Takashi Umeda 60), Haruki Seto, Yoshito Terakawa, Teppei Nishiyama, Will (Ryosuke Kijima 70), Daiki Takamatsu .

3 - 2

But after storming to a convincing victory in the first stage, the Marinos have looked somewhat less dominant in the second stage. Injuries have taken their toll, but an equaly serious problem has been the lack of offensive efficiency, as well as some indiscipline and an excess of disciplinary suspensions. This week, both Yukihiko Sato and Yoshiharu Ueno were out of the lineup due to suspensions, and this may have made the difference in the match.

Nagoya Grampus, meanwhile, are a far more exciting team under Nelsinho than they were in the first stage, under the uber-conservative Zdenko Verdenik, and although they have already lost more matches than they did in the entire first stage, they seem to play with more optimism and enthusiasm. As the team's many youngsters mature, they could become a top contender by next season.

Grampus came out strong in this match, pursuing the ball hard at midfield and launching quick outlets to the forwards. This strategy paid off as the team took an early lead on a powerful blast by Ueslei, in the 12 minute. But as time wor on, the Marinos began to settle down to a ball-control game, and dominated both possession and field position for the remainder of the first half. Even so, their scoring chances were limited by some fine defensive work from the Grampus back line. There was only one serious lapse, producing a dangerous shot on goal, but Yokohama made their one opportunity count. In the 34 minute, Dutra slipped away with an outlet pass and looped a long pass towards the penalty area, where two Marinos players were isolated on two defenders. The ball took one high bounce into the box for Kunio Nagayama, who wrong-footed both defenders by immediately heading it laterally to Daisuke Sakata. As Seigo Narazaki dashed off his line to close down the angle, Sakata fired a low ball that the keeper was able to deflect, but not control. Sakata scooped up the loose ball and rolled it into the open net, knotting the score.

After a somewhat cautious but very precise first half, on the part of both teams, things started to get a bit sloppy in the second half. Part of the problem may have been the pitch, which seemed to have been laid recently, and tore up badly every time a player tried to make a sudden stop or change direction. By half time there were lumpy mounds of semi-detatched turf all over the field, which must have made it difficult to control long passes. Whatever the case, as both teams turned up the energy levels, the match began to evolve into a wild scramble of errant passes and wayward dashes, punctuated by bruising body contact.

Shortly after the restart, one heavy challenge, a step beyond the top of the Grampus penalty arc, gave Yokohama a free kick opportunity. Yoo Sang-Chul struck a beautiful ball that curled over the wall and eluded Narazaki's fingertips, putting the Marinos in the lead. The next 20 minutes were the most fiercely contested, yet least precise of the entire match, with both teams rushing about with wild abandon, sending the preponerance of their passes astray. But despite the many missed connections, the sheer pace of play created opportunities for a counterattacking breakthrough, and in the 70 minute it finally came. Grampus launched one of many frenetic counterattacks with a long ball from within their own end. But this time the long ball found Marques in space, on the left sideline, and he made a dash towards goal with only one defender in position to catch him. Naoki Matsda Caught up to Marques just outside of the penalty box, but he was a half-step behind and about the only thing he could do was to shoulder the Nagoya striker off his feet. The referee produced a yellow card, and awarded Grampus a free kick just milimeters outside the top left corner of the box. Ueslei made a brilliant dummy move, faking a loop pass for a pack of Grampus players the far post, but his shot was actually placed just inside the near post, and Tatsuya Enomoto could only watch helplessly as it curled into the net.

Less than a minute later, disaster struck the Marinos again, as Marques dashed off on another break and Matsuda once again took him off his feet. This shoulder check was a bit less blatant, but coming so soon after his previous professional foul, the referee was not in a forgiving mood. He produced a second yellow, and Matsuda was off to the showers.

With a man advantage, Grampus finally began to settle down on offence, playing more careful and accurate passes to build up their offensive thrusts, instead of the wild kick-and-run they had employed in the early stages of the second half. With just over ten minutes to play, Kojiro Kaimoto got free on the right sideline and carried the ball almost to the corner flag before crossing for Ueslei. The big Brazilian met the ball at the edge of the box, directly in front of net, and blasted a shot into the nylon, giving Grampus the lead once more.

Though the Marinos struggled to get back into the match, with a man disadvantage and their best midfield players out of action, their build-up was ineffective, and they were forced to rely on long, desperate passes into the front line. Grampus managed to turn away every opportunity, and held on to claim the full three points.

Lineups:

Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori, Andrej Panadic, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto (Kei Yamaguchi 89) , Keiji Yoshimura, Kunihiko Takizawa (Tetsuya Okayama 53), Yusuke Nakatani, Naoshi Nakamura, (Ryuta Hara 71), Ueslei, Marques.
Lineups:

Tatsuya Enomoto, Yoo Sang-Chul, Naoki Matsuda, Yuji Nakazawa, Dutra, Yasuhiro Endo, Kunio Nagayama (Nobuhisa Shimizu 45), Daisuke Nasu, Daisuke Oku, Marquinhos, Daisuke Sakata (Yutaro Abe 72) .

4 - 1

In any event, if coach Hiromi Hara can get his team to play as they did this week, on a more regular basis, they are likely to be one of the league's most formidable opponents next season. This year, they may have left it too late to make a charge to a title, though based on their performance against Vissel Kobe on Sunday, we should not be counting them out of the race just yet.

The 4-1 score line of this match is deceptive. If Tokyo had finished just a bit more efficiently, they would have been up 6-0 at half time. Moreover, the team seemed to call it a day with 35 minutes to play, and simply coasted to victory following their fourth goal. While they were in full attack mode, though, the Tokyo offence was something to watch. After two very close calls in the opening minutes, turned away by fine goalkeeping, "Kelly" Guimares finally got the scoring started in the 16 minute. Tokyo took a throw-in on the right sideline and Masashi Miyazawa immediately looped the ball towards goal. It looked like the pass was intended for Mitsuhiro Toda, and both Vissel defenders reacted towards him. But Toda, perhaps deliberately but probably just because he was off balance, failed to leap for the ball, and it saild over his head towards the far post. Kelly was racing in behind the play, and he made a sliding volley to push the ball in through the back door.

Shortly thereafter, Kelly and Toda combined for another goal on a similarly swift and deadly strike. Kelly beat his defender down the right side, and as he reached the right edge of the box he crossed for the far post. Toda was in full sprint but the pass was so precise that he was able to nod the ball home almost casually as he sprinted past the left upright.

Six minutes later it was 3-0 as Miyazawa took his turn on the scoring end of a swift attack and precise cross.. And Kelly came within a whisker of adding another just moments later, but his shot came back off the crossbar.

The player who normally provides a high percentage of FC Tokyo's offence, Naohiro Ishikawa, struggled a bit this week, playing well enough in the buildup, but shanking two or three shots badly, ay one of which could have turned the match into a rout. But after the restart, he finally settled down and managed to put one on target. Seven minutes into the second half, Kelly once again found space down the right flank and crossed into the box. The ball was partially deflected, but it took a high bound towards Ishikawa a step beyond the penalty spot, and he used a spinning, wheelhouse kick to drive it into the net.

Thereafter, Tokyo seemed to decide that they had expended enough energy for one afternoon, and the final half hour or so was a rather dull affair. Vissel got one goal back from a free kick, just to the right of the box, which was crossed for the far post and side-footed into the net by Masao Tsuchiya. However, Kobe were never a threat to get back into this match, and the action fizzled out for a comfortable Tokyo victory

Lineups:

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Teruyuki Moniwa (Ryuji Fujiyama 78), Jean Carlo Witte, Jo Kanazawa, Fumitake Miura, Naohiro Ishikawa (Kunio Suzuki 70), Masashi Miyazawa , Clesley "Kelly" Guimares, Mitsuhiro Toda, Amaral .

Makoto Kakegawa, Koji Yoshimura, Yukio Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Naoto Matsuo, Sidiclei, Mitsunori Yabuta, Park Kang-Jo (Takayuki Yamaguchi 69), Bismarck (Masaya Nishitani 69), Kazuyoshi Miura, Oseas (Masayuki Okano 45) .

With their victory over Tokyo Verdy, the Reds leapfrog into first place with 22 points, while FC Tokyo's victory elevates them to point parity with Verdy and the Yokohama Marinos, at 20 points, and gives them second place based on goal difference. Verdy and Marinos stand third and fourth place. Jubilo Iwata may not have deserved there win this week, but they still manage to advance into fifth spot, also on 20 points. JEF United are also just one win from the leaders, at 19 points in seventh place. Remarkably, with just three matches remaining, even eleventh-place Shimizu S-Pulse are still in the running, but with some high-stakes matchups on tap next week, the field should thin out considerably.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the table, four teams are fighting to avoid relegation though with three matches remaining, it looks highly likely that Vissel Kobe will escape the cut. Vegalta Sendai are three points behind the other two clubs, Kyoto and Oita, but they play both, in head-to-head matches, over the final three weeks. Therefore, Vegalta's fate is still very much in their own hands. It looks like the relegation race will go down to the wire just like the contest for the league crown, so tune in next week for all the news.

.	Team	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDif
13	Vissel Kobe	26	27	7	5	15	31	57	-26
14	Oita Trinita	23	27	5	8	14	25	35	-10
15	Kyoto Purple Sanga	23	27	6	5	16	26	50	-24
16	Vegalta Sendai	20	27	4	8	15	27	50	-23

Rumours and Rumblings

J2: The Race For Promotion

.	Team	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDif
1	Albirex Niigata	85	42	26	7	9	78	38	+40
2	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	83	42	24	11	7	62	32	+30
3	Kawasaki Frontale	81	42	23	12	7	84	44	+40

As the table above indicates, Albirex Niigata are in the most comfortable position. Effectively, they need just one point from their last two matches to clinch promotion, since a head-to-head contest between Sanfrecce and Frontale on the final week of the season ensures that -- whatever happens next week -- only one of the two other teams can potentially claim three points from the final contest. Nevertheless, Albirex cannot take promotion for granted. The matchups scheduled for November 15 and November 23 are as follows:

Team	November 15	November 23
Albirex Niigata
Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Kawasaki Frontale

Clearly, Albirex has the most difficult schedule of the three, facing two highly competitive teams in the final two weeks. Sanfrecce face Sagan Tosu this weekend, whereas Frontale have a match against Shonan Bellmare -- two of the weakest teams in the entire league. If not for the head-to-head match between Albirex's two opponents, the outcome might be even more uncertain. As it is, though, Albirex can probably play conservatively, looking for a draw next week to clinch their spot and take the pressure off in the penultimate match.

Sanfrecce are also in fairly good shape. It is hard to imagine that they could lose to Sagan Tosu, and as long as they get all three points, a draw in the final match would be good enough to see them through to the J1. Nevertheless, barring a loss by Frontale next week, against Bellmare (highly unlikely, even given the local "Kanagawa rivalry" between the two teams), the fate of Sanfrecce and Frontale will almost surely be decided in the final showdown, at Todoroki Stadium in Kawasaki. A sellout is almost certain, and the match could be one for the history books, at least of the J2. This season is turning out to be one of high drama indeed.

J1 to Expand to 18 Teams?

At present, the J2 competes in a quadruple round-robin format each year. With each team playing the others four times, the current number of matches is 44 per year-- a daunting number already. If the same format is maintained, the addition of one team from the JFL (due to take place in 2005) would raise the number to 48, and an increase to 14 teams would increase it to 52 (an average of one match a week, for the entire year). Not surprisingly, the League has desided that this would be too onerous. The options, then, are to change the J2 format, or to take steps to keep the number of J2 teams below 13.

In the interest of ensuring fairness, the possibility of reducing the number of head-to-head contests in the J2 to three a year has been rejected (for each two-team pairing, one team would have an extrahome match). However, reducing the format to a double round-robin, with just 13, teams, means a mere 24 matches per year. This option has also been rejected.

Though no final decision has been made, the proposal which seems most likely to be adopted (and makes the most sense, despite the many adjustments that will have to be made, each year) is as follows:

In 2005, one team will advance from the JFL to the J2, and a net total of two teams will advance from the J2 to the J1 (most likely, the top four J2 clubs and the bottom two J1 clubs will play a promotion/relegation series, with four of the six teams joining the J1 and the other two staying in J2. This would increase the number of J1 clubs to 18, and reduce the number of J2 clubs to 11. The formats would remain unchanged, meaning that J1 clubs would play 17 matches per stage (34 in total), and J2 clubs would play a 40-match season.

In 2006, one more team would advance from the JFL, increasing the number of J2 teams back to 12. A "normal" system of promotion and relegation would see two J2 teams advance and two J1 clubs be relegated.

In 2007, two teams would advance from the JFL to the J2, and a net total of two teams would be moved back from the J1 to the J2 (the system for doing this probably will not be decided until 2007). This would restore the J1 to 16 teams, and increase the J2 to 16 teams. At this point, both J1 and J2 would adopt a double round-robin format. The remaining JFL teams (those wishing to do so, at any rate) would then reorganise as professional, third-division clubs, creating the J3.

While this may make things a bit complicated over the next few years, it should at least ensure that nobody is overburdened by playing an excessive number of matches. No doubt, some tinkering will be done to the league cup schedule, as well, to accommodate clubs taking part in Asian club competition. The goal -- to create a more truly nationwide network of teams, supported by a grassroots local fan base -- is certainly worth the effort. The Rising Sun News sincerely hopes that the expansion of the league to include a J3 division will complete the progress begun back in 1992, establishing a domestic league that compares favourably to that of any nation in Europe or South America.