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January12, 2004
A New Hero Packs the House

Though Hirayama was virtually unknown to any but a few youth soccer afficionados prior to last December, his brilliant goal at the U-20 World Youth Championships in the UAE last month, followed by a truly remarkable campaign in the high school tournament (where he set an 83-year record with 17 goals over the course of the tournament) have not only put him in the spotlight on the domestic sports stage, but even attracted attention from European scouts. Though we do not usually drop names, at the RSN, this writer can confirm on the basis of extremely reliable information that at least two European clubs were impressed enough by his performance in the UAE to begin looking at the 18-year-old from Kunimi High School as a prospective new signing, though they will probably have to wait at least four years before that can happen. The 190cm high school senior plans to start a university career at Tsukuba University, beginning this April. Even so, Hirayama's obvious potential has ensured that he will get plenty of attention while at university. National coach Zico and JFA charman Kawabuchi have already visited the school to ensure that Hirayama will receive special attention to ensure that he builds his strength and stamina and has plenty of opportunities to hone his footballing skills. As the high school tournament certainly demonstrated, those skills are already impressive indeed.

The final match was clearly a showpiece for Hirayama, though it would be a great disrespect to the Kunimi High School team to turn this report solely into a mere fanfare for a single player. Indeed, though his performance over the course of the tournament was head and shoulders above the competition, and it was the chance to see Hirayama in person that drew a capacity crowd to National Stadium, the big striker was almost upstaged by teammate Shingo Hyodo, whose graceful dribbling and sharp set-up skills certainly made him a legitimate rival for man-of-the-match, while second-year striker Senma Watanabe added two fine goals of his own. In any event, though ferocious defending by Chikuyo High School kept the score fairly close for the first half, at least, there was never really any doubt about who would win this lop-sided contest. Kunimi, who have now been to the high school finals for four years in a row and won the title three of those four years, were in a class of their own, this season, and Hirayama was certainly one of the main reasons.

Kunimi seemed, at times, to be overly impatient, attempting to ram the ball down the throats of their opponent rather than work the ball around and create higher-percentage opportunities. But once they got their rhythm, the contest turned quickly into a rout. Kunimi got the only goal they would need in the 12 minute, after Hyodo made a beautiful cutback move on the left sideline to slip between two defenders and lob a cross for the far post. Kazumitsu Kawaguchi, the third striker in Kunimi's 3-4-3 lineup (which by the second began to look like a 2-5-3 as the Kunimi dominance in field position became almost absolute) hammered the ball inside the right post, and Kunimi were in front.

For the next 50 minutes, Chikuyo struggled gamely to keep Kunimi at bay, and managed to keep the score unchanged until the early stages of the second half. But even when Kunimi began leaving just two defenders back, the best Chikuyo could manage on the counterattack were a few desparate long-distance shots. It was clear that it was just a matter of time before the floodgates burst open. The decisive goal came in the 61 minute, as Hyogo again shredded the defence on the left sideline and sent a bounding pass into the box. The opposing goalkeeper raced out to try to cut the ball off, but Hirayama's long legs gave him enough of a reach to poke the ball past the keeper and into the wide open net. Suddeny the goal rush was on. Over the next ten minutes Watanabe added a brace of goals, before Hirayama closed the book on his record-breaking streak of tallies with a casual header into the high right corner.

The victory put Kunimi HS atop the heap of youth football for the third time in the past four years, and considering the record that coach Komine has in developing young stars, there is every reason to expect that the fine results will continue for years to come.

Rumours and Rumblings

J.League Schedule for 2004

This schedule is a welcome relief for fans of the J.League, not to mention teams and players who for the past two years have been forced to endure long, pointless interruptions in the middle of a stage (particularly the first stage), followed by intense bursts of activity with as many as four matches in 13 days. Those who have been following for the past several years will know that these contortions had a rather compelling explanation, at least in 2002, since they allowed Japan to prepare for and successfully host the World Cup. But last year, when the league schedule was altered merely to let Japan take part in the Confederations Cup, in France, fans, players and team management began to get a bit irritated.

This year, it seems clear that the League wants to establish a clear precedent for an uninterrupted season. Indeed, the first matches of the second stage will be played on August 14, which could potentially conflict with the U-23 squad"s participation in the Olympic Games. There is certainly a possibility that one or two matches may be rescheduled, if certain teams are deprived of too many key players, but it is good to see the league stick to its guns and insist on a rational schedule even if it means a possible conflict for players in the U-23 squad.

The Nabisco Cup, meanwhile, will kick off on March 27, and the six pool round matches will take place mainly on Saturdays, during the occasional FIFA-designated "international weekends". The pool round will conclude in mid-July, while the League is in its inter-stage break, and the knockout round will resume during the league"s second stage, again taking place mainly on "FIFA-designated" Saturdays. Although this means that teams may be deprived of their international players in the Cup competition, this seems like a reasonable compromise, recognising that the Nabisco Cup is a secondary competition, while not relegating it to meaninglessness by holding matches on Wednesday evenings whenever the league happens to have spare time.

The J2 schedule, meanwhile, will run from March 13 to November 27, with a short break during the summer. Unlike previous years, when the J2 season finished before the J1, this year the two leagues will finish on the same weekend, with the penultimate J2 matches played on Saturday November 27 and the J1 second stage concluding on Sunday, November 28.

Below is a schematic diagram of the league schedule for 2004. A detailed schedule of league and cup matches for each team will be posted in a few weeks.

Asian Cup Schedule Announced

The tournament will kick off on July 17, as hosts China face Bahrain in the opening match, and it will conclude on August 7 with the final, which will be held in Beijing.