---

March 13, 2004

Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
13 Mar		1-1		Yokohama Int'l
13 Mar		1-1		Kashima Stadium
13 Mar		2-1		Kashiwa-no-ha Std.
13 Mar		1-0		Ajinomoto Stadium
13 Mar		1-2		Nagai Stadium
13 Mar		2-1		Kobe Wing Stadium
13 Mar		1-1		Hiroshima Big Arch
13 Mar		2-0		Yamaha (Iwata) St.

1 - 1

The conflict had only a minimal effect on most teams, but for the Reds, this conflict was nothing short of a travesty. Four starting members of their squad play for the U-23 team, which puts them at a far greater disadvantage than any other J.League team. Because of the League's failure to reschedule, they were forced to play last year's league champion with a half-strength squad -- and in an away match to boot. If the Reds happen to fall one point shy of a championship, this season, the League will surely owe Urawa fans a grovelling apology.

And so, the Reds took the pitch at Yokohama Intrenational Stadium without Tatsuya Tanaka, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Keita Suzuki and Koji Yamase -- four of their most essential players. For most teams, this would be a fatal blow, but this season Urawa are packed with talent, and as it turned out, they managed to do a very creditable job even shorthanded. Yokohama, meanwhile, were missing only one member to Olympic team duty -- Daisuke Nasu, though they also had to do without Yoo Sang-Chul who is still recovering from an injury suffered over the winter.

Despite the absence of a few key players, the match was as ferocious and as well-played (by both teams) as anticipated. As the Rising Sun News has been predicting for the past three months, the Reds came out in a 3-4-3 lineup, and we strongly suspect that this will remain their formation of choice wjhen the Olympic team members return. Yokohama countered with their usual 4-4-2, with newcomer Ahn Jung-Hwan pairing Tatsuhiko Kubo up front.

Both teams came out ready to rev their engines, and the first 20 minutes of play were an end to end scramble, with chances at both ends. The Marinos had a slight edge in shots on goal, including one fine individual drive and shot by Kubo that was just barely tipped around the post by the keeper. But the tempo was pretty much even until the 28 minute, when Yokohama drew first blood. The play looked rather innocuous at first, though it demonstrated Ahn's ability to create opportunities out of nothing. Defender Yuji Nakazawa blasted a long ball into space, from inside his own half, that Ahn chased into the left corner and eventually collected, but only after the Reds defence had retreated to cut off any passing lanes. Ahn retreated to study his options, dribbling out of the corner and across the top of the box. But as he drifted along on what looked like a harmless lateral move, he suddenly spotted a seam in the defence and ripped a shot that caught the keeper flat-footed and snuck just inside the left upright.

The goal gave the Marinos a boost of confidence, and they began to establish a bit more of an advantage in possession over the remainder of the half, though Urawa continued to make occasional dashes forward which offered a hint of what was to come. Nevertheless, the Marinos carried their lead into the locker room at half time.

Following the break, though, Urawa came out with a tremendous amount of intensity, and the first 15 minutes of the second half brought a barrage of attacks by the front three. Emerson, in particular, seemed to be in fine form. and he had two chances on goal in the opening ten minutes. Then, after Emerson was turned away on a dash down the sideline by a desperate clearance, the Reds took a throw in level with the top of the penalty box. The throw was headed on into the box, and emerson managed to chest it out of the air, then swing a wheelhouse kick that drove the ball inside the left post to knot the score.

The remaining half hour of the match was an exhilarating battle of two highly athletic and technically proficient teams, and thouygh neither the Marinos nor the Reds were able to break the deadlock, both showed the skills that will make them two of the top contenders for the championship, this year. On the Reds side, the team clearly missed the dribbling skills of Tanaka up front, and the solidity of Suzuki and Tulio in the defensive midfield. However, their offensive options are quite impressive, and will surely give opponents a lot to worry about over the remainder of the season. Alex Santos failed to make much of a contribution, but that may be largely because he was playing out of position, at one of the three striker spots, and even if he were in his normal spot, he has had only a month to learn to work with his new teammates. Apart from Santos, the remainder of the team all impressed, expecially Keisuke Tsuboi , at the center of the defence, and Nobuhisa Yamada, on the right wing.

Yokohama, on the other hand, have a very solid and professional back line that may very well be the best in the league. They managed to keep even the explosive Emerson at bay, for most of the match. However, Ahn and Kubo seemed to be playing for two entirely different teams. They each displayed some good moves individually, but failed to communicate or coordinate their attacks in order to break down the Reds back line. Apart from the occasional individualistic run, their scoring opportunities were far more limited than they should have been, if the two were able to work together. This is an issue that coach Okada will need to work on as quickly as possible. But despite the odd rough spots on both teams, everything about this match suggested that the Marinos and Reds will be in the thick of the title race, and probably will be as closely matched as the final score of this contest indicates.

Lineups:

Tatsuya Enomoto, Hayuma Tanaka, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Dutra, Yasuhiro Endo, Eisuke Nakanishi, Daisuke Oku, Nobuhisa Shimizu, Ahn Jung-Hwan, Tatsuhiko Kubo .

Ryota Tsuzuki, Ichiei Muroi, Keisuke Tsuboi, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Tomoyuki Sakai, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Makoto Hasebe, Alex Santos, Yuichiro Nagai (Masayuki Okano 82), Emerson.

1 - 1

Gamba deserve credit, in this match, for achieving two things in particular that they failed to do last season. First, although they did not get a great number of shots on goal, at least they made their opportunities count. Second, they played very calm, unhurried and unflustered defence, turning away the Antlers time and again with solid, one-on-one coverage and a lot of movement to the ball.

The Antlers, on the other hand, can be credited for their refusal to give in, and they certainly displayed a tremendous amount of offensive potential in this contest. Hwowever, they still have not found a cure for the ills that troubled them last season -- try as they might, they simply couldnt find the goal. If not for Araiba's late strike, the team would have gone away having outplayed and outshot their opponent from start to finish, yet still the losers. There were some signs that perhaps the team might be on the verge of breaking out of this goalless funk, but it certainly has not happened yet.

Kashima nearly took an early lead on a fine drive by Masaki Fukai after being fed into the box by Masashi Motoyama, but it was Gamba who cgot the scoring started, just a few minutes later, on a corner kick from the left side. Yasuhito Endo took the kick and found Satoshi Yamaguchi soaring over the pack, directly in front of goal, for a powerful header. This score put the Antlers on the back foot for a few minutes, but by the end of the half, they were beginning to create offence with their usual smooth perimeter passing, and newcomer Fabio Junior nearly knotted the score on a lob into the box, chesting the ball down, then spinning around quickly to fire on goal. But he pulled the trigger a bit too soon and the ball flew wide to the right.

Gamba came out of the locker room showing a great deal of composure, and their defence stymied the Antlers for the first 15 minutes or so, while the occasional counterattack produced one or two half-chances to extend the lead. But as the match wore on, Kashima's pressure began to wear down the opponent, and by the middle of the second half, the scoring chances began to come in bunches. But Gamba continued to fend off the opportunities, and when a point-blank header from Akira Narahashi, racing in at the right post, hit the upright and bounded out of play, it looked like the Antlers fans were going to go home unhappy.

But as the match moved into injury time, Narahashi made another foray down the right wing and crossed in to Motoyama. The diminutive midfielder chested the ball down, then immediately toed it through a cluster of players to Araiba, at the right post. The former Gamba midfielder volleyed the ball across the mouth of goal, and it hit the opposite side of the net, giving Kashima a deserved, but unnecessarily difficult draw.

Lineups:

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Seiji Kaneko, Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba, Koji Kumagai (Takeshi Aoki 65), Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama, Fabio Junior (Tomoyuki Hirase 71), Masaki Fukai, (Takuya Nozawa 60), .

Naoki Matsuyo, Noritada Saneyoshi, Sidiclei, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Takahiro Futagawa, Masashi Oguro (Kota Yoshihara 80), Magrao, .

2 - 0

By the midway point of the first half, the match had developed into a fast-paced see-saw battle, with both teams looking for opportunities to dash into the passing lane and start a quick counterattack. But as half time approached, one could easily have argued that Verdy were starting to get the upper hand. The absence of Patrick Mboma, up front, clearly hurt their scoring capabilities (a knee operation will probably keep him out of action until at least April). However, they used some extremely attractive diagonal passing, coupled with 10-meter dashes into space, to disrupt Jubilo's midfield defending, and it succeeded in opening up occasional chances for a cross from the wing.

But just as the momentum seemed to be on the verge of shifting to Verdy's side, Jubilo put together a brilliant combination of passes that produced the firt goal of the match. With just five minutes to go until half time, Hiroshi Nanami collected a ball about 30 meters out, slightly to the right of midfield, and sent a long cross of the far post. His pass was a bit too long, but Yasumasa Nishino chased after it before it could clear the end line, and headed back into play. Rodrigo Gral was posting up on the left side of the box, with a defender on his back, but before the ball reached him, Takashi Fukunishi swept in from the left, collected the ball and dashed for the post. Just before he reached the keeper, Fukunishi cut the ball across the face of goal and Toshiya Fujita had a wide open back door to head the ball through.

Jubilo came out in the second half and, as in the first half, controlled possession and momentum for about the first 15 minutes, But on the hour mark, Ossie Ardilles turned to the bench and called on a crew-cut youngster who you will surely hear a great deal about in the future. Takayuki Morimoto made the history books the moment he stepped onto the pitch. A junior-high-school kid from Tokyo, aged just 15 years and 8 months, Morimoto shattered the record as the youngest player ever to appear in a J.League match. But this was no gimmick by Ardilles, looking to win a bit of publicity. No, although Morimoto will not be able to drive for another year, and it will be 55 months before he is old enough to drink, you can rest assured that this kid knows how to play football. It took him just five minutes to get off his first shot on goal, and when he took a long pass down the right sideline, feinted at the edge of the box, and then blew past veteran defender a href="../../jleague/jubilo/suzuki.html"> Hideto Suzuki like a Ferrarri past a plastic traffic pylon, even the Jubilo fans roared in awe and appreciation.

The boost that Morimoto gave to his team seemed to rub off, and over the next 20 minutes Verdy had Jubilo in full retreat. Though their finishing left a bit to be desired, Verdy produced one wild dash on goal after another, and Jubilo clearly had their backs to the wall. But once again, against the run of play, Jubilo claimed the decisive goal. Unlike their first goal, however, this one was anything but well-executed. After one of Verdy's many offensive rushes, Jubilo cleared and began the counter, with Nanami lobbing a ball to a href="../../jleague/jubilo/nakayama.html"> Masashi "Gon" Nakayama at the top right corner of the box. Gon headed back in front of goal, but Verdy had played the offside trap, and there were no less than three Jubilo players in an offside position as Fujita headed the ball home. But inexplicably, though every arm on the Verdy team shot up, the linesman kept his flag down. There was little doubt about the nature of the call. NHK, in its highlight show, even had to replay the goal from a camera angle taken from the opposite end of the field, aimed straight at goal, to "avoid embarassing the referees". And even from that angle it was pretty clear that Fujita was offside.

But Verdy never did manage to finish off any of their chances, so in the end, the second goal was moot. Jubilo claimed a narrow victory, but Verdy fans claimed a new star, who we will surely be talking about again before this season is over.

Lineups:

Yohei Sato, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Norihiro Nishi, Takashi Fukinishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Toshiya Fujita (Hitoshi Morishita 88), Hiroshi Nanami (Takahiro Kawamura 81), Yasumasa Nishino (Masashi Nakayama 64), Rodrigo Gral.

Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Takushi Yoneyama, Claudio Ubeda, Atsuhiro Miura, Daigo Kobayashi, Kentaro Hayashi, Takeshi Hirano, Hugo do Nascimento, Kazuki Hiramoto (Takayuki Morimoto 51), Naoto Sakurai .

ame="grampus">

1 - 2

A great deal of attention has already been accorded to the changes Grampus made in the off-season. Their acquisition of Yutaka Akita and Makoto Kakuda, to join Andrej Panadic in the back line, gives them one of the most formidable defences in the league (though Panadic did not start this week, due to injury). Midfielder Teruo Iwamoto also demonstrated his value in this match. But while Nagoya have earned their spot as one of our top picks for a championship, this season, it certainly would not do to overlook the great strides that Cerezo made in shoring up their own defence.

Though the players may not enjoy the same name recognition as Nagoya's back three, we could not help but be impressed by the performance of former Sanfrecce Hiroshima veteran Kenichi Uemura, flanked by the "Croatian twin towers", Ivan Radeljic (190cm / 86kg) and Davorim Kablar (194cm / 90kg). These three big-bodied bruisers managed to silence Nagoya's offence for the entire first half, and part of the second. If not for the absence of ace Yoshito Okubo, which forced coach Muzrovic to shift Kablar into the attack, later in the match, Grampus might have been stymied for even longer.

Cerezo took an early lead in the 19 minute, on a slightly flukish play which nevertheless demonstrated the team's offensive intensity. Captain Hideaki Morishima made a dash down the right sideline that was just barely broken up by a Grampus defender, who bundled the ball over the sideline. Kiyokazu Kudo dashed up to take a quick throw to Morishima, who fired the ball into the penalty area for Akinori Nishizawa. Masahiro Koga managed to throw out a long boot and deflect the ball clear of Nishizawa, but it fell right to Takaaki Tokushige, at the edge of the penalty box. Tokushige's shot was straight at Nishizawa, whose body prevented keeper Seigo Narazaki from getting any glimpse of the shot. Just before the ball arrived, Nishizawa opened his legs to let the ball shoot through the "five hole" (as hockey purists describe it) and into the net.

Cerezo's defence was the story for the remainder of the first half. Though Nagoya made a determined effort to get back on level terms, the Cerezo defenders did a fine job of turning the attacks away, one after another, and this allowed them to take their advantage into the locker room at half time.

But Nagoya got an important break, shortly after the restart, on a corner kick from the right side. As Nagoya's tall defenders came forward for the kick, Cerezo closely marked the well-known threat from Akita, but failed to pick up Makoto Kakuda, who has already made a name for himself on defence but has never displayed much of a penchant for scoring goals. But Kakuda's scoreless streak in the J.League would come to an end on this afternoon, as he surged forward in the center of the pack and met a perfectly placed kick directly in front of net, heading it on into the far corner.

At this point, coach Musrovic made a crucial, and probably fatal error, though one that reflects well on his strategic inclinations. Looking to immediately restore Cerezo's lead, he brought in the young and more offensive-minded Takahito Chiba for Radeljic, and shifted the 195-cm Kablar into the front line, to provide a bigger target for crosses from the wing. Though this did eventualy produce some chances for Cerezo, the immediate effect was to disorganize the Cerezo defence, and provide a weak point on the left flank for Grampus to exploit. Just ten minutes after the substitution, they did exactly that. Kojiro Kaimoto took an overlap pass deep into the corner, and when his path around the end line was blocked, he dropped the ball back to Kunihiko Takizawa, just to the right of the box. Takizawa immediately lobbed a ball for the far post, and Ueslei swooped in to head it home.

Though Cerezo created a few half-chances over the remaining 20 minutes or so of play, Nagoya's back line proved fully capable of preserving a one-goal lead, and thus claimed their first win of the season

Lineups:

Daisuke Tada, Ivan Radeljic (Takahito Chiba 52), Kernichi Uemura, Davorim Kablar, Takanori Nunobe, Ryu Saito, Takaaki Tokushige, Yusuke Sato, Kiyokazu Kudo, Hiroaki Morishima (Sho Gokyo 83), Akinori Nishizawa (Takuya Kokeguchi 68) .

Seigo Narazaki, Makoto Kakuda, Yutaka Akita, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto, Masayuki Omori, Chung Yong-Dae (Tetsuya Okayama 45), Kunihiko Takizawa, Teruo Iwamoto (Harutaka Ono 80), Ueslei, Marques.
Lineups:

2 - 1

It became apparent, quite early in this match, that Ilhan has yet to adjust to the Japanese game, or learn the tendencies of his teammates. But while the young Turk may not have been overly impressive in his J.League debut, Vissel did put on a good show of attacking football, especially in the second half.

The initial indications, though, were not entirely encouraging. JEF United got off to a quick lead, after winning a corner kick on the left side, just six minutes after kickoff. Shinji Murai played a short kick to Naotake Hanyu, who took three steps to the edge of the Vissel penalty area and fired a line drive for the far post. Defender Daisuke Saito headed the ball just inside the post, and JEF had a 1-0 advantage.

JEF continued to dominate play for most of the first half, sagging back on defence and then launching very smooth counters with quick diagonal passes through midfield. Though the team clearly will miss the scoring abilities of Choi Yong-Soo, this season, Hanyu, Sandro Cardoza and Marquinhos showed excellent build-up skills which created a number of good chances. If the team only had someone to finish off the drives, they might have added to their lead before half time.

But in the second half, Vissel finally made a wise move by pulling off Kazu Miura, who looks increasingly feeble and probably would have been wise to retire at the end of last season. As soon as his replacement, Ryuji Bando, set foot on the pitch, the character of Vissel-s attacks took on a new sharness. Together with newcomer Chikara Fujimoto, Bando began to use individual dribbling skill and relentless pressure to create cracks in the JEF defence. Though JEF managed to hang on until the 77 minute, when a Bando rush towards goal was halted only by a desperate foul on the left edge of the box, it was clear that a goal was in the offing. Fujimoto took the kick and found Kunie Kitamoto streaking for the near post. Kitamoto's head brushed the ball just enough to send it into the nylon, and sudenly Vissel had all the momentum they needed. It took just three more minutes to seal the win,. and again Bando and Fujimoto were the creators. After one surge towards the box, a JEF clearance fell to Fujimoto just beyond the penalty arc. He collected the loose bal and quickly fed Bando down the left side. Bando put on a burst of speed to get to the end line, and then crossed to former JEF midfielder Mitsutoshi Watada at the far post. Watada made his former teammates pay, with a header through the back door that clinched victory for Visse.

Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Sozo Yuki, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Koji Nakashima (Kohei Kudo 86), Yuto Sato, Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu, Sandro Cardoza (Takenori Hayashi 70), Marquinhos (Seiichiro Maki 72) .

Makoto Kakegawa, Park Kang-Jo, Yukio Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Roger, Shosuke Tsubouchi (Mitsutoshi Watada 77), Hiromi Kojima, Mitsunori Yabuta, Chikara Fujimoto, Kazuyoshi Miura (Ryuji Bando 58), Mansiz Ilhan (Leandro 89).

1 - 0

After a few early chances by Lucas, Tokyo took the lead in the 25 minute, on a well-executed overlap play. Tokyo won a throw in on the left sideline, which was taken by defender Jo Kanazawa, who lobbed the ball to Masashi Miyazawa a few meters further down the sideline. Miyazawa was confronted by two defenders, and began to pull the ball back, but as he did so, Kanazawa flashed past, sprinting for the corner. Miyazawa looped the ball over his two deenders and Kanazawa was off to the races, loping into the open pasture behind the Niigata defence. As he neared the box, Kanazawa measured his pass carefully, and sent a pinpoint line drive to Yoshiro Abe, dashing in from midfield. Abe headed home and Tokyo had the lead.

Though that was the only goal of the contest, the remaining 75 minutes of play were far from uneventful. Both teams chased the ball relentlessly, on both offence and defence, and the result was extremely entertaining football, even if it did not produce any goals. Tokyo rode the momentum of their goal through half time, but the second half elonged largely to Albirex. In the final 15 minutes, particularly, their relentless pressure had Tokyo pushed back dep int heir own end, forced to scramble after their opponents to prevent an easy shot. But despite a valiant effort from the visitors, FC Tokyo's defence ultimately held, and they claimed three points to start off the season on a positive note.

Lineups:

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Ryuji Fujiyama, Jo Kanazawa, Fumitake Miura (Satoru Asari 78), Masashi Miyazawa, Mitsuhiro Toda, Lucas Severino Ryuya Masushima 89), Yoshiro Abe, Kunio Suzuki (Oh Jang-Eun 69) .

Yosuke Nozawa, Yasushi Kita, Anderson Luis da Silva, Yoshiaki Maruyama, Kentaro Suzuki, Motohiro Yamaguchi (Yuzo Funakoshi 88), Hiroyoshi Kuwabara, Yoshito Terakawa (Keisuke Kurihara 76), Fabinho (Shingo Suzuki 60), Edmilson, Yusaku Ueno .

1 - 1

The see-saw batle continued after the restart, and by the one huor mark, the only question was which team would manage to find the net first. It was Sanfrecce who claimed the honors, on a corner kick in the 63 minute. Sanfrecce sent a crowd of players for the near post, and the defence followed, but the kick soared over everyone's head to Norio Omura at the far post. The veteran defender was caught slightly off balance by the kick, but managed to bundle it into the net with his knees and thighs, putting Sanfrecce in the lead.

The home team seemed to be in control, and it looked like the match was going to be Sanfrecce's for the taking, but S-Pulse managed to equalise on a corner kick of their own with Kohei Hiramatsu leaping high to head home the corner kick from Jameiri. Sanfrecce tried to restore their lead with a late push, but S-Pulse held on to claim a share of the points.

Lineups:

Yohei Nishibe, Ikeda (Tuto 45) , Ryuzo Morioka, Tomoyoshi Tsurumi, Keisuke Ota, Teruyoshi Ito (Kota Sugiyama 78), Fabinho, Hayato Suzuki, Masaaki Sawanobori, Araujo (Kohei Hiramatsu 67), Jameiri .

Takashi Shimoda, Norio Omura, Ricardo Ribeiro, Megumu Yoshida, Koji Matsuura (Yusuke Igawa 45), Ri Han-Jae, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Cesar Sampaio, Kota Hattori, Thiago Honorio, Yasuo Manaka (Genki Nakayama 72) .

2 - 1

Yuta Minami, Takeshi Watanabe, Mitsuru Nagata, Sota Nakazawa, Tomokazu Myojin, Dudu, Takahiro Shimotaira (Tatsuya Tanizawa 53), Tadatoshi Masuda (Ze Roberto 64), Ricardinho, Yoshiteru Yamashita, Keiji Tamada .

Hayato Okanaka, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Sandro Chavez Rosa, Takashi Miki, Kazuyoshi Mikami (Ryosuke Kijima 83), Haruki Seto, Richard Witsche, Takashi Umeda, Takayuki Yoshida (Koji Arimura 76), Magno Alves .

Rumours and Rumblings