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March 21, 2004

A Stroll in the Rain

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
20 Mar		1-2		Nihondaira Stadium
20 Mar		1-3		Toyota Stadium
20 Mar		1-0		"Banpaku" Stadium
20 Mar		0-0		Niigata "Big Swan"
20 Mar		2-1		Oita Stadium
20 Mar		3-0		Ichihara Seaside
21 Mar		0-1		Ajinomoto Stadium
21 Mar		4-2		Saitama Stadium

1 - 3

Then again, Grampus really deserved to lose this match. Althugh they put on a fine show in the first 20 minutes, and looked breifly to be on their way to possible victory, they let themselves down later on, particularly in the second half, with sloppy passing and a general lack of hustle. As we noted in our preseason forecasts, Grampus have a long history of performing well below their apparent potential. It is still too soon to lay that criticism at their door this year, but they certainly have not started out on an impressive note.

Historically speaking, it may not be particularluy surprising to see Nagoya dominated by Jubilo, but considering the way the match flowed during the first 20 minutes, Nagoya's collapse in the second half was disheartening, to say the least. Following the kickoff, the team pursued extremely well, and marked Jubilo players tightly in what, at times, looked almost like a man-to-man defensive strategy. This was extremely effective in disrupting Jubilo's use of short, one-touch passes, and produced several counterattack breaks for Grampus. After one or two opportunities went by the boards, Marques received a long outlet pass on one counterattack and put on a little one-man show, carrying the ball on a 40-meter slant to the left siode of the box, duking between two defenders and then looping a shot for the high far corner that eluded the keeper's fingertips and snuck in just under the crossbar.

Nagoya kept up the pressure until shortly after the 20 minute mark, when a crucial play at the other end seemed to knock the wind out of their sails. Against the run of play, Jubilo made a foray down the right side and Toshiya Fujita tried to squeeze a slant pass to Norihiro Nishi, breaking towards goal along the end line. A Nagoya defender seemed to have slightly better position, but Nishi pushed past him towards the ball, apparently committing a foul in the process, the defender went tumbling over backwards, and fell across Nishi's legs as he dashed into the penalty area. Though the replay leaves plenty of evidence that Nishi was the greater of the two offenders, on the play, the referee pointed to the spot and gave Jubilo a free shot at goal.

Grampus neraly dodged the bullet, as Seigo Narazaki guessed correctly and dove to his left, parrying the shot from Rodrigo Gral. But veteran Masashi "Gon" Nakayama swept in to scoop the rebound into the net and draw Jubilo level.

This goal seemed to dash Nagoya's confidence,which is not a good sign on a team that has suffered from "concentration" problems in the past. Suddenly it was Jubilo, not Grampus, who dominated play. Ten minutes later, Jubilo produced their most attractive bit of offensive work on the afternoon, as Hiroshi Nanami snatched the deflection from a corner kick and fired a long outlet to Nishi, who galloped half the length of the field before the retreating Grampus defence began to close in. As he reached the top of the penalty arc, Nishi cleverly spun around and pushed a ball back against the grain to Gral, overlapping on his right. Gral had a wide-open shot at net, and made it count with a bullet into the low left corner.

Grampus seemed to recover their poise at half time, and came out in the second stanza looking a bit more organised, though not nearly as effective as they had appeared in that first 20-minute spell. But once again, the man in stripes intervened to seal their doom. This time it was Takashi Fukunishi who dashed into the box and then threw himself head-over-heels to the turf, though on this occasion it DID look like Kojiro Kaimoto made some infractionary contact before Fukunishi put on his diving exhibition. This time Gral made no mistake with his PK, beating the keeper and giving Jubilo their final margin of victory.

Lineups:

Seigo Narazaki, Makoto Kakuda, Yutaka Akita, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto, Naoshi Nakamura, Masayuki Omori (Harutaka Ono 78), Kunihiko Takizawa (Yusuke Nakatani 78), Teruo Iwamoto (Tetsuya Okayama 59), Ueslei, Marques.

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.

1 - 2

Amazingly, considering their overall won-loss record, S-Pulse are the only team in the J.League that has a winning record against the Antlers (18 wins, 10 losses and 0 draws), and for a while, it looked like the herd from Kashima might fall once again to their old nemesis. Though the Antlers decided last year that it was time to release Naoki Soma and Yutaka Akita, and allow younger players to assume the leading roles in the back line, this match demonstrated clearly that Toru Araiba and Seiji Kaneko are still a bit inexperienced, and lack the muscle and stability at the back that Akita and Soma provided. During the first half, S-Pulse did a fine job of using swift, 20-meter passes and darting runs to open up seams in the Antlers back line. Though Kashima held the advantage in possession, and were producing some half-chances of their own, S-Pulse responded time after time with lightning counterattacks that created clear danger.

It was in the 24 minute when one such play finally drew blood. S-Pulse launched a counter, and newcomer Clemerson de Araujo Soares (Araujo) dashed across midfield with several defenders in hot pursuit. Araujo spotted Naoki Hiraoka making a dash down the left side, and sent a long pass into the corner. The inexperience of the back line showed, as all the defeneders had reacted towards Araujo on hius initial dash, and they all now scrambled back towards goal when the pass went into the left corner. This allowed Araujo to slip free, as Hiraoka pulled the ball back for Fabinho, at the top left corner of the box. Araujo dashed through unmarked as Fabinho looped a pass in front of net, and had only to bury an easy, close-range header to give S-Pulse the lead.

Kashima's defence seemed to tighten up a bit as the first half went on, and after about the half hor mark, S-Pulse's counters no longer seemed as dangerous, but the Antlers still couldnt manage to produce much on their own offensive end. It is clear that Fabio Junior will be an asset to this team, eventually, but at the moment he is still too unfamiliar with his teammates, and unable to communicate his intentions. The result is a lot of wasted motion, and many excellent buildups that fall apart on the final pass or shot. As a result, when the two teams went into the locker room at half time, S-Pulse probably were thinking that they had a good chance to claim at least one point from the match.

But despite their slow start, the Antlers do have a lot of potent weapons available, and though it may take a bit more time before they are all working smoothly, the team provided a hint of their potential in the second half. Just four minutes after the break, Kashima won a throw-in on the left side, and Fernando sent captain Mitsuo Ogasawara down the sideline with a give-and-go pass. The "baby-faced assassin" calculated the distances and calibrated his weapon, then sent a bullet into the box for Masashi Motoyama, right at the penalty spot. Motoyama volleyed the ball out of the air for a blistering shot, straight at the keeper. Though his former Antlers teammate, goalie Yohei Nishibe, managed to get his fists up and parry the shot, the rebound fell into space at the right post, and Masaki Fukai swooped in for an easy stuff.

Just ten minutes later, the Antlers herd was on the gallop again, this time down the right sideline. Akira Narahashi carried the ball deep into the corner before his progress was cut off, and he had to pull the ball back out. But Fernando was trailing behind him, and wide open at a point level with the top of the box. Narahashi rolled an easy pass back, and Fernando crossed directly in front of net. An S-Pulse defender just managed to outjump Fabio Junior to the ball, but his clearance was weak, and Motoyama collected it right at the edge of the box, chesting it down and then driving it into the nylon.

Thereafter, the Antlers dominated, and though they did not add to the score line, they kept Shimizu backpedalling for the remainder of the half, putting the weak performance of the first half behind them and claiming their first win of the season

Lineups:

Yohei Nishibe, Shohei Ikeda, Ryuzo Morioka, Kazumichi Takaki (Hideaki Kitajima 77), Keisuke Ota, Teruyoshi Ito, Fabinho (Kota Sugiyama 64), Naoki Hiraoka, Masaaki Sawanobori (Kohei Hiramatsu 57), Araujo, Jameiri .

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Seiji Kaneko, Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba, Takeshi Aoki, Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama (Tomohiko Ikeuchi 89), Fabio Junior, Masaki Fukai (Koji Kumagai 85) .

0 - 3

This latter weakness was exacerbated in the first half, when Antonio Dutra, tried to stretch or a ball and slipped on the soggy turf, turning his ankle and forcing him to retire at half time.

On the opposite side, JEF United entered this season as a badluy depleted team, losing both their long-time captain, Eisuke Nakanishi (who faced his former teammates in this match), and their ace striker, Choi Yong-Soo. But even though JEF will probably be too thin to challenge for a title this season, they still have a cadre of young, energetic and hard-working playes who know how to exploit their opportunities well.

And so, despite the fact that the Marinos spend several periods of this match dominating possession (particularly in the first half), it was JEF who kept producing the better scoring chances, and who finally took the lead in the 30 minute, thanks to a defensive error by Yokohama. On one of their many counterattacks, JEF pushed the ball to the edge of the Marinos area before finally being forced to pull it back. Shinji Murai set a high cross into the box, but seemed to be in position to head it clear. However, the Marinos captain flubbed his header, and the result was a weak, spinning ball that squirted out towards the left intrsection between the box and the penalty arc. Marquinhos lunged for the ball and deflected it up into the air a second time, and Yuto Sato volleyed it into the high left corner to put JEF United in front.

This was all the encouragement the young team from Ichihara needed, cheered on as they were by a surprisingly large crowd of noisy fans standing -- many stripped to the waist in the icy drizzle to demonstrate their Chiban loyalty (or their lack of any brains whatsoever, though its possible that the two are synonymous). From the opening kickoff of the second half, JEF United outran and outhustled the Marinos to every single ball, swarming the pitch and putting on a truly impressive effort. Of course, yheir adrenaline was surely replenished two minutes after the second-half kickoff, when the team put together its finest play of the evening. Again it was Murai who initiated the sequence, chasing down a cleared ball as it ropped towards the right sideline, and then backheeling it to Masataka Sakamoto as he streaked for the corner. Sakamoto crossed in front of net, and Marquinhos dashed in to slam the ball home, topping off the performance with his patented cartwheel and back flip.

Though Yokohama took this as a message to settle down, and finally began constructing more concerted attacks, by this time JEF United were completely pumped up, and since Yokohama was unable to match their energy level, all of the 50:50 balls started going the home team's way. As a result, the Marinos simply couldnt produce a dangerous shot, and they certainly couldnt catch a break. At least this was the case on the play that produced JEF's final goal. With about ten minutes left to play Sato made a slant into the box and pusehd the ball a bit too far to control. Matsuda raced in from the side and made a sliding tackle, taking the ball out and sending it across the end line. Naturally, since Sato was in full strike, he tumbled over Matsuda's legs, but replays confirm that the tackle itself had been all ball. Nevertheless, the referee pointed to the spot, and Sandro Cardoza converted to give JEF their final margin of victory

Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu (Koji Nakashima 86), Sandro Cardoza (Takashi Rakuyama 84), Marquinhos (Seiichiro Maki 82) .

Tatsuya Enomoto, Hayuma Tanaka, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Dutra (Yoshiharu Ueno 45), Yasuhiro Endo, Eisuke Nakanishi, Daisuke Oku, Nobuhisa Shimizu (Yukihiko Sato 56), Ahn Jung-Hwan, Tatsuhiko Kubo (Daisuke Sakata 69).

2 - 1

Trinita's effort to reshape themseles as a more competitive, more offensive club got a huge boost this weekend in their first home match of the season, against FC Tokyo. After a first half that showed occasional signs of slipping into the dull defensive rut that plagued Oita fans last season, both Tokyo and Trinita came out in the second half with a burst of energy that produced a thrilling shootout over the final 45 minutes.

Tokyo managed to take the early lead, when Lucas Severino fed Akira Kaji on the overlap down the right sideline, and Kaji crossed in front of net. The keeper managed to punch the ball clear, but it flew straight to veteran Fumitake Miura, at the top of the penalty arc. Miura had five meters of open space in front of him, and had time to chest the ball down and then send a looping drive into the right corner.

For the next ten minutes or so, play swung rapidly back and forth from end to end, with Tokyo seeming to have the upper hand but both teams producing hard offensive pushes. Then, in the 70 minute, Oita's new ace Magno Alves dashed forward on the left side and fed a slant pass to Tomoaki Komorida, straight away and about 25 meters from goal. Komorida unleashed a blast that the keeper had plenty of time to reach, but was too powerful for him to latch onto. The ball spilled at his feet, and Yuichi Nemoto was in perfect poaching position to lash out a boot and tip the ball into the net.

Again, play swung back and forth, with both teams going all out for the win. This was certainly a refreshing change for Trinita fans, since last season, the team would certainly have played for a draw over the final 20 minutes. But the more aggressive attitude paid off, ten minuts before full time. Ryosuke Kijima, who had only just come on as a substitute, took his first possession down the right sideline on a countrattacking dash, and fired a grounder for the near post. The ball was well placed -- exactly midway between the keeper and the last defender -- to generate confusion. As the keeper and defender tried to decide who would clear, Magno Alves lunged through and got a toe to the ball, spinning it just inside the near post to give Trinita the victory.

Lineups:

Riki Takasaki, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Sandro Chavez Rosa, Takashi Miki (Tomoaki Komorida 58), Koji Arimura, Haruki Seto, Richard Witsche, Takashi Umeda, Yuichi Nemoto (Kazuyoshi Mikami 88), , Takayuki Yoshida(Ryosuke Kijima 78), Magno Alves .

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Ryuji Fujiyama, Jo Kanazawa, Fumitake Miura (Satoru Asari 73), Masashi Miyazawa, Mitsuhiro Toda (Yusuke Kondo 82), Yoshiro Abe, Lucas Severino, Kunio Suzuki (Yohei Kajiyama 74) .

0 - 0

Lineups:

Yosuke Nozawa, Yasushi Kita, Anderson Luis da Silva, Yoshiaki Maruyama, Kentaro Suzuki, Motohiro Yamaguchi, Hiroyoshi Kuwabara, Yoshito Terakawa (Masahiro Fukazawa 83), Shingo Suzuki, Edmilson (An Yeon-Ha 87), Yusaku Ueno .

Makoto Kakegawa, Park Kang-Jo, Yukio Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Roger, Shosuke Tsubouchi, Hiromi Kojima, Mitsunori Yabuta, Chikara Fujimoto, Kazuyoshi Miura (Ryuji Bando 56), Mansiz Ilhan.

1 - 0

Sanfrecce, meanwhile, have a fairly energetic young team that might be able to produce decent results if they only had a bit of guidance and better organisation on the pitch. Though they fought Gamba pretty even for most off this match, they simply didnt have the key to unlock the Osaka defence, and generally resorte to high balls into the box for Thiago, which were well defended and never produced much danger.

The lone goal of this match came shortly before half time, on a corner kick from the right side. The kick was cleared by a defender, but Takahiro Futagawa colected the ball just outside the area and sent it pack in. This time Gamba's ace, Magrao, was perfectly positioned for the header and he nodded it home to give Gamba the only score they would need.

In the second half, Sanfrecce pushed hard for the equaliser and, at times, seemed to have the upper hand in the match. But their offensive efforts were overly individualistic, and lacked imagination. Time and again, the ball was fed into the corner, pulled back to open space near the top of the box, and then lobbed in for Thiago. Gamba didnt have to study the pattern very long in order to figure it out, and kept the lanky Brazilian blanketed all day long. As the Rising Sun News pointed out in our preseason report, Sanfrecce seem to have a fine collectio of young prospects, and might be able to build a contender in a year or so, if under the right direction.. But so long as the unimaginative Takeshi Ono is at the helm, that is not likely to happen.

Lineups:

Naoki Matsuyo, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Noritada Saneyoshi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Sidiclei, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Masashi Oguro (Kota Yoshihara 45), Fernandinho (Hideo Hashimoto 65), Magrao (Satoshi Nakayama 87) .

Takashi Shimoda, Norio Omura, Ricardo Ribeiro, Megumu Yoshida, Yusuke Igawa (Kazuki Sato 75), Ri Han-Jae (Hiroto Mogi 70), Kazuyuki Morisaki, Cesar Sampaio, Kota Hattori, Thiago Honorio, Yasuo Manaka (Koji Morisaki 45) .

0 - 1

Meanwhile, Tokyo Verdy are surely ruing the absence of Patrick Mboma, whose big boots provide nearly all of the team's scoring potential. But once Mboma does return, Verdy could emerge as a dangerou opponent in their own right, if the schoolboy wonder, Takayuki Morimoto, continues to develop his offensive skills. After making history as the youngest player ever to appear in a J.League match, last weekend, the 15-year-old from the western subutrbs of Tokyo got his first start, this week, and certainly did not look out of place even among players twice his age.

Given the youth and enthusiasm of both squads, this match certainly did not lack for energy and excitement. The final score line is deceptively low, and mainly the result of some excrutiatingly close calls and fine defensive plays, though both coaches seemed to admit, after the match, that their youngsters still need to polish up their mental consistency as well as their finishing skills.

In the opening few minutes of play, Reysol put on a fine show of one-touch passing and running into space, generating four or five early chances before the Verdy defence began to tighten up their marking. Keiji Tamada came closest in the opening flurry, with a shot that the keeper had to push around the post. But by the midway point of the first half, Verdy began to put on a spurt of their own, with Hugo do Nascimento putting two dangerous headers on net -- the second of which rattled the crossbar. Despite the numerous chances, though, the match remained scoreless at half time.

Early in the second half, it appeared as if Verdy had broken the deadlock, when Morimoto drove into the box and his deflected shot bounded between the keeper and Kazuki Hiramoto. The number-two striker lunged at the ball just as keeper Yuta Minami arrived, and in the resulting collision, managed to knock the ball loose and into the goal. But the referee disallowed the goal for dangerous play, and though Hiramoto seemed to made contact with the ball before spiking Minami in the chest, he did indeed show his cleats, and had no real cause for complaint.

The match continued to seesaw back and forth, yet neither side could produce a goal. First Dudu Caerense split the Verdy defence with a pass to Tamada, only to see the shot hit the keeper square in the chest. Then Hugo came close with the follow-up from yet another corner kick for Verdy. As time ran down, it was either team's match for the taking, and both stepped up their efforts to produce a goal. But with nine minutes left, Reysol finally got the break they needed to to claim the three points. Reysol won a free kick on the right side, and Dudu sent a high looping ball for the far post. Mitsuru Nagata -- who has been playing brilliantly of late and, despite being snubbed by the Olympic team, was called up for the full NT's match agaist Singapore -- dashed in behind the defence and headed the ball just inside the far post to lift his team to a hard-won victory.

Lineups:

Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Takushi Yoneyama, Claudio Ubeda, Atsuhiro Miura, Kentaro Hayashi, Daigo Kobayashi (Yoshiyuki Kobayashi 83), Takeshi Hirano, Hugo do Nascimento, Kazuki Hiramoto (Naoto Sakurai 71) , Takayuki Morimoto (Kazunori Iio 82).

Yuta Minami, Takeshi Watanabe, Mitsuru Nagata, Naoya Kondo, Tomokazu Myojin, Dudu, Takahiro Shimotaira, Tadatoshi Masuda (Tatsuya Tanizawa 58), Ricardinho, Yoshiteru Yamashita (Ze Roberto 65), Keiji Tamada (Takayuki Komine 89) .

4 - 2

The Reds got off to a less-than-satisfying start to their season last week, held to a draw by the Yokohama Marinos in a contest that four of their usual starters were forced to miss, due to Olympic team duty.This week, he same four players -- Tatsuya Tanaka, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Keita Suzuki and Koji Yamase -- were again left out of the starting lineup, and though Suzuki and Yamase both made appearances as late substitutes, they did not have any real impact on the final result. This will surely have prospective opponents concerned. If the Reds are as dangerous as they were on Sunday, even WITHOUT their four young guns, one can only imagine what mayhem they could cause once they are back at full strength.

In point of fact, the Reds did not really look that impressive for the first 45 minutes of this contest. They came out looking a bit flat, slightly disorganised and lacking in intensity, whereas Cerezo hit the pitch at a full run, and used their superior energy level to snatch an early lead. The problem for the Reds was one that appeared frequently, last year. For all their speed, most of the players seemed to just stand around when the ball was not in their possession. The lack of movement off the ball, and rather sluggish pursuit once Cerezo gained possession, put the visitors in a strong position for the first 20 minutes or so of the match. It was clear that the team misses Tatsuya Tanaka up front. Emerson has excellent dribbling skills, lightning speed and a wicked shot, whereas Yuichiro Nagai has good speed as well, and is adept at feeding passes out of the post. But neither one has the vision and creative passing touch of Tanaka, and Alessandro Santos is not a viable replacement. Santos, in fact, had his second sub-par performance in a row. Though this may be partly because he is still learning how to work with his new teammates, it also seems clear that he is not comportable in the front line. His skills are much better suited to rapid dashes down the wing, and crosses to the middle. But without Tanaka's creativity at the center of the offence, the Reds all seemed to be standing around waiting the others to take the lead and show them where to run.

For Cerezo's part, Yoshito Okubo, Hideaki Morishima Takaaki Tokushige, in particular, pursued the ball furiously, winning possession several times in the Reds end of the field, and immediately pushing for goal. The Reds back line managed to contain the breaks fairly well, but Morishima and Okubo cleverly raced for the end line on every play, deliberately looking to win corner kicks, This strategy was very well designed, since it allowed Cerezo to deploy the "Croatian Twin Towers" -- Ivan Radeljic and Davorim Kablar -- into the Reds penalty box where their advantageous height and bulk could be employed on the offensive end, as well as on defence.

It didnt take long for this tactic to pay off. In the 29 minute, as Cerezo ran their fifth set play of the first half, Tokushige found Radelic at the near post, and the "smaller" of the twin towers (just 190cm, to Kablar's 195) flicked the ball on towards the penalty spot. Five players, both offensive and defensive, scrambled for the loose ball, but it was Okubo who found the handle first, and he slammed the ball into the goal mouth from close range.

This goal finally seemed to wake the Reds up, a bit, and their movement off the ball began to improve (though not as much as it would later in the match). About five minutes after Okubo's strike, Nagai made a run down the right flank, and this time three teammates all made a run nto the box. Nagai's cross was low and hard, and Kablar had to react quickly to try to prevent it from slipping through to the three cutting attackers. But he responded a bit too slow, and rather than clearing the ball over the end line, he could only deflect it . . . . straight into his own net.

Nevertheless, Cerezo played solid defence for the rest of the first half, and though their initial edge in ball pursuit seemed to fade a bit, they still were very much on even terms when the two teams retreated to the locker room. But in that 15 minute break, the Reds received a key bit of support which was entirely lacking last season, and which may well be the crucial to their chances of winning a title this year. Last season, Hans Ooft seemed completely incapable of adjusting strategy to the needs of the moment. Though he had many good tools at his disposal, he seemed to have just one game plan in his entire book, and would never abandon it even when it was not working.

This season, though, the Reds are led by two of the finest strategic minds in the League -- Guido Buchwald and Gert Engels. And though it seems like many different Reds players will get a chance to make a contribution to the team, this year, it seems likely that the most valuable contributions of all, this season, will ciome from the two who spend all of their time on the bench. As we have noted, part of the Reds' difficulties in the first half stemmed from the fact that Cerezo was outhustling them to the ball. But equally important was the strategic problems they were having with Osaka's daunting back line ( Kenichi Uemura and the Croatian twin towers). Even when Santos and Nagai managed to penetrate the wing, their crosses to the middle were easily cleared away. For all their speed, there was no way that Emerson, at 171cm, or Makoto Hasebe, at 177cm, was going to beat these giants to a high cross.

As soon as the Reds emerged for the second half, their movement both on and off the ball began to demonstrate a clearly revised strategy. Even when the were offered space on the wings, the three strikers looked to turn into the box on their own, rather than cross, and almost always keeping the ball on the grass, where height offered no advantage. Meanwhile, the midfielders began to push forward with slants through the middle, trying to increase the number of targets in front of net. This tactic quickly produced the desired result. Just five minutes into the second stanza, Nobuhisa Yamada surged forward out of his own end, and as he crossed midfield, cut to the middle to exploit a seam in the Cerezo defence. The back three were all isolated on the Reds strikers, leaving Yamada free to gallop over 60 meters, until he approached the Cerezo box. At last, the defence was forced to cut off his path to goal, but Yamada waited until the very last secont, and passed to Hasebe slanting from right to left across the penalty arc. Hasebe had a wide-open look at net, and made no mistake with his shot, curling it inside the left post.

Saitama Stadium erupted in enthusiasm, and for a breif moment, it seems, the Reds let down their guard in order to pat one another on the back. This was clearly a big mistake against an explosive offensive opponent like Cerezo, and they were quickly made to pay. Tokushige won a loose ball at midfield, and immediately looked downfield for a target. Yoshito Okubo dashed between two defenders as Tokushige launched the ball, and was immediately off to the races. The ball bounded high, towards the edge of the box, and keeper Ryota Tsuzuki dashed out in a desperate attempt to cut it off. But Okubo got there first, and lifted a soft lob over Tsuzuki's head, which bounded gently into the back of the net.

But despite the brief reversal, the Reds were on the roll, now, and soon had the match firmly back in hand. For the next ten minutes, Cerezo managed to stave off the inevitable, but Urawa's attacks began to punch through the middle of the Cerezo defence. In the 73 minute, Hasebe drifted forward on the left wing with space in front of him all the way to the corner. But recognising the poor percentages of trying yet another a high cross, he pulled up short, level with the top of the box, and looked for a passing lane. Emerson faded back, away from goal, to make himself a target, and Hasebe foudn him with a low line drive to the top of the penalty arc. Emerson's first touch was a two-step surge into the box, and his second touch was a blistering drive past the keeper to give the Reds the lead for good..

The final fifteen minutes was perhaps the most aggressive and entertaining of all, as Cerezo chased the equaliser and the Reds -- realising that a one-goal lead was never safe against an opponent like this one -- sought an insurance strike. Play surged back and forth, but by now Urawa clearly had the upper hand. With five minutes to play, Koji Yamase had a very similar opportunity as Hasebe, earlier, but this time on the rigth sideline. Once again, Emerson shook free of his defender, Yamase hit him just inside the penalty arc with a low pass, and Emerson pulled the ball just inside the left post, to close out the scoring and give the Saitama Red Army a bit of frosting to top off their cake.

Lineups:

Ryota Tsuzuki, Ichiei Muroi, Keisuke Tsuboi, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Tomoyuki Sakai, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Makoto Hasebe (Keita Suzuki 83), Alex Santos (Koji Yamase 77), Yuichiro Nagai , Emerson.

Daisuke Tada, Ivan Radeljic, Kernichi Uemura, Davorim Kablar, Takanori Nunobe, Kiyokazu Kudo (Takuya Kokeguchi 61), Noriyuki Sakamoto (Yusuke Sato 79), Takaaki Tokushige, Hiroaki Morishima (Ryu Saito 70), Akinori Nishizawa, Yoshito Okubo .

And so, dark horses Kashiwa Reysol make a quick exit from the starting gate, and join Jubilo Iwata as the only two teams with an unblemished record. Jubilo, Urawa Reds and Kashima Antlers are all performing like the championship candidates we would expect, at least so far, but the Yokohama Marinos are off to a surprisingly weak start, and stand 14th, with just a single point from two matches.

Topsy Turvy Start to Nabisco Cup

The full results of Saturday's matches are below:

Pool A produced two relatively tame contests. Both ended in a draw, and in each case the result was quite a good reflection of the evenly-matched play. Cerezo Osaka and Tokyo Verdy put on a fairly entertaining contest in which the young, ace strikers of both teams were the stars of the show. Yoshito Okubo had an active match, getting off six shots on goal, one of which led to the team's first goal. Not to be outdone, Takayuki Morimoto, the15-year-old wunderkind from Tokyo, made history as the youngest player ever to start a Nabisco Cup match (he established the record for youngest starter in a League match just last week), and put five shots on net himself. But neither of the two aces found the net. Cerezo took the early lead when Okubo's blistering shot from long range was fumbled by the keeper, and Akinori Nishizawa popped in the rebound. Verdy spent much of the second half on the attack, looking for the equaliser, and finally got it with eight minutes to play, as Kentaro Hayashi volleyed home a cross into the box.

The Yokohama Marinos started with a somewhat makeshift lineup, with Daisuke Sakata and Sotaro Yasunaga up front despite the fact that Tatsuhiko Kubo was available (having been left off the national team for a taking part in an unauthorised drinking excursion prior to Japan's match against Iraq). But that hardly excuses the team's weak performance -- they were outshot twenty - to - four by Sanfrecce, who were extremely unlucky not to have claimed all three points from this contest.

In Pool B, Jubilo Iwata also had a poor outing, despite feilding a nearly full-strength lineup (only Toshiya Fujita was missing from the usual starting eleven). Albirex played a very defensive match, it is true, but that is to be expected from a team that is facing Jubilo at Yamaha Stadium. Jubilo were unable to unlock the Albirex defence, and although they allowed few real opportunities at the other end, they had to settle for just a single point.

Nagoya Grampus, meanwhile, rolled over Gamba Osaka thanks to a hat trick by their scoring ace, Ueslei, over the first 30 minutes of play. After being blown off the pitch in the first half, Gamba came back with some hard pressure in the second stanza and actually ended up outshooting Nagoya almost two-to-one. But three goals were a very comfortable cushion for Grampus to rest upon, and Gamba could manage only one late consolation strike by Satoshi Nakayama.

The two wildest matches of the day took place in pool C. JEF United Ichihara crushed a hapless Shimizu S-Pulse team that stubled around the pitch like a bunch of amateurs and failed to even produce any real chances. JEF got goals from Marquinhos, Yuto Sato, Sandro Cardoza and Yuki Abe.

Meanwhile, an understrength Urawa Reds team were upset in a shootout by the surprisingly offense-minded Oita Trinita, on a last-second strike by Daiki Takamatsu. Though the Reds had their top three strikers all in the lineup, the absence of Keisuke Tsuboi (as well as the injured Marcus Tulio Tanaka) in the back line left the team very disorganised on defence, and Trinita made them pay. Last season, Trinita were the dullest and most shamelessly defensive team in the league, but under the tutelage of Dutch coach Han Berger, they have been transformed into a very exciting, trapping and counterattacking club. Furious pressure from the opening kickoff allowed them to stun the Reds with two quick goals in the opening 15 minutes, but Magno Alves and Takayuki Yoshida.

The Reds eventually recovered their poise and fought their way back into the match. Though the absence of key personnel (Alex Santos was also missing on National Team duty) clearly affected their performance, the Reds did generate some good attacks and eventually got back on level terms through goals from Emerson and Makoto Hasebe. But with time running down, Oita got a last-second goal from Tsakamatsu, who entered the match as a late substitute, and were able to claim all three points.

Pool C
Team	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA
JEF United Ichihara	3	1	0	0	4	0
Oita Trinita	3	1	0	0	3	2
Urawa Reds	0	0	0	1	2	3
Shimizu S-Pulse	0	0	0	1	0	4

In Pool D, the Kashima Antlers managed to shake off the absence of Masashi Motoyama, Fabio Junior and Takeshi Aoki (as well as the injured Koji Nakata), and still claim a narrow win over FC Tokyo. But the victory did not come easy, as Tokyo fought back furiously from an early 2-0 deficit and were unfortunate not to equalise. The Antlers got off to a quick start, with Tomoyuki Hirase hitting the net just one minute after the opening kickoff, and Masaki Fukai doubling the advantage 15 mintues later. But FC Tokyo spent the remainder of the match on the attack, producing 21 shots on net including several extremely good combinations between Naohiro Ishikawa and the team's new ace striker, Lucas Severino. But the Antlers managed to hold off the pressure until the final minutes, when Lucas finally got his first goal in a Tokyo uniform. It was a bit too little too late, but will probably be an encouraging result for Tokyo nonetheless, after two less-than-impressive outings in their first two league matches

Meanwhile, Vissel Kobe took advantage of Kashiwa Reysol's "good fortune", as youngsters Mitsuru Nagata and Keiji Tamada got their first calls to the full national team, and thus were unavailable for this match. The two teams played each other fairly even, until late in the second half when Leandro won a scramble for the ball in the Reysol penalty area and pushed it to Ryuji Bando, who toed it home from close range to give Vissel the win.

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