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May 2, 2004

Golden Week is Derby Week

Date	Time	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
2 May		0-2		"Banpaku" Stadium
2 May		0-1		Niigata "Big Swan"
2 May		1-0		Shizuoka Stadium
2 May		3-0		Oita Stadium
2 May		2-0		Kashima Stadium
2 May		0-2		Ajinomoto Stadium
2 May		1-1		Ichihara Seaside
2 May		0-0		Hiroshima Big Arch

1 - 0

But despite all appearances, Jubilo are far from the world-beaters that their rah-rah contingent in the mainstream media have made them out to be. Many of their wins over the first five matches were "tainted" by some shady officiating, and after playing three matches in a row with an extra player, a groundswell of dissatisfaction was beginning to build among the fans. Just a week ago, we noted in comments to a regular Rising Sun News reader that where Jubilo is concerned, "the shine is suddenly off the apple, as people in both the League and the press are suddenly starting to realise that their puitative heroes are not as well liked as they might have thought." One interesting characteristic of the sheeplike Japanese "herd mentality" is that, while they do seem to love building up and glorifying their heroes, the only thing they seem to enjoy more is tearing them back down and spitting on their graves.

Sure enough, if this match was any indication, the tide seems to have turned for Jubilo, at least in the mind of the man who officiated this match, Mr. Kawakami. Mr. Kawakami is one of three J.League officials who bears the amusingly apt title of "special referee". In his case, certainly, we can only surmise that the term "special" is being employed in the same manner that it is used when describing the "Special Olympics" -- a competition for those whose physical or mental handicaps prevent them from taking part in the "real" Olympics. In a similar way, the J.League apparently is making an effort to allow those who are too handicapped to serve as regular referees to take part, as well. They get to act as "special referees".

Just a month ago, in Jubilo's match against Nagoya Grampus, the same referee seemed totally incapable of spotting any infraction whatsoever committed by a Jubilo player, and his support went a long way towards helping Jubilo dominate that match. But on Sunday afternoon, he must have put on a different pair of spectacles, because in this contest Jubilo could do nothing right, in his eyes. Oh, nothing much had changed in the team's play. Jubilo did their usual auditions for parts in the movie "Fake it Like Rivaldo", as well as employing their usual hacking tactics on opposing countreattacks. But this week, Mr. Kawakami seemed to spot every Jubilo infraction -- including even some that didnt even happen.

And so it was perhaps not surprising when, in the 72 minute, Rodrigo Gral went down in the penalty box only to have the referee show him his second yellow card for diving, and send him to the showers. The only thing unusual about the play was that Gral -- having conned referees for the past two years into awarding penalty kicks on plays where he clearly dove -- got sent off for "diving" on a play where he actually WAS fouled. Yes, believe it or not, the king of all play-actors was legitimately submarined (possibly for the first time in his career) on a tackle by defender Ryuzo Morioka, and was sent off for diving. The J.League never ceases to amaze . . .

While the officiating in this match certainly was notable, if only for the fact that it was NOT blatantly in favour of Jubilo, it would be a mistake to suggest that S-Pulse received any gifts in this contest. On the contrary, they put on a spectacular performance which was fully deserving of the full three points for a win. From the opening kickoff to the final whistle, they pursued the ball mercilessly, never letting Jubilo have even a half-second to consider their options. Jubilo, meanwhile, seemed a bit off their game (one might claim that they were all in shock, to see the calls go against them for once, but in all honesty, they just looked fatigued, and perhaps were jet-lagged from their trip to Europe). Passes went astray in a very un-Jubilo-like way, allowing S-Pulse to produce several very dangerous goal rushes. It was one such play, in the 60 minute, which produced the only goal of this match. Jubilo has just crossed midfield when an under-strength pass allowed Kota Sugiyama to dash into the passing lane and make the steal. He immediately released the ball to Araujo, who started the dash into Jubilo territory, then fed rookie midfielder Keisuke Ota on a slant towards the right post. Ota had a very low angle on net, but he drove for the post just the same, and ripped off a tremendous shot that beat the keeper and hit the roof of the net.

Jubilo tried to reverse the momentum, but shortly thereafter Gral got the first of his cards for diving, and that wold be followed soon afterwards by his dismissal. With Toshiya Fujita, Norihiro Nishi and Takashi Fukunishi looking sluggish and out of sorts, Jubilo never did get their offence in gear, and as full time approached, S-Pulse were the ones pushing for a second goal. The win raises S-Pulse to a more respectable level in mid-table, while Jubilo now drop to within shouting distance of their closest pursuers. It will be very interesting to see if the shift in "officiating standards" continues, in future matches. Whatever the case, it no longer looks like Jubilo can just coast to a title. Considering how many of the top contenders they still have to play, the race to the first-stage crown is looking less like a cakewalk, and more like the sort of battle top the finish that we usually expect from the J.League.

Lineups:

Yohei Nishibe, Toshihide Saito, Ryuzo Morioka, Tomomi Tsurumi, Keisuke Ota (Naoki Hiraoka 83), Teruyoshi Ito, Kota Sugiyama Takumi Wada, Araujo (Masaaki Sawanobori 89), Hideaki Kitajima, Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Kohei Hiramatsu 73) .

Yohei Sato, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Naoya Kikuchi, Norihiro Nishi (Nobuo Kawaguchi 79), Takashi Fukinishi (Sho Naruoka 79), Toshihiro Hattori, Toshiya Fujita, Hiroshi Nanami (Ryoichi Maeda 81), Masashi Nakayama, Rodrigo Gral.

1 - 1

But despite the poor crowds, both Reysol and JEF have actually performed well, this season, and are earning the admiration of J.League fans outside their home prefecture for their energy and youthful exuberance. That energy was very much on display on Sunday, and you can only pity the poor Chiba residents who failed to turn out for this exciting contest.

Though JEF United had the better won-lost record entering this contest, that statistic would be a bit misleading. Reysol are a very young team that is still gaining the experience needed to win matches, and though they are still struggling a bit, there are clear signs that they are starting to emerge as a contender. THis improvement was on display in the second half, this week, as Reysol stormed back to within inches of a comeback victory, despite being outplayed in the first half.

JEF started out well, dominating play for much of the first half and using excellent ball movement to control posession and field position. This was, indeed, a clash of styles as well as teams, with JEF exhibiting the rapid-fire passing and team buildup style, and Reysol relying on individual dribbling, speed and penetration. Yet even though JEF generated a number of good chaces with quick ball exchanges and good movement off the ball, when they finally struck, it was due to a defensive miscue by Reysol. On the mark of the half hour, A Reysol defender cleared the ball towards midfield, but with a man on his back, the midfielder tried to one-touch it back. Unfortunately, the pass was too weak, and the defender moved in the opposite direction just before it was delivered. As a result, the ball just rolled into dead space, just beyond the top of the penalty arc. Yuto Sato could hardly believe his good luck, as he dashed onto the loose ball, took two strides towards goal, and then fired just inside the left post.

JEF United continued to control the pace through half time, but as the second half got underway, Reysol's energy level seemed to rise, just as their opponents started to run out of steam, The result was as number of rapid dashes towards the JEF goal, on counterattacks, which the defence was hard-pressed tio turn away. Finally, in the 70 minute, Reysol got their tally, as Ze Roberto made a zig-zagging run around the left flank, then crossed in front of goal as three Reysol players rushed the net. It was veteran Tomokazu Myojin who got a foot to the ball and toed it over the line to knot the scores.

The final 20 minutes of play was a see-saw battle, as both teams fought for the win. Reysol had the slight edge, but both teams came close in the dying minutes. Yet finishing deserted both clubs, and the result was a 1-1 draw that will be as disappointing to the respective coaches as the paltry attendance figures.

Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu, Seiichiro Maki, Sandro Cardoza (Takenori Hayashi 71) .

Yuta Minami, Takeshi Watanabe, Mitsuru Nagata, Sota Nakazawa, Yasuhiro Hato, Tomokazu Myojin, Dudu, Tadatoshi Masuda (Tatsuya Tanizawa 45), Ricardinho, Ze Roberto, Keiji Tamada (Yuji Unozawa 78) .

0 - 2

The Gamba back line seemed to be impenetrable in the first half, and though Grampus had the edge in possession over Gamba, they really did not produce many dangerous chances over the first 45 minutes. But 20 minutes into the second half, Grampus got a tremendous gift from the referee which altered the balance of the contest. Kei Yamaguchi took a slant pass around the right side and tried to drive into the box, but was stripped of possession, with the ball rolling out of play. But a full step after the tackle, Yamaguchi threw his hands up and hurled himself to the pitch, in one of the most obvious dives of the afternoon. True to form, though, Mr. Anazawa missed the call, and pointed to the penalty spot, and Ueslei buried the shot.

This turn of events put Gamba in an irretreivable position, forced to press for an equalising goal, over the final 20 mintues, against one of the most solid defences in the league. As one might expect, this opened up gaps in the Gamba defence that Nagoya was quick to exploit. But despite several close calls, it wasnt until the dying moments of play that Grampus finally put the match away. Yamaguchi -- perhaps seeking to make up for his acting performance earlier -- made a pretty dribbling fun around the right corner and drilled a pass to Marques, standing at the penalty spot. Marques trapped the ball with his back to goal, then put on a nice spin move to fire the ball into the low left corner, and clinch the victory.

Lineups:

Naoki Matsuyo, Mitsuteru Watanabe (Satoshi Nakayama 81), Sidiclei, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Arata Kodama, Hideo Hashimoto (Yasuhito Endo 67), Satoshi Yamaguchi, Takahiro Futagawa, Fernandinho (Kota Yoshihara 67), Masashi Oguro, Magrao .

Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori, Yutaka Akita, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto, Kei Yamaguchi, Keiji Yoshimura, Yusuke Nakatani, Naoshi Nakamura (Tetsuya Okayama 87), Ueslei, Marques .

2 - 0

One factor that has kept the Antlers competitive, despite their plague of injuries over the past two years, has been a seeemingly endless supply of talented midfielders. While Antlers fans frequently bewail their lack of a good finisher, there are at least 15 other teams in the league who would love to have even half of the talent that inhabits the Antlers midfield. Case in point, this week, was the tjhe team's ability to shake off the absence of Motoyama and Takeshi Aoki, and still get sterling performances from veteran Koji Kumagai and rookie Chikashi Masuda. The latter, an 18-year-old from Miyazaki prefecture who was virtually unknown prior to his selection by the Antlers in February, wasted no time in letting the press (and the opponent) know who he was.

Less than 30 minutes after taking the pitch for the first time ever as a J.League player, Masuda was in the scorebook, on a beautiful half-volley strike from the edge of the box. Tomoyuki Hirase, whose own strike in the 15 minute had been disallowed for offsides, set up the goal with a nice run down the right wing and a cross to the middle. Fabio Junior drew the entire Vissel defence as he dashed into the box, and he wisely allowed the ball to bounce through for Masuda, coming in from behind the play. Masuda hammered the ball on its second bound, driving it just inside the left post.

The Antlers looked a bit ragged over the rest of the first half, as the sabsence of starters showed in the poor communication in passing. But Vissel certainly did their best to make things difficult, pressing well in midfield and getting a strong performance from their strike team of Hiromi Kojima, Ryuji Bando and Chikara Fujimoto. Though their offensive efforts were not enough to crack the Antlers defence, they did force several strong saves from Hitoshi Sogahata.

Ten minutes into the second half, however, the Antlers produced another fine combination play from the right wing, with Jun Uchida centering the ball to Hirase and Hirase heading back to Fabio Junior, right at the penalty spot. Fabio had his back to goal, and was double-covered, but he patiently searched for an outlet and eventually spotted Fernando at the top of the box. A gentle drop pass gave Fernando an unchallenged shot from 16 meters, and he drilled it into the high left corner to extend the lead to two goals.

Though the Antlers defence is not as impenetrable as it has been in recent years, the team still is one of the best in the league at holding a lead, and given Kobe's lack of an ace finisher, this was never likely to be an exception. When Kazu Miura came on for Fujimoto in the 79 minute, the result was beyond doubt. (At one point late in the match, Miura tried to do his patented step-over dribble move at the edge of the Antlers box. Uchida watched him fake, twice, then calmly inserted his body into the aging striker's path, and watched as the ball rolled over the end line. Time for the glue factory . . .)

Lineups:

Hitoshi Sogahata, Jun Uchida, Seiji Kaneko, Go Oiwa, Tatsuya Ishikawa, Koji Kumagai (Daiki Iwamasa 85), Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Chikashi Masuda (Takuya Nozawa 81), Fabio Junior, Tomoyuki Hirase (Yuki Nakajima 89) .

Makoto Kakegawa, Park Kang-Jo, Yukio Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Roger, Mitsunori Yabuta (Leandro 59), Shosuke Tsubouchi, Koji Yoshimura, Chikara Fujimoto (Kazuyoshi Miura 79), Hiromi Kojima Kazutaka Murase 89), Ryuji Bando .

0 - 2

Yokohama got off to a quick lead, with a goal just 2 minutes aftre the opening kickoff. The goal was created by the Korean connection, as Yoo Sang-Chul lobbed a high ball into the box, and Ahn Jung-Hwan ran under it, colliding with the keeper as he did so. The goal might easily have been disallowed for a keeper charge, as Ahn seemed to be the one who created the contact which caused the keeper to spill the ball in front of net, but the whistle remained silent as Ahn tucked the loose ball into the nylon.

FC Tokyo fought back with some good, sustained pressure over the remainder of the first half, but despite some close calls, failed to produce any goals. And though Tokyo continued to have the better results from the run of play, in the second half, Yokohama doubled their lead on a sparkling free kick from five meters outside the box, by Daisuke Oku. The Marinos playmaker sent a diving line drive over the wall and into the low right corner, where the keeper hand no chance whatsoever to save it. When Fumitake Miura was sent to the showers, just moments later, for a second yellow card, Tokyo's pressure collapsed and the Marinos cruised the rest of the way to victory. The win pulls Yokohama level with JEF United in second place of the league table.

Lineups:

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Teruaki Moniwa, Jean Carlo Witte, Oh Jang-Eun, Yasuyuki Konno, Satoru Asari (Fumitake Miura 60), Naohiro Ishikawa (Masashi Miyazawa 71), Yohei Kajiyama, Mitsuhiro Toda (Yoshiro Abe 62), Lucas Severino .

Tatsuya Enomoto, Ryuji Kawai, Daisuke Nasu, Eisuke Nakanishi, Hayuma Tanaka, Yoo Sang-Chul, Yoshiharu Ueno, Yasuhiro Endo, Daisuke Oku (Norihisa Shimizu 85), Ahn Jung-Hwan, Daisuke Sakata (Masato Yamazaki 77).

0 - 1

Though both teams played an aggressive and offensive match, the limited pool of talent, particularly in attacking midfield for both teams, caused attacks to stall a bit short of goal. It wasnt until Patrick Mboma entered the match for Verdy, early in the second half, that scoring opportunities began to emerge, and indeed, the substitution of Mboma for Naoto Sakurai in the 50 minute was immediately successful in producing a goal. Mboma's very first touch of the ball came on a counterattacking break, as Takuya Yamada fired the lead outlet pass from midfield. Mboma touched it only once, pushing it on to Takeshi Hirano, who was overlapping past his left shoulder. The ball hit him in full stride, requiring not even a slight change in acceleration as Hirano flew past the final defender and into the box. The keeper was frozen on his line, and never had a chance as Hirano pushed the ball almost casually into the low left corner.

Albirex did their best to fight back, and had an advantage in both possession and field position over the final 30 minutes or so. But Verdy's defence, marshalled by a strong performance from keeper Yoshinari Takagi, turned away every opportunity, and Verdy claimed their first win of the season.

Lineups:

Yosuke Nozawa, Yasushi Kita (Tadahiro Akiba 65), Anderson Luis da Silva, An Yeon-Ha Kentaro Suzuki, Katsuyuki Miyazawa (Fabinho 65), Keisuke Kurihara (Hiroshi Morita 79), Motohiro Yamaguchi, Hiroyoshi Kuwabara, Shingo Suzuki, Edmilson, Yusaku Ueno .

Yoshinari Takagi, Takushi Yoneyama, Kenta Togawa, Claudio Ubeda, Takuya Yamada, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsuhiro Miura, Takeshi Hirano (Masayuki Yanagisawa 81), Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Kazuki Hiramoto (Takayuki Morimoto 88), Naoto Sakurai (Patrick Mboma 50).

0 - 0

Lineups:

Ryota Tsuzuki, Ichiei Muroi, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Keisuke Tsuboi, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Tomoyuki Sakai, Alex Santos, Keita Suzuki (Satoshi Horinouchi 84), Koji Yamase, Tatsuya Tanaka (Makoto Hasebe 53), Emerson.

Takashi Shimoda, Mitsuyuki Yoshihiro (Yuki Tamura 79), Ricardo Ribeiro, Megumu Yoshida, Yuichi Komano, Ri Han-Jae, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Koji Morisaki, Cesar Sampaio, Kota Hattori, Thiago Honorio .

3 - 0

Trinita came out with a flurry of pressure, spurred on by the 25,000 home fans who turned out on this beautiful sunny afternoon, and quickly snatched a lead on a free kick in the 3 minute. Yuichi Nemoto sent the cick to the far (right) post for Magno Alves, who was wide open, but a bit too far beyond the post to have a good shot. Instead, he poked the ball across the face of goal, and Ryosuke Kijima rumbled through the box to scoop the ball into the net.

After the first goal, the two teams played to a stalemate for the remainder of the first half, never producing any truly dangerous chances, and the score remained 1-0 at half time. Just after the restart, another flurry of pressure from Trinita produced a crucial blunder by the visitors. A Cerezo defender played a weak back pass towards the keeper and once again Kijima was in perfect poaching position, dashing in to block the keeper's clearance. The ball bounded away from Kijima, but Takayuki Yoshida snatched the loose rebound and easily tucked it away.

In the 75 minute, Daiki Takamatsu put the cap on the evening, with a back-breaking third goal. As he dribbled across the middle, about 30 meters from goal, Takamatsu spotted the keeper cheating too far off his line, and lobbed a cheeky looping ball over the top, which cleared the retreating goalkeeper's fingers and bounced softly into the back of the net.

Lineups:

Riki Takasaki, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Kazuyoshi Mikami, Sandro Chavez Rosa, Koji Arimura, Tomoaki Komorida, Richard Witsche (Haruki Seto 76) , Takayuki Yoshida, Yuichi Nemoto, Ryosuke Kijima (Shota matsuhashi 77), Magno Alves (Daiki Takamatsu 45) .

(Takashi Miki 58), Tomohiko Ito, Takaaki Tokushige, Takahito Chibam, Davorim Kablar, Yusuke Sato (Noriyuki Sakamoto 71), Hiroaki Morishima, Tomi Shimomura (Kenichi Uemura, Kiyokazu Kudo (Takuya Kokeguchi 61), Akinori Nishizawa (Junya Yamashiro 61), Yoshito Okubo, Kruno Lovrek .

And so, the race narrows a bit as Jubilo drop three points and most of the closest pursuers (with the exception of JEF United) making up ground. Though some in the media were doing their best to crown Jubilo champions with less than one-third of the stage complete, it looks like they will have to wait a bit, as the coronation seems sadly premature.

Rumours and Rumblings