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May 23, 2003

Fit to be Tied

Below is a summary of the scores from this week's matches:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
22 May		0-0		Kashima Stadium
22 May		1-1		Ichihara Seaside
22 May		1-2		Nihondaira Stadium
22 May		6-3		"Banpaku" Stadium
22 May		3-0		Hiroshima Big Arch
22 May		1-3		Ajinomoto Stadium
23 May		2-1		Yokohama Int'l
23 May		1-2		Niigata "Big Swan"

1 - 3

The Reds still have not played a single match this season with their full starting lineup, Ace striker Emerson suffered a torn muscle in last week's contest, and has returned to Brazil for a few week's rest, while Alex Santos sat out a suspension for collected yellow cards. But that did not seem to dull the Reds attack, as Tatsuya Tanaka put on a brilliant show for the crowd, narrowly missing a hat trick and giving the Verdy defence fits, all night long.

It took just over 15 minutes for Tanaka to get the show started. A long clearance by the Verdy defence was sent back towards goal by a powerful header from Marcus Tulio Tanaka, and many of the Verdy defenders were caught moving the wrong way. Tanaka burst past the final line of defence, caught up with the bounding ball and slid it underneath an outrushing keeper to put the Reds in the lead.

Fifteen minutes later, Tanaka doubled the score, again by reacting faster than the defence. Urawa won a free kick on the right sideline, and while the Verdy players were still milling about, Nobuhsa Yamada took a quick kick that found Tanaka inside the penalty arc. Tanaka volleyed it into the net while keeper and defenders stared in shocked surprise, unaware that play had even restarted.

Shortly after the break, Verdy managed to close the gap a bit, on a well-executed corner kick. Atsuhiro Miura sent the ball to the near post and Takushi Yoneyama flicked it on. Since the Reds defenders all reacted towards the initial kick, the flick-on caught them all moving the wrong way, and Claudio Ubeda was wide open to tap the ball in at the far post.

But Urawa came roaring right back, and Tanaka very nearly sealed his hat trick a few minutes later, sending a loose ball in front of net back on goal from point-blank range. But keeper Yoshinari Takagi threw up a glove and somehow managed to bat it away. Around the 75 minute mark, Buchwald made a key substitution, bringing off his tiring starters Tanaka and Yuichiro Nagai for Makoto Hasebe and veteran Masayuki Okano. Within seconds of hitting the pitch, the speedy Okano did exactly what he had been brough in to do -- dashing around the right wing and leaving the Verdy defence in a cloud of dust. As he turned the corner, he spotted Koji Yamase slipping into the box and sent a soft lob that Yamase directed home, with an easy header, to put the final nail in Verdy's coffin.

Lineups:

Yoshinari Takagi, Takushi Yoneyama, Lee Kang-ji, Claudio Ubeda, Takuya Yamada (Takeshi Hirano 65), Kentaro Hayashi, Daigo Kobayashi, Atsuhiro Miura, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Takayuki Morimoto, Kazunori Iio (Naoto Sakurai 45).

Ryota Tsuzuki, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Keisuke Tsuboi, Hideki Uchidate Tadaaki Hirakawa, Tomoyuki Sakai, Takuya Yamada, Keita Suzuki, Koji Yamase (Ichiei Muroi 83), Tsatsuya Tanaka (Makoto Hasebe 73), Yuichiro Nagai (Masayuki Okano 78).

1 - 1

JEF held off an early blitz of Cerezo pressure, as two quick shots on goal by Yoshito Okubo very nearly put them in a hole. But both were saved by keeper Ryo Kushino , and after the first 15 minutes, the contest settled down to a fairly dull exchange of thrusts that left the match scoreless at half time.

Shortly after the break, though, Cerezo put together a lightning strike that shredded the JEF defence, with Tadaaki Tokushige sending a long pass to Akinori Nishizawa just above the top right corner of the box, and Nishizawa giving it one touch tinto the box for Hideaki Morishima. Morishima was in full sprint, and left the defence standing still as he surged towards goal and tucked the ball into the right corner.

JEF responded with a surge of their own, and equalised about ten minutes later, on a fine indifidual move by Satoru Yamagishi. The speedy midfielder fought his way around the right corner and sent a low-angle shot across the face of goal, catching the inside of the far post and bounding into the net.

But that was all the offence JEF could muster in this contes, and the score line held at 1-1 to the final whistle. The one point they earned from the contest leave JEF ten points adrift. It looks like JEF have fallen short once again.

Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Masataka Sakamoto, Satoru Yamagishi (Seiichiro Maki 67), Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu, Marquinhos, Sandro Cardoza (Takenori Hayashi 84) .

Tomohiko Ito, Takahito Chiba, Ivan Radelic, Kenichi Uemura, Tadaaki Tokushige, Tomi Shimomura, Kiyokazu Kudo (Takanori Nunobe 73), Hiroaki Morishima, Yusuke Sato (Takuya Kokeguchi 75), Yoshito Okubo, Akinori Nishizawa .

0 - 0

With just one point from this match, the Antlers fall nine points back. Though they do face the league-leaders in a head-to-head contest, in four weeks, it looks like Kashima are now all but mathematically eliminated from contention.

Lineups:

Hitoshi Sogahata, Jun Uchida (Akira Narahashi 52), Seiji Kaneko, Go Oiwa, Tatsuya Ishikawa (Takuya Nozawa 55), Koji Nakata, Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Toru Araiba, Masashi Motoyama (Tomoyuki Hirase 80), Fabio Junior .

Yoichi Doi, Shuhei Tokunaga, Teruaki Moniwa, Jean Carlo Witte, Jo Kanazawa, Naohiro Ishikawa, Yasuyuki Konno, Satoru Asari, Clesley "Kelly" Guimares (Fumitake Miura 85), Mitsuhiro Toda (Kunio Suzuki 68), Yuta Baba (Oh Jang-Eun 72) .

6 - 3

Anyone who tuned in late to this match, and then switched off their set with ten minutes to play will have seen a rather uneventful contest, but this match started and ended with a bang. Satoru Yamaguchi put Gamba on top just three minutes in, and even before the cheers for the first goal died down, Magrao had doubled Gamba's advantage after Kunie Kitamoto committed a professional foul in the box, and was penalised accordingly.

But an injury to Sidiclei in the 11 minute broke the momentum for Gamba, and there followed a stretch of 75 minutes in which the two teams sparred back and forth, but without much result. In the 81 minute, Shigeru Morioka scored a goal that seemed to put the match out of reach, with Gamba up 4-1. It would not be that easy, however, as a wild finish saw Mitsunori Yabuta and Kazu Miura tally in the dying minutes of regular time (the latter on a PK), to pull Vissel close. But as Vissel overextended itself seeking a late equaliser, Gamba roared back and struck twice in injury time, through Yasuhito Endo Masashi Oguro , to send Gamba home with a win.

Lineups:

Naoki Matsuyo, Mitsuteru Watanabe (Shigeru Morioka 72), Sidiclei (Noritada Saneyoshi 11), Satoru Yamaguchi, Arata Kodama, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Fernandinho (Toru Irie 63),, Masashi Oguro, Magrao.

Fumiya Iwamaru, Park Kang-Jo, Masao Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Roger, Hiromi Kojima, Koji Yoshimura, Tomo Sugawara (Mitsunori Yabuta 78), Chikara Fujimoto, Leandro (Kazuyoshi Miura 75), Ryuji Bando .

3 - 0

Sanfrecce Hiroshima, meanwhile, have had similar problems but in the past few weeks they have managed to collect enough points to make coach Takeshi Ono's job look a bit more secure, at least for the time being. This week, Sanfrecce claimed a convincing win at home, though they got some help from their opponents. Reysol fans could only shake their heads in disbelief, for when things started to go wrong, it seems like every break goes against them. For the first 15 minutes, Reysol played a reasonably competitive match, and they must have been thinking that maybe they were on the right track when Ze Roberto narrowly missed a header from a free kick. But in the 17 minute, Reysol conceded the lead to Sanfrecce on a truly bizarre play. Keeper Yuta Minami collected a ball that had rolled over the end line for a goal kick, looked upfield, and tried to send a long blast to the front line. But the kick was a bit lower than he intended, and hit one of his own defenders squarely in the back. The ball deflected past Minami and, before he could scramble back to retreive it, rolled slowly into the left corner of the net!

Reysol never really recovered from that goal, and although it took Sanfrecce until early in the second half to score a goal of their own, they controlledplay for most of the remainder of the contest. Just after the one-hour mark, another slightly odd play produced Sanfrecce's second goal. Yuichi Komano sent a long cross from the right wing to Kota Hattori, just three meters out from the left post. Hattori had to swivel around to trap the ball, and pivot the other way to shoot. Apparently the twisting and turning must have made him dizzy, since his "shot" missed the goal mouth by a mile. Instead of finding the back of the net, it hit Koji "The Younger" Morisaki right in the boots, about five meters out from goal at the opposite post. But Morisaki reacted well, and was able to smother the momentum of the "shot", then poke it into the net.

Fifteen minutes later, as Reysol began to accept their fate, Sanfrecce thrust the knife in one last time, on a magnificent through pass from "The Elder" Morisaki (Kazuyuki), who stepped into the passing lane to steal a ball from Reysol, in their own half, then drilled a pass to Hattori breaking for net which left the Reysol defence sliced, diced, flayed, cut, chopped, shredded, minced, and left lying in a shapeless heap like slaughterhouse leftovers on their way to the sausage-packing machine. Hattori made up for his blundering miss earlier, placing a precise lob into the opposite corner, to close out the scoring.

Lineups:

Takashi Shimoda, Norio Omura, Ricardo Ribeiro (Mitsuyuki Yoshihiro 81),, Megumu Yoshida, Yuichi Komano, Ri Han-Jae (Genki Nakayama 73), Cesar Sampaio, Kota Hattori, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Toshiya Tanaka (Susumu Oki 51), Koji Morisaki .

Yuta Minami, Takayuki Komine, Sota Nakazawa, Mitsuru Nagata, Naoya Kondo, Ricardinho, Tomokazu Myojin, Takehito Shigehara, Sota Nagai (Yoshiteru Yamashita 57) , Keiji Tamada, Ze Roberto (Tatsuya Tanizawa 65) .

1 - 2

This week, Trinita hosted Shimizu S-Pulse, which started out their season in complete disarray, but are gradually beginning to restore some measure of self-respect as they tighten up their previously porous defence and start to play effectively as a team, rather than as eleven disconnected individuals.

S-Pulse snatched an early lead on a very detremined play by striker Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (though he might have been fortunate to avoid being called for a foul). Just before half time, Kuboyama chased after a long pass down the right flank, and though a Trinita defender got to the ball first, he managed to pry it away with a strong challenge. The ball spun away, into the penalty box, where yet another Trinita player came out to clear. Again, Kuboyama went in with a hard tackle, and managed to knock the ball loose (and the Oita player to the ground). Before the keeper could get off his line to smother the ball, Kuboyama lunged forward and toed it into the back of the net.

At half time, Daiki Takamatsu came on to replace Ryosuke Kijima, and he quickly produced the finishing that Trinita had been missing in the first half. After one or two close calls, he eventually equalised on the stroke of the hour after a perfectly-weighted through pass from Magno Alves sent him into the box. A nice feint to turn the last defender gave him an open shot from directly in front of goal, and he drilled it into the right side of the net.

The winning goal came just two minutes later, on a slightly flukish play from a free kick, about 25 meters out and directly in line with the right post. Taku Harada took the kick, but his line drive was a bit low, and a player in the wall got his head on it. Unfortunately, the ball deflected straight into the top left corner of the net, leaving the keeper totally stranded. It was ruled a goal for Harada, rather than an own-goal, though the S-Pulse defender certainly deserved an "assist", at the very least.

Lineups:

Takaya Kurokawa, Ryuzo Morioka, Toshihide Saito, Tomomi Tsurumi, Keisuke Ota, Teruyoshi Ito, Kota Sugiyama (Bunichiro Abe 65), Jumpei Takaki (Takumi Wada 73), Araujo, Hideaki Kitajima (Kohei Hiramatsu 75), Yoshikiyo Kuboyama .

Riki Takasaki, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Kazuyoshi Mikami, Sandro Chavez Rosa, Takayuki Yoshida, Haruki Seto, Taku Harada (Takashi Umeda 66), Koji Arimura, Magno Alves (Shota Matsuhashi 83), Ryosuke Kijima (Daiki Takamatsu 45) .

1 - 2

Yokohama's defence has finally solidified, after a bit of uncertainty and inconsistency early in the season. Though Grampus did manage two or three dangerous counterattacks over the course of the contest (including their goal), Yokohama dominated possession, and most of the time wre able to dispossess Grampus of the ball before it even got much beyond midfield. Coach Okada has introduced a very effective strategy that opponents are having difficulty with, and which has been funtioning more and more effectively as the season wears on. Naoki Matsuda, Yuji Nakazawa and Daisuke Nasu represent a very solid back three even if they were playing a conventional set. But Okada has been employing the speed and uniquely effective two-way abilities of Yoo Sang-Chul and Dutra, on the two wings, to create what is essentially a five-man defensive line. There were numerous periods in this match -- particularly after a sequence of hard running, when the Marinos needed to catch their breaths -- when these five were lined up in a perfect parallel, moving forward and back in remarkable synchronisation as Matsuda barked out the orders. Whenever they adopted this formation, the barrier was virtually impenetrable, and it was only a question of how long it would take for one of the roving midfielders to pick off a pass and regain possession.

On offence, however, all five took turns surging forward. Yoo and Dutra were the nominal "midfielders", and thus they were the ones who usually joined the attack, on the wings. But any time Matsuda or Nakazawa cut off a pass and saw some open space, they would surge forward themselves (and both showed good pace when they have room to run). Yoo or Dutra would drop back to take up a defensive slot, and the central midfielder would often remain on the attack for a minute or more, until the flow of play was broken. This produced many missed assignments for Grampus, and if not for some fine defensive work by Yutaka Akita, in central defence, and Seigo Narazaki in net, Yokohama might have scored sooner. The Marinos have yet to exploit the forward dashes of their defenders, effectively, but if they ever do it could pose serious concerns for their opponents.

Unfortunately, Ahn Jung-Hwan and Daisuke Sakata were having a hard time getting their communiucation straight, and this caused a number of very promising chances to stall, just short of goal. Shortly after the restart, Yokohama's changes begame more frequent and dangerous, and they started to press forward looking for the kill. But at this moment, very much against the run of play, Grampus sprung a nice counterattack that caught the Marinos defence overextended.

The Marinos had just taken a free kick, with both Matsuda and Nakazawa going forward to provide a large target in front of net. But Akita won the aerial battle and headed clear, sparking a quick break. Naoshi Nakamura immediately fed the ball to Marques, just beyond the center circle, and Marques one-touched the ball on to Tetsuya Okayama, who had come on a minute earlier, and had the freshest legs on the pitch. Okayama dashed away from the Marinos last man back, feinted for the near post to turn the keeper, then pulled his shot across the face of goal and hit the left side of the net.

This was only a temporary setback for the Marinos, though, and they were soon back on the attack. Not long after the Grampus goal, Daisuke Oku beat his man around the right side, turned into the box, and was rudely upended by Masahiro Koga (well . . . the Grampus defender claimed with some justification that Oku went down "too easy", but Koga had made the crucial error of leaving his feet and throwing his legs underneath Oku, in a desperate last bid to make a sliding tackle. Since he missed the ball by a mile, he was bound to be called for a PK offence when Oku went down as well).

Despite almost 80 minutes of fine play by the starters, the Marinos had to turn to the reserves to produce the winning goal. Tatsuhiko Kubo, who is still not fit enough to play a full 90 minutes, and super-sub Yukihiko Sato came on to provide the late heroics. Oku got the play started with a long lob into the deep left corner of the penalty area, but it was individual play by Kubo that turned it into a scoring opportunity. The unpredictable Marinos striker lashed out a long boot and somehow produced a thunderous shot from an impossible angle. Of course, the low angle of the shot made it easy for Narazaki to block, but it was so powerful that the Grampus keeper could not hold on. The deflection looped out to Sato, who was lingering just beyond the far post, and he swept in the rebound with an almost casual header.

Lineups:

Tatsuya Enomoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda Daisuke Nasu, Yasuhiro Endo, Yoshiharu Ueno (Yukihiko Sato 75), Yoo Sang-Chul, Dutra, Daisuke Oku, Ahn Jung-Hwan (Tatsuhiko Kubo 72), Daisuke Sakata.

Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori, Yutaka Akita, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto, Kei Yamaguchi, Harutaka Ono (Kunihiko Takizawa 83), Yusuke Nakatani, Naoshi Nakamura (Tetsuya Okayama 65), Ueslei, Marques .

1 - 2

Full report will be posted later

Lineups:

.

With the Reds, Marinos and Jubilo all collecting 3 points this week, their relative positions remain unchanged. Jubilo still faces two tough matches against JEF United Ichihara and Kashima Antlers, though they will certainly take heart from the fact that both of these teams are now essentially out of the running. Even so, the stretch run is looking more competitive than it might have seemed a few weeks ago.

Nabisco Cup Pool Matches, Round 3

The rest of the groups are not as clear-cut, and by far the biggest question mark is pool B. After a disturbingly weak performance at home, against Gamba Osaka, Jubilo Iwata find themselves at the bottom of the group, with just a single point. Nor can they claim that national team duty has disadvantaged them. Although Toshiya Fujita was absent from the lineup, Jubilo were certainly playing with a more complete squad than Gamba. Yet the visitors had the better chances throughout the match, and claimed victory on Satoru Yamaguchi's header from a corner kick, midway through the first half. Meanwhile, Nagoya Grampus saw their lead in the group dwindle as a conceded penalty kick in the second half broke a 1-1 halftime deadlock to give victory to visiting Albirex Niigata. An early goal by Shingo Suzuki was cancelled out midway through the first half by a Ueslei strike, but ten minutes after the restart, a Niigata player was jostled off his feet in the penalty area and Edmilson drilled the resulting PK to give Albirex the victory. This leaves Nagoya, Osaka and Niigata neck and neck as the second half of the pool round begins, with Jubilo bringing up the rear.

Team	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA
Nagoya Grampus	6	2	0	1	9	5
Albirex Niigata	5	1	2	0	6	5
Gamba Osaka	4	1	1	1	6	8
Jubilo Iwata	1	0	1	2	2	6

Group C is also shaping up to be a tight battle, as Shimizu S-Pulse caught up with group leaders JEF United in a wild shootout at Nihondaira Stadium. S-Pulse leapt out to an early lead on a goal by the young pride of Yamanashi, Tomoyoshi Tsurumi, and doubled their lead just before intermission, with the first of two goals by veteran striker Yoshikiyo Kuboyama. When Kuboyama competed his brace five minutes after half time, things were looking mighty dim for JEF United, but a surge of momentum produced a quick response from Takenori Hayashi, and JEF Began their battle back. Yuki Sato cut the S-Pulse lead to 1 with seven minutes left, and it looked like JEF might manage to steal a point. However, S-Pulse managed to fend off the late barrage by the visitors, and cling to a 3-2 victory. Meanwhile, the Urawa Reds shook off injuries to several key players, including both ace strikers, Emerson and Tatsuya Tanaka. Even without their top guns, the Reds easily dominated Oita Trinita, claiming a comfortable victory on goals by Koji Yamase, Yuichiro Nagai and Tomoyuki Sakai. This group is still completely up for grabs, with JEF and S-Pulse level on six points, while the Reds and Trinita are both just three points back.

Team	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA
JEF United Ichihara	6	2	0	1	6	4
Shimizu S-Pulse	6	2	0	1	5	6
Urawa Reds	3	1	0	2	5	5
Oita Trinita	3	1	0	2	4	9

In group D, meanwhile, the Kashima Antlers and FC Tokyo are clearly glad to see the back of one another. Both teams claimed easy wins on Saturday, despite numerous scratches due to injury or national team duty. Kashima's depleted lineup provided reserve midfielder Takuya Nozawa with a chance to show his skills, as the youngster scored on both sides of half time against Vissel Kobe and demonstrated a good deal of leadership in the absence of field general Mitsuo Ogasawara. Fernando added a late goal to give the Antlers a 3-0 victory. FC Tokyo, meanwhile, got two goals in the space of three minutes, midway through the first half (by Jean Carlo Witte and Mitsuhiro Toda), and cruised the rest of the way, against league doormats Kashiwa Reysol. This leaves the Antlers and FC Tokyo level on six points, just marginally ahead of third-place Vissel. However, the leaders' advantage is more clear-cut than it appears, since they have already played each other twice (splitting the series with respective 2-1 victories).

Team	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA
Kashima Antlers	6	2	0	1	6	3
FC Tokyo	6	2	0	1	4	2
Vissel Kobe	4	1	1	1	2	4
Kashiwa Reysol	1	0	1	2	1	4

Nabisco Cup Pool Matches, Round 4

In Pool A, Patrick Mboma showed that he is battling his way back from injury and beginning to regain his form, as Tokyo Verdy claimed an upset victory in an away match against Yokohama Marinos. The Marinos, missing several members due to national team duty, nevertheless had a clear advantage in possession particularly in the second half, but Verdy made better use of their opportunities, taking a first half lead on a goal by Yasuyuki Kobayashi, and extending it to two on a strike by Mboma in the 70 minute. The Marinos did claim a consolation goal from Dutra, but could not find the equaliser despite a flurry of late pressure.

Meanwhile, in the battle of the two laggards, Sanfrecce Hiroshima got goals from striker Thiago and defensive veteran Norio Omura, to knock off struggling Cerezo Osaka. Cerezo are now all but mathematically eliminated, whereas Verdy need just one point from their final two matches to be assured of advancing.

In pool B, Jubilo Iwata got their first win in the pool round, though they had to fight desperately for it, as Gamba Osaka struggled back from an early three goal deficit to make a real match of it. As seems to happen so often, Jubilo benefitted a great deal from favourable officiating, getting two goals from Yasumasa Nishino in the first ten minutes, and then a PK from Rodrigo Gral, on a phantom foul that left the Gamba players a bit miffed. But Gamba fought back as Masashi Oguro struck for one goal just before the break, and another ten minutes into the second half. But Jubilo were able to fend off any further scoring and thus move level with Gamba on points, though still trailing the pool leaders.

In the clash between the two top teams in the pool, Nagoya Grampus managed a narrow 1-0 win away to Albirex Niigata, thanks to a first-half goal from Ueslei. This group is still up for grabs, though Nagoya look to be in the best position to advance. Grampus and Albirex can each claim a sure quarterfinal spot if they win their next match, on July 17.

JEF United Ichihara moved closer to clinching a quarterfinal spot in pool C with a 2-0 victory over Oita Trinita. Sandro and Kohei Kudo both struck in the second half. Meanwhile, Urawa Reds produced a convincing 3-0 victory over Shimizu S-Pulse despite the absence of a number of top players, such as defenders Keisuke Tsuboi and Alex Santos, and striker Emerson. Both Tatsuya Tanaka and Tulio Tanaka started the match despite recent injuries which kept them out of the U-21 team's match agains Mali, on Wednesday, and both were rewarded for the efforts with first-half goals. Veteran speedster Masayuki Okano came on for Tanaka T., in the second half, and added a third goal to complete the rout. Nevertheless, this group remains up for grabs, particularly since JEF and Reds play each other head-to-head in the penultimat pool match, on July 24.

Pool D is the most congested of them all, and might be even moreso if Vissel Kobe had managed to complete their second-half comeback against FC Tokyo. After dashing out to a two-goal advantage at half time, on goals by Yasuyuki Konno and Norio Suzuki, Tokyo faded in the second half and allowed Kobe to fight their way back into contention.Ryuji Bando cut the lead to on with a goal in the 79 minute, but Tokyo held off the late charge and moved to the top of their group. Meanwhile, the Kashima Antlers demonstrated how truly ordinary they are in the absence of Mitsuo Ogasawara and Masashi Motoyama. Without the two national team members, Kashima looked listless and uninspired, and allowed Kashiwa Reysol to snatch a 2-0 victory despite playing rather ragged football themselves. Takehito Shigehara snatched a goal in injury time of the first half to give his team a boost going into the locker room, and Yuji Unozawa put the match away with a breakaway goal in the 69 minute. All four teams in this group are still very much in contention, though three points from their next match would be enough to ensure FC Tokyo of a quarterfinal spot.

Rumours and Rumblings

Many Happy Returns? How Many?

Two months ago, it looked almost certain that Junichi Inamoto would be one of the players returning to Japan. Fulham have repeatedly indicated that they are not prepared to meet Gamba Osaka's asking feefor a full transfer, and though Gamba indicated a certain flexibility, all signs indicated that the two clubs would never manage to find a middle ground. But in the past month, Chris Coleman has been singing a slightly different tune, telling the press how hopeful he is that "some agreement can be reached". Meanwhile, the club seems to be getting into the act as well, naming Inamoto's superb finish of a Luis Boa Morte lead pass, against Manchester United at Old Trafford, as the Whites' "Goal of the Season". Inamoto has also indicated on several occasions that he is keen to stay in England, despite having been forced to play second fiddle for much of the season to the clearly inferior (though English, and wholly owned by Fulham) Sean Davis. Perhaps the club has indicated that he will receive more playing time once Fulham own his contract, and are not just "renters".

But if Fulham are hoping that a lot of fine words and public posturing will help them push down Gamba's asking price, they may well be disappointed. Gamba are just as eager to have Inamoto back in Osaka, and he is certainly worth their asking price in terms of his revenue-generating potential over the next tw or three seasons (at least in Japan, though probably in England as well). A compromise offer with a few extra bells and whistles (such as promises of future friendlies between Fulham and Gamba) might do the trick, but Gamba is highly unlikely to settle for the current offer that Fulham is reported to have made. This is a story that may not be decided until mid-summer, but there are at least some indications, now, that Inamoto may indeed stay on at the Cottage.

A second question mark involves Takayuki Suzuki, who is on loan to Heusden-Zolder in Belgium. Heusden Zolder have made it clear that, because they have been relegated, they will not be able to afford Suzuki's contract next season. However, the Antlers, who own his contract, are not overly eager to reclaim him for a variety of reasons. It is hard to see how he would fit in the team, as it currently is organised, and so Kashima will probably accept most any offer. One possibility is a return to Genk, where Suzuki played two years ago. Though not very successful in his first stint, club officials put this down partly to his lack of language skill. After another year in Belgium, and a reasonably good (though hardly spectacular) season at Heusden-Zolder, Genk may be keen to give him another chance.

On the other hand, the Antlers probably will be reclaiming Atsushi Yanagisawa, who had a frustruating year in Italy and, despite occasional flashes of good form, failed to score a goal. At the end of the season, Sampdoria indicated that his inability to pick up the language was a crucial shortcoming which hampered his ability to fit into the team. While this may just be a face-saving excuse, Yanagisawa does have skills that the Antlers could use. There have been some inquiries from recently promoted Palermo and from promotion hopefuls Messina, but there is a good chance that the Antlers and Yanagisawa will both prefer to see the popular striker return to Kashima for the second stage.

Finally, it looks almost certain that defensive midfielder Kazuyuki Toda will return to Shimizu S-Pulse in July, after ADO Den Haag opted not to renew his loan contract. Toda left Shimizu on very unpleasant terms, two seasons ago, and despite failing to get even a single start in his one year at Tottenham Hotspur, seemed determined to stay overseas. It may be that Toda though he could win his way back into the national team by succeeding in Europe, but the facts turned out to be quite different. Zico's brand of football simply could not accomodate a player whose main value was as an "enforcer" in deep midfield. Not only does Toda seem to be resiogned to this fact, but he also seems to have mended fences with the S-Pulse organisation (which went through some fairly major changes in his absence). Though not yet confirmed, it now seems highly likely that Toda will rejoin S-Pulse some time in June or July.