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June 12, 2004

Back to Business

Here are the scores from the weekend's matches

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
12 Jun		2-1		Ajinomoto Stadium
12 Jun		3-2		Yamaha (Iwata) St.
12 Jun		3-0		Toyota Stadium
12 Jun		0-2		Kobe Wing Stadium
12 Jun		0-0		Kashiwa-no-ha Std.
12 Jun		0-1		Oita Stadium
13 Jun		2-2		Nagai Stadium
13 Jun		0-2		Hiroshima Big Arch

3 - 2

Unfortunately, despite the fact that Jubilo owe their current position to a log of highly questionable support from dodgy officiating, they still have enough talent to pull off a win on their own, particularly when the key elements in determining victory are poise and experience. JEF seemed to hold a slight edge in this match in terms of the actual content of play, but unforced errors and an inability to capitalise on their opportunities showed that the team is still just a bit too inexperienced to enter the ranks of champions.

JEF were the more aggressive team over most of the 90 minutes, and for the first quarter hour it showed results, with Jubilo forced to spend most of their time defending, and keeper Yohei Sato kept busy in the Jubilo net. Thus, it was no surprise when JEF were the first to break the ice. Like many of JEF's attacks, it began with swift diagonal movement out of midfield, as Naoto Hanyu took the outlet pass and fed a long ball into the left corner for Shinji Murai. The speedy midfielder outran the Jubilo defence to the end line, then sent a low line-drive in front of net. Marquinhos had timed his run for the near post perfectly, and stabbed the ball into the net with an extended boot, while still in full stride.

But as they often seem to do once they get a lead, JEF took its foot of the accelerator, and this allowed Jubilo to regroup and begin building attacks of their own. Though JEF continued to have the slight ede in scoring opportunities, it was Jubilo who would take full advantage of them. First they equalised on a fine bit of cooperation from the two young strikers who started the match in Rodrigo Gral's absence. Toshihiro Hattori won a deflected pass on the left sideline and sent ahigh lob for the far post. Though Yasumasa Nishino was well covered, and seemed to recognise that he had no chance to put the ball on net, but he was able to outjump his defender, opting to head the ball down into the open space in front of the goal mouth. Ryoichi Maeda read his intentions perfectly, dashing in from midfield and diving forward to head the ball on its first bounce, into the right side of the net.

Just before half time, Jubilo again exploited what few opportunities JEF provided them, as Takashi Fukunishicut across the top of the box and, when his path was cut off by Zeljko Milinovic, used the old "push & tumble" trick to win a free kick. Milinovic was flat-footed, while Fukunishi was in full stride, so he simply pushed the ball into the open space of the penalty box and threw himself headlong into Milinovic, winning the foul call with one of the oldest tricks in the book.

Hiroshi Nanami played a pefect kick for the high right corner, though keeper Ryo Kushino must be credited for an assist because he clearly outsmarket himself with a bit of misplaced "strategy". As Kushino positioned the wall, he left a visible opening for Nanami at the far post, then lined himself up just inches from the near post. As soon as Nanami approached the ball, he dashed towards the open left side, expecting the shot to exploit the opening that he had deliberately provided. But Nanami is a wily veteran who had no trouble reading the keeper's intentions well in advance. He played a soft curling shot over the wall for the completely unguarded near post, and Jubilo had a halftime lead.

In the second half, JEF restored their advantage in possession and field position, but Jubilo threw up a deny defence which held all attacks at bay. Urged on by their home fans, Jubilo seemed to be hadng for a crucial victory. But Ivica Osim still had a few cards to play, and in the 67 minute he brought in strikers Takenori Hayashi and Seiichiro Maki for a striker and a defender, giving JEF an advantage in height, speed and numbers up front. The move paid off almost immediately, as JEF produced several dangerous chances. It took ten minutes for them to actually get the equaliser, but you could see it coming well before it arrived. At last, in the 77 minute, Maki slanted into the box to the right of goal and sent a blistering low shot that the keeper could not hold on to. Though he got both hands on it, the ball slipped underneath his body and into the net, bringing JEF back on level terms.

If the players were as experienced and as clever as their coach, they might have claimed at least one point from this match, since Jubilo were clearly on the back foot, and tiring quikcly. But with five minutes to play, a blunder in the back line gave Jubilo an opening, and the experienced champions showed how to exploit an opportunity. JEF had just broken up a Jubilo attack, nd were starting to move the ball out of their ned. But rather than clear the ball downfield to be safe, Takayuki Chano tried to dribble out of his own penalty box, and wqas surprised from behind by pressure from Masashi Nakayama. Chano lost control of the ball and Norihiro Nishi pounced on it, taking three steps towards goal and then releasing a cannon shot for the top right corner. The keeper was caught flat-footed and the ball flew like a bullet into the corner, giving Jubilo the win and knocking all contenders but Yokohama out of the race.

Lineups:

Yohei Sato, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, , Nobuo Yamaguchi, Toshihiro Hattori, Toshiya Fujita, Hiroshi Nanami (Naoya Kikuchi 68), Ryoichi Maeda (Masashi Nakayama 84), Yasumasa Nishino (Norihiro Nishi 71) .

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito (Seiichiro Maki 67), Zeljko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuto Sato, Yuki Abe, Shinji Murai, Naotake Hanyu (Kohei Kudo 60), Marquinhos, Sandro Cardoza (Takenori Hayashi 67) .

3 - 0

This match was a perfect example. Urawa seemed to be the better team for much of the match, yet the final score line was a lopsided win for Grampus. A few questionable calls by the official added to the Reds' woes, but their inability to finish off opportunities early in the match helped put them in the difficult spot that they would find themselves in later. Both teams came out playing an extremely physical style, and the referee's decision to let almost everything go contributed to trouble later on. But the Reds had chances to take the lead on numerous occasions in the first half, and squndered them. Of course, much credit should be given to Eiji Kawashima, who had a brilliant match in goal and left viewers wondering what on earth he was thinking when he agreed to take over as Seigo Narazaki's backup. A player of Kawashima's quality deserves to be playing every week, and this performance only emphasised that fact.

As time was running down in the first half, Grampus got a breakout and a long ball was lobbed deep into Reds territory. Keisuke Tsuboi uncharacteristically misplayed his first touch, and had to chase back after the ball, with Marques in hot pursuit. As Tsuboi went to make a sliding clearance, Marques put on a last burst and managed to get a toe to the ball first. But Tsuboi's momentum carried him underneath Marques' legs and the Grampus striker put on a very theatrical show of making the foul look worse than it actually was. Replays show clearly that Tsuboi was going for the ball, and although you could argue that Marques was in position to make a clean break on net, even this would seem to justify a yellow card at most. But surprisingly, the referee produced a straight red card -- the first that Tsuboi has ever received at ANY level (including university and high school). The shocked defender could only shake his head and retreat to the locker room.

Even after going a man down, the Reds continued to look competitive, and if they had exploited their opportunities a bit better, they might still have taken the lead. Of course, one might easily make the same comment about Grampus, since Ueslei had two clean breaks on goal, on counterattacks, and both times managed to pull the ball wide of the left post. Even so the Reds continued to look like the slightly better team. It was not until around the hour mark -- after playing 20 minutes with one fewer man -- that the Reds players began to tire and Grampus began to take control. The first goal seemed to come out of nowhere, as Naoshi Nakamura picked up a loose ball on the right side and dsuddenly released a thunderous blastthat flew into the far corner before the keeper even realised what had happened. The Reds tried to struggle back into the contest, but they were starting to run out of gas, and a second dodgy call would soon deflate them completely. In the 73 minute, Kojiro Kaimoto played a nice through pass for reserve striker Tetsuya Okayama. The pass was perfect, but Okayama had already strayed a step offside, and the defenders immediately raised their arms for the call. But the linesman's flag stayed down (a call that will probably feature in our "Fray of the Day" later this week) and Okayama was away on goal. The veteran striker waited for the keeper to leave his line then played a nice low shot into the near corner to cdouble the Grampus lead.

This tally pretty much destroyed any hopes that the Reds might have had of getting back into the contest, and they quickly faded as fatigue began to catch up with them. It only remained for Nakamura to cap off a fine performance with a late goal on a fine indifidual play. Nagoya were trying to push the ball into the Reds end, but the attempted pass in the center of the pitch was broken up, and rolled into space just to the right of the box. Nakamura dashed after the ball and made a clever sliding steal, grabbing the ball between his ankles and allowing his momentum to carry him past the defender who was trying to clear. Bounding to hes feet, Nakamura took two steps into the box and finished with a flourish, to put the exclamation point on Nagoya's victory.

Lineups:

Eiji Kawashima, Masayuki Omori, Yutaka Akita, Keiji Kaimoto (Taisei Fujita 79), Kojiro Kaimoto, Makoto Kakuda, Keiji Yoshimura , Yusuke Nakatani (Tetsuya Okayama 60), Naoshi Nakamura, Ueslei, Marques (Jorginho 86) .

Ryota Tsuzuki, Hideki Uchidate, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Keisuke Tsuboi, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Tomoyuki Sakai, Nobuhisa Yamada, Koji Yamase (Masayuki Okano 70), Makoto Hasebe (Keita Suzuki 79), Tatsuya Tanaka Alex Santos (Yuichiro Nagai 70).
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0 - 2

After an opening flurry of Marinos pressure, including a few adventurous runs by Daisuke Sakata, the Marinos took the lead in the 20 minute on a sudden and surprising shot from above the penalty arc, by Ahn Jung-Hwan. Ahn seemed to be taking a page from teammate Tatsuhiko Kubo's book of unannounced blasts from the perimeter, and though he may not have the thunderous power of Kubo, Ahn's shot was well struck and well placed, catching the keeper by surprise and slipping into the right corner.

Vissel had no response, and within five minutes, the Marinos were again pressing for a tally. It took another 15 minutes for Yokohama to double their advantage, but not for lack of opportunities. After a series of abortive thrusts, Daisuke Nasu -- making an unusual appearance at midfield -- decided to try a long shot himself. The ball was straight at the keeper, and bounded off chest, but Yoshiharu Ueno pounced on the rebound and drove it into the net, doubling the Marinos lead

The remainder of the match was rather pedestrian, with Yokohama dialing the pressure back a notch and Kobe never really making waves. Even a late substitution appearance by Mansiz Ilhan failed to drag the match out of the doldrubs, as both teams seemed pretty much content to just go through the motions until the final whistle.

Lineups:

Fumiya Iwamaru, Park Kang-Jo, Masao Tsuchiya, Kunie Kitamoto, Roger, Kazuhiro Mori, Hiromi Kojima, Tatsuhiro Tanba , Chikara Fujimoto, Mitsunori Yabuta (Ilhan Mansiz 73), Leandro.

Tatsuya Enomoto, Eisuke Nakanishi, Yuji Nakazawa, Ryuji Kawai, Hayuma Tanaka, Yasuhiro Endo, Daisuke Nasu, Dutra, Yoshiharu Ueno (Yoo Sang-Chul 58), Ahn Jung-Hwan (Tatsuhiko Kubo 86), Daisuke Sakata (Masato Yamazaki 67).

2 - 1

Gamba Osaka took the early lead in this match, less than a minute after kickoff, on a remarkable individual effort by Masashi Oguro But Tokyo responded just ten minutes later, as Lucas got the first of his tallies on a corner kick from the right side. The ball came in high, right around the penalty spot, and Lucas leapt high to deflect it into the net. After this blistering start, it seemed for a bit like the two teams were preparing fora wild scoring contest. But within 10 minutes of Tokyo's equaliser, the pace had settled down and the two teams began a more cautious battle or possession and position. It was not until midway through the second half that Lucas finally got the lead goal, this time on a beautiful bit of team play. Gamba were trying to clear their zone after a Tokyo push, but Satoru Asari leapt into the path of the clearance pass and deflected it into open space. Lucas dashed in to snatch up the loose ball, and as he turned towards goal, spotted Yuta Baba in a post-up position just beyond the top of the penalty arc. As Lucas sent the ball to Baba and dashed for goal, Baba read his intentions perfectly and played the one-two pass back to him just as he cleared his defender. With a spurt of acceleration, he was past the entire Gamba defence and had only to wait for the keeper to make his move, then tuck a low shot into the right corner, giving Tokyo the victory.

Lineups:

Yoichi Doi, Shuhei Tokunaga, Teruaki Moniwa, Jean Carlo Witte, Jo Kanazawa, Yuta Baba, Yasuyuki Konno, Satoru Asari, Norio Suzuki (Yoshiro Abe 69), Mitsuhiro Toda (Oh Jang-Eun 75), Lucas Severino, (Ryuji Fujiyama 84) .

Naoki Matsuyo, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Sidiclei, Masao Kiba (Masanobu Matsunami 77), Toru Irie (Arata Kodama 82), Hideo Hashimoto, Satoru Yamaguchi, Takahiro Futagawa, Yasuhito Endo, Fernandinho,Masashi Oguro.

0 - 1

Albirex got the only goal of this match in the 32 minute, on a fine feed from Hiroyoshi Kuwabara, who chested down a high ball, then volleyed it on into space for Fabinho, who dashed clear and drove a low shot underneath the outrushing keeper.

The remainder of the match was energetic and well-played, but the constant annoyance of bad calls from the referee spoiled any enjoyment that fans of either team might have derived. In the end, Albirex held on to their one-goal lead and took the victory.

Lineups:

Riki Takasaki, Takashi Miki (Shota Matsuhashi 84), Kazuyoshi Mikami, Sandro Chavez Rosa, Koji Arimura, Takashi Umeda, Richard Witsche (Tomoaki Komorida 75), Takayuki Yoshida, Yuichi Nemoto (Hayato Okanaka 69) Daiki Takamatsu, Magno Alves .

Yosuke Nozawa, Tadahiro Akiba, Anderson Luis da Silva, An Yeon-Ha, Yoshito Terakawa, Hiroyoshi Kuwabara, Motohiro Yamaguchi, Shingo Suzuki, Edmilson, Yusaku Ueno, Fabinho .

0 - 0

Lineups:

Yuta Minami, Takeshi Watanabe, Mitsuru Nagata, Naoya Kondo, Takehito Shigehara (Ze Roberto 66), Dudu Caerense (Hidekazu Otani 50), Takahiro Shimotaira, Tomokazu Myojin, Tatsuya Tanizawa, Keiji Tamada, Yuji Unozawa .

Yohei Nishibe, Ryuzo Morioka, Toshihide Saito, Tomomi Tsurumi, Keisuke Ota, Teruyoshi Ito, Jun Muramatsu, Takumi Wada, Araujo (Kohei Hiramatsu 74), Hideaki Kitajima, Yoshikiyo Kuboyama .

0 - 2

One might say that the Antlers have done well to remain in the race despite their many losses to injury and the failure of their strikers to find the net. But even the most faithful Antlers fan will have doubts about whether this is truly something to feel good about. The truly maddening thing about watching the Antlers play football is the fact that the other nine players on the team are so solid, so smoothly disciplined and adept in the art of error-free football, that if they could find a striker who was even halfway competent, you have to conclude theyd be on track for an easy title. Against Sanfrecce Hiroshima, this week, the agony of watching this tragic scenario unfold yet again was almost unbearable. After about the tenth time that he helped work the ball stealthily through midfield and unleashed a long ball towards the box, only to have Hirase run in the opposite direction from the ball, Mitsuo Ogasawara turned to the sideline and shook his head in frustration, as if to tell Toninho Cerezo: "for crying out loud, why dont YOU suit up and come out here. Even at your age, if you were getting service like this, you would have a hat trick by now!"

Unfortunately for Sanfrecce, despite the fact that the Antlers seem incapable of putting the ball in he net, they also are one of the stingiest clubs in the league, on defence. The back line overcame the departure of Yutaka Akita and Naoki Soma with no significant drop in quality, as players like Seiji Kaneko, Toru Araiba and Tatsuya Ishikawa have swiftly taken over their roles. Meanwhile, Kashima's midfield seems to get more and more solid with each passing week, thanks to the return from injury of Koji Nakata and the emergence of young Chikashi Masuda. Sanfrecce's midfield unit are no stiffs. The Morisaki twins Koji and Kazuyuki , along with fellow Olympian candidate Yuichi Komano and the Japan-born North Korean international Ri Han-Jae are growing in skill with each passing match as well. But against the Antlers, even their best efforts were shrugged aside almost effortlessly by the Antlers defence.

And so, those who watched this contest were treated to almost an hour of watching one team dominate possession, calmly dispossess their opponents of the ball every time they got a counterattacking chance, and then move it around the pitch almost effortlessly with crisp, milimeter-perfect passes and hypnotising movement . . .

. . . only to have the strikers (Hirase in particular) hand the ball to the opponent the second it was passed into the front line. Though Nozawa got off one good shot early in the first half, which rocketed off the left post, that was the only meaningful shot that either forward would put on net in this contest. The most dangerous chance of the first 45 minutes came on a rare occasion when Nakata dashed forward from his deep midfield spot and actually ran TOWARDS one of Ogasawara's through passes, rather than away from it. The result was a surge into the box that was only broken up on a desperate lunging tackle on the edge of the box, by Cesar Sampaio .

When the first five minutes of the second half brought no real change in the dynamics, it was starting to look like the two teams would battle to a frustrating scoreless draw. But seven minutes after the restart Kashima got a bit of a break. Ogasawara played a nice overlap pass to Akira Narahashi, dashing forward on the right wing, and the veteran wing back fed Nozawa into the box. Nozawa made a nice first touch to turn the corner and as he begin a dash along the end line, towards the right post, Ricardo raced back to try to cut him off. Nozawa did a nice job of screening the ball with his body, and since Ricardo had already committed himself, and had no way to stop his momentum, he blundered right into the young midfielder and knocked him off his feet. Though it was clearly a PK, Ricardo probably had reason to dispute the yellow card he was awarded, since the collision was more the result of clumsiness than any deliberate attempt to foul. In any event, Ogasawara struck from the spot, and the Antlers had the lead

At this point, things were looking dim for Sanfrecce, since few teams can protect a one-goal lead as effectively as Kashima. They did make a game attempt, over the subsequent 30 minutes or so, but Kashima samk back in a counterattacking stance, and only allowed one shot that really forced keeper Hitoshi Sogahata to really exert himself. Given the opportunity to pick their spots, the Antlers now began to counterattack dangerously. In the 75 minute they actually extended their lead, as Nozawa again went along the end line, broke past the last defender and then slipped the ball under the keeper. However, the linesman --all the way on the opposite side of the pitch and with his view completely blocked by the goal net -- claimed the ball went over the end line (a call that the replay shows was incorrect).

But with time running down, another fast break put the final nail in the coffin for Sanfrecce. Fernando snatched a weak pass at the midfield stripe and immediately kicked it into space for substitute striker Yuki Nakashima. The rookie was immediately off the blocks and into a full sprint, reaching the ball a step ahead of the last defender, Megumu Yoshida, who was flat-footed, and had no way to stop the break unless he could steal the ball as Nakashima went past. But his effort was poorly concieved and produced a truly ugly foul -- his cleats catching Nakashima right in the stomach. The referee produced an immediate red card, and though some of his other calls in this match may have been questionable, this time even Yoshida had no heart to argue.

As the match moved into injury time, Sanfrecce threw themselves forward one last time, but predictably, the Antlers cleared the ball and produced yet another break. Nakashima was cut off before he could get an open look at goal, and dribbled back out, dropping the ball to Fernando five meters above the box, apparently planning to kill off the final minute of play. But Koji Nakata had taken advantage of the reduced number of Sanfrecce players to drift forward in support of the attack. Fernando spotted him and the two exchanged a glance, then Fernando lobbed a soft floater for the far post. Nakata demonstrated the skills that Antlers fans must witsh their strikers could learn, timing his movement perfectly and meeting the ball just five meters from goal with a thunderous volley that nearly ripped the stitching out of the roof of the net. In his third appearance since returning from almost a year of rehabilitation, Nakata recorded his first goal of the season and announced that he is well and truly back in form

Lineups:

Takashi Shimoda, Mitsuyuki Yoshihiro (Susumu Oki 45) , Ricardo Ribeiro, Megumu Yoshida, Yuichi Komano, Ri Han-Jae, Cesar Sampaio, Kota Hattori,, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Koji Morisaki, Daisuke Tonoike (Shunsuke Maeda 61).

Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi, Seiji Kaneko, Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba, Koji Nakata, Chikashi Masuda (Takeshi Aoki 77), Mitsuo Ogasawara, Takuya Nozawa (Yuki Nakashima 89), Tomoyuki Hirase (Daiki Iwamasa 87).

2 - 2

Cerezo came out with a flurry, and Okubo nearly put them ahead just two minutes into the contest, but before their initial flurry faded, they did manage to get a lead. Five minutes from the kickoff, Okubo won a corner kick on the right side. Yusuke Sato sent a low line drive that was immediately cleared by the Verdy defence, but the ball came right back to Sato, who moved a few steps further upfield before sending the ball back in a second time. Once more, a Verdy player got a head to it, but this time the clearance was even weaker, falling about a meter inside the top right corner of the box. Tomi Shimomura pounced on it and drove a low shot through the forest of legs and into the net.

This goal settled Verdy a bit, and they started to fight back, producing a few chances of their own. The next 40 mintues were a furiously paced affair of back-an-forth dashes. Both teams had several opportunities to score, but when the half time whistle sounded, it was amazingly still a 1-0 match. When the two teams came out for the second half, both looked a bit winded, and the pace for the first ten minutes was a bit less frenetic. But ten minutes after the restart, Patrick Mboma made a nice dash around the left cornerand crossed for Kazuki Hiramoto at the far post. Hiramoto managed to get a head on the ball, though he was falling away from goal as he did so, and his shot had the keeper completely beaten. Unfortunately for Hiramoto it glanced off the crossbar and came back out, but Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, cherry-picking at the penalty spot, had an easy header into an open net, to knot the score.

This brought Cerezo back to life, and over the next five minutes Okubo again produced several golden chances, only to send the ball wide, or over the crossbar. But eventually the surge of offence did produce a go-ahead strike, as Hideaki Morishima drove to the top left corner of the box and then sent a line drive to Akinori Nishizawa, who headed in at the far post.

It looked vary much like Cerezo had the match in their poket, and though Verdy made a few late pushes, as the clock wound down, but without producing an equaliser. As the match moved into injury time, a long ball into the box by Verdy produced a mad scramble, during which Takkehito Chiba was knocked to the ground. The keeper kicked the ball clear, but it hit Chiba, and as he rolled over to try to get up, he pushed the ball with his forearm. The referee blew his whistle and awarded a penalty, much to the fury of the Cerezo players, though it did look like Chiba pushed the ball with his arm. Hopefully we will get a chance to watch the match again later today, and try to see whether or not the hand ball (if that is indeed what it was) interfered with a Verdy player's efforts to reach the loose ball. If so, inadvertent as it might have been, it was a call that indeed should have been made. Mboma drilled his PK, and Verdy salvaged a point in a match that will leave Cerezo players wondering if the breaks are ever going to start falling in their favour.

Lineups:

Tomohiko Ito, Takahito Chiba, Ivan Radelic, Takanori Nunobe, Tomi Shimomura, Takaaki Tokushige, Takuya Kokeguchi, Hiroaki Morishima, Yusuke Sato, Akinori Nishizawa (Daisuke Yoneyama 86), Yoshito Okubo .

Yoshinari Takagi, Takushi Yoneyama, Kenta Togawa, Claudio Ubeda, Takuya Yamada (Takeshi Hirano 80), Kentaro Hayashi, Daigo Kobayashi, Atsuhiro Miura, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Kazuki Hiramoto (Takayuki Morimoto 72), Naoto Sakurai (Patrick Mboma 27).

With just three matches left, the title contest is essentially a race between two teams -- Jubilo Iwata and Yokohama Marinos. Though the Antlers and Reds are both still mathematically in contention, they would need Jubilo to lose all three of their remaining contests and Yokohama to lose two of the three, to even have a chance. Be that as it may, the Antlers will definitely figure into the stretch run, since their final two matches are against none other than Jubilo and Marinos. Playing the spoiler can be a source of encouragement and improved morale, so you can bet that Kashima will be trying their best to knock off both of the front-runners. Iwata have a three point edge over Yokohama, but the gap is somewhat less when you consider Yokohama's dominant edge in goal difference, meaning that they are almost assured of the title if they can make up the three point gap. Dont go away; it looks like this race will once again go down to the wire.

Rumours and Rumblings