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June 16, 2004

Last-Minute Rush

Here are the scores:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
16 Jun		1-1		Komaba Stadium
16 Jun		2-2		Ichihara Seaside
16 Jun		3-0		Tokyo Nat'l Stadium
16 Jun		2-0		Yokohama Int'l
16 Jun		3-3		Niigata "Big Swan"
16 Jun		2-2		Yamaha (Iwata) St.
16 Jun		2-1		Mizuho Stadium
16 Jun		0-1		Nagai Stadium

3 - 2

But despite the fact that Jubilo once again received highly questionable support from dodgy officiating, it was not enough to produce a win. Vissel made a valiant effort to keep them at bay, limiting them to a single point from this match. The action started on a midfield blunder by Jubilo -- the sort that has become surprisingly common for this team, in recent weeks. Tsuchiya broke up a pass and immediately sent Chikara Fujimoto away on a dash towards the box. Fujimoto saw that Park Kang-Jo was in a superior position, on the right wing and fired the ball on. Park crossed to the middle, and Ryuji Bando had an easy half-volley shot from around the penalty spot.

The second goal for Kobe was quite similar, and came only a short time later. This time Tsuchiya was on the receiving end of the outlet pass when another Jubilo play was broken up in midfield. He dashed about fifty meters down the right sideline before crossing in to Bando. The ball was high and hard, and a bit behind Bando so he could not try to head it. Pinned between two defenders he had no time to try to settle it, so with few other choices on option, he pulled off a jaw-dropping, side-winding, leaping roundhouse kick that volleyed the ball out of the air and sent it thundering into the right side of the net.

Jubilo were so shell-shocked by these two strikes that it took them the rest of the first half to recover. But in the second half, they came out with a great deal of determination, and set about the business of getting back into the match. Though we have already noted that the official offered valuable support, it must be said that Jubilo could not have made their comeback without some excellent offensive football. Only when it became apparent that Jubilo had a chance to win did the man in black step up and make his contributions. Jubilo got the first goal back on a sparkling play that showed the extent of their determination to equalise. Norihiro nishi sent a brilliant through pass behind the Vissel defence, to the top right corner of the box. The pass was a bit long, but defender Hideto Suzuki threw himself at the ball and managed to hook a pass across the face of goal. The ball bounded three or four times on its way to the left post, but nobody in Vissel's retreating defence could catch up to it until Ryoichi Maeda's outstretched boot pushed it just inside the far post.

The second goal was a bit more questionable, coming on a wild scramble in the Vissel box, following a corner kick. After the ball had bounced around several times, like the inside of a pachinko machine, it was deflected out by the keeper towards Takashi Fukunishi, a step inside the penalty spot. Fukunishi clearly trapped the ball with his upper arm, but the ref chose to look the other way, and once he had settled it, Fukunishi toed the ball across the line.

The final ten minutes were a wild scramble as Jubilo pushed desperately for the winning goal. But Visel's defence turned them away time after time, and in the end, Jubilo were forced to settle for a draw.

0 - 2

This match was over soon after it started, when Dutra sent a high cross into the box and midfielder Yoshiharu Ueno finished it off with a thundering header, for his second goal in as many matches. Shortly before half time, Yokohama extended its lead on a long free kick from the midfield stripe. defender Daisuke Nasu took the kick and hit Ahn-Jung-Hwan squarely in the chest, just to the right of the penalty arc. Ahn played the ball brilliantly, turning his chest as the ball arrived and then flicking it on with his boot to put on a lightning-quick 180-degree turn. The move left Sanfrecce's defence flat-footed and with two quick strides he was into the box for an unchallenged finish past the keeper.

Sanfrecce were no match for this level of opposition, as was clear in the first half. After the break, Yokohama put their offence on cruise control, and never really broke a sweat as they coasted to victory over the remaining 45 minutes.

1 - 1

This was a perfect example of the Reds paly all night long. Though they seemed to be the better team for much of the match, they didnt really seem to have their hearts in the contest, and only when time began to run out did they start throwing themselves at goal with any real intensity. Midway through teh second stanza, Alex Santos beat his man down the left sideline, turned the corner, and then dropped a pass to an unmarked Tsatsuya Tanaka, at the penalty spot for an easy goal. But minutes later, when Emerson was sent away on a clean break against the keeper, he failed to finish off the play with his usual aplomb, and the ball hit the near post and bounded out of play. That was the story of the night, and the Reds had to settle for a draw.

2 - 2

But Marquinhos produced a surprising strike just moments after the restart after being send through the Tokyo defence for a dash on goal. This inspired the JEF players and they began to play a much better brand of football than they had displayed in the first 45 minutes. As he has done brilliantly throughout the year, Coach Osim sent in two second-half substitutes -- Takenori Hayashi and Satoru Yamagishi -- at precisely the right time, producing a surge that created the equalising goal within five minutes of the substitution.

Tokyo fought back, and eventually regained control of the tempo, pushing for the winning goal. They got a boost five minutes from time when an inexplicable second yellow card on Koji Nakashima reduced them to just nine men. But JEF were able to hang on for the final five minutes, claiming a hard-fought and well-deserved point from the contest.

Elsewhere

Tokyo Verdy knocked off the Kashima Antlers at home, in Ajinomoto Stadium, thanks in part to errors by the Antlers. Their first goal came on a deflected free kick that came off a man in the wall and wrong-footed the keeper. Then, Akira Narahashi foolishly pulled down a Verdy player on the counterattack to ean his second yellow card. Verdy used the advantage to claim two more goals, one by Kazuki Hiramoto and one from Patrick Mboma.

In a packed Niigata stadium, Shimizu S-Pulse and Albirex Niigata battled to a 3-3 draw, in a contest that may not have been very pretty, but certainly provided plenty of action for the huge crowd.

Finally, in a rather underwhelming "Osaka Derby" match, only 15,000 fans turned out to see Gamba take a narrow win over Cerezo, on a late goal by Satoshi Nakayama.

With just two matches left, the title contest is now down to just two teams -- Jubilo Iwata and Yokohama Marinos. But a third team will definitely figure into the stretch run, since both Jubilo and the Marinos must play the Kashima Antlers over the final two weeks. Although they have been badly depleted by injuries, the Antlers may find the opportunity to play spoiler for two of their greatest fivals is a source of encouragement and improved morale. Kashima will be trying their best to knock off both of the front-runners, and if either one should stumble, it will virtually hand the title to their opponent. Yokohama's other opponent is the league doormat, Kashiwa Reysol, whereas Jubilo's final match will be at home against Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Dont go away; it looks like this race will once again go down to the wire.

Rumours and Rumblings