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July 25, 2004

Nabisco Cup Pool Narrowed to Eight

Here are the scores of Saturday's matches:

In pool A, the situation was more clear-cut than in any of the other groups, going into the final match. Tokyo Verdy were already assured of progressing to the next round, while the Yokohama Marinos needed to win their final match by at least one goal more than Sanfrecce Hiroshima's winning margin (assuming Sanfrecce won). Sanfrecce faced group leaders Verdy, and they spared the Marinos any anxious moments by losing the final match by a crushing 1-3 score line. Verdy have put in a very solid performance in the Nabisco Cup, this year -- no doubt in part due to the fact that few of their players have been called to national team duty. Patrick Mboma gave Verdy a first-half lead on a penalty kick, and Daigo Kobayashi extended the lead midway through the second half. This triggered a sudden burst of activity, as Sanfrecce fought mightlily to get back into the match. Just three minutes after Kobayashi's goal, Yugo Takayanagi -- a recent acquisition by Sanfrecce -- pulled a goal back, but three minutes after that strike, veteran Takeshi Hirano restored Verdy's cushion on a solid drive from the edge of the box. This dashed any hopes of a Sanfrecce revival, and the match petered out over the final 25 minutes.

The Marinos no doubt were thankful for the help from Verdy, since theit depleted lineup was able to manage only a 1-0 victory over Cerezo Osaka. The winning goal came midway through the second half on a strike by Nobuhisa Shimizu.

The final standings in Group A looked like this:

In group B, all four teams entered the final match unsure of their fate. Nagoya Grampus knew they were going through to the next round, but needed at least a draw to be sure of finishing top of the group. They managed that result in a 1-1 draw with Jubilo Iwata, who ended up at the bottom of the group due to their failure to claim a win from this match. Gamba Osaka entered the final week needing a win, and some help from Nagoya, in order to get through to the quarterfinal round. A goal by Sidiclei on the stroke of half time gave them the edge they needed, and Shigeru Morioka added an insurance goal midway through the second half. Thanks to Jubilo's draw with Nagoya, Gamba squeaked through with eight points, while both Albirex and Jubilo finished with six.

The final standings in Group B looked like this:

Group C was perhaps the most interesting of all. JEF United had grabbed an early lead in the group, and as it approached the final two matches, seemed to be in a dominant position, atop the group with three points more than either Urawa Reds or Shimizu S-Pulse. But a last-second victory by the Reds in their match last weekend, coupled with a victory by S-Pulse, put all three teams on nine points going into the final week. The Reds and JEF finished off with a head-to-head contest at Matsumoto Stadium, at the foot of the Japan Alps. Since S-Pulse faced group stragglers Oita Trinita, who were already eliminated, it seemed likely that the contest in Matsumoto would be for all the marbles. Sure enough, S-Pulse rolled to an easy 2-0 win in Oita, ensuring that the winner of the Reds-JEF match would join them in progressing to the final round.

The match began in a wild flurry, with JEF taking an early lead just 4 minutes in, on a long looping pass that the keeper misjudged and punched right into the path of Seiichiro Maki. Almost inadvertently, Maki collided with the ball and it bounded into the net. But just minutes later the match was level once more, as Nobuhisa Yamada ripped off a long drive, without warning, from about 30 meters. The ball skidded into the low right corner before the keeper could react.

The Reds seemed to have received an inspiring speech ant half time, and dominated play in the second half. The only goal they could manage was another strike by Yamada, but the Reds defence, marshalled by volante Keita Suzuki and incoming Turkish defender Ozalan Fehmi Alpay, gave JEF few opportunities to speak of over the final 45 minutes, and claimed a ticket to the quarterfinal round.

The final standings in Group C were as follows:

In Group D, FC Tokyo entered the final match already assured of finishing top of the group. With that in mind, it may not be surprising that they played an understrength lineup. The team trailed Kashiwa Reysol for almost the entire match, to a first-half goal by Hidekazu Otani, but Tokyo managed to snatch a late draw on a PK by Lucas.

The Antlers, meanwhile, knew that even a victory by Reysol would not matter if they could claim at least one point from their final match at home, against Vissel Kobe. As it was, they collected the full three points on two quick goals by Masaki Fukai and Takuya Nozawa, in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, which let them coast to a 2-0 victory

The final standings in Group D looked like this:

And so, once again, the Tokyo-area teams seem to be dominating the Nabisco cup, with just one team from western Japan making it through the pool round (Gamba Osaka). Unlike past years, the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds this season will be played in just one leg -- winner take all. The quarterfinal matches are scheduled for September 4, and the card for the knockout round looks like this:

J2 Stretch Run Shaping Up as a Wild Drama

While it already looks highly likely that Frontale will claim the J2 title this year, and advance to the J1 next season, it is still anyone's guess who will be joining them. Since the top division will expand to 18 teams at the end of this year, as many as three teams from the J2 could win promotion (the third-placed J2 club will play a promotion-relegation series against the last-placed J1 club). At the moment, six teams are within six points of one another, in positions two through seven, so just about anything is possible. However, the big story this season has been the performance of two clubs from "the middle of nowhere", who have been hanging around in the top 3-4 spots of the league table, virtually since the season kicked off.

As we highlighted a few weeks ago, Ventforet Kofu is currently on chapter three of writing the greatest cinderella story of all time. The smallest team in the league, from one of the smallest towns to even boast their own football stadium, won their contest against Shonan Bellmare on Saturday, and as a result moved into second place in the league table. Though injuries threatened their chances earlier in the year (and for a team with so few reserves, this could still prove fatal), it now looks like captain and playmaker Takafumi Ogura is on the road back to health, and trainers say that midfielder Ken Fujita may join him in the lineup, in about another month. Ventforet coach Hideki Matsunaga have done a brilliant job of maximising the team's abilities, playing a simple yet aggressive counterattacking strategy and making it pay off. Even now, the odds are probably against Ventforet's winning promotion to the J1 next season, but if they do manage to complete this amazing cinderella run, it will be a story to tell your grandchildren.

Meanwhile, another team from a relatively small mountainous prefecture -- Montedio Yamagata -- has dropped a few matches over the past month and fallen to fourth place, two points behind Ventforet, but they are also doing an excellent job of producing favourable results with limited resources. Montedio held on to the second-place spot for over a month, earlier in the year, and if they can revive the sort of performances they achieved early in the year, they have a shot at promotion as well.

As surprising as the performances of Montedio and Ventforet have been, an equally big story is the limp and unimpressive performances of Kyoto Purple Sanga and Vegalta Sendai, who were both relegated from the J1 last season, yet managed to hang on to many of their top players. Despite having much stronger rosters (at least on paper) than their opponents, these two teams have failed to impress. Kyoto had a simply horrendous start to their season, and though the team has looked a bit sharper now that former coach Akihiro Nishimura was shown to the door, and replaced by Koichi Hashiratani, they still lie in sixth place. Fortunately, in the intense competition at the middle of the J2 table, Purple Sanga trail second-place Ventforet by just three points. There is plenty of time for them to revive their fortunes, but they had better get to work on the task as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile Vegalta, the best-supported club in the division, have not been able to produce results on the football pitch to match the strength of their fan support in the stands. As we noted early in the year, coach Zdenko Verdenik's strategy seems a bit too cautious and unimaginative, and this may be holding the team back. While Vegalta may not suffer the sort of dramatic collapses that they did four or five months ago (such as the 6-0 loss to FC Yokohama that opened their season), the improvement in :"stability" may not be enough in a league that is so fiercely contested and so prone to wild swings of momentum. Vegalta are still well within reach of the teams above them, just six points out of second place, but unless their style of play receives a boost of enthusiasm and agressive energy, they could find themselves stuck in the J2 for another season.

That leaves two other clubs who are in the thick of the contest -- Omiya Ardija and Avispa Fukuoka. Though the two teams are separated by just a single point, and line in third and fifth places respectively, both teams have been carried by a relatively small number of players. Omiya, in particular, woud be in serious trouble if anything happened to their Brazilian duo of Bare and Toninho. Avispa are a more balanced team, and of the two, seem more likely to maintain their pace to the very end of this exhausting, 44-match season. Whatever happens, it is sure to make for exciting viewing, so keep visiting the Rising Sun News regularly. We will try to provide more frequent and more detailed coverage of the J2 race as the season moves towards its conclusion.

Rumours and Rumblings

Inter Dejection in Saitama City Cup

You guessed it: it is "exhibition season" in Japan -- that time of year when many of the top clubs in Europe spend a week or so basking in the spotlight of Japanese media attention, selling as many of their replica uniforms as they can, and playing a match or two against the local competition. Naturally, the European clubs rarely put in a full effort, and they are usually missing several of their top players. But even so, past experience has shown that the visiting teams do not like to be shown up too badly by J.League clubs (who are themselves usually understrength, due to national team commitments and the fact that foreign stars often leave Japan for a summer vacation). These events often are quite entertaining, pasrticularly once the visitors discover that they face a legitimate challenge, and start playing with intensity if only to spare themselves too much embarassment.

Given the obvious excuses -- lack of preparation, understrength squads, "jet lag", and the fact that "it is only a friendly match" -- one should be cautious about reading too much into the results. Nevertheless, the expressions on the faces of opposing teams and coaches at the end of these contests usually tell the story. Visitors discover that the J.League opponents are a lot more competitive than they expected, and they often must swallow their pride and congratulate their hosts, after being defeated by the local boys.

The "Saitama City Challenge" match, between the Urawa Reds and Inter Milan, was a case in point. Inter may have left some of their top stars at home, but with players like Recova, Toldo, Coco and Karagounis all on hand, it was not exactly a "reserve" squad either. Based on the match report at the Inter Milan web site, the visitors apparently were not too happy with the result. The terse, two-paragraph synopsis claimed that "The Nerazzurri had more chances than their Japanese opponents" despite official statistics showing 17 shots (12 on target) for Urawa to just 9 (7 on target) for Inter. The Reds were clearly fired up by the chance to play against a famous European club team, and controlled the pace of play from the outset. Indeed, Urawa were very unfortunate not to win by a higher score line. The lone goal of the contest came on a penalty kick, though it was a call that even the Milan defenders did not bother to dispute. Emerson made a curling dash in from the left side and turned his defender with a nice cutback move. Though perhaps not "intentional", there was no question that Coco's extended leg knocked the Reds striker to the turf.

Sadly, the Reds misfired on three or four excellent scoring chances in the second half, or they might have made their win even more emphatic. Inter showed excellent ball movement at times, but the Reds defence scrambled ferociously to the ball, and limited their opponent to mainly long drives from outside the penalty area. The closest Inter Milan came to scoring was just a few minutes after Emerson's goal, when a brilliant through pass from Recova sent Meggiorini through the defence. But substitute keeper Norihiro Yamagishi made a quick dash off his line, forced the Italian striker to rush his shot, and watched the ball go just wide of the left post.

Incidentally, if the writer of the article on Inter's web site happens to read this report, you were "slightly" mistaken about it being a full strength Reds lineup. National team defenders Keisuke Tsuboi and Alex Santos were missing, as were Olympic national team defender Tulio Tanaka and ace striker Tatsuya Tanaka. Thats right bubby . . . the Reds second-string defence held your Nerazzurri scoreless. And as for those "questionable offside calls" that you claim "denied (Inter) on four occasions", the official score sheet shows that there were only four offsides called against Inter over the entire match! And the Rising Sun News will be more than happy to post pictures to show that they were all very clear-cut calls which the Inter players themselves did not bother to dispute. Got any more excuses???

Boca Juniors Do a Swan Dive

Albirex took the early lead on a nice through pass to Kentaro Suzuki, in the left corner. Suzuki turned his defender and sent a low cross to Fabinho, at the near post. Fabinho's header ricocheted off the post and into the net. Boca managed to level the score just before half time on a corner kick by Diego Cagna which was headed home by defender Cesar Gonzalez. The match remained deadlocked until the 75 minute, when an albirex corner kick was miscleared by a Boca defender. Yuzo Funakoshi pounced on the loose ball right at the edge of the box, and drilled a shot into the low left corner.

Lazio Take Care of Business