---

August 15, 2004

Stealthy Start to the Second Stage

Below are the scores from Saturday's matches:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
14 Aug		1-0		Kashima Stadium
14 Aug		2-1		Ichihara Seaside
14 Aug		2-0		Ajinomoto Stadium
14 Aug		1-2		Mizuho Stadium
14 Aug		4-3		Nagai Stadium
14 Aug		2-3		Kobe Wing Stadium
14 Aug		1-1		Oita Stadium
15 Aug		1-2		Shizuoka Stadium

1 - 1

Although Trinita were without their ace striker, Daiki Takamatsu, who is in Athens with the Olympic NT, this might actually have been an advantge since his replacement, Teppei Nishiyama, actually has better pace, and together with Brazilian speedster Magno Alves, they used sheer speed to shred the Jubilo defence and produce an early goal. Just nine minutes in, former Vissel Kobe wing back Takayuki Yoshimura surged forward down the right side and sent a probing ball to Nishiyama at the right side of the penalty area. Nishiyama drew two defenders, who clearly were wary of his speed, but with a clever flick, he sent the ball back to Yoshimura who had continued on to the top right corner of the box. Yoshimura crossed for Alves who dashed onto the lob pass and headed it into the net.

Jubilo tried to collect themselves, control possession and regain parity in the match, but Trinita's boundless energy, encouraged by a home crowd of nearly 30,000, kept them at bay throughout the first half. Unfortunately, though Han Berger has done a fine job of bringing Trinita up from mediocrity to the level of a solid competitor, they still are a bit prone to errors, nd a mistake on the stroke of the hour allowed Jubilo to get back into the match. Predictably, it was the consummate poacher, Rodrigo Gral, who slipped away from a defender and pounced on a Toshiya Fujita cross to level the scores. But as the match wound down towards the final whistle, it was actually Trinita who seemed the more likely to score.

Sadly, defender Patrick Zwaanswijk still has not learned the ropes in the J.League, and just as it seemed that Trinita had Jubilo on the ropes, Gral suckered him into a foul, then threw himself heavily to the turf in apparent agony, convincing the referee to give Zwaanswijk a second yellow card. For someone accustomed to the Dutch league, the call may have been egregious, but it clearly was a foul, and in the J.League, such contact can often earn a yellow, if the opposing player is good at acting. Reduced to ten men, Trinita had to content themselves to playing defence and preserving the draw. Nevertheless, they looked wquite competitive in this match, and could give opponents difficulties in the second stage. Jubilo, on the other hand, will have to do a far more convincing job of creating offence if they hope to have a shot at the second stage title.

Lineups:

Hayato Okanaka, Koji Yoshimura, Sandro Chavez Rosa, Patrick Zwaanswijk, Yuichi Nemoto, Takashi Umeda, Tomoaki Komorida (Haruki Seto 70), Taku Harada, Takayuki Yoshida, Teppei Nishiyama (Kazuyoshi Mikami 89), Magno Alves.

Yohei Sato, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Sho Naruoka (Robert Cullen 63), Takashi Fukunishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Toshiya Fujita, Hiroshi Nanami, Rodrigo Gral, Ryoichi Maeda.

2 - 3

The Reds forged an early lead thanks to the contributions of Makoto Hasebe, a 20-year-old who has managed to stay under the radar of most non-Reds fans but who clearly has tons of promise as a future midfield star. Hasebe came just milimeters from producing a first-half hat trick, as Emerson responded to the heavy pressure from Kobe defenders by actually passing off to teammates. If he can be encouraged to do this on a more regular basis, it could greatly improve the Reds chances in the second stage.

Urawa got things started in the 27 minute, thanks to what was admittedly a briliant play by Emerson. The Reds ace slanted across the top of the box to receive a pass from the wing, but a blanketing of defenders forced him to carry the ball all the way to the right sideline. Turning to face the defence, Emerson faked to the inside, then spun along the end line, using his speed to beat Kunie Kitamoto around the flank. Kitamoto pulled away as Emerson crossed into the box, fearing that the swift Brazilian would put on a diving exhibition. There were still two Vissel players blocking Emerson's path to goal, but in a rare display of unselfish play, Emerson dropped a pass back to the edge of the box for Hasebe, who was dashing in from midfield. The pass demolished Kobe's defence, which had been focusing almost entirely on preventing Emerson's penetration on the dribble. Hasebe only had to beat the keeper, which he did with a thunderous blast, and Urawa were on top.

Ten minutes later, Hasebe got his brace with an even more dramatic shot. Alex Santos took a throw in on the left sideline, exchanged passes with Koji Yamase, then fed Hasebe as he curled across the top of the box. Spotting an opening, Hasebe ripped a curling shot that looped over the defence and caught the top right corner of the goal, doubling the Urawa lead.

Though another shot from Hasebe later in the half would go marginally wide, it was Kobe's turn to start producing offence. In the ten minutes just before and after the halftime break, they put together a flurry of shots, all from set plays, to climb back into the contest. Just before the halftime whistle, Ryuji Bando got the first Vissel goal, leaping for a cross from Roger to head the ball in from close range. The Reds defenders were upset since they felt that Bando had climbed Hideki Uchidate's back to reach the ball, but the goal stood and the two teams went in with just a goal separating them.

Five minutes after the restart, Kobe got level on a corner kick from the right side. This time it was rookie defender Hiroyuki Komoto who surged over the defence to head the ball home, but once again, the Reds complained that Komoto had climbed over a defender's back to reach the ball. Just moments later, Vissel got yet another corner kick, and this time Roger was the player who soared high to head the ball into the net. But referee Masaaki Iemoto waved the goal off, claiming that Roger climbed over a Reds player to reach the ball. Those of you who follow the J.League regularly will not be surprised to hear this, but a careful analysis of the tape shows that the Reds did indeed have a legitimate complaint. On two of the three Vissel "goals", it was clear that the Vissel player fouled a defender in order to reach the ball, and thus there was a legitimate reason to disallow the goal. . .

. . . you guessed it. The ONLY play of the three where there was no contact at all was the one that Mr. Iemoto disallowed!

Following this call, the match disintegrated to some extent, as both teams took out their justified greivances on one another, and yellow cards began to pile up. Sure enough, after a very entertaining contest over the first 50 minutes, the winning goal would come not from the run of play, but on a free kick following a cynical foul. With just over ten minutes remaining, the Reds tried to make a quick counterattack but Emerson was pulled down about 35 meters out, about level with the left edge of the penalty box. Santos and Emerson lined up to take the kick, with Santos approaching the bal first. But instead of taking a kick, he back-heeled the ball about three metes towards the center of the pitch, giving Emerson a bit more of an angle around the wall. Emerson drilled his shot just inside the far post, and the Reds claimed their first win of the stage.

Lineups:

Fumiya Iwamaru, Yukio Tsuchiya (Mitsutoshi Watada 82), Hiroyuki Komoto, Kunie Kitamoto, Roger, Hiromi Kojima, Naoya Saeki, Pavel Horvath, Tomoyuki Hirase (Chikara Fujimoto 71), Patrick Mboma, Ryuji Bando .

Ryota Tsuzuki, Ozalan Alpay, Satoshi Horinouchi, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe, Alex Santos, Koji Yamase (Ichiei Muroi 87), Keita Suzuki, Yuichiro Nagai (Masayuki Okano 53), Emerson .

1 - 0

Of course, both teams will need some time to adjust to the new situation. In the Antlers case, for example, Baron did not even enter the match until the final 15 minutes. Reysol looked a bit better organised than in he first stage, but it is clear that Hayano has not yet had time to stamp his imprint on this young team. In short, it is hard to draw any conclusions at all from this week's match. Nevertheless, fans will be hoping for improved performances from both teams as the second stage wears on.

Lineups:

Hideaki Ozawa, Akira Narahashi, Seiji Kaneko, Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba, Fernando, Koji Nakata, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama Daiki Iwamasa 84), Tatsuya Ishikawa, Takuya Nozawa (Baron 75), Takayuki Suzuki .

Erikson Noguchi Pinto, Sota Nakazawa, Mitsuru Nagata, Naoya Kondo, Takehiro Namida, Hidekazu Otani (Takeshi Watanabe 83), Tomokazu Myojin, Takehito Shigehara (Tadatoshi Masuda 69), Ze Roberto, Keiji Tamada, Yoshiteru Yamashita (Tatsuya Yazawa 69) .

2 - 1

JEF responded almost immediately. In the 11 minute Marquinhos collected a long pass just outside the penalty arc, cut back once to turn his defender one way, then swiveled back in the opposite direction to leave him in the dust. His finish beat the keeper to the low right corner and the two teams were back on even terms.

Thereafter, the match begame a very physical struggle, with both teams playing very fast-paced but physical football. The score remained deadlocked until midway through the second half, when a corner kick was cleared by the Sanfrecce defence, but kept in by defender Zeljko Milinovic, who found Marquinhos with a cross for his second goal of the evening.

Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Zeljko Milinovic, Takayuki Chano, Masataka Sakamoto, Koji Nakashima (Takenori Hayashi 59), Yuto Sato, Shinji Murai, Satoru Yamagishi (Kohei Kudo 26), Sandro Cardoza, Marquinhos (Seiichiro Maki 84), .

Takashi Shimoda, Norio Omura, Ricardo Ribeiro, Megumu Yoshida (Hiroto Mogi 76), Issei Takayanagi, Beto, Ri Han-Jae (Tatsuro Kimura 63), Kazuyuki Morisaki, Kota Hattori, Genki Nakayama, Kohei Morita (Susumu Oki 16) .

1 - 2

Kazuyuki Toda, in his first match since returning to the J.League, needed just 35 minutes to collect his first yellow card of the season, and several of his teammates were not far behind. It would be overly simplistic to suggest that physical brutality was all S-Pulse had to offer, but if this match is any guide, that will certainly be the lesson that other teams take from the match tape. S-Pulse used their tireles running and aggressive physical tactics to disrupt Yokohama's flow, and this succeeded in keeping the match very close. It was not until the second half that the Marinos superior quality began to make a difference. S-Pulse managed to keep their opponent scoreless for a full hour, and created a few dangerous chances of their own on the counterattack. But when Tatsuhiko Kubo came on, midway through the second half, his fresh legs and physical presence began to turn the tide. About ten minutes after coming on, Kubo played a nice one-two with Dutra, and dashed into the box to collect the return pass. The S-Pulse defence all collapsed on him, but Kubo calmly headed the ball back across the face of goal to an unmarked Ahn Jung-Hwan, and the opposite post, and Ahn simply tapped it home into an empty net.

As time ran down and S-Pulse began to get desperate in their attempts to create offence, Ahn claimed a second goal on a nice reaction play. Kubo stole the ball from an S-Pulse defender deep in opposition territory, and dropped it to Daisuke Oku who immediately flicked a long pass for Ahn to run for. The pass caught the defence flat-footed and set up yet another easy finish for the Korean ace.

But with injury time ticking away, S-Pulse got a consolation goal that will top the highlight reels this week. Ater a series of desperate pushes, spearheaded by veteran midfielder Masaaki Sawanobori, S-Pulse won a corner kick on the right side. The corner was a bit behind the pack of players in front of goal, but Tomomi Tsurumi wheeled about, leaped in the air and caught the line drive with the tip of his toe, in a flying bicycle kick that sent the ball screaming into the left side of the net.

While Tsurumi's shot provided an exciting climax for the home crowd, time expired just seconds later, and the Marinos claimed a well deserved victory.

Lineups:

Yohei Nishibe, Ryuzo Morioka, Toshihide Saito, Tomomi Tsurumi, Keisuke Ota, Teruyoshi Ito (Kohei Hiramatsu 74), Kazuyuki Toda, Daisuke Ichikawa (Jumpei Takaki 66), Araujo, Hideaki Kitajima, Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Masaaki Sawanobori 60) .

Tatsuya Enomoto, Eisuke Nakanishi, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Hayuma Tanaka, Yasuhiro Endo, Yoshiharu Ueno, Dutra, Daisuke Oku (Masahiro Ohashi 89), Daisuke Sakata (Tatsuhiko Kubo 56), Ahn Jung-Hwan, (Sotaro Yasunaga 85).

1 - 2

When the two teams lined up for the kickoff, the top defensive players for both teams were sitting on the bench -- Yutaka Akita for Grampus and Tsuneyasu Miyamoto for Gamba -- and both teams adopted 4-4-2 lineups, rather than the three-back formations that they played throughout most of the first stage. In the first half, this strategy seemed to work effectively for Gamba, but left Grampus looking like a pod of beached whales. floundering about uncertainly. Osaka's offence, spearheaded by Masashi Oguro, took advantage of the disarray in Nagoya's back line, dominating play for the entire half and producing numerous scoring opportunities.

The first goal came just 11 minutes after kickoff, when a long lead pass from Fernandinho sent Oguro into the clear. Though a defender gave chase, and made up enough ground to force Oguro wide, the Gamba ace ripped off a low-angle shot from just outside the right post, driving the ball into the roof of the net.

Though they would command possession and field position for the remainder of the half, Gamba did not add to their lead until shortly before intermission, on a fine play that was again finished off by Oguro. Satoshi Nakayama carried the ball up the left side on what seemed a rather innocuous advance, then fed the ball to Yasuhito Endo, drifting towards the top of the penalty arc, in the center of the pitch. After a lazy first touch, Endo suddenly put on a burst of speed, apparently aiming for a seam in the right side of the Nagoya defence (ie. to Endo's left). As both central defenders reacted toward him, Endo flipped a lateral pass to his right, with the outside of his boot, finding Oguro at the top of the arc. With both defenders moving at full speed in the opposite direction, Oguro needed just two steps to give himself a wide-open look at goal. His shot hooked into the low left corner and Gamba had a two-goal cushion to take into the locker room.

Based on the starting lineup, and whispers about "poor chemistry" in the Grampus locker room, one can speculate that Nelsinho might be seeking to put defender Yutaka Akita out to pasture. But based on the disarray that Grampus suffered in the first half, we can only conclude that this was a strategic error. Not only did Grampus look listless in the first half, but when Akita took the pitch at the start of the second stanza, there was an immediate shift in the momentum, and the overall fluidity of the Grampus team improved. Much of this can be credited to greater effort on the part of the Brazilian strike pair, Ueslei and Marques, who showed far more energy in the second half than they did in the first. But more importantly, Gamba's offence suddenly went silent. Oguro, who was running rampant in the first half, seemed nearly invisible after the break, and had only one significant scoring chance, in the dying minutes of the second half. Perhaps this was just coincidence, but if there really is a conflict building between Akita and Nelsinho, it does not bode well for the team in the second stage. Though Akita's advancing age has slowed him down a bit, Grampus will need a solid contribution from the 12-year veteran if they hope to chase the second-stage title.

Unfortunately for Nagoya, they could not translate their second-half momentum into goals, as Gamba steadily retreated into a defensive shell. It was not until ten minutes from the final whistle that they finally got on the scoreboard, when a long outlet pass sent Marques off on a wild dash at goal. Sidiclei managed to catch up just in time to prevent a shot, but as Marques cut back, he fell over Sidiclei's outstretched leg and was rewarded with a penalty kick. Ueslei drilled the ball home from the spot, and Nagoya were within a goal.

Over the final ten minutes, Grampus pressed desperately for the equaliser, but Gamba held on to claim the win, and an important three points to start the stage.

Lineups:

Seigo Narazaki, Kojiro Kaimoto, Yusuke Igawa, Masahiro Koga, Keiji Watanabe (Yusuke Nakatani 67), Claiton dos Santos, Keiji Yoshimura (Teruo Iwamoto 61), Harutaka Ono (Yutaka Akita 45), Naoshi Nakamura, Ueslei, Marques .

Naoki Matsuyo, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Sidiclei, Noritada Saneyoshi, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Mitsuteru Watanabe (Shigeru Morioka 67), Fernandinho (Tsuneyasu Miyamoto 74), Takahiro Futagawa, Masashi Oguro, Satoshi Nakayama (Kota Yoshihara 79) .

4 - 3

The tone for the evening was set in the first ten minutes of play, as attacks swept from one end of the pitch to the other, from the very moment the referee blew the opening whistle. Six minutes in, rookie Ryoichi Kurisawa -- yet another in the long line of talented youngsters to emerge from FC Tokyo's youth system -- lobbed a high pass to "Kelly" Guimares, then dashed towards goal. Kelly headed the ball back to Kurisawa just as he reached the left intersection of the box and the penalty arc, and the newcomer sent a screaming half-volley on net. Though the shot was almost straight at him, it was all the keeper could do just to get his fists up and knock it away. The rebound fell right at the feet of Yuta Baba, who tapped it home.

Five minutes later, Cerezo responded in kind. Takaaki Tokushige got an open look at goal from about 35 meters out, and ripped a drive toward the top right corner. Yoichi Doi managed to swat it away, but the ball fell at the feet of another youngster, Tatsuya Furuhashi, who slammed the ball home.

There followed a 30 minute period in which no goals were scored -- a comment that can only be appreciated fully by those who saw the contest. Thirty minutes without a goal seems hard to believe, considering the overall pace at which this contest was played, though it was not for lack of opportunities. Finally, Just before half time, Tokyo wing back Jo Kanazawa collected a throw-in, and surged down the left wing all the way to the end line. Just before running out of play, Kanazawa launched a high, looping cross that found Kelly sprinting for the far post.With an acrobatic leap, Kelly stabbed the ball out of the air with his left foot and deflected it inside the right post to give Tokyo the half-time lead.

Fans at Nagaoi Stadium could be excused if they were unable to tell when the second half began, because the fireworks display continued well past half time and did not sputter out until the final whistle. In the first ten minutes of the second half, both teams left dents in the woodwork, including one explosive drive off the left post from Hiroaki Morishima that had a louder impact than many of the skyrockets set off at half time. In the 61 minute, Akinori Nishizawa led a Cerezo counterattack to the edge of the Tokyo box, then passed off to Takeshi Hamada, at the right corner. As Hamada collected the ball, Morishima ran an overlap down the right side, and Hamada tried to release a one-touch pass to send him into the clear. But a Tokyo defender lunged out and blocked the pass, sending the ball almost straight up into the air. Hamada maintained his concentration, following the ball's trajectory, and as it came down, he volleyed it straight into the nylon.

This set the stage for a wild finish, as both teams seemed to throw caution to the wind, and put all of their efforts into attacking. Seven minutes after Hamada knotted the score, Lucas made a surging run up the right side and passed to Yoshiro Abe, who drilled a right-footed shot from the edge of the box into the low right corner. For the third time, Cerezo surged forward in search of the equaliser. As Morishima and Furuhashi both dashed into the box, Kiyokazu Kudo sent a high lob towards the penalty spot. Two Tokyo defenders had Furuhashi sandwiched between them, but as they all leapt for the ball, they got in each others' way, and it ricocheted off one and then the other, falling at the feet of Morishima. Since he was in an "offside" position, Morishima hesitated for an instant. But the ball had come off the defenders, not a Cerezo player. Jean Carlo Witte, realising that the play was therefore not offside, made a desperate effort to clear the ball. All he managed to do was knock Morishima to the turf, and Nishizawa collected a goal from the penalty spot.

Three minutes later, the final act in this remarkable drama unfolded. Takanori Nunobe, who had come on as a late substitute, exchanged a short pass with Morishima at the top right corner of the penalty area, then spun around and mad a dash into the corner. Morishima fed him the return pass, and Nunobe crossed a low line drive into the box. The ball was a bit behind Nishizawa, but he was unguarded, and had time to pick his target. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Morishima dash in from the right side, and laid a soft header directly into the captain's path. Morishima met it with a thunderous blast that nearly ripped the roof off the goal net, bringing the contest to a fitting and exhilarating climax.

Lineups:

Keisuke Hada, Tomi Shimomura, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Takahito Chiba, Ryu Saito (Takanori Nunobe 59), Kiyokazu Kudo, Hiroaki Morishima, Takeshi Hamada (Mario Garba 87), Takaaki Tokushige (Takuya Kokeguchi 53), Akinori Nishizawa, Tatsuya Furuhashi .

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Ryuji Fujiyama, Jo Kanazawa, Fumitake Miura (Ryuji Masushima 81), Yohei Kajiyama, Ryoichi Kurisawa, Lucas Severino, Clesley "Kelly" Guimares (Yoshiro Abe 66), Yuta Baba (Yusuke Kondo 79) .

2 - 0

Full report will be posted later

Lineups:

Yoshinari Takagi, Takushi Yoneyama, Kenta Togawa, Claudio Ubeda, Takuya Yamada (Daigo Kobayashi 62), Kentaro Hayashi, Atsuhiro Miura, Daigo Kobayashi (Takeshi Hirano 45), Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Naoto Sakurai, (Nozomu Hiroyama 79), Kazuki Hiramoto (Takayuki Morimoto 88) .

Yosuke Nozawa, An Yeon-Ha, Hikaru Mita, Naoto Matsuo, Motohiro Yamaguchi, Isao Honma, Yoshito Terakawa (Susumu Umeyama 76), Shingo Suzuki, Edmilson, Oseas (Yusaku Ueno 67), Fabinho (Keisuke Kurihara 76) .

Though it is too early to have much meaning, here is the league table after one match. Tokyo Verdy claimed first place thanks to their two-goal victory over Niigata, though it is a fair bet that they will not hold that position for the entire season. premature.

Rumours and Rumblings