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August 22, 2004

J.League Eclipsed by Golds

Lets start by looking at the scores of this week's matches.

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
29 Aug		3-2		Saitama Stadium
29 Aug		3-4		Kobe Wing Stadium
29 Aug		0-1		Kashima Stadium
29 Aug		2-2		Kashiwa-no-ha Std.
29 Aug		0-1		Tokyo Nat'l Stadium
29 Aug		0-1		Nihondaira Stadium
29 Aug		2-1		Mizuho Stadium
29 Aug		1-2		Nagai Stadium

2 - 1

In a contest that looked evenly matched until an unfortunate mishap just after half time, Yokohama took the early lead. Yuji Nakazawa showed his excellent two-way abilities by surging out of defence and starting a break, then feeding the ball to Dutra, on the left edge of the box. Dutra immedialtely lobbed a pass for the near post And Tatsuhiko Kubo, making his first start since injury sidelined him, in early June, made a nice trap and quick toe-shot that snuck inside the left post before the keeper could react.

But just moments later, Grampus restored the deadlock on an opportunistic play by Marques. The Brazilian striker carried the ball down the left side, and when he neared the top of the penalty area, tried to chip the ball in for Yusuke Nakatani. However, the ball took a deflection and richocheted off three players before bounding back out to Marques, who collected the loose ball and spotted an opening in the defence. With two quick steps he accelerated to the junction of the box and the left edge of the penalty arc, and curled a shot into the top right corner, bringing Grampus level once more.

Both teams battled for the go-ahead goal throughout the remaining 30 minutes of the first half, but hard physical contact and tight defending on both ends kept the score deadlocked at the break. But just a minute after the restart, Nagoya got a big break (and Yokohama a big blow) when Kubo lost his composure and reacted to the abundant physical contact he was receiving by running full-tilt into Keiji Yoshimura , long after the midfielder had released the ball. For a player who already had one yellow card, this was a dangerous act, and he paid the full price as the referee pulled out the plastic rectangles and sent him to the showers.

THough the Marinos continued to battle on, the loss of Kubo virtually eliminated their offensive pressure, and they spend the rest of the match defending. Though the disparity in possession and momentum was not that great, it was Grampus who had all the truly dangerous scoring chances. In the 65 minute, the Marinos defence finally cracked, as brilliant combination work by Nagoya's three Brazilians produced the winning goal. Marques once again got the play started with penetration on the left wing. His high ball for Ueslei at the far post was a bit behind the ace striker, but he managed to head the ball back across the face of goal to Claiton dos Santos, who spn quickly and stuffed the ball into the low left corner.

Lineups:

Seigo Narazaki, Yusuke Igawa (Makoto Kakuda 71), Yutaka Akita, Masahiro Koga, Kojiro Kaimoto, Keiji Yoshimura, Claiton dos Santos, Yusuke Nakatani (Kei Yamaguchi 75), Naoshi Nakamura (Teruo Iwamoto 89), Ueslei , Marques .

Tatsuya Enomoto, Eisuke Nakanishi (Yoo Sang-Chul 68), Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Hayuma Tanaka (Yukihiko Sato 80), Yoshiharu Ueno, Daisuke Nasu, Dutra, Daisuke Oku (Daisuke Sakata 68), , Ahn Jung-Hwan, Tatsuhiko Kubo .

3 - 2

This contest would be affected from start to finish by a steady downpourl, but the amazing Saitama fans seemed oblivious to the weather, as over 40,000 Red Army veterans stood and cheered their team on throughout the contest. Urawa came out at a blistering pace, using their speed to keep Jubilo pinned into their own end for almost the entire first half. Fifteen minutes into the contest, as Emerson got the scoring started with a typical pell-mell run. Keita Suzuki got the break started with a quick outlet pass to Yuichiro Nagai , just on the Jubilo side of midfield. Nagai used just one touch to send a long ball into space, and Emerson exploded past the defence to collect the ball on the right verge of the penalty area and calmly beat the keeper into the opposite side of the net.

On the half hour, the Reds extended their lead on a slightly flukish play. Urawa won a corner kick which was cleared by the defence to Nobuhisa Yamada , about five meters outside the area. With the defence dashing out at him, Yamada rushed his shot, and sent a sky ball at least 30 meters into the air. But as most of the players stopped and watched the flight of the ball, Marcus Tulio Tanaka realised that the trajectory would not take it over the end line, and the keeper would have to field the ball. Dashing in qwuickly, Tulio put enough pressure on keeper Yohei Sato to get him to take his eye off the ball for an instant. Though Tulio pulled up before colliding with Sato, he had done enough to distract the keeper, and the slippery ball skidded between Sato's fingers and the crossbar, giving Urawa a two-goal cushion

But the Reds had a let-down just before half time, as they did last week, and allowed Jubilo to climb back into the match. With less than a minute to go before the break, two defenders went high for a lob into the box, collided with one another, and knocked the ball right at the feet of Ryoichi Maeda, who stuffed the ball into the net before anyone could react.

Despite this setback, the Reds really should have put this match away withiun the first 20 minutes of the second half, Both Nagai and Emerson missed wide-open shots from point-blank range, and if not for a combination of poor finishing and excellent work in net by the Jubilo keeper, Urawa would have been up by at least three goals at the hour mark. Yet despite Jubilo's fading form and fitness, there are a few things that the team has not lost -- a veteran's ability to exploit misakes by the opponent, and a tremendous accumulation of gamesmanship skill. As the match entered its final half hour, Jubilo began to use every trick in the book to try to equalise. Though the Reds still seemed to have the edge, Jubilo used its superior experience to slowly creep back into contention. But the effort very nearly backfired before paying off. In the 79 minute, Nagai broke free on the left side and began dashing down the sideline, with just one man to beat. Taking no chances, Takashi Fukunishi came in with a wicked elbow and decked the Reds striker before he could break into the clear. The referee, Toshimitsu Yoshida, is well known for allowing Jubilo players to get away with such antics, but unfortunately for Jubilo, the incident happened directly in front of the Reds bench, and just a meter or two away from coach Guido Buchwald. When the referee failed to take immediate action, Buchwald went into a rage, first striding towards Takashi Kuwabara with fists clenched (the Jubilo coach beat a hasty retreat to the safety of his own bench), then walking out onto the pitch with the apparent intention of putting the smack-down on Fukunishi himself. Sensing that there was only one way to calm things down, Mr. Yoshida held a quick conference with his linesman, then presented Fukunishi with a ticket to the showers.

But the Reds failed to take advantage of this incident by pressing home their superior numbers. On the contrary, it was Jubilo which seemed to be energised, and just a few minutes later, Norihiro Nishi collected a heel pass from Toshiya Fujita at the edge of the box and drilled a looping shot into the high left corner.

With time running down, it looked like Jubilo would steal a point, whether deserved or not. But the match would end on the most dramatic play of the evening. With three minutes of injury time already played, and the Reds throwing themselves forward in vain, searching for the winning goal, midfielder Makoto Hasebe collected a pass about 35 meters from goal, and put on a sudden burst of speed, surprising the defenders who had been waiting for an inlet pass to Emerson or Nagai. With a weaving, actrobatic run, Hasebe flashed through the Jubilo back line and took the ball to the left post, pulling his narrow-angle shot on goal at the last possible instant, and looping it over the keeper to give the Reds victory. Saitama stadium exploded in celebration, as the 40,000 soaking-wet fans celebrated a stunning win, which puts the team firmply in first place at the top of the league table

Lineups:

Ryota Tsuzuki, Ozalan Alpay, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe, Alex Santos (Tatsuya Tanaka 86), Koji Yamase, Keita Suzuki, Yuichiro Nagai, Emerson .

Yohei Sato, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Naoya Kikuchi, Takashi Fukunishi, Toshihiro Hattori, Norihiro Nishi (Nobuo Kawaguchi 89), Toshiya Fujita, Hiroshi Nanami, Ryoichi Maeda (Robert Cullen 78), Rodrigo Gral (Masashi Nakayama 70).

0 - 1

FC Tokyo were back to something that approached full strength for the first time in months, as their Olympic contingent returned to action at last. Only Naohiro Ishikawa, who is nursing a sore hamstring, was still absent from the list of available players. Not surprisingly, this allowed FC Tokyo to control the tempo and possession for most of the contest, though Verdy did a much more effective job on defence than they did last week, against the Reds, and managed to stave off a goal until late in the match. The crucial strike finally came just two minutes from full time, on a brilliant shot by young Yohei Kajiyama. Entering the match with just ten minutes left, Kajiyama put on a fine and energetic show in midfield, and was a positive surpsrise even before he got his name on the score sheet . With time running down, Lucas Severino fed Kajiyama just beyond the penalty arc, and as he and two other FC Tokyo attackers ran into the box, the Verdy defence backed away,giving Kajiyama plenty of space. Seeing the opening, the U-19 prospect launched a a long, curling drive from about 30 meters, which snuck into the top left corner while the retreating keeper waved at it in vain. The strike gave FC Tokyo their first win in the second stage

Lineups:

Yoshinari Takagi, Takushi Yoneyama, Kenta Togawa, Claudio Ubeda, Takuya Yamada, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsuhiro Miura, Daigo Kobayashi (Takeshi Hirano 64), Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Naoto Sakurai, Kazuki Hiramoto (Takayuki Morimoto 58) .

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Teruaki Moniwa, Jean Carlo Witte, Jo Kanazawa, Yasuyuki Konno, Fumitake Miura (Yohei Kajiyama 81), , Ryoichi Kurisawa (Yoshiro Abe 54), Clesley "Kelly" Guimares, Yuta Baba (Yusuke Kondo 71), Lucas Severino .

With three matches in the books, the only two teams that are still undefeated are Urawa Reds and Gamba Osaka, neither of which has ever won a J.League stage. JEF United Ichihara, another team with no silverware in its trophy cabinet, stands third, a point ahead of the first stage champion Yokohama Marinos. Although it is still very early in the season, the performances of the "upstart" teams -- the Reds, in particular -- are raising eyebrows, and there is a good chance that this stage could see a new team crowned champions.

Rumours and Rumblings