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October 13, 2004

Storming Into the Nabisco Cup Finals

1 - 4

And who wouldnt enjoy watching a team like this one. After years of struggling at the lower end of the league table, and countless disappointing matches characterised by valiant disarray and enthusiastic mediocrtity, the Reds have at last achieved something that is starting to approach true brilliance. The team's parent company, Mitsubishi Motors, may not have reaped any visible benefits from their introduction of German engineering, but the Reds are definitely a different story. Those master engineers, Guido Buchwald and Gert Engels, have put together a well-tuned and high-powered fleet of racers that are as fast and as effective as they are flashy. The most impressive thing about their current run is that they have managed to overcome injuries to one key player after another, yet never seem to miss a step. In fact, in our opinion, the tragic injury that put midfield general Koji Yamase out for the remainder of the season has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Though it deprived the team of an excellent set-up man, it also forced Buchwald to adopt the formation that we have been recommending for the Reds since late 2002 -- a 3-4-3 with three speedy strikers -- Emerson , Tatsuya Tanaka and Yuichiro Nagai -- all on the pitch at the same time.

Prior to this match, Grampus coach Nelsinho Baptista Junior was quoted as saying that despite the Reds' huge lead in the race for a league title, the Nabisco Cup was a completely different tournament, in which Grampus, as the home team, would have the advantage, rather than the Reds. But if he truly believed that going into the contest, he quickly learned that it was just wishful thinking. The three Red aces needed about 20 minutes to get their engines into third gear, but once they reached cruising speed, the Grampus defence was left choking on dust.

For the first 20 minutes or so, the two teams each made probing runs which produced no clear-cut scoring chances, but which seemed to put the momentum slightly in Nagoya's favour. However, since they have adopted their three-striker lineup, the Reds have been able to employ a very interesting and effective game plan. The four midfield players come out in what often looks like a flat line, pressuring the ball and trying to force the opponent to hurry passes, while the back three hang back and quickly rush to double-team the strikers once the ball is sent forward into the attack. So long as the opponent maintains a cautious stance and does not give the ball away in dangerous positions, the ebb and flow of the game can seem rather sluggish. But if the opposing midfielders push forward on attack, as soon as the Reds win the ball, they need only one outlet pass to a midfielder to shatter the opposition defence. The three strikers take off on a dash, usually with numbers on their side, and all three have the ability to either outrun their man, or beat them on the dribble. In truth, the only proven way to defend against this awesome attack is to score early and play seven-man defence for the rest of the match.

Sure enough, as innocuous as the Reds seemed over the opening 20 minutes of play, they needed only the slightest of opportunities to put themselves in the lead. In the 26 minute, a defensive steal in midfield and a quick release send Nagai away on a dash down the right wing, with two teammates dashing for goal and only one defender shadowing him down the sideline. Nagai made a breif fake to the inside, then took the ball to the end line and crossed for the far post. Emerson was wide open for a header and as simple as that, the Reds were on their way to victory.

Seven minutes later, Grampus discovered the danger of having to deal with three proven scorers all in the same attack line. After an effort by Emerson to turn the left corner was cleared away, midfielder Keita Suzuki collected the loose ball and sent it back into the box. Two defenders collapsed on Emerson, who was closest to the ball, and two others blanketed the taller and speedier Nagai, who was looking for space at the right post. But this left Tanaka wide open in the middle of the penalty arc. Emerson managed to get a toe on the ball and deflect it towards Tanaka, who wheeled about, waited for the ball to bounce, then drilled a low line drive into the left corner to double the Reds advantage.

Nagoya made two changes at half time, and came out after the break with a hard push, trying to fight their way back into the contest. But the four Reds midfielders responded by returning to their flat zone coverage. Try as they might, the Grampus attack simply could not break through this wall. About ten minutes in, Marques moved to the left wing, and managed to use his speed to produce a few openings down the flank. But while this did produce some of Nagoya's most successful chances of the contest, when Marques crossed the ball to the middle, there were invariably three or four defenders waiting to clear the ball away.

The harder Grampus pushed for a goal, the more space began to open up in their defensive zone, and you could sense that it was just a matter of time before Urawa got a counterattacking chance. Emerson had one or two opportunities to do so on individual runs, but Grampus captain Keiji Kaimoto managed to turn him away, both times. But on the stroke of the hour, he had another opportunity to dash into the clear, just to the right of goal. This time, when the defence cut him off, instead of forcing his shot he backed off and waited for help to arrive. The Grampus defenders clustered in the goal mouth, and managed to head Emerson's cross away from goal. But the ball fell right at the feet of Tanaka, a step inside the box and straight out from the right post. Once again, he drilled the ball on the short hop , sending a low drive into the opposite corner.

By now, the Reds were clearly in charge, and Nagoya began to respond by increasing the intensity of their physical play (for those who need a translation, that is a polite way of saying that they started to beat the stuffing out of the Reds players). With the referee Mr. Matsumura doing his usual "see no evil" act, the chippy play began to intensify. After one particularly nasty challenge, Tomoyuki Sakai had to be carried off the pitch with a minor injury, and for a moment, the Reds seemed to back off from the challenge. In the 32 minute, Nagoya made a push through the middle, and as Naoshi Nakamura slanted across the middle, Alpay Ozalan appeared to back off from what might have been a dangerous collision. Unfortunately this opened up a lane for Nakamura, who cut through the last line of defence and drilled a low shot into the bottom left corner.

But that was the only opportunity that they were going to receive. After yet another collision sent Yuichiro Nagai limping back to the bench, Buchwald began to let Mr. Matsumura know that he had seen enough. Indeed, a sideline microphone caught part of his tirade, and although he may have been shouting in German, it certainly sounded like an Arnold Schwartzenegger-accented version of the "A" word.

Whatever he said, it sure seemed to work. Just a minute later, Tadaaki Hirakawa shrugged off a challenge and broke free down the left sideline, turning the corner and dropping the ball back to Tanaka, at the left junction of the box and the penalty arc. As Tanaka settled the ball, the Grampus defence seemed to hesitate for a second, perhaps trying to anticipate his shot and throw themselves in front of the ball. With the towering Nagoya defenders all frozen in flat-footed anticipation, Tanaka darted towards goal, doing the Saitama Two-Step through the forest of legs and stuffing the ball into the net from point-blank range.

With the win, the Reds ensure themselves of a chance to defend their Nabisco Cup title at National Stadium, on November 3, against the winner of the other semifinal -- a Tokyo derby match -- which will be played on Wednesday evening, October 13.

3 - 4 (ET)

After the Reds romped past Grampus in Monday's semifinal in Nagoya, you could forgive some of the tabloid pundits who began talking as if the Reds had already locked up their second consecurive Nabisco Cup title. In truth, the Reds have been playing awesome football lately. However, if there is any team in the J.League that seems best suited to knock off the Reds, it would have to be FC Tokyo. For one thing, they are the only club that can claim to match up well agains the Reds in terms of speed. In fact, based on their performance over the first 20 minutes afainst Verdy, they might even have a slight edge on Urawa in terms of flat-out, ears-laid-back sprinting ability. Furthermore, their tall and powerful center backs and speedy wings might have a chance of containing the three-striker offence of the Reds. By contrast, Tokyo Verdy have a very experienced, veteran lineup that, like a grizzled old bull terrier, knows how to grit its teeth and hang on to keep matches close, and with Ossie Ardilles at the reins, they also have enough coaching brains behind their tactics to spring a surprise on an unprepared opponent. But these qualities, while they might produce a close match, give them virtually no chance of actually defeating the Reds. As shown in this contest, their defence is not capable of containing a fast, high-powered offence. Once the Reds managed to get a goal, it seems certain that the match would either fizzle out in boring defensive drudgery, or disintegrate into a laughable rout (depending upon whether Verdy tried to get back into the contest, or simply settled for keeping the score respectable).

Thus, for those who enjoy watching fast, furious and offensive-minded football, a matchup between the Reds and FC Tokyo in the cup final is all that you could possibly ask for. And for the first 45 minutes of their semifinal match, FC Tokyo left viewers with little doubt that they were going to claim their ticket to the final. Less than ten minutes in, FC won a corner kick on the left sideline, Yuta Baba crossed to the far post for Lucas Severino , and Lucas headed it back to Jean Carlo Witte at the left post for the short-range header.

A few minutes later, Naohiro Ishikawa demonstrated the speed that FC Tokyo can call upon, dashing 75 meters down the right sideline before cutting back to the middle and feeding a wide-open Lucas, at the junction of the box and penalty arc. Lucas curled a shot around the keeper and into the low right corner. Tokyo seemed to have total control of the momentum, and when a flagrant professional foul by veteran defender Kentaro Hayashi earned him his second yellow card in 25 minutes, it looked like the match was about to turn into a rout.

But at this point, FC Tokyo displayed the one weakness that still keeps them from challenging the Reds as a top contender in the league, and the aspect of their came that they will have to correct if they hope to upset Urawa on November 3. Tokyo, for all their promise and potential, are still a very young and relatively inexperienced team, that does not yet know how to "play like winners". An experienced team would have taken this opportunity as a source of confidence and security, and with the man advantage, would have eased back on the throttle a bit, avoiding mistakes and looking for opportunities to dissect the opponent. But FC Tokyo did just the opposite, cranking the tempo of play up, from a gallop towards the Verdy goal to a wild and uncontrolled scramble from one end of the pitch to the other. While they did produce another goal before half time, even before the break there were signs that FC were losing their composure, and getting a bit too carried away in their efforts to create goals.

Immediately after the second half kickoff, it was apparent that Ardilles had been hatching a comeback strategy during the break. First he made some substitutions to increase the number of veteran players with good instincts and ball control ability. Then, he introduced what might have seemed like a suicidal formation, leafing only two players back deep, and throwing the other seven forward in a "power play" sort of attack, where the back line seeks to feed the ball down the wing, and then everyone runs into the box looking for the cross.

Again, FC showed their inexperience by failing to respond accordingly. Seeing all the space at the opposite end of the pitch, they tried to send long balls forward as soon as they won possession. But the two Verdy defenders were playing loose, looking only to break up the play and prevent a counter, whether it meant dashing onto the ball to clear it over the sideline, or fouling the opposing player as soon as the ball arrived. Though a few quick, short passes and a more controlled counterattack might have shattered this two-man defence, FC continued to launch the long bomb, playing right into Verdy's hands.

Of course, Verdy also needed a bit of luck to come their way, since their offensive tactics were the equivalent of American football's "hail mary pass". Luck was with them, though, and they did a good job of taking advantage. Shortly after the restart, Takahito Soma set the pattern for a strategy that would continue throughout the second half, taking an outlet pass from the defence up the left sideline and, while still about 40 meters out from goal, launching a long ball into the box for his teammates to chase. Kazuki Hiramoto got to the ball first, but was too far out from goal to have a good shot himself Instead, he headed the ball back into the center of the box, in an area of open space, hoping for the best. As luck would have it, teammate Takuya Yamada read the pass perfectly, dashed forward from midfield, and arrived a half-step ahead of the FC Tokyo defenders. His header slipped past the outrushing keeper, and the deficit was narrowed to 1-3.

The pattern continued for another 25 minutes or so before Verdy could create another truly dangerous chance. This time, the long ball into the box was a bit too long, and the FC Tokyo keeper punched it clear. But the ball fell to Takashi Hirano, who collected the loose ball and accelerated into the box, on the left side. His shot was again parried by the keeper, but this time the clearance was even weaker, dropping at the feet of Daigo Kobayashi , just five meters out from the left post. Kobayashi stuffed the ball into the net, and now the lead was just a single goal.

With FC Tokyo beginning to panic, Verdy needed just 65 seconds to pull level. Once again, a long ball into the box got the play started, with Kobayashi settling it niceluy and passing for Hiramoto as he cut across the box from left to right. The defenders all reacted towards Hiramoto, who sent his first touch straight back to Kobayashi, who was suddenly left all by his lonesome self at the penalty spot. A side-footed half-volley leveled the scores and now i was either team's match to win.

But perhaps the equalising goal brought the FC Tokyo players back to their senses. Dispensing with the wild dashes towards goal that they had been attempting for most of the second half, they began to work the ball around and look for a good opportunity, rather than just kicking and running. Predictably, this reversed the momentum, and by the final minutes of injury time, Verdy were clinging precariously to life as FC scoring chances came one after the other.

The ten-minute break before the match moved into extra time was just what coach Hiromi Hara needed to talk some sense into his players. They had a man advantage, were fresher than their opponents, and based on their play in the first half, had all the weapons needed to create goals. If they could stop playing so recklessly, and thus becoming their own worst enemies, they were clearly in the stronger position.

Whatever he said, it seemed to work. FC Tokyo needed just 40 seconds of golden goal extra time in order to finish off the job they had started. Straight from the kickoff, FC won a corner kick on the left side. The ball from Baba was almost identical to the one that produced the first goal of the match, only this time, instead of heading the ball back across the face of goal, Lucas nodded it down, at the far post. The ball slipped just inside the woodwork, and the FCTokyo end of the stadium erupted in wild celebrations, with fans dancing and waving flags while the players biled upon one another in celebration.

If the two semifinal matches are any indication of what is in store, the final match and National Stadium, on November 3, should be a real treat. One thing is certain -- with the two best-supported teams in the Tokyo area going head to head, tickets will be in high demand, and a sellout crowd a near certainty. The Rising Sun News could not have written a better scenario if we tried!