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November 7, 2004

The Final Step is the Toughest

Meanwhile, if Gamba Osaka is discouraged by the huge odds against a comeback stage championship, they certainly do not show it. This weekend they obliterated Albirex Niigata, and thus prolonged the title race for at least another week. JEF United, on the other hand, slipped out of contention with a narrow loss to first-stage champions Yokohama Marinos. Other teams may be out of contention for a league title, but the impressive performances of clubs like Tokyo Verdy and Nagoya Grampus, among others, suggest that the year-ending Emperor's Cup tournament could provide some surprises.

Lets take a look at the scores of this week's matches.

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
6 Nov		2-1		Saitama Stadium
6 Nov		0-2		Kashiwa-no-ha Std.
6 Nov		1-1		Ajinomoto Stadium
6 Nov		2-1		Yokohama Int'l
6 Nov		2-1		Mizuho Stadium
6 Nov		6-3		"Banpaku" Stadium
7 Nov		2-2		Yamaha (Iwata) St.
7 Nov		2-1		Kobe Wing Stadium

2 - 1

Though most people were expecting the Reds to be a bit worn out after playing 120 minutes on Wednesday afternoon, they also probably assumed that even a tired Reds team would be able to notch three points against an opponent the likes of Shimizu S-Pulse, who are currently on a three-match losing streak and stand 14th in the league. However, the job turned out to be a bit more difficult than expected. For one thing, the Reds seemed to be a bit TOO eager to bounce back from their loss, and may have been trying a bit too hard, at least in the first half. The worst offender may have been Emerson, who has always had a tendency to try to do a bit too much by himself. Although he has been working hard to develop better cooperation with his teammates for most of the second stage, in this match he blew a number of promising opportunities by trying to make a brilliant individual play, rather than passing off when a teammate was in a better position. But Emerson should not be singled out too harshly, since most of his teammates were guilty of the same sins.

S-Pulse, meanwhile, are a shadow of the team they were four or five years ago, but many of the starting members are former national team players, and they still know how to "rise to the occasion. In this contest, they looked completely outmatched, yet played smart football, defending well and forcing the Reds to work for their goals. Since the Urawa players seemed too impatient to make the extra pass, this tenacious defending was enough to keep the Reds off the scoreboard.

Even so, the huge disparity in scoring opportunities might have demoralised S-Pulse a lot sooner if not for a very fortunate break, midway through the first half. Following an extended spell of offensive presure by the Reds, the S-Pulse defence won possession and sent a long outlet to Kohei Hiramatsu at midfield. Hiramatsu fed the ball to Keisuke Ota on the right wing, and with an unexpected burst of acceleration, Ota was able to turn his defender and dash into the clear, at the left edge of the box. Ota fired a low, hard pass for Hideaki Kitajima , cutting towards the near post, and Kitajima made just enough contact to send the ball bounding just beyond the reach of the keeper, and into the far side of the net. Though this was S-Pulse's only shot on goal in the entire first half, it proved to be crucial, giving S-Pulse a boost in confidence that carried them through the end of the first half.

Having failed to find the net for over 160 minutes, the Reds came out with ferocious pressure in the second half, looking for the equaliser. Unfortunately, as noted before, they seemed to be trying just a bit TOO hard, often squandering useful opportunities by rushing their attacks. But in the 68 minute, the Reds got a break of their own, which finally broke the tension and changed the course of the match. Makoto Hasebe penetrated the right wing, and (as was typical in the match) tried to continue too far on his own, rather than drop the ball for any of the three teammatees at the top of the box. But as a defender pried the ball loose. Hasebe made one last stab at it and sent the ball spinning out to Tomoyuki Sakai, about 30 meters out from goal but with not a single S-Pulse player in shouting distance. Sakai ran onto the ball and sent a blistering drive towards net. As iot whistled through the pack of players in front of goal, it took a slight deflection off a defender, completely wrong-footing the goalkeeper and allowing the shot to sneak inside the right post.

Once the tension was broken, the Reds began to pile on the pressure, and were a bit unlycky not to take the lead almost immediately. After two or three more close calls, the Reds finally got the job done on a free kick from the left side. Alex Santos sent a long ball to the top far corner of the penalty box, catchng most of the S-Pulse players too close to their own net. Rookie Takuya Yokoyama headed the ball down and towards the right corner, but the shot was a bit weak and it looked like the keeper would smother it. But Marcus Tulio Tanaka lunged into the play, reaching the ball a half-step ahead of the keeper, then spun around and toed it inside the post.

Although this match may have been a bit closer than the Reds or their fans would have liked, it earned them three points all the same. This puts them in a dominant position, needing just one more win, or even a draw combined with a draw by Gamba Osaka, in their last three matches to clinch the second stage championship.

Lineups:

Ryota Tsuzuki, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Hideki Uchidate, Fabio "Nene" de Brito, Alex Santos, Tomoyuki Sakai, Nobuhisa Yamada (Takuya Yokoyama 80), Makoto Hasebe, Yuichiro Nagai (Masayuki Okano 62), Tatsuya Tanaka, Emerson .

Yohei Nishibe, Ryuzo Morioka, Toshihide Saito, Shohei Ikeda, Keisuke Ota, Teruyoshi Ito, Kazuyuki Toda, Jumpei Takaki (Masaaki Sawanobori 75), Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Kota Sugiyama 45), Kohei Hiramatsu (Araujo 75), Hideaki Kitajima .

6 - 3

Fifteen minutes later, Gamba doubled their advantage when Takahiro Futagawa sent a slant pass to Endo as he dashed across the top of the box from left to right. Endo spotted an opening, and launched a curling shot that sailed in to the top far corner, just over the fingertips of the goalkeeper. Endo was involved again as Gamba extended their lead just before the half time break, settling a hard inlet pass from Kota Yoshihara , at the top left corner of the box. Endo's trap laid the ball softly at the feet of Fernandinho, who took two quick steps into space and fired the ball into the low left corner.

As the two teams came out for the start of the second half, Albirex coach Yasuharu Sorimachi declared, in what sounded like alse bravado, that if Gamba were able to score three goals in the first half, he was confident his own team could score three in the second half. As it turned out, these words were prophetic, though they failed to take into account what Gamba might do in response. Just two minutes after the break, Oseas collected a long pass deep into Gamba territory, and when his defender lost his footing, found himself all alone on the Gamba end line, about five meters to the right of the right post. However, the keeper quickly blocked any shot Oseas might have had, so instead, he waited patiently for help to arrive. Fabinho was the first to arrive, trailing the play, and following a crisp pass from Oseas, walked the ball into the net at the far post.

But Gamba needed less than five minutes to respond. This time the assist went to Futagawa, who made a very nice cut into the box on the left side, shredding the defence then centered to a wide-open Masashi Oguro , a step beyond the penalty spot. Oguro side-footed the ball into the low right corner and Gamba's three-goal lead was restored. Just moments later, another long pass shredded the Niigata defence again, this time on the right side of the box. Hideo Hashimoto centered the ball with a header, and once more Oguro had an open volley from just beyond the penalty spot. This time he sent his shot into the top right corner, and Gamba's lead grew to four goals.

Niigata fought back with a nice individual dribbling run and quick release by Fabinho, but Oguro was on a streak by this time, and ten minutes later he completed his hat trick with a slanting run into the box and a hard low shot that bounded off the keeper's glove and spun into the net.

Niigata closed out the scoring a few minutes later as Fabinho took what looked like a long, desperate shot from the left of the box and Shingo Suzuki lashed out a boot to deflect it into the net. But by this point, the match was well out of reach, and Gamba simply stalled for the final fifteen minutes waiting for the clock to expire. The win keeps Gamba's hopes alive for another week, but they will need to win all three of their remaining matches to even have a mathematical chance of overtaking Urawa. Then again, given the way they have been playing recently, there is a good chance they will hold up their own end of the equation.

Lineups:

Naoki Matsuyo, Satoru Yamaguchi, Sidiclei, Noritada Saneyoshi, Toru Irie, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Yasuhito Endo (Kota Yoshihara 85), Hideo Hashimoto (Satoshi Nakayama 85), Takahiro Futagawa, Fernandinho (Shigeru Morioka 85),, Masashi Oguro .

Koichi Kidera, Yoshiaki Maruyama, Yasushi Kita, Naoto Matsuo, Isao Honma, Motohiro Yamaguchi (An Yeon-Ha 64), Osamu Umeyama (Kentaro Suzuki 74), Shingo Suzuki, Edmilson, Oseas (Yusaku Ueno 64), Fabinho .

2 - 1

Yokohama were buoyed by an early goal that seemed to catch JEF 's defence before they had fully settled down. In the 9 minute, Ahn Jung-Hwan carried the ball up the right side, and while still about three steps above the top of the box, sent a low line drive towards the near post. Norihisa Shimizu read the pass perfectly, ran onto the ball, and connected with it on the short-hop right between two defenders. The ball spun just inside the right post and Yokohama were off to the early lead.

The two teams traded thrusts and parries for the remainder of the first half, and though the Marinos had the slight edge in scoring chances, JEF began to pick up the pace as half time approached. The Marinos held on to take a 1-0 lead into the locker oom, at half time, but just moments after the restart, JEF won a free kick about 35 meters out, directly in front of goal. Yuki Abe took the kick and sent a powerful curling drive just over the wall. The keeper seemed to have plenty of time to react, but he misjudged the spin as the ball took a wicked hook to the left. The drive managed to just elude the keeper's fingertips as it snuck into the low left corner, restoring the two teams to parity.

As the match wound down towards full time, the Marinos brought in Daisuke Sakata, who has been playing extremely well in recent matches but who started on the bench in order to rest some minor injuries. Just minutes after coming on as a substitute, Sakata collected an overlap pass from Ahn and quickly released a low-angle shot. The shot bounded off the right post and ricocheted into the net, giving Yokohama the victory.

Lineups:

Tatsuya Enomoto, Yuzo Kurihara, Naoki Matsuda, Yuji Nakazawa, Hayuma Tanaka, Akihiro Endo, Masahiro Ohashi, Yoo Sang-Chul (Nobuki Hara 29) (Daisuke Sakata 70), Daisuke Oku, Norihisa Shimizu, Ahn Jung-Hwan (Sotaro Yasunaga 88) .
Lineups:

Ryo Kushino, Yuki Mizumoto, Zeljko Milinovic, Mitsuki Ichihara, Koki Mizuno (Takashi Rakuyama 45), Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Shinji Murai, Naoto Hanyu (Yuichi Yoda 34), Seiichiro Maki (Koji Nakashima 89) .

1 - 1

After the two teams had played each other to a standstill for 80 minutes (and not even a very entertaining standstill), the pace of play picked up over the final ten minutes as both teams made a late bid to claim some points. In the 82 minute, Yoshiro Abe and Lucas Severino -- both of whom had come on as second-half substitures -- combined to put Tokyo in front. Abe used his speed to beat his defender down the right sideline, then crossed for the near post. Lucas put on a spurt of acceleration and arrived just ahead of the keeper, flicking the ball into the short side of the net to give Tokyo what looked like the winning goal.

But with three minutes left on the clock, Oita put together a very similar play that levelled the score and earned them a point. Magno Alves provided the speed, with a dash down the right sideline, and his centering pass found Daiki Takamatsu inside the penalty arc for a scooping shot that beat the keeper into the top right corner.

Lineups:

Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Ryuji Masushima, Ryuji Fujiyama, Jo Kanazawa, Yuta Baba (Yoshiro Abe 70), Yasuyuki Konno, Masashi Miyazawa (Yohei Kajiyama 61), Norio Suzuki, Mitsuhiro Toda, Yusuke Kondo (Lucas Severino 50) .

Riki Takasaki, Koji Arimura Sandro Chavez Rosa, Takashi Miki, Taku Harada, Takashi Umeda, Koji Yoshimura (Haruki Seto 73), Tomoaki Komorida (Shota Matsuhashi 84), Takayuki Yoshida, Magno Alves, Teppei Nishiyama (Daiki Takamatsu 61) .

0 - 2

Morimoto very nearly hit the net just moments after the opening kickoff, timing his run perfectly to beat the offsides trap and collect a long pass from Daigo Kobayashi. Morimoto shredded the Reysol defence and had only the keeper to beat, but he let the ball get a bit too far in front of him on his first touch, and keeper Yuta Minami was able to pounce and smother the ball, leaving Morimoto to shake his head in despair.

However, in the 12 minute, the tables were reversed, after Minami was unable to hang on to a low, hard shot from Naoto Sakurai, and spilled the ball forward. Morimoto pounced quickly, chipping the ball past Minami and into the low left corner.

In the 25 minute Morimoto doubled Verdy's lead on a play very similar to the one he had at the start of the contest. Once again, a well-timed run by Morimoto and a lead pass from midfield allowed thge speedy youngster to slip into the clear. This time he kept the ball close to his feet, faked Minami to the ground, and tucked the ball into an open net.

Unfortunately, it looks like Morimoto still needs to work on his stamina. His contributions faded as the first half wore on, and by the 58 minute Ossie decided he was in need of a rest. Nevertheless, his two early goals stood up over the remainder of the match and Verdy claimed a 2-0 victory. Naturally, some will point out that the opponent, Reysol, is not particularly well known for their defensive prowess, this season. Nevertheless, the youngster has collected three goals in his last two appearances and seems to be quickly progressing to the level where he may be able to play at least one half, every week. Assuming that the Verdy trainers work with him on his physical conditioning through the off-season, by next year the "remarkable rookie" may well be blossoming into J.League stardom.

Lineups:

Yuta Minami, Yasuhiro Hato, Ever Palacios, Mitsuru Nagata, Naoya Kondo, Hidekazu Otani (Yuzo Kobayashi 66),, Tomokazu Myojin, Ze Roberto (Tomonori Hirayama 45), Harutaka Ono, Toshiaki Haji (Tatsuya Tanizawa 57), Keiji Tamada .

Yoshinari Takagi, Lee Gun-Chol (Masayuki Yanagisawa 83), Claudio Ubeda, Atsuhiro Miura, Kentaro Hayashi, Takuya Yamada, Daigo Kobayashi, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Takeshi Hirano (Kazunori Iio 78), Naoto Sakurai, Takayuki Morimoto (Hugo 58) .

2 - 1

Of the two teams, however, Grampus probably have the better chance of rescuing their coach's job if they can finish with a string of victories. Though it is a matter of opinion whether or not this would be a good thing, the team did provide Nelsinho with some comfort by capturing three points this weekend.

Grampus got off to a quick start, taking the lead in the 7 minute. Naoshi Nakamura, who has been one of the few favourable surprises for Grampus fans this year, got the play started with a quick dash down the right flank. As he approached the right edge of the box, he feinted to the middle to draw the defenders a bit closer, then dropped the ball back to Marques, who was trailing the play. Marques used his firt touch to create a slightly better angle on net, then drilled a low shot into right corner.

Just five minutes later, Grampus doubled their lead on a corner kick from the right side. Yusuke Igawa took the kick, sending a short line drive for the near edge of the box. Marques headed the ball on for the far post, and Ueslei slipped in the back door to tuck it home.

But after this explosive start, Grampus' momentum seemed to stall, and for most of the remaining 75 minutes they seemed to be just protecting their lead. Just before the half, Sanfrecce pulled one goal back on a long clearance and quick counterattack. Kota Hattori dashed about forty meters to catch up with the towering clearance pass down the left sideline, cut toward the box and then pulled up suddenly to let a retreating defender stumble past. This gave Hattori enough time to wait for his teammates to catch up, and his low cross in front of the net was headed home by Susumu Oki , outracing the Grampus defence to finish off the break.

Sanfrecce pushed hard for the equaliser in the second half, and came very close to succeeding on two or three occasions. But Ri Han-Jae squandered a wide-open counterattack, after being sent away for a one-on-one with the keeper, sending his shot off the left post, and with time running down, Hattori blew another wide-open shot from six meters, pulling hit to the left of the post. Grampus claimed the victory, though their second-half performance was not nearly as encouraging as one might have expected after the opening burst of scoring.

Seigo Narazaki, Yusuke Igawa (Yasunari Fujita 45), Yutaka Akita, Masayuki Omori, Makoto Kakuda, Keiji Yoshimura, Claiton dos Santos, Yusuke Nakatani, Naoshi Nakamura (Yohei Tomita 86), Ueslei (Kiyohiro Hirabayashi 78), Marques .

Takashi Shimoda, Ricardo Ribeiro, Norio Omura, Mitsuyuki Yoshihiro, Yuichi Komano, Ri Han-Jae (Shunsuke Maeda 76), Kazuyuki Morisaki, Kota Hattori, Susumu Oki, Kohei Morita (Genki Nakayama 72), Koji Morisaki .

2 - 1

Nevertheless, this week Vissel faced an opponent that was ripe for defeat. The Kashima Antlers have had their troubles over the course of this season, yet as recent matches against the Urawa Reds and Yokohama Marinos have show, they remain a competitive team that can cause trouble for even the league's best. But the Antlers may actually face more serious problems than their current record suggests. As we have noted several times in the past, the team would actually be a top contender if they only had a striker who could find the net. Superficially, at least, that might suggest that the Antlers need only to find one or two top-level offensive players next season, and they could once again be in the running for a championship.

Unfortunately, as this match showed, that may be an overoptimistic assessment. The main thing that has been holding the Antlers together for the past year is the quiet, workmanlike and frequently underappreciated performance of midield general Mitsuo Ogasawara, and to a lesser extent, the good vision and fine offensive instincts of his midfield partner Masashi Motoyama. Both of these players were unavailable for the match against Kobe, which is probably for the best since they will be preparing for this week's World Cup qualifier against Singapore. While this gave some of the reserves a chance to get playing time, the overall team performance demonstrated quite clearly that, without Ogasawara and Motoyama, the Antlers are a very mediocre team indeed.

As noted before, this match was even duller than the score line suggests. Two of the three goals came on penalty kicks, and three PKs were awarded over the course of the match. To make matters worse, the only one that looked even marginally justified was the one that did NOT result in a goal. Head referee Joji Kashiwahara, who has a well-deserved reputation for blowing his whistle at the slightest provocation, was in rare form this week. None of his calls were so atrociously bad that they deserve treatment in our "Fray of the Day" section. However, over the course of the contest, his consistent tendency to overreact in his calls turned what would have been a sloppy and sluggish contest into an even sloppier and more sluggish spectacle that was almost painful to watch.

In addition to the three PKs he awarded, Mr. Kashiwahara also sent off Marcelo "Baron" Polanczyk late in the first half, though neither of his two yellow card offences seemed to be severe enough to warrant a booking. Several Kobe players also found themselves in the book for very innoccuous-looking fouls. However, the worst call of the Aftrenoon may have been a play midway through the second half, in which Ryuji Bando intercepted an Antlers pass and broke for goal with only one defender back. The defender, Seiji Kaneko, seized Bando by the shirt and tried to pull him off the ball, but Bando fought through it, broke free, and was about to take off again for a one-on-one attempt against the keeper when Mr. Kashiwahara's whistles suddenly sounded to stop play. Bando was beside himself with frustration, but as he angrily demanded to know why he had not been allowed to play on, Mr. Kashiwahara had the gall to tap his pocket and warn Bando that any further argument would earn him a yellow card.

. . . . yep, thats the sort of game it was. Vissel took the early lead on a nice bit of hustle by Bando and a slant pass to a wide-open Kazuyoshi Miura, who tapped the ball into an open net. But less than a minute after taking the lead, Vissel found themselve defending desperately against an Antlers power-play. Baron's shot was blocked by the keeper, but as he reacted to the rebound, Masaki Fukai lost his footing and fell flat on his face directly in front of goal. It certainly did not look like a Vissel foul, nor a dive, for that matter. It appeared that Fukai simply tried to pivot toward the ball too quickly, and couldnt get his feet underneath him. But Mr. Kashiwahara pointed to the spot and the Antlers were back on level terms.

In the second half, though, Vissel got a gift of their own, as Bando tried to fight through a challenge just outside the box. His defender Daiki Iwamasa clearly had a handful of shirt, and the foul was unmistakeable, but Iwamasa let go just before Bando reached the box, wary of conceding a PK. Bando chose that very moment to collapse to the ground and Mr. Kashiwahara, obligingly, awarded the PK rather than a free kick ouside the box (which replays clearly indicate was the correct call).

Only two minutes later, the whistle-loving referee was at it again, though this time there might have been cause. Fukai chased after a long ball into the deep left corner of the box, reaching it a half-step ahead of Vissel keeper Makoto Kakegawa , whose dive for the ball came up just short. Fukai stumbled over Kakegawa's body and fell to the turf, earning a PK. Although this was the closest thing to a "real' PK in the entire match, the contact was minimal enough that many officials (though not Mr. Kashiwahara) would have simply waved play on. Fortunately for Kobe, veteran Naoki Honda shanked his PK just wide of the post, leaving Kobe with a one-goal advantage. This score held up for the final 30 minutes and Kobe emerged with the victory.

Lineups:

Makoto Kakegawa, Park Kang-Jo, Kazumichiu Takagi, Shusuke Tsubouchi, Roger, Tomo Sugawara, Ryuhei Tamba, Mitsunori Yabuta, Pavel Horvath, Ryuji Bando, Kazuyoshi Miura (Naoya Saeki 80) .

Hitoshi Sogahata, Takeshi Aoki, Daiki Iwamasa, Seiji Kaneko (Tatsuya Ishikawa 71), Toru Araiba, Naoto Honda (Tomohiko Ikeuchi 65), Koji Nakata, Fernando, Chikashi Masuda (Yuki Nakashima 65), Masaki Fukai, Marcelo "Baron" Polanczyck .

2 - 2

Cerezo came into this match at a disadvantage, since their ace striker Yoshito Okubo was sitting out a one match suspension for the red card that he earned in the contest against the Urawa Reds, last week. However, Cerezo may have to get used to playing without Okubo, if recent rumours are to be believed. At midweek, seveal sports tabloids published stories regarding a possible move to Spain"s Mallorca, beginning in January. In response to the rumours, both Okubo and Cerezo confirmed that they were indeed talking to Mallorca and "several other clubs as well", but apparently nothing firm has been decided just yet.

In Okubo's absence, veteran Akinori Nishizawa took over the attacking duties, but his main role in this contest was as a decoy, while some of Cerezo's youngsters stepped up and provided the goal-scoring. In the 31 minute, U-20 midfielder Takuya Kokeguchi made a fine penetration move down the left side and sent a looping cross towards goal. Nishizawa was unmarked and made a run at the ball, forcing the Jubilo keeper to stay on his line and try to anticipate the direction of the header. But the ball ended up sailing over Nishizawa's head entirely, and dropping into the far corner of the net while the keeper could only watch in agony.

It looked like Cerezo would carry their one goal lead in at half time, but just moments before the end of regular time, Jubilo won a free kick on the right sideline and Hiroshi Nanami placed his kick onto the head of Fukunishi, one step in from the penalty spot, for a short-range header.

In the second half, Cerezo took the initiative once again, and after several close calls, they finally got the payoff fifteen minutes from full time, on a free kick. Tadaaki Tokushige took the kick from about five meters beyond the top left corner of the box.. Once again, Nishizawa played a decoy role, cutting for the penalty spot while Tokushige's kick curled to the short side, bounced just inside the near post and slipped into the netting.

But once again, just as it looked like Cerezo would carry their lead into the locker room, Jubilo struck back on a set play. This time the goal came on a corner kick from the left side. Once again it was Nanami who served up the looping line drive, and Fukunishi who found open airspace directly in front of goal for a leaping header. The result was a disappointment for both teams, though it probably comes as a more severe blow to Cerezo, who now need to collect three points more than Kashiwa Reysol, over the final three matches, if they hope to avoid relegation.

Lineups:

Fumiya Iwamaru, Hideto Suzuki, Makoto Tanaka, Toshihiro Hattori, Yoshiaki Ota (Sho Naruoka 76), Takashi Fukunishi, Takahiro Kawamura, Toshiya Fujita, Hiroshi Nanami, Ryoichi Maeda (Yasumasa Nishino 70), , Rodrigo Gral (Naoya Kikuchi 81).

Tomohiko Ito, Takahito Chiba, Hiroshige Yanagimoto Tomi Shimomura, Takanori Nunobe, Kiyokazu Kudo, Noriyuki Sakemoto, Takuya Kokeguchi, Hiroaki Morishima (Tadaaki Tokushige 60) Tatsuya Furuhashi, Akinori Nishizawa .

1 - 3

Albirex received planty of support from both local fans and Tokyo-area admirers in their makeup match against Kashiwa Reysol. A large contingent was bussed in from distant Niigata, with well-wishers paying the transport costs, and a fair number of locals turned out as well considering that the contest was held on a relatively cool Wednesday evening.

Unfortunately for Albirex, the opponent, Kashiwa Reysol, is one of the few teams still playing for meaningful stakes as the season winds down. Reysol came into this match needing a win, plus at least four points in their final three contests, to ensure themselves of avoiding a relegation playoff. Reysol have had a difficult season all round, but we have seen some indications, over the past month or so, that they may finally be putting the pieces together. The acquisition of central defender and former Columbian NT star Ever Palacios has made an enourmous impact, solidifying the defence and allowing the team's relatively young midfield to concentrate more on producing goals, rather than preventing them. Reysol also got a break with an early strike by Yasuhiro Hato, in the 5 minute. This forced Albires to take the attacking initiative, which does not really suit them. Both Reysol and Albirex function best when they are looking to counterattack. Forced to generate offence against a Reysol "prevent" defence, Albirex sputtered, while Reysol were able to add two more goals, ten minutes on either side of half time.

Over the final 20 minutes, Albirex finally began to produce some scoring chances, but it was far too late. Fabinho did produce a consolation goal for the fans who came down from Niigata, but Reysol hung on for the win.

0 - 4

Following the two makeup contests, all teams have now played the same number of matches. As we noted earlier, the big picture has not changed much as a result of these contests except for Reysol, who move a bit further off the bottom. Grampus added three points to their second-stage total, but moved up only one position in the standings. As the league takes a break for Japan's final WC2006 qualifier, and the fourth round of the Emperor's Cup over this weekend, the league table looks like this:

Emperor's Cup, Fourth Round Brings Surprises

But another amatuer JFL team did manage to progress to the next round. After upsetting Kashiwa Reysol by a 1-0 score line, Gunma Horikoshi become the first non-pro team to reach the round of 16 since 1998, when the J2 was formed. One other significant upset, on Saturday, was Omiya Ardija's 1-0 triumph over Shimizu S-Pulse at S-Pulse's home stadium, Nihondaira. The J2 club are currently just two points from clinching promotion to J1 next season, while S-Pulse are strugling at the bottom end of the table in the J1. Nevertheless, the upset left S-Pulse's home fans in a bit of a tiff, as they booed their team during the obligatory bows to the fans at the end of the match.

On Sunday, another JFL club -- Thespa Kusatsu -- knocked off Cerezo Osaka to become the second amateur club this year to reach the round of 16. Albirex Niigata, Vissel Kobe and Sanfrecce Hiroshima all lost their matches against J2 competition. BUt perhaps the biggest upset of the weekend took place at Muroran Stadium, where Consadole Sapporo, who currently stand dead last in the J2, knocked off J1 contender JEF United Ichihara. The result is a very intresting lineup for the round of 16, which will be played on December 12. It will be very interesting to see if any of the underdogs can progress further, though with no less than seven teams from outside the J1 taking part, there is probably a good chance of at least one Cinderella story progressing to yet another chapter.

Below are the results of the weekend's matches, as well as the full matrix of the Emperor's Cup Tournament:

Rumours and Rumblings

Okubo Planning a Reign in Spain

But after just a few hours of discussing the matter with Mallorca's president (who flew to Japan to clinch the deal) Cerezo officials emerged to tell the press that all loose ends have been covered and once an official signing ceremony can be scheduled, Okubo will be officially a member of Mallorca. We intend to provide a more detailed analysis and discussion of this deal after obtaining some further details from the club and from our other sources in Osaka. However, we can make a few speculative conclusions about why this deal happened as quickly and as smoothly as it did.

Deals involving Japanese players and European clubs are prone to a host of mishaps, and they often involve long weeks of haggling over conditions, solicitation of counteroffers, discussions with the player, and so forth. Considering the number of deals that have fallen apart after being reported as "a sure thing" by the sports tabloids, we have been a bit cautious about reporting what we viewed as just a rumour. But in retrospect, it is easy to see why the agreement between Mallorca and Cerezo was reached so quickly.

First of all, Mallorca are desperately looking for just about any roll of the dice that might help them turn their season around, after a horrendous start. The team really has no time to waste, particularly since the deal would no longer make sense if Mallorca are relegated. Compared with other players that might be available in Europe, Okubo will probably cost them a pittance (the deal involves only a six-month rental, so Mallorca do not need to come up with a transfer fee), so money certainly is not an obstacle to the deal. Meanwhile, looking at things from Cerezo's perspective, it is a near certainty that Okubo would insist on leaving if the team is demoted. Once Cerezo are assured of going down, there would be heavy pressure on Cerezo to reach a full transfer deal for Okubo, and their bargaining position would be that much weaker. By agreeing to a six-month loan, now, Cerezo achieve several positive results, all at once.

First, they obtain a bit of pocket money which will come in handy regardless of whether the team goes down or remains in J1. Second, they ensure that they have greater control over the bargaining conditions, and thus probably get a better price than they might in December. Third, they prolong the day of reckoning in terms of whether Okubo leaves the team for good, or stays on. Even if they do get relegated, there is a chance that they could reclaim Okubo if he does not succeed in Spain, or if Mallorca are unable (for some reason) to make his transfer permanent. Though he might refuse to stay with a J2 club for another season, he might be convinced to come back for HALF a season, particularly if Mallorca go down in June, and if Cerezo look like regaining the J1 by the end of the year.

Last but certainly not least, Cerezo have stumbled upon the one solution that might ensure their survival in the J1. A big problem that the club has faced, of late, is the fact that Okubo is clearly unhappy, frustrated and depressed. He cant be happy with the support he has been getting from his teammates this season, and he probably wants to get out of Osaka as soon as he can. It is hard for a team like Cerezo to win matches when their ace forward lacks motivation, and is so frustrated that he oftem earns unnecessary red cards. By dealing with Okubo's frustrations now, Cerezo can hope that he will put on a more inspired performance, down the stretch.