December 15, 2004

Justice Prevails in Emperor's Cup

If you were one of those people who thought that the most impressive footballing events to take place in Japan this week would be the last-ever Suntory Championship, to decide the 2004 J.League Champion, the last-ever Toyota Cup contest between the reigning European and South American club champions, and the International contest between Japan and WC2006 hosts Germany, you guessed wrong. The best matches of the week -- if not the month -- were the "round-of-16" contests to decide the eight quarterfinalists in the Emperor's Cup.

Because of their Championship head-to-head, the matches between Yokohama Marinos and Thespa Kusatsu, as well as between Urawa Reds and Shonan Bellmare, were played on Wednesday evening. But the other six highy entertaining affairs, and included a wide range of story lines and results to match just about anyone's tastes. Whether it be the improbable 1-0 upset by last-placed J2 stragglers Consadole Sapporo over J1 club Oita Trinita (playing what was essentially a home match) or the even more improbable 2-1 victory by amateur club Thespa Kusatsu over J1 champion Yokohama Martinos; the valiant effort by JFL amateurs Gunma Horikoshi who managed to draw level with cup-holders Jubilo Iwata on a late goal by Yoichi Mori, only to have Norihiro Nishi shatter their dreams with an injury-time blast from 35 meters out; a similar equaliser by Nagoya two minutes from full time against Verdy, snuffed out by an injury-time winner from captain Takuya Yamada; the individual exploits of Masashi Oguro, who struck five times in a 5-0 drubbing of Yokohama FC, the wild, 6-3 shootout between FC Tokyo and Omiya Ardija, or the dramatic comeback by Kashima Antlers from a 0-2 deficit with 10 mintues to play, to steal a 3-2 victory from Kawasaki Frontale; every one of the contests had an element of drama and excitement. We can only hope that the trend will continue through the final match, on New Year's Day 2005.

1 - 2 (ET)

Before we report on the fifth round Emperor's Cup match between the Yokohama Marinos and Thespa Kusatsu, there is something that simply must be said:

Hiroyoshi Takayama is as crooked as a three-dollar bill ! Sure, the Rising Sun News has ranted and raved about this issue in the past, but this time the dirty bugger has gone too far. Takayama is either the most incompetent fool to ever put on a striped shirt and a whistle, or a deliberate match-fixing scum. After watching his performance on Wednesday night, it was hard to avoid the impression that the "missed calls" Mr. Takayama made in this match were not simply errors of judgement, but a deliberate attempt to ensure a Marinos victory. It wasnt just one or two mistakes, but a series of extremely egregious decision over a period of nearly 45 minutes, all of which were clearly beneficial to the Yokohama Marinos. This one-sided display left the viewer with little doubt that the calls were aimed at helping the Marinos, who were on the verge of being beaten by an amateur club just three days after being crowned J.League champs.

From the outset, this was clearly a match that Thespa deserved to win. For the opening 45 minutes, the Marinos (a largely second-string team, to be sure, but nevertheless a club of professional, J1 players) were overwhelmed by the ferocious press of the Thespa players, who seemed to be in three or four places at once as they swarmed from one end of the pitch to the other. Thespa outshot the Marinos 9 to 4 in the first half, and capped the display with an impressive fast-break goal by Daisuke Miyakawa, giving them a well deserved1-0 lead to take into the locker room

With Thespa leading 1-0 in the second half, Mr. Takayama got into his act. First, he whistled dead a play in which Daisuke Oku threw himself in front of Miyakawa who was clearly on his way to a second goal. The proper call would have been obstruction, though a competent ref would have let Miyakawa finish the play and score what was a near-certain goal with only the keeper to beat. But to everyone's surprise, Mr. Takayama called a foul on Miyakawa. Just a few minutes later, Thespa were on the verge or scoring once again, when a Marinos defender knocked a Thespa player to the ground in the penalty area without coming close to touching the ball. This time Mr. Takayama chose to wave play on. As if to emphasise his point, three minutes later he waved on another foul in the box, which was only slightly less obvious than the first. Two clear penalty kick offences by the Marinos, yet the Marinos were bailed out by the referee on both occasions. Then, in case anyone still had even the slightest doubt that Mr. Takayama was making a deliberate effort to ensure that the Marinos won, in quick succession he sent off two Thespa players for "yellow-card offences" which were not even CLOSE to being fouls. One of them involved a ball tackle in which the Thespa player not only took the ball cleanly, but on video review, did not even make contact with the Marinos player!!!!

But even after being reduced to nine men, Thespa refused to give up. Daisuke Oku scored an equaliser for the Marinos just before the final whistle to send the match into extra time, but 12 mintues into the first extra time period, a free kick taken from about 35 meters out was miscleared by a Marinos defender and fell at the feet of Kosei Eda. Perhaps it was just fate, or perhaps some "higher match official" intervened to ensure that justice prevailed, but somehow Eda's shot found its way through the crowd of Marinos defenders and into the low right corner of the net, sending the Thespa players and their fans into paroxysms of euphoria. Surely, this was the greatest upset in Emperor's Cup history, since unheralded Thespa not only defeated the J.League champions, but overcame a crooked referee as well. Yet again, the Emperor's Cup has provided a stirring example of the sublime beauty and exquisite drama of the beautiful game.

But despite the uplifting feeling that one gets after seeing such a gritty and determined performance by a group of rank underdogs, it is hard to get rid of the foul taste left by Mr. Takayama's performance in this match. The time has come for the J.League to stop sweeping their problems under the rug and conduct a legitimate investigation. At best, Takayama is so incompetent and lacking in judgement that he should never be allowed to officiate another football match as long as he lives. At worst, he may be guilty of attempted match-fixing. Whichever turns out to be the case, the League owes it to the fans, the players, and its own reputation to investigate the matter fully and transparently. At the very least, Thespa Kusatsu deserves to play their quarterfinal match next week with a full squad. It would be a travesty if Mr. Takayama's incompetence -- or worse -- forces two of the team's key players to miss taking part in the match due to what clearly were undeserved cards.

3 - 0

In Okayama, the Urawa Reds rebounded from their loss in the Suntory Championship with a 3-0 drubbing of Shonan Bellmare. Tatsuya Tanaka scored a brace in the first half-hour to put the Reds in a dominant position. The Urawa players seemed to put the mathc on auto-pilot after the second goal, cruising comfortably through the remainder of the match, Makoto Hasebe added a goal five minutes from full time to complete the rout.

2 - 1

Though both Tokyo Verdy and Nagoya Grampus were distressingly inconsistent this past season, Grampus were the better team over the course of the year, finishing fifth in the second stage and seventh for the full season. Having received a fortunate draw which allowed them to play this match at home, in Toyota Stadium, you might easily assume that Grampus wold have the edge going into this match. But that analysis would miss one key point: Verdy have done a good job of building a team on the shoulders of home-grown plaeyers, whereas Grampus relied heavily on their foreign strikers Marques and Ueslei to carry the team, this year. As is the case with many foreigners in the J.League, the Brazilian members of both Verdy and Grampus have the month of December off, and usually return to Brazil early for the holidays. Though midfielder Claiton hung around for the Emperor's Cup, the absence of Ueslei and Marques was critical, tipping the balance of play heavily in Verdy's favour.

After a closely fought half hour of play, Verdy snatched the early lead on a fine overlap play on the left wing and cross to the middle, which was drilled home by attacking midfielder Yoshiyuki Kobayashi. This goal turned the momentum heavily in Verdy's favour, and they came close to adding to the tally two or three times in the early stages of the second half. But several second-half substitutions, including the entry of Keiji Kaimoto for the more defensive Masayuki Omori, tipped the scales towards Nagoya as the half wore on. With time running down, Verdy were forced further and further onto a defensive footing until, with three minutes to go in regulation time, a Naoshi Nakamura corner kick was headed home by Masahiro Koga, and the score was level at last.

But the Grampus goal seemed to trigger a sudden surge of energy from the Verdy players, and as the match passed into injury time, a swift attack in numbers provided captain Takuya Yamada with a shot from the edge of the area, which he drilled into the nylon to give Verdy the victory.

2 - 1 Gunma FC Horikoshi Jubilo Iwata were another team that benefitted from a home-stadium advantage in this round. However, the large home crowd almost was not enough to carry the team past Gunma Horikoshi, a mid-table JFL club that retains essentially an amateur status (though many players have had experience in the J.League, at one time or another).

At first, it looked like this match was going to be no contest. Jubilo dominated the early stages, and came within a whisker of scoring at least a dozen times in the first 20 minutes. But eventually, the Horikoshi players began to settle down and play with a bit more confidence and teamwork. Though they eventually did concede the opener on a fine finish by Ryoichi Maeda, in the 31 minute, the Horikoshi defence began to display better judgement and play with more determination. By the end of the first half, the defence wa keeping Jubilo at bay while the fleet-footed Brazilian midfielder Danilo created dangerous opportunities at the other end on several counterattacking occasions.

The second half can only be described as stunning. Certainly we all knew that Jubilo are not the same team that claimed the Emperor's Cup trophy last season. But over 40 minutes of the second half, Jubilo were outshot by their amateur opponents nine-to-one (that's right -- nine shots on net for Gunma to just one long drive on goal by Jubilo's Toshihiro Hattori)! As time ran down, it did look as if Jubilo were going to escape with the win, but they certainly had not done themselves proud.

Then, with five minutes to play, Danilo again dashed past the Jubilo defence and this time, he managed to feed a pass through to striker Yoichi Mori, who stuffed the ball home and sent their small contingent of fans behind the goal into frenzied celebrations. Unfortunately, the cinderella story was too good to last. As the match passed into injury time, Norihiro Nishi carried a ball through midfield to a spot just beyond the top of the penalty arc and unleashed an unmarked drive that flew into the top left corner before the keeper could react. Jubilo spared themselves serious embarassment and claimed a spot in the quarterfinal round, though they will have to do far better in future matches if they hope to retain their trophy this season.

0 - 5

Though several other matches may have provided greater suspense, it was no surprise that the headline-grabbing story of the afternoon was Gamba Osaka's 5-0 victory over Yokohama FC. Pierre Littbarsky was coaching his final match at the helm of Yokohama "Fulie", but any inspiration that might have provided to his players, it was not enough to contain the explosive scoring prowess of Gamba ace Masashi Oguro. Perhaps he was trying to send a message to Zico, who inexplicably has left Oguro out of consideration for the japan national team despite his performance this year, finishing second to the Urawa Reds' Emerson in the J1 scoring table.

It took Oguro almost a half hour to get "warmed up, but after his first strike, he seemed to catch fire, scoring again just before the break and finishing off his hat trick 12 minutes into the second half. Not content with a mere three goals, Oguro tallied twice more in the space of a minute, midway through the second half, turning the match into a complete rout and establishing Gamba as one ofthe top candidates to go all the way to the final on New Year's Day.

3 - 2

In a week where two separate contests were decided by injury-time goals, cliffhangers were certainly the order of the day. However, the most remarkable comeback of all took place in Kashima, where the Antlers' home advantage failed to impress the 2004 J2 champions Kawasaki Frontale. The Kanagawa killer whales got an early strike from Kazuki Ganaha which carried them all the way to half time with a one-goal advantage. The Antlers started to take over the initiative in the second half, dominating play and coming close on a number of occasions in the first ten minutes. It looked to be just a matter of time before the Antlers equalised, when a sudden counterattack and a long looping shot from Tomoaki Kuno turned the match on its head, shortly after the hour mark. With a 2-0 lead, Frontale seemed to be in command, even though the Antlers continued to generate most of the offence. Things were looking very dim for Kashima as the clock ticked down towards ten minutes remaining.

But after missing the mark time and again over the preceding 80 minutes, the Antlers suddenly started to find the mark. The first goal came almost by accident, as a relatively weak cross from Masashi Motoyama bounded through the middle and was missed completely by Takayki Suzuki. But Fabio Junior, who spent almost the entire season in rehabilitation, raced in at the back post and managed to toe the ball across the line before a defender could clear.

This produced a sudden surge of momentum, and the Antlers' attacks gained intensity and crispness. Kashima needed justseven more minutes to claim the equaliser, on a bounding drive through the box by Takuya Nozawa, which caromed off a defender and slipped just inside the right post. A powerful header moments later by Mitsuo Ogasawara nearly clinched the match in regulation time, but it was tipped over the bar by the keeper, and the contest went into extra time. The "golden goal" came just at the end of the first overtime period, on a free kick from about 35 meters out, on the left sideline. Mitsuo Ogasawara placed a sinking line drive onto the head of midfield partner Koji Nakata, who flicked the ball on for the far post and caught the nylon side-netting. Though Frontale certainly showed that they will be a competitive J1 opponent next season, it was the Antlers who claimed a spot in the final eight.

1 - 0

The biggest upset of the week took place in Kumamoto, about a one-hour drive from Oita for the traveling Trinita fans, but a three-hour flight down from frigid Hokkaido for the Consadole faithful. Those who made the trip will surely consider it well worth the expense, after the Sapporo team, which finished dead last in the J2 this season, managed to stun their hosts with a 1-0 victory. Rookie Yusuke Kakuto put Consadole on the board shortly after the break, and his teammates managed to preserve this slim lead until the final whistle, sending Consadole to the quarterfinal round for only the third time in the team's history.

3 - 6

The wildest shootout of all took place at Kamoike Stadium, where J2 newcomers Omiya Ardija battled back from a 0-2 deficit to knot the match at 3-3, only to collapse down the stretch and fall by a lopsided margin of 6-3. FY Tokyo seemed to be in command early on, getting the opener from Yuta Baba less than a minute after kickoff, and extending the lead to 2-0 on a header by Jean Carlo Witte, 20 minutes later. Ardija clawed a goal back just before the break, but when a cross from Norihiro Ishikawa was deflected into the Omiya net by an Ardija player, things were lloking very dim for the squirrels of Saitama.

But an inexplicable defensive letdown midway through the second half allowed Ardija to climb right back into the contest. Yutaka Takahashi, who joined Ardija after several years as a rarely-used substitute in Hiroshima, struck twice in the space of four minutes to knot the score at 3-3 with 20 minutes to play. But two minutes after the equaliser, the speedy Ishikawa surged into the box to gather a cross from Kelly and drill it into the low right corner. This seemed to shatter Ardija's concentration, nd they conceded insurance goals to Lucas and Kelly, in short order, which secured Tokyo's spot in the final eight.

As we noted earlier, the final two matches of the "round of 16" will be played on Wednesday night. Until then, here is the tournament matrix after five rounds of the competition:

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