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February 27, 2005

The Dawn of A New Era

2-2(PK5-4)

And yet, as these two teams met at Yokohama International Stadium for this year's Xerox Cup championship match, it almost seemed like yesterday that Japan's first professional football league was inaugurated. As the whistle sounded, the ball was kicked, and the roar of the crowd filled the arena, we found ourselves once more in that timeless space where heroes are born and slain, where the myths and tales of every generation are written on the grassy green canvas. How fitting. How poetic, that this season should open exactly as it did on that warm spring day a lost decade ago. Because if the contest between Verdy Kawasaki and Yokohama Marinos on May 15, 1993 signalled the birth of a new era of football in Japan, then this date -- February 26, 2005 -- will be recorded in the history books as the date that the J.League came of age, and emerged from the difficult travails of childhood to take its place as a mature and fully formed member of the world footballing community.

Even if we look past the historic significance, the clash between the Marinos and Verdy in this championship event was one to make hungry football fans salivate. The matchups between individual players, and the relationships between teams provide a bounty of interesting coincidences, challenges and subplots. Among other factors that made this contest interesting, many of the main characters found themselves facing down old teammates. The Marinos' defensive stalwart, Yuji Nakazawa came up through the Verdy organisation, and played for three years in a Verdy uniform before joining the Marinos, while the up-and-coming right wing, Hayuma Tanaka, spent two years at Verdy on loan before returning to Yokohama last season. Verdy head coach Ossie Ardilles, meanwhile, spent a difficult year at the helm of the Marinos before leaving Yokohama in disgrace, yet many credit him with suggesting that the Marinos hire current coach Takeshi Okada, who is a close personal friend.

The performances of key players in this match were also of interest to fans of the National Team. Among others, the two keepers, Takuya Enomoto and Yoshinari Takagi have put in such steady and impressive performances over the past few years that it is hard to understand why mistake=prone veterans like Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and Seigo Narazaki continue to dominate the goalkeeper spot for the national team. Meanwhile, both clubs have young wings who are making a strong bid for inclusion in the national team squad. The head-to-head battle between these two -- Verdy's Takahito Soma and Hayuma Tanaka of the Marinos -- provided many of this match's highlights.

But it is on defence that both teams excel, particularly the reigning J.League champion Marinos, and one theme that was hard to overlook in this contest was the dominant presence of the center back, Nakazawa. He has already established himself in the national team, but as time goes by he seems to grow in stature and power with each passing month. Also, in the absence of Nakazawa's national team cohort Naoki Matsuda, third-year defender Yuzo Kurihara has emerged as a defensive force in his own right. Coach Okada will face some difficult decisions later this year, when the Marinos return to health, trying to decide who to start, and who to place on the bench.

If Yokohama's defence boasts some of the most imposing and powerful one-on-one defenders in the league, Verdy is quickly emerging as a formidable defensive team in their own right, even if they do lack individual standout players. The addition of Korean youngster Lee Kang-Jin and former NT volante Kazuyuki Toda to the core of grizzled veterans like Kentaro Hayashi , Takuya Yamada and Atsushi Yoneyama has produced a remarkably solid and unflappable defensive unit. Though they may not match up against the Marinos on a man-to-man basis, their team defensive work was very impressive.

Thus, it was not surprising when the two teams fought to a scoreless stalemate over the first 45 minutes. Both teams had opportunities, with Verdy using thewings well and feding the ball inside to Brazilian ace Washington , and Yokohama using rapid passing and constant position shifts to move the ball to the edge of the box and create opportunities for perimeter shots. Only a brilliant one-on-one defensive move by Nakazawa, on a Washington drive, and fine reaction saves from both keepers, kept the match scoreless at the break.

The back-and-forth battle continued in the second stanza, but neither team showed signs of cracking. Then, midway through the second half, Verdy got the lucky break which blew the contest wide open. Following another nice wing attack by Soma, Verdy earned a corner kick on the right side. The high ball to the middle was cleared comfortably by the Marinos' big middle backs, but the clearance fell to veteran midfielder Takeshi Hirano, about en meters outside the box with no defenders in sight. Hirano carefully measured the Marinos defence, then looped a hgh ball towards Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, just beyond the penalty spot. Kobayashi fought through the defensive pressure and managed to get a head on the ball, dropping it directly onto the boots of Washington. The big Brazilian wasted no time in toeing the ball on net, and though his shot was rather weak, it caught everyone in the Marinos back line off guard and trickled into the left corner before anyone could react.

Coach Okada immediately went to his bench, bringing on midfielder Masahiro Ohashi . With so many Marinos strikers out of action, Ohashi started at striker in the Marinos' A3 match against Shenzhen, and did a reasonably good job, so apparently Okada decided to give the perrennial backup player another shot. This move paid instant dividends as a midfield interception just minutes later, by Dutra, triggered a three-on-three break. As his two teammates broke left and right, Ohashi put on a spine-snapping cutback move, passing up the opportunity to pass off and breaking across the middle. This move created a breif opening as the Verdy defenders tried to decide who to cover, and Ohashi used the hesitation to send a low screamer into the left corner of the net.

Once again play swayed back and forth, with both teams seeking the clinching goal. As time ran down towards the final whistle, Yokohama got another break, winning a free kick just two meters outside the Verdy penalty area. Ohashi took the kick and sent another perfectly placed bullet for the right corner, but the keeper, Takagi, pulled off a brilliant diving save, palming the ball off to the left. It looked like Verdy had dodged a bullet, but Hayuma Tanaka reacted quickly, dashing to the touch line to keep the ball in, and then chipping it over Takagi's head. Anothe late substitute, Masato Yamazaki , chested the ball across the line and the Marinos had the lead.

As the match moved into injury time, it looked like the Marinos had clinched the title. But with 130 seconds of the two minutes injury time already played, Verdy threw themselvews forward for one last try. Two quick passes around the perimeter provided Daigo Kobayashi with an opening for a long-distance shot, and he sent a drive towards goal. But the ball hit Washington right in the breadbasket, as he posted up on Nakazawa. The ball dropped at his feet and he spun into the box, looking for a route towards the right post. For a few moments, the two battled each other for position like two mighty dinousaurs thundering against one another in some steamy Mezozoic swamp. But Washingtoh had a half-step advantage as he spun for the post, and eventually he managed to get the ball onto his right foot and hook it across the face of goal. As every heart in the stadium stopped, and every viewer across the country held their breath, the ball spun lazily throgh the air, then caught the inside of the far post and bounded into the net. In the most unlikely of circumstances, Verdy had found the equaliser!

Of course, everyone in the stadium seemed to know immediately how the contest would play out. Last December, the Marinos faced another PK shootout, in front of a fanatical crowd of Urawa Reds supporters, and humbled the Reds in their own stadium by clinching the penatly shootout. In what surely was a case of poetic justice, this time it was the Marinos, playing in front of their home fans at Yokohama Stadium, who saw victory slip away from them in a penalty kick shootout. Another acrobatic diving save by Takagi produced the only "X" mark in the PK shotout, and Verdy hoisted the Xerox Cup with a 5-4 PK victory.

And so, with just two months gone in 2005, Tokyo Verdy have already claimed their second piece of silverware (following their Emperor's Cup win on New Year's day). If the drama and suspense of this match are any indication, the 2005 season promises to be a thrilling saga, so please continue to visit the Rising Sun News, as we provide our views on all the action from start to finish.

Date: 1 January, 2005		Location: Yokohama Int'l Stadium
2 (5)	0 1H 0 2 2H 2	(4) 2
Washington (68') Washington (89')	Scoring	Ohashi (71') Yamazaki (87)
Takeshi Hirano Lee Kang-Jin	Cautions	Yuzo Kurihara
Hayashi: 0 Washington: 0 Y. Kobayashi: 0 Hiramoto: 0 Lee Kang-Jin: 0	PKs	0 : Kurihara 0 : Ohashi X : Ueno 0 : Dutra 0 : Tanaka
Lineups: Yoshinari Takagi, Kentaro Hayashi, Lee Kang-ji, Kazuyuki Toda (Tsutomu Nurushi 80), Takuya Yamada, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Takahito Soma, Daigo Kobayashi, Takeshi Hirano, Kazuki Hiramoto, Washington .
Tatsuya Enomoto, Yuzo Kurihara, Yuji Nakazawa, Eisuke Nakanishi (Akihiro Endo 72), Daisuke Nasu, Yoshiharu Ueno, Hayuma Tanaka, Daisuke Oku (Masato Yamazaki 81), Dutra, Hideo Oshima, Norihisa Shimizu (Masahiro Ohashi 68) .

Rumours and Rumblings

Surge of Late Signings Muddy the Water

The club that is likely to experience the greatest impact as the result of late signings is JEF United Ichihara, who signed not just one, but two high-profile veterans just days before the season kicks off. However, these acquisitions are not entirely unexpected. Both Ilyan Stoyanov of Bulgaria and Gabriel Popescu of Rumania were iinvited to the JEF training camp by coach Ivica Osim, and have been hanging around the clubhouse and training grounds for some time, and there have been repeated rumours that they would be signed "imminently". However, for reasons that are still not entirely clear, the club did not offer them contracts right away, and kept stalling until the last minute, leading us to wonder if they would be left out in the cold after all. But on Wednesday, the club finally announced that it has signed both players to one-year contracts. Needless to say, the addition of two former national team members from eastern Europe will significantly improve JEF United's competitiveness, and though we do not think that this will be enough to make them a title contender, it should certainly improve their standing in the league table.

Meanwhile, during the off-season the Kashima Antlers experimented with a number of different options to replace Koji Nakata at defensive midfield. Apparently they were not fully satisfied with any of these options, sionce they signed two defensive midfielders in the final few days before the season kicks off. The most important of these will be Arivaldo Alves dos Santos ("Ari"), a 25-year-old from Bahia who was a regular starter at his Brazilian club. For insurance purposes, apparently, the Antlers also acquired Toshiyki Abe, a veteran who began his career with the Antlers. Abe was dropped by Albirex Niigata at the end of 2004 and had still not found a team as of last week, so the decision to acquire him is probably more an act of loyalty to a former member of the herd than anything else. Still, Abe knows the organisation and the Antlers playing style, so he should have no trouble stepping in for spot duty if someone is injured.

Maybe its something in the water? In any event, Chiba-area teams seem to be sluggish in making their player decisions this year. Kashiwa Reysol also announced a last-minute acquisition involving Korean U-23 NT striker Yoo Sung-Guk, who will join on a six-month rental deal from Busan Hyundai. In addition, there have been some rumours recently about Brazilian youth international Dudu Caerense, whos contract is still held by Reysol. Apparently Rennes was not entirely satisfied with his performances, and is looking for anotehr team to take him off their hands. CSKA Moscow has indicated interest but no deal is imminent due to the transfer window in Europe. Dudu continues to resist a return to Reysol, but if Rennes decides to cut him loose, there may be no other option for the young Caerensian midfielder. If he should join Reysol in midseason, though this is clearly still an unlikely possibility, it might boost them up the table a bit.

Finally, Jubilo Iwata made a late addition to their roster, adding Korean U-20 member Kim Jin-Kyu. Kim is what Granny Clampett would refer to as a "strapping young lad", and should the aging Jubilo defence need patching up, later in the season, he might get a call. Basically, though, we view him as just an investment in the future by Jubilo, who in recent years seem to be shifting from a Brazilian orientation towards a preference for Korean players.