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March 6, 2005

Season Opens with Conquest and Controversy

Unfortunately, there were a few incidents that put a slight blemish on the festive atmosphere, the most disturbing of which was an obvious -- and possibly deliberate -- hand ball by Jubilo midfielder Takashi Fukunishi, which sent the ball spinning into the net late in Jubilo's match against Yokohama Marinos. Unfortunately, the referde, Mr. Okada, who has a long record of giving Jubilo "the benefit of the doubt, and then some", chose to allow the goal and give Jubilo an undeserved victory

But despite this controversey, and a few other questionable decisions, the results form Saturday's matches were certainly a source of excitement and interest. Several teams that entered the season as top contenders were knocked off, and Omiya Ardija recorded their first-ever victory in the J1. Despite the controversy in the Jubilo-Marinos match, all in all it was an uplifting start to the 2005 season.

Below is a summary of the scores from this week's matches:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
Mar 5		0 - 1		Saitama Stadium
Mar 5		2 - 2		Mizuho Stadium
Mar 5		1 - 1		Nihondaira Stadium
Mar 5		0 - 2		Expo '70 "Banpaku" St.
Mar 5		0 - 1		Yokohama Stadium
Mar 5		1 - 2		Oita "Big Eye" Stadium
Mar 5		4 - 0		Ajinomoto Stadium
Mar 6		3 - 1		Kobe Wing Stadium
Mar 6		1 - 1		Kashiwa Stadium

0 - 1

However, the Reds have been adept at finding ways to lose, in their most recent matches, and they managed to discover a new method of self-destruction in this contest, essentially conceding the match to the visitors by half time. In the 28 minute, the Antlers won a free kick just on the Reds side of midfield, and though the long ball into the Urawa penalty box was cleared harmlessly, Mitsuo Ogasawara collected the ball on the left sideline and carried it back towards the box, looking for a target in front of goal. Eventually he spotted Takayuki Suzuki right at the penalty spot, and played a perfect cross onto the big brawler's head. Suzuki fought through both Marcus Tulio Tanaka and Ozalan Alpay to get his head on the ball, deflecting it down and into the low left corner of the net.

Considering how thoroughly they had controlled the tempo of the contest and the number of goal-scoring opportunities they had, the Reds would have been fine if they could have kept their heads and gone back to the game plan they were using at the start. But for reasons that are difficult to explain, and will surely have coach Guido Buchwald awake nights, the team seemed to lose its composure as soon as the Antlers scored, and began to respond in self-destructive ways. For example, Suzuki and Alpay had been exchanging body blows throughout the contest, and the Antlers striker seemed to be doing an effective job of getting under Alpay's skin.

Shortly before the half, Suzuki was taken down hard on the right sideline by Fabio "Nene" de Brito . and won another free kick. As he walked towards goal, he exchanged words with Alpay, and apparently said something that got Alpay to lose his temper. The Reds defender gave Suzuki a light slap on the cheek, probably not with any ill intent, but rather to give a clear signal of his annoyance. But Suzuki -- who would never be accused of being "too sportsmanlike" -- spotted an opportunity and was quick to exploit it. Though Alpay's "slap" was nothing more than a love tap, Suzuki crumpled to the ground and began screaming for an ambulance. Unfortunately for Alpay, the linesman had seen the entire incident, and the referee, seeing signs that the match was already starting to spin out of control, decided to set an example by showing Alpay to the showers. With on fewer player on the pitcjh, the Reds simply didnt have the numbers to crack the determined and experienced Antlers' defence, and the match ended with the score still 1-0.

Naturally, some Reds fans will be disturbed at the gamesmanship displayed by Suzuki, and this is indeed an area where he tends to cross the line, at times. However, any team that expects to be considered a "champion" should have learned long time ago that you don't EVER raise a hand against an opposing player on the pitch. As we saw last season, the Reds still have a ways to go before they can call themselves champions. If they hope to win a title this season, they will need to learn a lesson from this incident, and make sure that they are not guilty of losing their poise again. Unless they can keep their minds on football and avoid the extra-curricular activities, there are about 16 other teams out there who will adopt exactly the same tactics if they think it can help them to win the match.

Date: 5 Feb, 2005		Location: Saitama Stadium
0	0 1H 1 2 2H 2	1
	Scoring	Takayuki Suzuki (29')
Alex Santos Nene de Brito Tulio Tanaka Tomoyuki Sakai	Cautions	Fernando Takeshi Aoki Go Oiwa Toru Araiba
Alpay Ozalan	Sent Off
Lineups: Ryota Tsuzuki, Alpay Ozalan, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Nene de Brito, Tadaaki Hirakawa (Masayuki Okano 78), Makoto Hasebe, Nobuhisa Yamada (Tatsuya Tanaka 66), Tomoyuki Sakai, Alessandro Santos, Yuichiro Nagai, Emerson .
Hitoshi Sogahata, Jun Uchida, Daiki Iwase, Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba, Takeshi Aoki (Yasuto Honda 65), Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama, Alex Mineiro (Masaki Fukai 67), Takayuki Suzuki.

0 - 1

Both teams can perhaps be excused for playing this contest close to the vest. The Marinos have been severely depleted by injury, and though they are one of the favourites to take the league title this season, coach Okada will want to collect as many points as he can from the early matches, when he has to field an understrength squad. Jubilo, on the other hand, are loaded with talent but many of the central players have only been together for a few weeks. They may need a few matches to find their team form, and we do not expect them to be a quick starter this season (though they may very well be able to come back and claim a championship later in the season).

Despite these excuses, though, there is no denying that the contest was deadly dull. In the first half you could count the number of serious scoring opportunities for BOTH teams on a single hand (and still have enough fingers left over to change the channel). It was not until late in the second half, after both teams had gone to their benches, that the contest began to heat up. Even so, after a few opportunities were squandered at both ends, it looked like the match would end in a scoreless draw.

Then, as the contest moved into injury time, Jubilo won a free kick on the right side, and Toshiya Fujita lined up to take the kick. He sent a low, flat line drive towards the penalty spot, just hard enough and low enough to give the keeper trouble. But Tatsuya Enomoto was off his line quickly and seemed to be in position to punch the ball away. Seeing that he would not be able to get to the ball legally, Takashi Fukunishi threw up a hand and batted the ball just enough to deflect it over Enomoto's fists. The ball spun into the back of the net, but the Marinos players all raised their hands, assuming the goal would be disallowed. Much to their dismay, the referee, Mr. Masayoshi Okano, pointed to the center spot and allowed the goal to stand.

Certainly this is not the first time such a mis-call has produced a goal. But if Maradona's palm-ball goal against England was called the "Hand of God", then what would you call a hand-ball goal by Takashi Fukunishi? the "Hand of Satan?" No doubt this incident will be discussed at length in the tabloids, considering how blatant it was, and how difficult it is to explain why Mr. Okano failed to see it. We can only hope that the discussion convinces the leage to take a closer look at some of the referees who make a habit of such calls. Mr. Okano has a long history of making controversial calls that benefit Jubilo, and sooner or later the League has to at least address the issue of missed calls. These things have been swept under the carpet for so long, now, that it is getting hard to walk through the living room.

Date: 5 Feb, 2005		Location: Yokohama Intl Stadium
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
	Scoring	The Hand (89')
Eisuke Nakanishi	Cautions	Makoto Tanaka Kim Sung-ji Hiroshi Nanami
Lineups: Tatsuya Enomoto, Yuzo Kurihara, Eisuke Nakanishi, Yuji Nakazawa, Hayuma Tanaka, Yoshiharu Ueno (Yasuhiro Endo 79), Daisuke Nasu, Dutra, Daisuke Oku, Hideo Oshima, Norihisa Shimizu (Masahiro Ohashi 71) .
Yohei Sato, Kim Sung-ji, Makoto Tanaka, Takayuki Chano, Norihiro Nishi, Takashi Fukunishi, Hiroshi Nanami (Toshihiro Hattori 89), Shinji Murai, Ryoichi Maeda, (Toshiya Fujita 61), Masashi Nakayama (Rodrigo Gral 72), Choi Yong-Soo .

2 - 2

One of the most exciting and entertaining matches of the afternoon was the contest betwen Nagoya Gramopus and JEF United, though it remains to be seen whether either coach will be taking much comfort from their team's performance. Grampus came out energetically, fought off some heavy pressure from their opponent and produced two nice goals . . . . errrrr . . . . perhaps we should say two nice goal scoring opportunities, one of which was finished off with a theatrical diving exhibition. Nevertheless, they were unable to hold on to a two-goal lead. JEF, on the other hand, showed excellent spirit and combativeness to fight back for a draw, but coach Osim will be a bit concerned about the devensive lapses which gave Grampus so many early opportunities,

This contest remained scoreless until just before the half, but even earlier in the contest it was apparent that JEF were still having some problems with their defensive organisation. Though Ilyan Stoyanov, who anchored the defence, has been playing with the team for sevearl weeks already, he clearly in ot yet integrated into the squad, and despite some good individual stops, he contributed to the sense of unease in the back line. The main problem, though, was that JEF seemed to rely on Yuki Abe to push forward in support of attack, in order to provide the essential link between the two wings. However, every time he did so, Grampus would launch a quick counter that would catch Abe too far forward, leaving a crucial hole in the center of the JEF defence. In fact, if Grampus had done a slightly better job of passing in the offensive zone, they might have scored sooner.

But eventually, Ueslei was able to break free on the right side and drive to the edge of the two yard box, pulling the ball back as the keeper and a defender charged in for a desperate attempt to block, and letting their momentum knock him to the ground. Though Ueslei certainly "bought" the contact, it was a fairly clear-cut foul and the referee had no trouble deciding to award a spot kick. After Ueslei converted, Grampus had a 1-0 lead to take to the locker room.

The second half began in much the same way, with JEF pushing forward but unable to penetrate and Grampus counterattacking effectively. Nine minutes in, Grampus won a corner kick and Marques played a very clever short kick out to rookie midfielder Keisuke Honda. The high-school star played a pinpoint cross to the far post for defender Masahiro Koga, who headed home to give Grampus a two goal lead.

The contest remained that way until the dying minutes of the match, when Osim brought on attacking midfielder Kunihiko Takizawa and shifted to a midfield set with two players in the middle, to link the two wings. This was immediately successful in allowing the team to create space and penetration, and though the more dangerous opportunities continued to come from the wings, there were now more players in the middle to receive the crosses. Just moments after Takizawa came on, a cross from Stoyanov on the left wing was met by Masataka Sakamoto, with a diving header from close range, and suddenly JEF were back in the match.

As time ran down, JEF threw themselves forward for another power-play effort. This time it was Takizawa who provided the cross from the left wing, and Seiichiro Maki who met it at the far post with a difing header. Grampus keeper Seigo Narazaki was in position to make the save, but he has historically been prone to blunders on low balls to the corner, and this time was no different. Narazaki fumbled the ball over his own body and ultimately knocked it into the net with his own hands, giving JEF their share of the spoils.

Date: 5 Feb, 2005		Location: Mizuho Stadium
2	1 1H 0 1 2H 2	2
Ueslei (39') Masahiro Koga (54')	Scoring	Masataka Sakamoto (78') Seiichiro Maki (89')
An Yeon-Ha Takahiro Masukawa	Cautions
Lineups: Seigo Narazaki, Masahiro Koga, Takahiro Masukawa, Makoto Kakuda, Keiji Watanabe, Naoshi Nakamura, Claiton, An Yeon-Ha, Keisuke Honda (Keiji Yoshimura 88), Ueslei, Marques .
Ryo Kushino, Mizumoto, Ilyan Stoyanov, Daisuke Saito, Koki Mizuno (Kohei Kudo 63), Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Naotake Hanyu (Kunihiko Takizawa 75), Mario Haas, Seiichiro Maki, .

0 - 2

The most stunning upset (at least in the J1) came at Osaka's Banpaku stadium, where the League newcomers Omiya Ardija took on a Gamba Osaka team that has managed to convince itself that it has a shot at a championship this season. Naturally, it is impossible to pronounce judgement on a team based on one match, but if their performance against Ardija is an indication, Gamba still have a lot of work to do. In this contest they rarely looked dangerous, at least until late in the second half when the diminutive Kota Yoshihara came on as an extra striker. By contrast, Omiya looked very businesslike, and showed no sign of awe at the prospect of playing a J1 opponent. Most of the offence was provided by two recent additions, Naoto Sakurai , who accepted a transfer from Tokyo Verdy in order to join his hometown team, and Chikara Fujimoto, who has not made much news in recent years as a member of Nagoya Grampus and Vissel Kobe, but who looked rejuvenated in this contest, driving towards the box time and again, and forcing the Gamba defence to commit additional players to guard him, thus opening up chances for the strikers.

Gamba has attracted a great deal of press, recently, as the typically starstruck Japanese tabloids have fawned over Osaka striker Masashi Oguro, whose late goal against North Korea have elevated him suddenly to superstar status. Unfortunately for Gamba fans, in this match Oguro was nearly invisible, and his limitations were exposed most dramatically when a ten-minute stint by Yoshihara accomplished more than Oguro managed in 90 minutes. Of course, this is not an attempt to bash Oguro, who could be a very effective option for the Japan NT, up front. Last season he scored more goals than any other Japanese player, which is a testament to his skills. However, it would also be a mistake to overlook Oguro's limitations. His skill lies in his ability to take quick shots and find the net. In this sense, he is a rare find among Japanese strikers, who tend to be hesitant to pull the trigger, and not particularly deadly when they do. Nevertheless, Oguro's ability to create scoring opportunities on his own are nothing to get excited about. As this match showed, he has a hard time penetrating on the dribble, and does not provide particularly good service to teammates when he is cut off.

Ardija concentrated their efforts on hemming in the Gamba playmaker, Fernandinho, and preventing him from exchanging quick passes with penetrators like Araujo and Takahiro Futagawa. These efforts succeeded in eliminating Oguro's supply of passes, inside the box, and forced him to fall back from goal in order to collect the ball. Though Omiya may have just "got lucky" in this match, we have seen at least a sign that Omiya's young coach Toshiya Miura has the vision to identify weaknesses in the opponent and exploit them.

Omiya seemed to have the better of play for the first hour of this contest, but despite a few close calls, they failed to produce a goal. Their big center forward, Christian Dionisio, was a bit disappointing as he squandered several opportunities by failing to keep up with a quick break. This may simply reflect the fact that he has not yet worked his way into the team. In any event, it was only after he left the match, and was replaced by Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel that Omiya's chances began to strike close to home. After several close calls, Tuto created a break through the middleand as the defence collapsed upon him, fed the ball off to Sakurai, breaking to his right. Sakurai had a step on his defender, and pulled the ball sharply across the face of goal to beat the keeper and slip into the left corner.

This immediately brought Yoshihara off the bench for Gamba, and with an extra man to create chances, Gamba nearly replied just moments later. A long ball into the box was headed on net by Yoshihara, beating the outrushing keeper completely. But Toninho hustled back just in time to clear the bounding ball off the line, and Omiya maintained their advantage. With time running down, Gamba threw everyone forward for a last-ditch effort, but this backfired as a mistimed pass was cleared to the wing by Ardija, setting off a three-on-one countrattack. Fujimoto carried the ball all the way to the end line, forcing the keeper off his line, then dropped the ball to his trailing teammates. Koji Morita, who had just entered the match as a late substitute, volleyed it home and Omiya clinched their first J.League victory.

Date: 5 Feb, 2005		Location: Banpaku Stadium
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 2	2
	Scoring	Naoto Sakurai (81') Koji Morita (89')
Hideo Hashimoto Yasuhito Endo	Cautions	Nishimura
Lineups: Naoki Matsuyo, Satoru Yamaguchi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Noritada Saneyoshi (Kota Yoshihara 80) Hideo Hashimoto, Sidiclei, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Fernandinho (Arata Kodama 71), Araujo, Masashi Oguro .
Hiroki Aratani, Takuro Nishimura, Toninho, Seiichiro Okano, Daisuke Tomita, Jun Marques Davidson, Jin Kanazawa, Tatsunori Hisanaga, Chikara Fujimoto, Naoto Sakurai (Koji Morita 89), Christian Dionisio (Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel 59) .

1 - 1

This contest matched two teams that are not greatly separated in terms of ability, but are moving in starkly opposite directions. Shimizu S-Pulse have a long history of modest success, and the core of the team is still made up of skilled veterans with national team experience. However, S-Pulse have been in disarray for over a year. The selection of former star Kenta Hasegawa as head coach, with another S-Pulse legend, Carlos Alberto Souza dos Santos as his assistant, may provide some better "personal dynamics" in the clubhouse but it remains to be seen whether they can cobble together a competitive team from this collection of has-beens and never-will-bes.

By contrast, Sanfrecce are literally overflowing with talented youngsters -- the team had to farm out SIX players on rental contracts this season in order to keep all the promising players in the Sanfrecce fold. Although they still are rather green and lack both leadership and experience, it is clear that this team has excellent prospects a few years down the road, if only they can cultivate their youth players effectively and instil in them the qualities needed to become winners.

Unfortunately, the one element that Hiroshima still lacks is a coach with the vision and technical expertise to take Sanfrecce to the next level. Coach Oki seems to have a good eye for talent, and a very strong bond with his players. Unfortunately, while this may make him a brilliant choice to attract and develop young players, he does not have the strategic insight or experience to take his team any further, and we hope that the team management can figure this out before too much time is wasted. Sanfrecce could be a dark-horse contender this season if they only had someone like Ossie Ardilles or Ivica Osim, or even Takeshi Okada at the helm.

The match itself was entertaining -- as Sanfrecce matches usually are -- but also a bit sloppy (as S-Pulse matches invariably are). Both teams squandered opportunities, and though Sanfrecce seemed to have the slight edge in the contest, they were unable to produce any goals. In the early stages of the second half, Sanfrecce seemed to take the pace up a notch, and were unlucky not to produce a goal on two or three occasions. However, an injury to veteran midfielder Yukihiko Sato forced Hasegawa to go to his bench and bring on the team's senior citizen, Masaaki Sawanobori -- a player who was being described as a "veteran" back in the days when Hasegawa and Santos were still on the pitch, rather than on the sidelines. Yet despite his advancing age, Sawanobori is a very clever player who knows how to find space and make the most of scoring opportunities.

Sure enough, just minutes after coming on Sawanobori slipped free at the top of the box, and was rewarded with a crossing pass from the left side, from Yoshikiyo Kuboyama, and drilled it low into the left corner. The goal came completely against the run of play, but it seemed that S-Pulse might steal a victory for their new coach. However, the pressure from Sanfrecce eventually took its toll. With ten minutes left in the match, Yuichi Komano fired a pinpoint bass from the right wing onto the right foot of Hiroto Mogi, who volleyed the ball home at the far post from point-blank range.

Neither team was able to add to the score line, and they settled for a 1-1 draw, a result that neither team will disparage, though Sanfrecce probably could have hoped for a better result.

Date: 5 Feb, 2005		Location: Nihondaira Stadium
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Masaaki Sawanobori (67)	Scoring	Hiroto Mogi (80')
Kazumichi Takagi	Cautions	Takehito Shigehara
Lineups: Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Toshihide Saito, Ryuzo Morioka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Yukihiko Sato, (Masaaki Sawanobori 54), Kota Sugiyama (Junichiro Zaitsu 84), Teruyoshi Ito, Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Kazumichi Takagi 75), Cho Jae-Jin, Choi Dae-Uk .
Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano, Dininho, Shohei Ikeda, Kota Hattori, Takehito Shigehara, Joubert "Beto" Martins (Kohei Morita 84), Kazuyuki Morisaki, Susumu Oki, Galvao, Hayato Sato (Hiroto Mogi 65) .

4 - 0

At the start of the season, at a time when the mainstream press was still touting the supposed strengths of Yokohama and Jubilo, we noted that both Tokyo teams were putting together units that might be extremely competitive, and could easily knock off the favourites to claim the league crown this season. After Verdy knocked off the Marinos to win the Xerox Cup, last weekend, a large number of pundits suddenly jumped on the Verdy bandwagon. But it they were wise, they would keep their eyes on the other Tokyo team, as well, because FC Tokyo are not only a talented collection of promising youngsters. They also have the athleticism and the energy to run just about any opponent into the ground. Albirex Niigata learned this lesson on Saturday evening, and if Tokyo are able to maintain the energy level they showed in this contest, it will be hard for ANYONE to keep up.

FC came out with a ferocious midfield press that had Albirex breathless. TIme and time again over the first ten minutes, Albirex would win possession and start to move the ball forward, only to have a swarm of blue jerseys descend and strip the ball away, preventing the visitors from developing any rhythm whatsoever. In the 11 minute, after yet another steal, Naohiro Ishikawa collected a collected a pass on the right side and simply ran right past the Albirex defence. As he approached the box he unleashed a blast that screamed for the far corner. The keeper was screened by one of his own defenders and did not see the ball until it was too late, allowing Ishikawa's shot to find the far side of the net.

Just a few minutes later, following another midfield stea, Ishikawa was off to the races again. This time he beat his defender to the end line and ctossed in front of goal. The ball was headed clear, but tokyo's midfield playmaker, Yasuyuki Konno collected it at the edge of the box and sent a screaming drive that flew more than 20 meters without ever rising more than a few centimeters off the ground. Once again, the Niigata keeper had trouble spotting the ball until it was already in the back of his net, and Tokyo had a comfortable lead with just 21 minutes of the first half in the books.

Shortly after the break, Tokyo pu on another spurt and produced the tallies needed to put the contest out of reach. Once again, Ishikawa created the chance with a sparkling penetration move. When the combined efforts of three defenders finally managed to slow him down, Ishikawa pushed the ball back to Lucas, who was unmarked at the top of the box. Lucas had no trouble finding the nylon, and the contest ws no longer in doubt. But just to make certain, Lucas finished off the contest with a flourish just moments later, weaving his way through defenders to the left edge ofthe box and then drilling a low angle shot that screamed into the roof of the net while the keeper flaied at it in despair.

Most likely, this victory will put FC Tokyo at the top of the league table to start the season, and though there is still a long ways to go, it would not be too surprising to see them there at the end of the season, as well.

Date: 5 Feb, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
4	2 1H 0 2 2H 0	0
Naohiro Ishikawa (11') Yasuyuki Konno (21') Lucas (59') Lucas (62')	Scoring
	Cautions	Kojiro Kaimoto Yusaku Ueno Kojiro Kaimoto
	Sent Off	Kojiro Kaimoto (2Y)
Lineups: Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa, Yasuyuki Konno, Yuichi Kurisawa, Masashi Miyamoto (Fumitake Miura 86), Naohiro Ishikawa (Danilo 82), Mitsuhiro Toda, Lucas Severino (Satoru Asari 89).
Yosuke Nozawa, Keiji Kaimoto, Kojiro Kaimoto, Yoshiaki Maruyama, Daisuke Aono (Osamu Umeyama 65), Isao Honma (Anderson Lima 65) Motohiro Yamaguchi, Fabinho, Edmilson, Yusaku Ueno (Tetsuya Okayama 83), Shingo Suzuki, .

1 - 2

Tokyo Verdy had a strong start to their 2005 campaign, and the final score of the contest does not fully reflect the dominance that Verdy showed through most of the contest. Verdy's big Brazilian acquisition, Washington, had the ball in the net just five minutes after kickoff, but a very close offsides call disallowed the goal. Nevertheless, Verdy maintained the upper hand throughout the early stages, and in the 31 minute they finally hit paydirt. Verdy won a free kick about 12 meters outside the box, on the left side, and Takushi Yoneyama hit a swerving line drive that fooled the keeper and snuck into the low right corner.

Soon afterwards, a cut through the middle by Kazuki Hiramoto split the defence open, and his lay-off pass to Washington on the right flank provided the big striker with an easy opportunity. Washington merely needed to wait for the keeper to move, and then slip the ball over his flailing arms and into the net.

Just after the break, Washington had a chance to put the match away, as a long lead pass sent him away free on goal. As he was lining up the shot, Takashi Miki rashly attempted to come in from behind and knock the ball away All he succeeded in doing was to knock Washington to the turf and earn himself a red card.

But Riki Takasaki made a lovely reaction save, diving to his left to smother Washington's PK, and the score remained at 2-0. With time running down, Verdy seemed to lose the plot, and relaxed their vigilance a bit, allowing Trinita to claim a consolation goal on a corner kick and header by Magno Alves. But the result of this contest was never really in doubt, and Verdy held onto the ball for the final five minutes, to secure their victory.

Date: 5 Feb, 2005		Location: Oita "Big Eye" Stadium
1	0 1H 2 1 2H 0	2
Magno Alves (83')	Scoring	Yoneyama (31') Washington (41')
Takashi Umeda	Cautions
Takashi Miki (74')	Sent Off
Lineups: Riki Takasaki, Patrick Zwaaswijk, Takashi Miki, Taikai Uemoto, Yoshiro Abe, Takashi Umeda, Tomoaki Komorida, (Takayuki Yoshida 50), Taku Harada (Ryosuke Kijima 77), Magno Alves Shota Matsuhashi, Yoshihiro Uchimura (Lucas "Dodo" Ricardo 45) .
Yoshinari Takagi, Lee Kang-Ji, Kentaro Hayashi, Takushi Yoneyama, Takuya Yamada, Daigo Kobayashi (Kazuyuki Toda 70), Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Takeshi Hirano, Takahito Soma, Kazuki Hiramoto, Washington.

3 - 1

Essentially, there were only two or three players on each team who seemed to understand the concept of "football" -- Mitsunori Yabuta Park Kang-jo and Ryuji Bando for Vissel, Teruaki Kurobe and Kenjiro Ezoe for Cerezo. The rest of the players seemed to be competing to see who could make the most fans at Kobe Wing Stadium leave their seats and catch an early train for home.

Vissel took the early lead after the Cerezo keeper rushed out to collect a loose ball in front of his own net and managed to knee it right out of his own grasp, to the feet of Yabuta, who lobbed it back into the untended net. Shortly after the break, Cerezo equalised after the Vissel defence tried to conduct a heading routine in their own penalty area, nodding the ball around from player to player for almost a full minute without managing to clear. In the end, the ball dropped for Kurobe, who drilled it through a crowd of bodies and into the net. It was not until midway through the second half that either team finally put together a meaningful offensive sequence. Kobe used a series of accurate passes to put pressure on the Cerezo defence and won a corner kick. The cross from the right corner found Roger in front of net for a leaping header, and Vissel had the lead once more.

Incidentally, after the match ended, the official scorers for some reason decided that the goal had been scored by Kazu Miura . . . .

Ummm. . . as they say in France . . . "Pardon?" Repeated attempts to spot some hint of contact between the ball and the head of Miura, on the video, were unsuccessful. Not only did Roger run to the stands immediately afterward and celebrate his goal, but Miura actually came and congratulated him. Once again, the J.League is displaying to the entire world that -- regardless of the quality of play -- in terms of organisation and professionalism, the League is a joke. What idiot decided that they were going to pad Miura's career scoring statistics by crediting him with other peoples' goals? And how much money will Mr. Mikitani be paying Roger under the table, to get him to play along? Can you say "Farce"? Good for you! Tomorrow we will study the word "Corruption"

At this point, both teams went to their benches, and suddenly the quality of play took a quantum leap upward, leading viewers to wonder why on earthe the players who were inserted as late substitutes aere not selected to start the match. Akinori Nishizawa and Nozomu Hiroyama, for Osaka, were particularly effective and over the final 15 minutes Cerezo were pressing Kobe continuously, and producing truly dangerous scoring chances. Considering how pathetic they looked earlier in the match, it is hard to believe that this was the same team. But they had left the effort until too late, and Vissel were able to fend off the pressure, forcing Cerezo to push further and further forward until their defence was stretched dangerously thin. As the match moved into injury time, a counterattack caught Cerezo with too few players back, and Pavel Horvath finished off the play with a drive from the edge of the box, to clinch the victory.

Date: 6 Feb, 2005		Location: Kobe Wing Stadium
3	0 1H 0 3 2H 1	1
Yabuta (6') Roger (68') Horvath (89')	Scoring	Kurobe (55')
Sugawara Kitamoto Hirase	Cautions	Fabinho Furuhashi
Lineups: Makoto Kakegawa, Kunie Kitamoto, Ichiei Muroi, Roger, Tomo Sugawara, Pavel Horvath, Park Kang-Jo, Atsuhiro Miura, Mitsunori Yabuta, Kazuyoshi Miura (Tomoyuki Hirase 69), Ryuji Bando .
Motohiro Yoshida, Kenjiro Ezoe, Bruno Cuadros, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Fabinho, Takanori Nunobe (Akinori Nishizawa 75), Kiyokazu Kudo (Nozomu Hiroyama 74), Ze Carlos, Tatsuya Furuhashi, Hiroaki Morishima, Teruaki Kurobe .

1 - 1

However, what kept the match scoreless until the late stages was some stellar work in goal from the two keepers, Yuta Minami for Reysol and Seigo Shimokawa for Frontale. Both killed off dangerous scoring opportunities with spectacular reaction saves, including one double-clutch performance by Minami in which he dove to his left to parry a blistering shot by Marcus, then rolled to his feet in time to take the follow-up volley square in the chest.

As the second half wore down, both teams intensified the pressure by bringing strikers off the bench. The Frontale defence was the first to crack. An aggressive push up the right side and then a towering cross-field drive gave Yukio Tsuchiya some space to work with on the left flank. His cross was collected by Keiji Tamada and dropped back to Yoshiteru Yamashita for a powerful drive that rose into the high left corner and gave Reysol the lead.

But with time running down in the contest, it was Frontale's turn to step up the pressure. On the stroke of full time, a high cross into the box found Augusto at the left post for a powerful header. Once again, Minami made a brilliant save, diving to the corner and blocking the shot. But this time Augusto was able to follow up effectively, pouncing on the loose gall and pushing it onto the boots of Juninhho, dashing in behind the play. Juninho stuffed the shot home, giving both teams a well-deserved share of the spoils.

Date: 6 Feb, 2005		Location: Kashiwa Stadium
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Yamashita (78)	Scoring	Juninho (89')
Yukio Tsuchiya Sotaro Yasunaga Sota Nakazawa	Cautions	Hiroki Ito Iwao Yamane Augusto Marcus Juninho
Lineups: Yuta Minami, Sota Nakazawa, Mitsuru Nagata, Naoya Kondo, Yukio Tsuchiya, Harutaka Ono (Tatsuya Tanizawa 89), Tomokazu Myojin, Tomonori Hirayama, Cleber, Sotaro Yasunaga (Yoshiteru Yamashita 66), Keiji Tamada .
Seigo Shimokawa, Yoshinobu Minowa, Shuhei Terada, Tomoaki Kuno, Iwao Yamane (Kazunori Iio 80), Yasuhiro Nagahashi, Augusto de Souza (Hideki Sahara 89), Marcus de Morais, Juninho, Kazuki Ganaha, .

J2 Start-Up Starts Off in Style

Another top contender, Kyoto Purple Sanga, needed a dramatic second-half comeback to win their match against lowly Mito Hollyhock. Kyoto went down two goals at the break, but coach Koichi Hashiratani brought on Yutaka Tahara as a third striker, early in the second half, and this sparked a surge of offence from the Purple Sanga. Tahara scored a goal and had an assist in a 15-minute goal rush that also included strikes by the team's two Brazilian newcomers, Paulinho and Alemao .

Another thrilling affair was the clash between Consadole Sapporo and Ventforet Kofu. Overnight snow was cleared from the pitch in time to provide reasonably good field conditions, but a crucial slip by a defender on the wet surface allowed Consadole to claim an early lead. Ventforet fought back with goals on both sides of half time, including the first goal in a Ventforet uniform by last year's Omiya Ardija ace, Bare but a late equaliser by Akihiro Tabata won Consadole a share of the points.

Elsewhere, Shonan Bellmare got off to a flying start with two goals in the opening 13 minutes -- one from former Kashiwa Reysol veteran Nozomu Kato -- to record a 2-0 win over Yokohama FC. Montedio Yamagata humbled newcomers Thespa Kusatsu, 3-0, and the northern Kyushu derby match between Avispa Fukuoka and Sagan Tosu ended in a 1-1 draw.

Rumours and Rumblings

ACL -- Asia's Consummate Losers

Yeah. Right!

You wont hear any complaints or sad paens from us about the results of Wednesday's matches. Both team took the pitch in their respective matches with the sort of relaxed, happy-go-lucky attitude that you display when contesting a pick-up match at the town picnic. Predictably, both got exactly what they deserved. Though the general run of play favoured both J.League teams -- indeed, the Marinos were so totally dominant that they outshot their opponent 25 to 2 -- both failed to display the sort of energy and intensity that one would expect in a match of this importance. The results were remarkably identical: one moment of incaution allowed the other team to score a single goal, midway through the second half, and in both cases, the J.League clubs were unable to restore the balance despite dominating the late stages of the contest. In the Marinos case, in particular, it was almost like watching a slapstick comedy, as the Marinos had chance after chance in front of the Shandong goal, and blew every single shot.

Oh, there were plenty of things for the Jubilo and Marinos fans to complain about -- time-wasting, cheap fouls, the usual thing that you face when playing a team that is determined to win by whatever means necessary. But then, that is exactly the point, isnt it? The other teams WERE determined to win, by whatever means possible. The Marinos and Jubilo were NOT. The result was as predictable as a crowded train at 8:30 on a Wednesday morning.

Though both teams did put on a fairly dominant display over the final ten minutes or so, when they had their backs to the wall, neither one came out and played with the sort of intensity that they show even in a regular-season J.League match, to say nothing of the sort of intensity expected from an "international." So long as J.League teams are unable to "get up" for these contests, they deserve to be humbled. And personally, we will be hoping for a clean sweep next week, when the two teams face another AFC opponent. The Marinos and Jubilo deserve to be disgraced, because their play -- particularly in the first half of both matches -- was disgraceful. Any team that walks around smiling and laughing for the first 45 minutes of a crucial match against a top-class Chinese opponent deserves to have the smile wiped off their face, but good.