---

April 3, 2005

Back with a Bang

Unfortunately, The J.League's irrepressable referees were also eager to get back into the action. It took Mr. Yuichi Nishimura a mere three minutes from the opening whistle to award TWO yellow cards to Ozalan Alpay, and by the end of the first half he had sent off a second Reds player, and given out a yellow card to a player who (apparently) was guilty of illegally tripping over the keeper's flailing arms and landing hard enough to separate his shoulder. Which leads us to wonder . . . if a player breaks his own arm, does the J.League consider that to be a red card offence?

Naturally, we will have plenty more to say about this week's "performances", for both good and ill. For now, here are the scores from Saturday's matches:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
Apr 2		4-1		Yokohama Stadium
Apr 2		1-3		Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
Apr 2		1-1		Shizuoka Stadium
Apr 2		1-1		Toyota Stadium
Apr 2		1-0		Omiya Stadium
Apr 2		1-2		Kobe Wing Stadium
Apr 2		vs		Oita "Big Eye" Stadium
Apr 3		2-2		Ajinomoto Stadium
Apr 3		3-2		Expo '70 "Banpaku" St.

1 - 1

At the start of this season, we thought that there would be a significant gap in quality between these two teams, and perhaps as the season goes on that gap will indeed emerge. However, from what we have seen so far (and certainly based on the outcome of this match), the two are fairly evenly matched. This is partly a credit to the very hard work that S-Pulse has put in, during their early matches, as well as the surprisingly strong contributions they received from newcomers like Choi Dae-uk and Kota Sugiyama, and the return to form of Ryuzo Morioka and Daiosuke Ichikawa. Unfortunately, it also reflects the fact that incoming coach Masakuni Yamamoto STILL has not managed to push out the Jubilo old guard, which seems to grow more decrepit with each passing week. Until he makes the transition to the talented youngsters that are currently brooding on the Iwata bench, Jubilo will continue to underperform.

Fortunately for Yamamoto, the results of this match may have made his job a bit easier. During the first half, Jubilo were dominated by a younger, fresher and more aggressive S-Pulse, but when he went to his bench, and brought on Robert Cullen and Sho Naruoka and Nobuo Kawaguchi, Jubilo's fortunes picked up noticeably.

S-Pulse started off the match extremely well, dominating possession for long spells of the first half. In fact, if their finishing had been a bit better during this spell, Shimizu might well have collected all three points from this contest. Unfortunately, S-Pulse's scoring ace Cho Jae-Jin picked up a hariline fracture in his right foot, in Korea's World Cup qualification match on Wednesday, and Hideaki Kitajima, who filled in for Cho in his absence, squandered several good opportunities over the first half hour. But in the 33 minute, Choi Dae-Uk was pulled down at the edge of the penalty area by a Jubilo defender, setting up a free kick two meters outside the box, almost straight out from the right post. Cho lined up over the ball and faked a run at it, but Ryuzo Morioka took the kick instead and sent a pinpoint drive into the top right corner.

Jubilo's first-half performance was so obviously weak that it came as no surprise when coach Yamamoto began making changes shortly after the break. However, it WAS a bit surprising -- and very encouraging for those who want to see Jubilo revive their fortunes -- to see WHICH players he pulled. First, Rodrigo Gral was ushered off and replaced by Nobuo Kawaguchi, who is a relatively experienced player, but who never semed to be part of the "old boys club" of Jubilo veterans. Next, Yamamoto benched Hiroshi Nanami and brought in second-year striker Robert Cullen. Finally, Norihiro Nishi was replaced by Sho Naruoka, leaving Makoto Tanaka as the only player on the pitch who was a part of the "glory years" for Jubilo.

Since The Rising Sun News has been saying so for the past year-and-a-half, it was no surprise at all that Jubilo's performance and competitiveness picked up steadily as the veterans went off and the youngsters took their places. S-Pulse continued to press the ball aggressively, and cut off the easy routes towards goal, but Jubilo began to create more and more dangerous counterattacks as the match wore on. Finally, with just a minute left in regulation time, Jubilo sprang a counterattack with six players all dashing for goal. Naoya Kikuchi took the ball all the way to the end line, on the right edge of the box, and then sent a whizzing low cross to Cullen, two steps from the near post. Cullen made just enough contact to deflect the ball into the far side of the net, and Jubilo rescued a point from the contest. It will be very interesting to see if this encourages Yamamoto to make even greater changes, in future matches.

Date: 2 Apr, 2005		Location: Shizuoka Stadium
1	0 1H 1 1 2H 0	1
Robert Cullen (83')	Scoring	Ryuzo Morioka (33')
Norihiro Nishi	Cautions	Ryuzo Morioka Choi Dae-Uk
Lineups:
Yohei Sato, Kim Sung-ji, Makoto Tanaka, Takayuki Chano, Norihiro Nishi (Sho Naruoka 79), Takahiro Kawamura, Naoya Kikuchi, Shinji Murai, Hiroshi Nanami (Robert Cullen 68), Yoo Sang-Chul, Rodrigo Gral (Nobuo Kawaguchi 59). Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Toshihide Saito, Ryuzo Morioka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Keiosuke Ota, Kazumichi Takagi, Teruyoshi Ito, Kota Sugiyama, Hideaki Kitanima (Masaaki Sawanobori 60), Choi Dae-Uk (Shohei Hiramatsu 73).

1 - 3

Kashima got off to a strong start, claiming the first tally in the 6 minute as Masashi Motoyama dribbled a weaving path through midfield and then released a lead pass down the right wing just as Fernando accelerated past the last Reysol defender. Keeper Yuta Minami rashly dashed off his line, and a quick deke to the right allowed Fernando to slip past him and tuck the ball back into an empty net.

About ten minutes later, the Antlers' new ace, Alex Mineiro, extended the lead as he raced after a quickly taken free kick, directed for the left post. While still in full sprint, Alex used the outside of his right boot to flick the ball through the seam between the keeper and a pursuing defender. The touch required to kill the ball's momentum dead and send it rolling delicately through the gap and into the net was remarkable, but Alex made it look like a routine play. Though the season has just begun, there are indications that perhaps the Antlers have found a scoring threat great enough to carry them back into contention for the league title, this year.

After going down by two goals early, Reysol did their level best to fight their way back into the contest. But if there is one thing for which the Antlers are renowned, it is their ability to preserve a lead. Reysol fans did have their hopes raised breifly, eight minutes into the second half, when Keiji Tamada turned the left corner and sent a shot for the near post, and Tatsuya Yazawa won a scramble with the keeper and an Antlers defender to poke the ball across the line.

But in the end, it was clear that Reysol were outmatched on this particular afternoon, and with 10 minutes left, Alex Mineiro made a weaving run from the left wing, dribbling his way back and forth to find a gap, and then suddenly pulling a shot across the face of goal and into the far side netting. This keeps the Antlers level on points with league-leaders FC Tokyo, at the top of the table.

Date: 2 Apr, 2005		Location: Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
1	0 1H 2 1 2H 1	3
Tatsuya Yazawa (53')	Scoring	Fernando (06') Alex Mineiro (16') Alex Mineiro (80')
Cleber	Cautions	Mitsuo Ogasawara Toru Araiba Alex Mineiro
Lineups:
Yuta Minami, Yasuhiro Hato (Tomonori Hirayama 45), Yukio Tsuchiya, Sota Nakazawa, Naoya Kondo, Tomokazu Myojin, Harutaka Ono (Soichiro Yasunaga 76), Cleber, Tatsuya Yazawa (Tadatoshi Masuda 45), Choi Song-Guk, Keiji Tamada . Hitoshi Sogahata, Jun Uchida (Arivaldo dos Santos 69), Daiki Iwamasa, Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba, Takeshi Aoki, Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama (Masaki Fukai 69), Alex Mineiro, Takuya Nozawa (Chikashi Masuda 76).

1 - 0

It is hard to argue too vigorously against this punishment, since Alpay has shown a bit of a tempermental streak, and may indeed deserve to be "taught a lesson". The problem is that if a ref decides to take such a strict line, and show no mercy to a player for an error in judgement, then he must expect the same in return. For the remainder of the match, he has to be abolutely flawless in his decisions, making sure that he awards exactly the same punishment for exactly the same offence, checks with his linesmen on any borderline play to make 100% sure that he gets the call right, and avoids any appearance of favouritism whatsoever. Needless to say, Mr. Nishimura never had a prayer of living up to this standard, but even The Rising Sun News found it hard to believe how utterly he would fail.

In the 30 minute, Nobuhisa Yamada raced into the penalty area after a lead pass from Emerson, and pushed the ball away from the diving keeper. As he raced after the ball, Yamada tripped over the keeper's arm and fell awkwardly on his shoulder. It seemed like a clear PK offence, but Mr. Nishimura raced up and brandished a yellow card at Yamada -- who was writhing on the ground in obvious agony -- booking him for "simulation". As examples of "simulation" this one was certainly impressive. Yamada not only managed to "simulate" a dive, but he also managed to "simulate" a separated shoulder that could keep him out of action for the next month.

Close on the heels of this bit of brilliance, Mr Nishimura showed "Nene" de Brito an immediate red for a low tackle, reducing the Reds to 10 men. As in the Alpay incident, this call might squeak by the review board since Nene did have his spikes up. However, the Reds defender was clearly going for the ball, and when it was apparent that he would not get to it first, made a visible effort to pull back and avoid the collision. In a vacuum, the call might pass muster, but if you view it in the context of the match as a whole, which was characterised by constant and undisguised hacking by the Trinita defence, who seemed to think that deliberate fouling is an acceptable defending strategy.

Nor was Mr. Nishimura consistent with his calls. Keita Suzuki came on late in the match, and committed a "professional" foul soon after coming on. He received an immediate yellow. Just three minutes later Yuki Fukaya, who had been fouling Reds players deliberately all night long, and was playing with one yellow already, took down Alex Santos with what looked like a perfectly identical professional foul. Mr. Nishimura called the foul, but refused to produce a card despite furious protests by the Reds.

But in is the little things . . . not the big ones . . . which are most telling when you are trying to decide whether a referee is just having a bad day, and slightly off in his judgement, or whether he is tryly and completely incompetent. Midway through the second half, shortly after denying yet another PK claim for the Reds, Mr. Nishimura called a foul on a Trinita player and awarded the Reds a free kick from a distance which made it a mildly dangerous scoring opportunity. Mr. Nishimura made the Trinita players retreat 15 meters, rather than the usual ten (the grass was mowed in five-meter strips leaving a visible pattern, so there was no question about the distance). Naturally Trinita protested, but when he blew his whistle loudly waved them back again, they laughingly did as they were instructed. This is a perfect reflection of the idiocy of J.League referees. It doesnt matter how much your guilty conscience tells you that you have been favouring one team, you cant "make up for it" by breaking the rules the other way. The rule says you have to retreat 10 meters, not 15, and a ref who doesnt know the difference deserves to be dumped.

Not long afterwards, a Trinita player was caught in possession on the sidelines and played a back pass towards his goal. Emerson broke for the ball, but the linesman's flag went up and Mr. Nishimura blew his whistle. . . . .

. . . I dont know if Mr. Les Mottram, head of the J.League's officiating review committee, reads the Rising Sun News, but if he does, we have a breif content intended for him personally: "Hey Les, I have a 9-year-old niece who plays on her elementary school team, and even SHE knows that you cant be offside on a pass by an opposing team's player!!!!! Where on earth do you get these idiots who serve as J.League refs, and what qualifications do they have, if any? I think my niece would be willing to work as a linesman in next week's J.League matches, if you are interested. She cant run very fast, but at least she wont call players offsides on a pass by an opposing team's player!"

Well, anyway, after valiantly fighting off the pressure by two-man-advantage Trinita for 85 mintues, the Reds defence finally began to wilt. With a minute left in regulation time, a scramble in the box resulted in two half-shots that were cleared by the defence, followed by a lob over the top from Magno Alves. Half the Reds players were on the ground, and the rest were stranded as Daiki Takamatsu slipped in from the right side and headed the ball home.

Not that it really mattered. This match had been ruined, long before, by the atrocious performance of yet another incompetent J.League officiating team. When, oh when, is the League Office going to get their fingers out of their noses and start weeding out the bad refs who are ruining it for everyone else? It isnt as if they are ALL bad, nor is it very difficult to identify who the worst ones are. This can be verified with quick visit to our Referees Section, where The Rising Sun News awards a "pair of eyeglasses" to referees each time faulty refereeing on their part unfairly determines the outcome of a match. As you can see for yourself, no less than eleven officials have a perfectly clean slate over the past year. One or two of these have had some borderline matches, but none that we felt deserved this mark of shame. Three others have earned just a single pair of "specs" over the past year, but there are three referees who have more "awards" than all of the others combined. Mr. Nishimura earns his third pair with this doozy of a match, joining Mr. Toshimitu Yoshida with two, and Mr. Masayoshi Okada has earned the "award" an amazing four times!

Clearly there is a problem here. The only question is, does anyone in the J.League have the brains and the balls to fix it?

Date: 2 Apr, 2005		Location: Oita "Big Eye" Stadium
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 0	0
Takamatsu (89')	Scoring
Nishiyama Dodo Fukaya	Cautions	Alpay Ozalan Alpay Ozalan Nobuhisa Yamada Keita Suzuki
	Sent Off	Alpay Ozalan Nene de Brito
Lineups:
Hayato Okanaka, Takashi Miki, Masakazu Shibakoya, Tomoki Fukaya, Takayuki Yoshida, Patrick Zwaaswijk (Teppei Nishiyama 72), Koji Yoshimura (Shota Matsuhashi 45), Yoshiro Abe (Daiki Takamatsu 64), Takashi Umeda, Magno Alves, Lucas "Dodo" Ricardo . Ryota Tsuzuki, Ozalan Alpay, Keisuke Tsuboi, Nene de Brito , Tadaaki Hirakawa, Tomoyuki Sakai (Keita Suzuki 62), Makoto Hasebe, Nobuhisa Yamada (Hideki Uchidate 39), Alessandro Santos, Tatsuya Tanaka (Yuichiro Nagai 69), Emerson .

4 - 1

On the Marinos' very first trip into the Niigata end, striker Hideo Oshima exploded into into the penalty box, catching up with a long cross from the left corner and heading it inside the near post. While the Albirex defenders were still picking bits of shrapnel out of their hair, midfielder Masahiro Ohashi made a similarly incendiary dash into the box , collecting a diagonal pass from Dutra and curling a shot around keeper Yosuke Nozawa and into the low right corner, extending the lead to 2-0.

Albirex made a game effort to recover, and pressed for a quick goal to make the game competitive once more. But despite a few very close calls over the next 15 minutes or so, the Marinos weathered the storm and began to construct dangerous counterattacks of their own. With about ten minutes left in the half, Yokohama won a corner kick on the right side, and after sending the ball into the box twice only to have it cleared to the edge of the box by the Albirex defence, Ryuji Kawai lashed a shot from about 20 meters, straight out from goal,. which hit a defender on its way through the crowded box, and left Nozawa flailing at thin air. The ricochet bounded softly into the right side of the net, and the Marinos had a three-goal lead to take into the locker room at the half.

The second 45 minutes was a bit more evenly matched, as Albirex seemed to overcome their shell-shock and produce some serious offensive threats, while tightening up the defence a bit better. However, despite some impressive individual penetration moves by the speedy Edmilson and by left wing Shingo Suzuki, whose steady improvement over the past year should surely earn him a look in the national team, at some point soon. But Yokohama's back line held firm until the 22 minute mark of the second half, when Edmilson surged through three defenders to threaten the net once again, and when the ball was finally cleared by the defence, it dropped at the feet of Suzuki, at the top left corner of the box for a follow-up drove which screamed into the low right corner.

As Albirex grew more and more desperate in their attacks, Yokohama began getting easier opportunities for counterattack, and in the 80 minute one of these produced a stinging shot from the perimeter by Dutra, which was parried by the keeper, but fell right at the feet of Hayuma Tanaka, who stuffed home the rebound. Yokohama coasted to a comfortable win, and move back into the upper reaches of the league table

Date: 2 Apr, 2005		Location: Yokohama Stadium
4	3 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Hideo Oshima (00') Masahiro Ohashi (03') Ryuji Kawai (37') Hayuma Tanaka (80')	Scoring	Shingo Suzuki (66')
Naoki Matsuda	Cautions	Kojiro Kaimoto
Lineups:
Tetsuya Enomoto, Yuzo Kurihara, Naoki Matrsuda, Ryuji Kawai, Hayuma Tanaka, Daisuke Nasu, Daisuke Oku (Nobuki Hara 83), Masahiro Ohashi (Shingo Kumabayashi 88), Dutra, Ahn Jung-Hwan (Nobuhisa Shimizu 63), Hideo Oshima . Yosuke Nozawa, Keiji Kaimoto, Kojiro Kaimoto, Yoshiaki Maruyama, Kentaro Suzuki (Yusaku Ueno 45), Motohiro Yamaguchi (Isao Honma 70), Shigenori Hagimura, Fabinho, Yoshito Terakawa (Katsuyuki Miyazawa 82), Edmilson, Shingo Suzuki .

1 - 0

Cerezo, meanwhile, are struggling to find their chemistry as a team, and it shows. Though there are quite a few talented players on the squad (we have been particularly impressed with the play of rookie defender Kenji Ezoe and second-year midfielder Tatsuya Furuhashi), the teams still has not developed much in the way of teamwork, and it showed in Saturday afternoon's contest. Cerezo had several opportunities to produce a goal, in the early going, but continuously missed connections on the final pass.

After a rather dull first half, the lone goal of the contest came shortly after the break, when Christian sent Fujimoto around the left flank with a lead pass, and then dashed forward to meet the return crosss with a diving header just inside the left post. Cerezo pressed for the equaliser throughout the remainder of the match, but Adija limited them to only one real dangerous opportunity, with about five minutes left. But a point-blank effort by Bruno Quadros was smothered by the outrushing keeper, and when Furuhashi collected the rebound, his shot across the face of goal was a bit wide of the far post. That would be the final scoring opportunity for either team, as Ardija held on to the ball and waited out the clock.

Date: 2 Apr, 2005		Location: Omiya Stadium
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 0	0
Christian (34')	Scoring
Jun Marques Davidson Masato Saito	Cautions	Ze Carlos Teruaki Kurobe
Lineups:
Hiroki Aratani, Takuro Nishimura, Toninho, Daisuke Tomita, Kazuyoshi Mikami, Jun Marques Davidson, Jin Kanazawa, Tatsunori Hisanaga, Chikara Fujimoto, Christian Dionisio (Koji Morita 75), Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel (Masato Saito 85) (Yusuke Shimada 89) . Motohiro Yoshida, Kenjiro Ezoe (Tomoki Maeda 44), Bruno Cuadros, Tetsuya Yamazaki, Fabinho, Takanori Nunobe (Nozomu Hiroyama 59), Kiyokazu Kudo, Ze Carlos, Tatsuya Furuhashi, Hiroaki Morishima (Akinori Nishizawa 59), Teruaki Kurobe .

1 - 2

Tokyo came out of the gate with a rush, and as was the case in several other contests this weekend, they wasted no time in posting two goals. After some close calls generated by wild runs down both wings, Tokyo won a free kick right at the apex of the penalty arc, nine minutes into the contest. Jean Carlo Witte and Masashi Miyazawa played the classic misdirection play that is familiar to all those who have conquered the windmill hole at their local putt-putt golf course. Jean made a thundering run at the ball, getting the players in the wall to jump, and just as they were coming down, Miyazawa played a gently curling line drive over the top, and into the high right corner.

Six minutes later, a second well-executed set play extended the lead. On a corner kick on the right side, Ryoichi Kurisawa had his initial cross blocked by the near defender, sending it straight back to his feet. If at first you dont succeed . . . Kurisawa sent another cross aimed for almost exactly the same spot, and this time it found Yasuyuki Konno about six meters out from the near post. Konno delivered a powerful sidewinding header that slipped into the low right corner just beyond the keeper's reach.

Tokyo remained dominant for the rest of the half (and much of the second half as well, for that matter), but somehow couldnt finish off their runs and produce any additional scores. Around the middle of the second half, however, the entry of substitutes Mitsutoshi Watada and Jean Carlo Witte added some impetus to Vissel's counterattacks, and they began to produce dangerous scoring opportunities of their own. Though Vissel pressed aggressively in the final 15 minutes or so, it wasnt until the last minute of regulation time that they finally produced a goal. Roger delivered a long cross from the left sideline which Watada met at the far post and headed back across the face of goal. Ryuji Bando slipped in from the left to head it inside the post. But by this time it was too late to complete the comeback, and despite some desperate efforts in injury time by Vissel, FC Tokyo held on for the win, which should put them top of the table, come Sunday.

Date: 2 Apr, 2005		Location: Kobe Wing Stadium
1	0 1H 2 1 2H 0	2
Ryuji Bando (89')	Scoring	Masashi Miyazawa (9') Yasuyuki Konno (15')
Park Kang-Jo	Cautions	Mitsuhiro Toda
Lineups: Naoya Saeki
Makoto Kakegawa, Kunie Kitamoto, Ichiei Muroi (Mitsutoshi Watada 55), Roger, Tomo Sugawara, Pavel Horvath, Park Kang-Jo (Ryuhei Niwa 71), Atsuhiro Miura, Mitsunori Yabuta, Ryuji Bando, Kazuyoshi Miura (Naoya Saeki 73) . Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa, Yasuyuki Konno, Masashi Miyazawa (Satoru Asari 79), Yuichi Kurisawa, Naohiro Ishikawa (Yohei Kajiyama 69), Mitsuhiro Toda (Ryuji Fujiyama 82), Lucas Severino.

1 - 1

Nagoya Grampus are perhaps the most difficult team to understand, this season. But then, hasnt that been the case since the team's inception? One week Grampus look like world-beaters, the next they look like potential relegation candidates. Only one thing is certain -- at the end of this season they will not be remembered for their consistency.

This was one of the team's "down weeks", and though we do not want to take too much away from Sanfrecce, Grampus really put in a lame performance. Just days earlier, striker Ueslei got in a major row with some of the other players, and vocally criticised management and the head coach, following practice. When his comments were printed in the local palers, Ueslei was suspended for an unspecified period of time, and fined by the team. No doubt this had some influence on team morale, but the simple fact is, Nagoya looked very uncertain throughout this contest.

Sanfrecce got on the board first, with a fine finish from Hiroto Mogi, who drove a low shor from the right corner of the box that bounded into the far corner just out of the keeper's reach. It looked like Sanfrecce might be on the verge of claiming their first win of the season, but with time running out in the second half, Marques produced magic out of virtually nothing. With two minutes to play in regulation time, Marques fought off a defender as a cross looped into the box, and then leapt high for a bicycle-kick drive that slipped inside the right post.

Grampus should probably be happy just to rescue one point from this contest, but the draw will knock them out of the upper echelon of teams at the top of the table.

Date: 2 Apr, 2005		Location: Toyota Stadium
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Marques (87')	Scoring	Hiroto Mogi (54')
Masahiro Koga Marques	Cautions	Dininho
Lineups:
Seigo Narazaki, Masahiro Koga, Kei Yamaguchi, Takahiro Masukawa, Keiji Watanabe (Yusuke Nakatani 67), Naoshi Nakamura, Claiton, An Yeon-Ha, Keisuke Honda (Keiji Yoshimura 45), Keita Sugimoto (Yohei Toyota 67), Marques . Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano, Dininho, Norio Omura, Kota Hattori, Takehito Shigehara, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Joubert "Beto" Martins (Shohei Ikeda 81), Hiroto Mogi (Hayato Sato 74), Susumu Oki (Shusuke Maeda 89), Galvao .

2 - 2

The early goal energised the Chibans, and JEF dominated play for the next 15 minutes, narrowly missing chances to extend their lead on two or three occasions. But eventually the pressure paid off, as Mario Haas also found plenty of free space on the left side of the box, and waited for Yuki Abe to break through the middle. Haas teed up a perfect ball for Abe -- a slow roller that met him in full stride about two steps inside the box. Abe drilled it into the nylon with his left boot, extending JEF's lead to 2-0.

But just a few minutes later, the tide of the match turned completely on what may have been the most remarkable finish of the week. Verdy was working the ball around the perimeter of the penalty area, in what seemed like an innocuous buildug, when suddenly Takahito Soma looked up and fired an unexpected looping cross from about ten meters above the top of the box, on the left sideline, towards Daigo Kobayashi several meters beyond the far post. Kobayashi was just a step from the end line, and seemed to have no angle on goal whatsoever. But somehow he connected with the ball in mid-flight, sending a wicked spinning volley across the mouth of goal and squarely into the opposite post. The ball's spin sent it caroming into the net, and Verdy were suddenly given a boost of adrenaline.

For the next ten minutes the tide was reversed completely, with Verdy dominating play and producing a rush of chances. Verdy's talented left wing, Soma, seems to be gaining skill and confidence with each passing match, and he continued to figure heavily in the buildup. In the 27 minute, a low cross from Soma in the left corner found Kazuki Hiramoto at the near post, and since he had no angle on net, he headed the ball into the open space directly in front of net. Verdy's ace striker, Washington, and JEF keeper Ryo Kushino both rushed forward as the ball bounded into space, but Washington reached it first, and lifted it away from Kushino's clutching gloves. Kushino could not halt his momentum, and albeit inadvertently, he rolled right underneath Washington's legs and submarined him to the ground. Though the yellow card awarded to Kushino might have been a bit harsh, the PK was unquestionable, and Washington calmly collected from the penalty spot.

After a very active first half, the second chapter was something of an anticlimax. Both teams clearly had discussed defensive errors during the break, and there was a hint of excessive caution on both ends during the second half. The result was an entertaining exchange of probing thrusts and parries, but only a handful of really dangerous shots. Keeper Yoshinari Takagi made two brilliant saves to stymie the JEF opportunities, while Washington missed the target on the only two open chances he got in the second half. The two teams had to settle for an equal share of the points

Date: 3 Apr, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
2	2 1H 2 0 2H 0	2
Daigo Kobayashi (23') Washington (27')	Scoring	Seiichiro Maki (1') Yuki Abe (15')
Kazuyuki Toda Kentaro Hayashi	Cautions	Yuto Sato Ryo Kushino Stoyanov
Lineups:
Yoshinari Takagi, Lee Kang-Ji, Kentaro Hayashi, Takushi Yoneyama (Kazuyuki Toda 66), Takuya Yamada, Daigo Kobayashi, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (Masayuki Yanagisawa 78), Takeshi Hirano, Takahito Soma, Kazuki Hiramoto, Washington. Ryo Kushino, Yuki Mizumoto, Ilyan Stoyanov, Daisuke Saito, Koki Mizuno (Takenori Hayashi 79), Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Naotake Hanyu, Mario Haas, Seiichiro Maki (Kunihiko Takizawa 85) .

2 - 3

The contest, like so many others this weekend, got of to a very quick start. Just six minutes into the contest, Gamba broke out on a counterattack with a great deal of opens space in the center of the pitch. Though Frontale had defenders back, they were playing well off their men, giving them a large cushion. Seeing the space, Fernandinho played a high looping ball to Masashi Oguro as he galloped towards the top right corner of the box. Oguro had plenty of room to collect the ball without any pressure from the defence, and spotted an open lane towards goal. The ball took one high bounce, and when it came down Oguro lashed it with his right boot, sending a low bullet into the far corner.

But apart from a few promising chances from Gamba over the subsequent ten minutes or so following the goal, the match settled down to a rather cautious sequence of probing efforts by both teams, which produced the occasional half-chance but nothing really dangerous. It was not until the 10th minute of the second half that things began to get really interesting. Frontale won a corner kick on the left side, and played the ball low to the near post, where Augusto had two defenders hovering on his back. Augusto had no hope of doing anythigh with the ball, so he faked a trap and thet it bound through, giving it just the faintest tap with the heel to push it out into the middle of the penalty box. The move completely surprised the defence, and as Juninhho dashed forward to collect the ball, he received no challenge from the defence whatsoever. It was a simple matter to settle the bounding ball and tap it into the open back side of the net.

This triggered a sudden surge of offensive pressure as Gamba sought to restore their lead, matched almost shot for shot by a suddenly more adventurous group of Frontale strikers (who had more room to work with as Gamba pressed forward on the attack). Play swung back and forth for about ten minutes, with good chances on both ends, before Gamba finally managed to restore their lead. Once again, the strike came on an unexpected and immaculately placed shot from Oguro, who received the ball at the top of the penalty arc, spotted an opening and ripped off a sudden shot that screamed into the top right corner before any of the Frontale players could even turn their heads and watch it zip past.

This set up a wild and spectacular, if slightly dodgy ending. As the clock ticked into the first minute of injury time, Frontale won a free kick about 30 meters out from goal, and level with the right edge of the box. Marcus took the kick and sent a soaring lob to the penalty spot. Keeper Suguru Hino dashed out in time to reach it first, but he unwisely tried to make the catch instead of punching it clear. Hino was unable to find the handle, and the ball spilled off to the left, where it appeared to hit Frontale defender Tomoaki Kuno in the hand. The Gamba players all froze, but there was no whistle, and Kuno shuffled the ball quickly to Augusto, who stuffed it into the net. Replays suggest that even if it was a hand ball, it was minor and inadvertent, which just goes to illustrate the old adage that you should always keep playing until the whistle sounds.

But if Frontale received a bit of a gift on the equaliser, Gamba would receive a present of their own, soon thereafter. Though the fourth official initially held up a sign showing two minutes of added time, the second-half clock read 48:10 when a desperate last dash downfield by Gamba produced a foul about five meters to the left of the box. Another minute elapsed as they set up for the free kick, meaning that the referee allowed play to continue for at least two minutes longer than he was supposed to, giving Gamba their final chance to snatch a win. Yasuhito Endo took the kick, and sent an absolutely perfect line drive to the far post, where defender Satoru Yamaguchi made a prodigious leap to head the ball down and into the low right corner. As the final whistle sounded, the Gamba players jumped for joy while the Frontale squad could only shake their heads in disbelieve. Though we have to give some credit to the assistance provided by generous officiating, the two teams certainly put on one of the most dramatic finishes yet this season, and we can only hope that the drama continues throughout this J.League season.

Date: 3 Apr, 2005		Location: Expo '70 Stadium
3	1 1H 0 2 2H 2	2
Masashi Oguro (6') Masashi Oguro (68') Satoru Yamaguchi (89')	Scoring	Juninho (56') Augusto (89')
Fernandinho Noritada Saneyoshi	Cautions	Juninho
Lineups:
Suguru Hino, Ryota Aoki (Satoru Yamaguchi 63), Sidiclei, Noritada Saneyoshi, Toshihiro Matsushita (Takahiro Futagawa 63), Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Akihiro Ienaga, Araujo, Fernandinho, Masashi Oguro . Seigo Shimokawa, Yoshinobu Minowa, Shuhei Terada, Hiroki Ito, Tomoaki Kuno (Naoki Soma 61), Kengo Nakamura, Yasuhiro Nagahashi (Kazunori Iio 79), Augusto de Souza, Marcus de Morais, Juninho, Kazuki Ganaha .

And so,