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April 13, 2005

Midweek Madness

Due to time limitations (all matches kicked off at 7:00, and there is a limited number to the matches that one person can watch at the same time), most of our reports will be breif, though we will add the complete box scores, and hopefully some further details on the matches some time tomorrow. At any rate, here are the results from Wednesday's matches.

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
Apr 13		2-0		Kashima Stadium
Apr 13		1-1		Komaba Stadium
Apr 13		0-1		Tokyo Nat'l Stadium
Apr 13		1-4		Ajinomoto Stadium
Apr 13		1-3		Iwata "Yamaha" Stadium
Apr 13		1-0		Mizuho Stadium
Apr 13		1-1		Expo '70 "Banpaku" St.
Apr 13		1-6		Kobe Universiade St.
Apr 13		1-2		Oita "Big Eye" Stadium

0 - 0

Of course, there is still a long way to go in this young season, and the predictions may yet turn out to be accurate. However, at least for the time being, Kashima and Omiya are riding high, and their upcoming opponents have certainly taken notice. The two teams differ so dramatically in style and strengths (as well as weaknesses) that it is hard to compare them, but apart from their early success, the two teams have one other important characteristic in common: they are made up of mature, well disciplined players who know how to avoid dumb mistakes. This quality is often overlooked when considering a team's prospects at the start of the season, but as any coach will tell you, teams that can avoid "beating themselves" -- that is to say, preventing the sort of blunders that give opponents easy opportunities to score -- are usually successful. Though the Antlers and Ardija both have their share of youngsters, the core of both teams is made up of solid and experienced players with 5-7 years of experience as a regular starter. Furthermore, both coaches -- Toninho Cerezo and Toshiya Miura -- tend to focus heavily on "the basics".

Incidentally, those who have been subjected to the mindless ravings of some of Japan's football-illiterate sports writers -- those who seem to think there is such a thing as a "natural formation"that "suits Japanese players best" -- may find it interesting to note that, going into this week's match, the top three teams in the J.League all were teams that play a conventional four-back (4-4-2) formation. Not that this "proves" the superiority of a four-back set any more than the Marinos' consecutive titles over the past two years "proves" the value of three backs. Match tactics and player selection are far more important issues, and though it is true that some PLAYERS are more suited to one formation or position than another, the success of teams like the Antlers, Ardija, FC Tokyo and (in the J2) Kyoto Purple Sanga should lay to rest the silly idea that Japanese players are somehow better suited to a 3-5-2 formation.

The emphasis on careful passing, effective defending and avoiding mistakes pretty much determined the character of this match. Both teams put in very solid performances, though the technical level of the Antlers was just a bit superior. The Saitama Squirrels behaved according to character, hoarding their counterattack opportunities like precious nuts and trying to make them count, but solid defending and a good job in net by Hitoshi Sogahata kept them scoreless. On the other end, the Antlers had their chances but Ardija certainly did not make things easy for them. In fact, both goals were caused as much by lucky bounces as anything else. In the 23 minute, a long shot by Takeshi Aoki came back off the right post and fell perfectly for Takuya Nozawa, who volleyed it home. Late in the second half, with Omiya pressing for the equaliser, the Antlers got a counterattacking opportunity that had all the numbers required to produce a goal, and defender Seiichiro Okuno's desperate effort to prevent the inevitable resulted in a foul and a PK. Mitsuo Ogasawara delivered from the PK spot to seal the win and move the Antlers into sole possession of first place.

Date: 13 Apr, 2005		Location: Kashima Stadium
2	1 1H 0 1 2H 0	0
Takuya Nozawa (23') Mitsuo Ogasawara (80')	Scoring
Go Oiwa Daiki Iwamasa Fernando Masashi Motoyama	Cautions	Daisuke Tomita Seiichiro Okuno Tatsunori Kuno
Lineups: Hitoshi Sogahata, Jun Uchida (Arivaldo dos Santos 80), Daiki Iwamasa, Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba, Takeshi Aoki (Chikashi Masuda 89), Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama, Takuya Nozawa (Masaki Fukai 75), Alex Mineiro . Hiroki Aratani, Takuro Nishimura, Toninho, Seiichiro Okuno, Daisuke Tomita (Kazuyoshi Mikami 59), Jun Marques Davidson, Jin Kanazawa, Tatsunori Hisanaga, Chikara Fujimoto, Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel (Koji Morita 56), Christian Dionisio .

1 - 1

There are a variety of explanations for this inability to score, and surely one important factor is just the pressure to produce their first win. However, we can identify several things that help explain the problem. First, Emerson was several weeks late in reporting to training camp, and though his wife's pregnancy offered a convenient excuse, the fact is that a professional football player cannot just show up to camp weeks late and expect to step right into the team without a ripple. The Reds coaches themselves admit that he is just now reaching peak fitness, and his poor finishing seems to be partly a reflection of inadequate preparation. Though Emerson himself deserves criticism, the team is also partly to blame. This is the third year in a row that Emerson has reported late to camp, and if the Reds had any sense, they would bench him for a month or two, until he is fully match fit, and apply a large enough fine to ensure that it never happened again. But then, Emerson is not the only player in the Reds clubhouse with an attitude problems.

One final problem relates to strategy. The Rising Sun News has been noting for at least three years that any team with this many racehorses on the squad (and a relative lack of playmakers) should be playing with three strikers, in either a 4-3-3 or a 3-4-3. Coach Buchwald eventually adopted this formation in the second stage last season, and it was clearly effective. But this season he has reverted to a 3-5-2, with no real playmaker in the middle to feed the ball to Emerson and Tanaka. This has meant that the strikers do not receive the ball in an ideal position for a shot, and the problem is exacerbated by too much "ball hogging", as players often shoot wildly when they have a teammate in a more open position.

No doubt, the Reds need to start addressing these problems, but it would be unfair to their opponent, Shimizu S-Pulse, to suggest that the "only" reason the Reds failed to win this week was their own inability to score. S-Pulse have been playing very well this year, not only as a team, but individually as well. Players who had fallen on hard times, particularly former national team members like Ryuzo Morioka, Teruyoshi Ito and Daisuke Ichikawa, are showing a renewed passion and are recovering their old form. Defender Takahiro Yamanishi, who was picked up from rivals Jubilo Iwata in the off-season, has proven to be a brilliant acquisition. Meanwhile, the Korean attacking duo of Cho Jae-Jin and Choi Tae-Uk are demonstrating to bans in Shizuoka, and throughout the country, that Brazil is not the only country that produces players who know how to finish, effectively.

Certainly, any neutral observer would admit that the Reds played the better match on Wednesday evening. But that does not always suffice to produce victory, in the game of football. Certainly that was true of this match. S-Pulse did just what they had to to to fend off Urawa's offence, and then capitalised on one clear opportunity to claim the opening goal. In the 25 minute, Shimizu created some pressure in the Reds penalty area, and when the Reds cleared the ball, Cho and Choi smartly retreated with the defenders to stay onside. This was extremely important, because Yamanishi dashed forward to collect the ball at the midfield stripe, and then lobbed a towering pass to the edge of the box. Everyone in orange was onside, and the ball fell in a very difficult spot for either the keeper or the defence to handle. Though Ryoto Tsuzuki dashed out to try to punch it clear, it was a bit too far for him to get to in time. The defenders were in full retreat, and had a hard time getting a bead on the ball. Cho managed to outleap "Nene" de Brito and head the ball in an arc over the head of Tsuzuki and into the net.

The Reds managed to equalise just before the half, on one of the few unselfish plays that Emerson made in this match. After beating his man around the right flank, and racing towards the right post, he spotted Makoto Hasebe wide open at the top of the box, and dropped a soft pass back into the open space. Hasebe one-timed it high into the left side of the net and the Reds were back on level terms.

But try as they might, they simply could not produce the winning goal. S-Pulse defended tenaciously, and sprank just enough counterattacks to keep the Reds defence honest. This was all they needed to do to claim a valuable away point, and though they are also still looking for their first win of the year, they stand a point ahead of the Reds, having registered four consecutive draws. For a team that we picked as a potential relegation candidate, that is not too shabby.

Date: 13 Apr, 2005		Location: Komaba Stadium
1	1 1H 1 1 2H 0	0
Makoto Hasebe (43')	Scoring	Cho Jae-Jin (25')
Emerson	Cautions	Toshihide Saito Takahiro Yamanishi
Lineups: Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Satoshi Horinouchi, Fabio "Nene" de Brito (Hideki Uchidate 87), Nobuhisa Yamada (Tadaaki Hirakawa 75), Makoto Hasebe, Keita Suzuki, Alessandro Santos, Yuichiro Nagai (Masayuki Okano 79), Tatsuya Tanaka, Emerson . Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Toshihide Saito, Ryuzo Morioka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Keiosuke Ota, Kazumichi Takagi, Teruyoshi Ito, Kota Sugiyama, Cho Jae-Jin, Choi Dae-Uk.

1 - 0

FC Tokyo can only blame themeselves for the loss, however, as they squandered countless chances, including a PK 12 minute that was saved on a nice diving punch by keeper Seigo Narazaki After dominating for 45 minutes without scoring, Tokyo got just a bit too eager in the early second half, pressing forward a bit dangerously and giving Grampus space to launch a flying 2-on-2 counterattack. Naoshi Nakamura Drove right up the middle of the pitch on a 50-meter dash, and at the last minute, dropped the ball off on the left wing to Marques, who slammed a low shot into the far corner. That was all she wrote, as FC Tokyo could not find the net with any of their efforts, on this particular evening.

Date: 13 Apr, 2005		Location: Mizuho Stadium
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 0	0
Marques (61')	Scoring
Keisuke Honda Takayoshi Masukawa Makoto Kakuda Masahiro Koga Marques	Cautions	Jean Carlo Witte
Lineups: Eiji Kawashima, Makoto Kakuda, Masahiro Koga, Takahiro Masukawa (Yutaka Akida 78), Yusuke Nakatani, Claiton, An Yeon-Ha, Kei Yamaguchi, Keisuke Honda, Marques Naoshi Nakamura (Keiji Yoshimura 89) . Yoichi Doi, Ryuji Fujiyama (Tatsuya Masushima 14), Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa, Yasuyuki Konno, Masashi Miyazawa (Yohei Kajiyama 53), Yuichi Kurisawa, Naohiro Ishikawa (Yusuke Kondo 73), Mitsuhiro Toda, Lucas Severino.

1 - 3

Although three player substitutions before the 60 minute mark managed to stem the bleeding, this performance will surely demonstrate once and for all that Jubilo cannot go on with their current muddled roster. The clearest indication of that came with the insertion of Robert Cullen, who needed just three minutes on the pitch to produce a goal. Unfortunately, it came only after JEF had extended their lead on a missed clearance by former JEF midfielder Shinji Murai. The ball fell at the feet of Naotake Hanyu, who tapped it into the net from point blank range. The former JEF players seemed to be having a bad day against their old club, as Takayuki Chano picked up his second yellow card early in the second half. After that, JEF merely needed to play ball-control to run out the clock and claim the victory.

Date: 13 Apr, 2005		Location: Iwata Stadium
1	0 1H 2 1 2H 1	3
Robert Cullen (63')	Scoring	Yuto Sato (12') Daisuke Saito (19') Naotake Hanyu (61')
Kim Sung-Ji Takayuki Chano Takayuki Chano	Cautions	Satoru Yamagishi
Takayuki Chano (2Y)	Sent Off
Lineups: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Kim Sung-ji, Makoto Tanaka, Takayuki Chano, Norihiro Nishi (Yoshiaki Ota 84), Takahiro Kawamura (Naoya Kikuchi 53), Toshihiro Hattori, Shinji Murai, Sho Naruoka, Yoo Sang-Chul, Masashi Nakayama (Robert Cullen 57) . Ryo Kushino, Yuki Mizumoto, Ilyan Stoyanov, Daisuke Saito, Koki Mizuno (Satoru Yamagishi 89), Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Naotake Hanyu (Kohei Kudo 89), Mario Haas, Seiichiro Maki (Takenori Hayashi 83) .

0 - 1

An early goal by Ahn Jung-Hwan was all the Marinos needed in this match, though they nearly let Reysol off the hook as they did on Sunday against Vissel. Following their first-half strike, the Marinos seemed to take their foot off the gas, and allowed Reysol to dictate the pace for much of the second half. Some close calls down the stretch nearly produced the equaliser but in the end the Marinos claimed all three points.

Date: 13 Apr, 2005		Location: Tokyo Nat'l Stadium
0	0 1H 1 0 2H 0	1
	Scoring	Ahn Jung-Hwan (36')
Harutaka Ono Yukio Tsuchiya Ricardinho	Cautions	Ryuji Kawai Daisuke Nasu Dutra
Lineups: Yuta Minami, Yasuhiro Hato (Tatsuya Yazawa 70), Yukio Tsuchiya, Sota Nakazawa, Naoya Kondo, Tomokazu Myojin, Harutaka Ono, (Tomonori Hirayama 45), Cleber, Choi Song-Guk, Keiji Tamada, Sotaro Yasunaga (Ricardinho 70) . Tetsuya Enomoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Ryuji Kawai, Hayuma Tanaka, Daisuke Oku, Daisuke Nasu, Dutra, Masahiro Ohashi (Nobuki Hara 89), Hideo Oshima (Daisuke Sakata 70), Ahn Jung-Hwan.

1 - 2

At Oita "Big Eye" stadium, Magno Alves gave the home side a half-time lead with a nice dash forward and a strong finish in the 30 minute. However, Cerezo Osaka fought back in the second half to equalise in the 65 minute thanks to Teruaki Kurobe's header. With time running down, Cerezo built the pressure and in the final minute of regulation time a foul in the penalty area by Patrick Zwaanswijk gave Cerezo a PK opportunity which Ze Carlos happily collected to give Cerezo the last-minute victory.

Date: 13 Apr, 2005		Location: Oita "Big Eye" Stadium
1	1 1H 0 0 2H 2	2
Magno Alves (30')	Scoring	Teruaki Kurobe (65') Ze Carlos (89')
Tomoaki Komorida Koji Arimura Patrick Zwaanswijk	Cautions	Ze Carlos
Lineups: Hayato Okanaka (Koji Esumi 45), Tomoki Fukaya, Patrick Zwaaswijk, Taikai Uemoto, Takashi Umeda, Tomoaki Komorida (Yuichi Nemoto 80), Koji Yoshimura (Yoshiro Abe 45), Koji Arimura, Takayuki Yoshida, Magno Alves, Lucas "Dodo" Ricardo . Motohiro Yoshida, Bruno Cuadros, Tomoki Maeda, Tetsuya Yamazaki (Hiroshige Yanagimoto 45), Tomi Shimomura, Takanori Nunobe (Nozomu Hiroyama 52), Kiyokazu Kudo, Ze Carlos, Tatsuya Furuhashi, Akinori Nishizawa (Teruaki Kurobe 56), Hiroaki Morishima .

1 - 4

Teenage stiker Shunsuke Maeda was finally given his first opportunity to start. and he repaid this selection by slamming home a corner kick in the 25 minute to give Sanfrecce a half time lead. Up to this point, Verdy had actually been playing the superior football, but just were unable to unlock the Sanfrecce defence and produce a goal. However, things began to fall apart quickly in the second half. Just two minutes after the restart, Kazuyuki Morisaki snuck in behind a Verdy defender and stole the ball deep in the defensive zone, taking three quick steps towards goal and firing into the nylon netting. This apparently upset Verdy's second-half plans and they began pressing forward over-enthusiastically. Just a few minutes later a counterattack led by Morisaki shattered the defence and Galvao finished off the play with his first J.League goal.

Things would only get worse as Kentaro Hayashi earned his second yellow on the stroke of the hour, and two minutes later Sanfrecce used their mana advantage to produce yet another goal for Morisaki. Verdy got a late consolation goal from Lee Kang-ji, but by that time the result was already determined, and Sanfrecce claimed their first win of the season

Date: 13 Apr, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
1	0 1H 1 1 2H 3	4
Lee Kang-ji (77')	Scoring	Shunsuke Maeda (25') Kazuyuki Morisaki (47') Galvao (52') Kazuyuki Morisaki (62')
Kentaro Hayashi Kentaro Hayashi	Cautions	Norio Omura
Kentaro Hayashi (2Y)	Sent off
Lineups:
Yoshinari Takagi, Kenta Togawa, Lee Kang-Ji, Kazuyuki Toda (Masayuki Yanagisawa 45) Takuya Yamada (Masatomo Kuba 81), Kentaro Hayashi, Daigo Kobayashi, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Takeshi Hirano, Kazuki Hiramoto (Takayuki Morimoto 45), Washington. Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano, Dininho, Norio Omura, Kota Hattori, Takehito Shigehara, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Joubert "Beto" Martins (Hisato Sato 75), Susumu Oki (Hiroto Mogi 66), Shunsuke Maeda (Shohei Ikeda 66) Galvao, .

1 -1

Date: 13 Apr, 2005		Location: "Banpaku" Stadium
1	1 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
Oguro (21')	Scoring	Anderson Lima (58')
Takahiro Futagawa Mitsuteru Watanabe	Cautions	Fabinho Shingo Suzuki Fabinho
	Sent off	Fabinho (2Y)
Lineups:
Suguru Hino, Satoru Yamaguchi), Sidiclei, Noritada Saneyoshi (Masanobu Matsunami 79), Mitsuteru Watanabe (Kota Yoshihara 69), Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Araujo, Fernandinho (Toshihiro Matsushita 83), Masashi Oguro . Yosuke Nozawa, Keiji Kaimoto, Shigenori Hagimura (Daisuke Aono 45), Yoshiaki Maruyama, Yasushi Kita, Isao Honma, Kentaro Suzuki (Anderson Lima 57), Shingo Suzuki, Edmilson, Yusaku Ueno (Yoshito Terakawa 76), Fabinho .

1 - 6

Holy Mackeral! What a blowout! Kawasaki Frontale exploded from a narrow 1-0 halftime lead to score five goals in the second half. Though Mitsutoshi Watada was sent off for the home side, this actually did not occur until AFTER Frontale scored their last goal, so it had no bearing on the tremendous goal bonanza. Strikers Juninhho and Kazuki Ganaha both hit the net as did Marcus, , Hiroyuki Taniguchi and the mighty swans' young reserve striker Masaru Kurotsu.

Pavel Horvath scored a late consolation goal for Kobe, but nearly all of the fans had departed in despair before his 87-minute strike finally put Vissel on the scoreboard.

Date: 13 Apr, 2005		Location: Kobe Universiade
1	0 1H 1 1 2H 5	6
Pavel Horvath (87')	Scoring	Juninho (23') Masayuki Taniguchi (48') Kazuki Ganaha (51') Masaru Kurotsu (66') Own Goal (76') Marcus (79')
Masayuki Kawamoto	Cautions	Yoshinobu Minowa Kazuyuki Ganaha
Mitsutoshi Watada	Sent off
Lineups:
Makoto Kakegawa, Kunie Kitamoto, Yusuke Kawamoto, Roger, Tomo Sugawara, Ryuhei Niwa (Pavel Horvath 45), Park Kang-Jo, Naoto Matsuo (Mitsutoshi Watada 58), Mitsunori Yabuta (Naoya Saeki 54), Ryuji Bando, Kazuyoshi Miura . Shinya Yoshihara, Yoshinobu Minowa (Hideki Sahara 83), Masayuki Taniguchi, Kengo Nakamura, Yasuhiro Nagahashi, Augusto de Souza, Shuhei Terada, Marcus de Morais, Juninho (Masaru Kurotsu 72), Kazuki Ganaha .

With FC Tokyo's loss to Nagoya Grampus, the Antlers move into sole possession of first place. Tokyo drop to second place, a goal-difference ahead of the Marinos, and JEF United move up to fourth place with their victory over Jubilo. Interestingly enough, both promoted J2 sides are in the top half of the table . . . well, at least for the time being.

Rumours and Rumblings