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May 15, 2005

Goodbye Till Summer

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

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
May 14		0 - 1		Kumagaya Stadium
May 14		1 - 0		Ajinomoto Stadium
May 14		0 - 1		Todoroki Stadium
May 14		2 - 2		Niigata "Big Swan"
May 14		2 - 4		Nagai Stadium
May 14		0 - 2		Toyota Stadium
May 14		0-2		Ichihara Seaside St.
May 15		2-1		Iwata "Yamaha" Stadium
May 15		0-1		Yokohama Stadium

2 - 4

The two teams did their part as well, providing the crowd with a marvelous display of football. Though some purists might say that defensive efforts left a bit to be desired in this contest, it certainly was fun to watch. Cerezo came out in the opening 20 minutes with a frenetic swarming attack that had Gamba rocked back on their heels for a while. But despite dominating play in the early stages, Cerezo failed to find the net, and the intense exertion of the opening spurt came back to haunt the "home" team later on.

In the 17 minute, very much against the run of play, Gamba made a counterattack foray and Sidiclei collected a ball about 40 meters out, made eye contact with Masashi Oguro , and then led him perfectly with a through pass that ripped open the seam of the Cerezo back line. Oguro dashed througu the gaping hole, and fired a nicely placed low-angle shot from just oustidethe right post which just barely slipped underneath the keeper and bounded into the net.

This merely incited Cerezo to step up the intensity a notch further, and less than five minutes after Oguro's strike, Akinori Nishizawa levelled the scores with a rising line drive from almost thirty meters, struck with the outside of his boot. The ball spun away from the flailing keeper and curled just inside the right post.

Unfortunately, not long after claiming the equaliser, many of the Cerezo players seemed to run out of breath. Where there had been a swarm of flaming pink uniforms buzzing in midfield during the opening 20 minutes or so, collecting almost every loose ball, but the half hour mark Cerezo players were beginning to stroll back into their defensive alignment, and Gamba consequently had more space to move the ball around and set up their own offensive thrusts. In the 35 minute, Oguro slipped a pass behind the defence as Araujo broke into a sprint. The Cerezo defence was caught flat-footed and Araujo raced to the left post, firing a shot across the face of goal and into the top right corner to give Gamba the lead once again, and capture the momentum for the remainder of the half.

After the break, though, the Cerezo players seemed to regain their energy and once again Gamba were placed on the defensive. Only some fine work in net by Naoki Matsuyo and some very poor finishing by Cerezo kept Gamba in the lead. Then, as they had done in the first half, Gamba struck suddenly with a counterattack against the run of play. Oguro took the outlet pass and lobbed a long ball down the right sideline, as Fernandinho sprinted into the clear. Fernandinho caught up to the ball level with the top of tjhe box, and sent a rolling cross in front of net. Once again it was Araujo who outpaced the Cerezo back line and finished off the play, giving Gamba a two goal edge.

For a second, it looked like Gamba were home and dry, but less than a minute later, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto tried to clear a long ball while in full retreat, and shanked it right onto the boots of Nishizawa. The Cerezo ace immediately ripped a shot hnto the higjh right corner before the keeper gould get back on his line, and the deficit was once again cut to a single goal

Over the next 15 minutes, Cerezo pushed desperately for the equaliser, and should have had it on at least two occasions, but both Teruaki Kurobe and Tatsuya Furuhashi missed connections with the goal at their mercy. With time running down and Cerezo going to unreasonable extremes in pushing forward, Gamba got a five-on-four break, and despite the fact that their first two or three balls into the box were unsuccessful, none of the other Cerezo players retreated to help out. At last, Fernandinho carried the ball to the end line, on the left side of goal, and dropped a pass back to Oguro at the penalty spot. The national team hopeful drilled it from point-blank range and Gamba sealed the win.

Date: 14 May, 2005		Location: Nagai Stadium
2	1 1H 2 1 2H 2	4
Akinori Nishizawa (21') Akinori Nishizawa (76')	Scoring	Masashi Oguro (17') Araujho (35') Araujho (75') Masashi Oguro (89')
	Cautions	Fernandinho
Lineups: Motohiro Yoshida, Bruno Cuadros Tomoki Maeda, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Tomi Shimomura, Takanori Nunobe (Teruaki Kurobe 58), Kiyokazu Kudo, Ze Carlos, Tatsuya Furuhashi, Akinori Nishizawa, Hiroaki Morishima (Daisuke Yoneyama 69) . Naoki Matsuyo, Satoru Yamaguchi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Noritada Saneyoshi, Hideo Hashimoto, Sidiclei, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Araujo (Akihiro Ienaga 86), Fernandinho (Masafumi Maeda 54), Masashi Oguro .

2 - 2

The home team, meanwhile, has only a mediocre won-lost record, but that belies Albirex's dangerous offensive capabilities and explosive scoring potential. The team is at their best when playing a sagging defensive zone and counterattacking out of it with lightning speed down the wings. When the lightning managed to get out of the bottle, it simply overpowered the exhausted Antlers defence.

Having said that, the game might have turned out quite different if the referee, Mr. Masayoshi Okada, were able to make up his mind about the rules he is supposed to enforce. For the opening 45 minutes of this contest, the Antlers dominated play and came close to scoring on several occasions. Only some very "timely" fouling broke up the most dangerous of these thrusts, yet until the match entered injury time of the first half, Mr. Okada had not seen fit to award a single yellow card.

Albirex came out of the locker room in a rush, and as noted bevore, they caught the Antlers still drooping with exhaustion, and made them pay. Twice, in the first three minutes after the restart, pell-mell dashes into the Antlers end produced goals for the home team. First, in a rare loss of defensive concentration, the Antlers defence allowed Shingo Suzuki's cross to bound through to Fabinho, who toed it home. Moments later, a sudden 3-on-3 counterattack was led by the unlikely figure of Yasushi Kita, a veteran defender with no real reputation for speed. As the Antlers backed off, covering the speedy strikers, Kita spotted an opening and fired a long shot that just barely slipped between the keeper's fingertips and the left post.. The huge crowd began to roar its approval as they sensed an upset brewing.

Yet just when it looked like Albirex were in control, Mr. Okada suddenly changed his officiating standards and began penalizing Albirex for the hard challenges from behind that he had been waving away in the first half. In the 64 minute, Mitsuo Ogasawara fed a ball into the box for Chikashi Masuda. His defender, Kita, arrived at the same time as the ball, slamming into his back and knocking Masuda off balance. Normally, one could probably conclude that Mr. Okada was justified in pointing to the penalty spot. But considering how many identical challenges he had simply ignored, during the first half, Kita had a legitimate reason to ask why "suddenly" that sort of play had become a foul. The argument merely earned Kita a yellow card, and Takayuki Suzuki buried the spot kick to pull the Antlers back within a goal.

Just seven minutes later, Suzuki took a pass over his left shoulder, just outside the penalty box, and tried to bull his way past a defender and into the left side of the box. This time Keiji Kaimoto came in hard and knocked Suzuki sprawling as he tried to turn the corner. Once again, a close look at the replay suggests that it was indeed a borderline foul. But again, Mr. Okada had made it clear to the Alberex defence during the first half that such contact was acceptable, and one can understand Kaimoto's dismay to be called for the foul at this crucial juncture.

Ogasawara took the kick from one of his favourite spots -- just above the box, roughly level with, or a step or two outside the left post. From this angle, he is equally capable of scoring with a looping shot to the high, far corner, or a fast sinker into the low right. Knowing his abilities, keepers are unable to "cheat" in either direction, meaning that as long as the shot is on target, he usually has a good chance of finding the net. Sure enough, the "baby-faced assassin" opted for the high looper, and laid it perfectly into the open window of the top right corner, bringing the Antlers back level.

A few weeks earlier, the Antlers might have managed to roar back to a win but the exhaustion that has been so obvious in recent matches finally caught up with them. When Ogasawara -- who almost never leaves a match before the final whistle -- retired in favour of rookie Yuya Yoshizawa with two minutes left on the clock (plus injury time), you could tell that Kashiwa was satisfied to split the points, at least on this occasion. The question that everyone will be asking themselves is how fully the Antlers will have recovered when league play resumes in July. If key contributors like Alex Mineiro, Toru Araiba and Fernando rejoin the lineup, they might be hard to catch, though the success that Albirex had in this contest at least provides hope to teams that are lagging behind the leaders.

Date: 14 May, 2005		Location: Niigata "Big Swan" Std.
2	0 1H 0 2 2H 2	2
Fabinho (46') Yusaku Ueno (48')	Scoring	Takayuki Suzuki (65') Mitsuo Ogasawara (72')
Edmilson Shingo Suzuki Yasushi Kita Fabinho	Cautions
Lineups: Yosuke Nozawa, Anderson Lima, Keiji Kaimoto, Naoki Takahashi (Shigenori Hagimura 71), Yasushi Kita, Motohiro Yamaguchi (Yoshito Terakawa 78), Isao Honma, Edmilson (Yusaku Ueno 44), Fabinho, Shingo Suzuki, Yuzo Funakoshi . Hitoshi Sogahata, Arivaldo dos Santos, Daiki Iwamasa, Go Oiwa, Tatsuya Ishikawa (Toshiyuki Abe 63), Mitsuo Ogasawara (Yuya Yoshizawa 88), Chikashi Masuda (Yuzo Tashiro 52), Toru Araiba, Masashi Motoyama Takayuki Suzuki .

2 - 1

JEF got into the scoring column in the 17 minute on a play that seemed to symbolize the problems that the team has been having. As JEF moved the ball around the perimeter of the FC Tokyo penalty box, looking for an opening, Naotake Hanyu carried the ball into the left corner and was picked up and double teamed by both Naohiro Ishikawa and Akira Kaji . But as Hanyu turned to pull the ball back out, the two seemed unsure of who should do what. Rather than one of them attacking the ball and the other screeing, both just shadowed Hanyu indecisively. WIth a quick cutback move, Hanyu turned back towards the end line and accelerated, and as he did so, the two defenders got tangled up with each other and let him slip right past.

But even then, JEF might not have scored. Hanyu had to fire the ball in from a very sharp angle, and it was blocked before it reached the keeper Yoichi Doi. But as the ball bounded loose, three FC Tokyo Defenders all flailed wildly and missed the clearance. Mario Haas calmly flicked the ball over the pile of bodies and into the nylon.

Midway through the first half, JEF produced a gem of a goal, as Haas looped a lead pass into the box and Maki dashed in, meeting the ball in full sprint and leaping high to flick it on into the right corner.

FC Tokyo dominated play in the second half, but seemed to be completely lacking in rhythm, at times looking a bit like Rowan Atkinson trying to Do the Hustle. Though they did produce a number of shots on goal, far more of their offensive opportunities were simply squandered with stray passes or aimless dribbling into traffic. JEF, for their part, were content to sit on the lead, probably feeling the same sort of exhaustion that many of the other teams in the league are experiencing right about now. Though they handed FC Tokyo the initiative, there defending was solid and they kept Tokyo honest with occasional counterattacks that might have produced the coup de grace.

Finally, as the clock ticked into injury time, a shot by substitute midfielder Danilo Gomes was blocked at the edge of the box, but fell right to Lucas Severino, who drilled a line drive from two steps outside the box that screamed into the top right corner.

But that was all the consolation FC Tokyo would receive, and as they move into the summer break, they have now gone winless over eight straight matches.

Date: 14 May, 2005		Location: Ichihara Seaside Std.
0	2 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
Mario Haas (17') Seiichiro Maki (29')	Scoring	Lucas Severino (89')
	Cautions	Satoru Asari
Lineups: Ryo Kushino, Daisuke Saito, Ilyan Stoyanov, Yuki Mizumoto, Koki Mizuno, Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Naotake Hanyu (Satoru Yamagishi 79), Seiichiro Maki (Takenori Hayashi 82), Mario Haas . Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Teruaki Moniwa, Jean Carlo Witte, Yasuyuki Konno, Satoru Asari, Masashi Miyazawa, Ryoichi Kurisawa, Naohiro Ishikawa (Shinya Sakoi 89), Hitsuhiro Toda (Masamitsu Kobayashi 71), Yusuke Kondo (Lucas Severino 73) .

1 - 0

Verdy got off to a good start, dominating the early phases of play and getting several scoring opportunities over the opening half hour. When the first goal finally did arrive, however, it was out of the blue, on a defensive blunder. A Reysol defender made the mistake of retreating for a ball and trying to turn upfield and pass at the same time. Washington suddenly surged into view to cut off the passing lane, and the defender tried to change the angle of his clearance at the last minute. Instead, he shanked the ball and Kazuki Hiramoto snatchjed it, taking off immediately towards goal. Though he had Washington wide open on his left, for a drop pass, Hiramoto opted to finish off the play by himself, and his shot eluded the dive of keeper Yuta Minami to put Verdy in front.

As noted already, Reysol put on a strong comeback effort in the second half, but despite several close calls down the stretch, Verdy managed to hang on and claim the victory.

Date: 14 May, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
1	1 1H 0 0 2H 0	0
Kazuki Hiramoto (32')	Scoring
Washington	Cautions	Yuzo Kobayashi
Lineups: Hiroki Mizuhara, Kazuyuki Toda (Atsushi Yoneyama 59), Lee Kang-Ji, Kenichi Uemura, Kentaro Hayashi, Takuya Yamada, Takahito Soma, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Takeshi Hirano, Daigo Kobayashi, Kazuki Hiramoto (Takayuki Morimoto 84), Washington. Yuta Minami, Yasuhiro Hato (Ryo Kobayashi 78), Sota Nakazawa, Yukio Tsuchiya, Naoya Kondo, Yuzo Kobayashi (Tomonori Hirayama 69), Tomokazu Myojin, Ricardinho, Cleber Santana Loureio, Keiji Tamada, Yoshiteru Yamashita (Yuji Unozawa 60) .

0 - 1

But that certainly is not to say that the remaining 89 minutes were uneventful. On the contrary, S-Pulse and Frontale put on a very exciting show that had the large crowd at Todoroki Stadium on the edge of their seats until the final whistle. Though it was a relatively defensive contest in terms of strategy, both teams created their scoring chances. Kawasaki had the majority of the initiative throughout the contest, but S-Pulse played a very aggressive trapping game in the deep midfield, looking to cut into the passing lanes and launch quick counterattacks.

But in the end, neither team was able to add to the score line, and Kuboyama's first-minute strike held up as the margin of victory.

Date: 14 May, 2005		Location: Todoroki Stadium
0	0 1H 1 2 2H 2	1
	Scoring	Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (1')
Givonaldo de Souza Augusto de Souza Hideki Sahara Juninho	Cautions	Toshihide Saito Cho Jae-Jin
Lineups: Lineups: Shinya Yoshihara, Yoshinobu Minowa, Chung Yong-Dae (Hideki Sahara 57), Hiroki Ito, Yasuhiro Nagahashi, Hiroyuki Taniguchi, Kengo Nakamura (Masaru Kurotsu 60), Augusto de Souza, Juninho, Givonaldo "Hulk" de Souza (Satoshi Hida 81) . Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Toshihide Saito, Ryuzo Morioka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Kohei Hiramatsu, Teruyoshi Ito, Kazumichi Takagi, Choi Dae-Uk (Jumpei Takaki 63), Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Kota Sugiyama 72), Cho Jae-Jin .

0 - 1

But neither team could hit the netting, and with more than a minute of injury time played, it looked like the match would end in a scoreless draw. On what looked like their final trip down the pitch, Sanfrecce won a free kick about b0 meters out. The lob into the box was cleared, but fell to Kazuyuki Morisaki about six meters outside the box. Morisaki looped the ball over Maeda's head, catching the Omiya defence before they could clear the zone. Maeda had to spin around 180 degrees and immediately fire his shot before the defenders could close ground, but he placed the shot as coolly as a veteran, hooking it over the keeper's head and into the high left corner.

Date: 14 May, 2005		Location: Kumagaya Stadium
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
	Scoring	Shunsuke Maeda (89')
Koji Morita Jin Kanazawa	Cautions
Lineups: Lineups: Hiroki Aratani, Takuro Nishimura, Toninho, Seiichiro Okuno, Daisuke Tomita, Jun Marques Davidson, Jin Kanazawa, Tatsunori Hisanaga, Chikara Fujimoto, Christian Dionisio (Naoto Sakurai 76), Koji Morita (Satoshi Yokoyama 88) . Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano (Shohei Ikeda 45), Dininho, Norio Omura, Kota Hattori, Takehito Shigehara, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Susumu Oki (Koji Morisaki 62) Joubert "Beto" Martins, Hayato Sato (Shusuke Maeda 76), Galvao .

0 - 2

Though the victory was certainly important for Vissel's confidence, it is hard to judge whether or not it represents a real accomplishment, since Grampus are badly depleted by injury and in a difficult "transition" period. Saturday's match marked the last appearance for the team's ace striker Marques, whose contract expires at the end of May and is not being renewed. This follows less than a month after the team dismissed their scoring leader Ueslei, who left under a cloud of gloom after feuding with coach Nelsinho. Grampus have a very talented stable of youngsters who will surely provide the core of a solid and competitive team in a year or two, but for the time being, they are still quite inexperienced and untested, particularly the back line which lost its most influential veteran Yutaka Akita to a fractured arm two weeks ago.

This inexperience was quite apparent on Vissel's first goal, a corner kick by Atsuhiro Miura from the left side which was headed on by Kunie Kitamoto at the near post, and hit Keiji Yoshimura squarely in the chest. The reserve midfielder somehow lost his balance, and bundled the ball right into his own net.

But the goal that clinched the match was a much more uplifting strike that animated the entire team and sent players from the Vissel bench spilling onto the sidelines to celebrate. Watada, who came on at striker for the second half, carried a counterattack through midfield and as he neared the box, played a quick diagonal pass to Atsu Miura. Miura had an open lane for a shot, and drilled a spinning drive through the keeper's flailing fingers and into the top left corner.

Date: 14 May, 2005		Location: Toyota Stadium
0	0 1H 1 0 2H 1	2
	Scoring	Own Goal (27') Atsuhiro Miura (38')
Makoto Kakuda Shunichi Nakajima	Cautions	Ryuji Bando
Lineups: Lineups: Seigo Narazaki, Kei Yamaguchi (Yohei Toyoda 55), Yusuke Igawa, Masahiro Koga, Makoto Kakuda, Claiton, Keiji Yoshimura, Naoshi Nakamura, Kiyohiro Hirabayashi (Sebastein Nunes 45), Marques, Keita Sugimoto (Shunichi Nakashima 72) . Makoto Kakegawa, Kunie Kitamoto (Hiroyuki Komoto 70), Naoto Matsuo, Ichiei Muroi, Park Kang-Jo, Tomo Sugawara, Naoya Saeki, Roger, Atsuhiro Miura, Ryuji Bando (Mitsunori Yabuta 45), Kazuyoshi Miura (Mitsutoshi Watada 45) .

2 - 1

But then again, the opponent was only Oita Trinita, who have even fewer talented players available than Jubilo, The attacking duo of Magno Alves and Lucas "Dodo" Ricardo is sufficiently dangerous to keep the team close, in most matches, but not good enough to trouble the league's better teams. Jubilo took a quick lead on a fine collaborative effort by Meda and Cullen. Toshiya Fujita, the only veteran on the team who really seems to be pulling his weight (and oddly enough, the one that is most likely to be traded away over the summer) fed Maeda at the top of the box, and though he was not able to made a clean trap, he managed to poke the ball through into the box. Cullen reacted instantly, dashing onto the rolling ball and firing it home from just beyond the penalty spot.

Jubilo dominated play for most of the match, and seemed to be comfortable with their one-goal advantage, though poor passing selection in the deep midfield caused some promising chances to go by the boards, when they probably should have added at least one to their tally by half time. Shortly after the break, Ota showed why he is emerging as one of Jubilo's top offensive contributors --even from a deep midfield position. Collecting an overlap pass on the right side, Ota accelerated around the right flank of the Trinita defence, cleverly cut back to slip between two defenders, and then blasted a low-angle shot from outside the right post which nearly ripped the roof of the net off.

Trinita tried to fight back into contention, and eventually did get a consolation goal on a counterattack finished off by Magno Alves, but this contest was never truly competitive, and Jubilo was able to prevent any further offensive fireworks by the Brazilian strike force, cruising to the comfortable win.

Date: 15 May, 2005		Location: Iwata "Yamaha" Stadium
2	1 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Robert Cullen (5') Yoshiaki Ota (51')	Scoring	Magno Alves (65')
Takashi Fukunishi Makoto Tanaka	Cautions	"Dodo" Ricardo Koji Arimura Masakazu Shibakoya Tomoki Fukaya
Lineups: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Yakayuki Chano, Makoto Tanaka, Toshihiro Hattori, Yoshiaki Ota, Takashi Fukunishi, Hiroshi Nanami, Norihiro Nishi (Keisuke Funatani 24), Toshiya Fujita (Naoya Kikuchi 86), Robert Cullen (Rodrigo Gral 69), Ryoichi Maeda . Koji Esumi, Koji Yoshimura, Masakazu Shibakoya, Tomoki Fukaya, Koji Arimura, Teppei Nishiyama, Patrick Zwaanswijk, Tomoaki Komorida, Takayuki Yoshida (Shota Matsuhashi 86), Yoshiro Abe, Magno Alves (Kohei Nishino 72), Lucas "Dodo" Ricardo .

0 - 1

This may be the reason why both are struggling this season. In fact, where the Reds are concerned, there is no question about it. We have noted several times over the past few months that Urawa's players seem to be eleven completely distinct individualists, who not only try to do everything themselves, but who often just stand around motionless when someone else has the ball.

Even so, the Reds seemed to have the edge over Yokohama, who seemed to be having even more trouble working together on offence. The Marinos have actually scored quite frequently this season, and it has been their defence that let them down in most of the earlier matches. But this week the defence generally did its job, keeping the high-powered Reds scoreless, and limiting them to just a handful of shots, for over 75 minutes . It was the offence that failed to give Reds keeper Ryota Tsuzuki trouble. Ahn Jung-Hwan seemed to be taking a page out of Emerson's playbook, hogging the ball on every trip down the field and taking some very questionable shots when he had teammates open. Though Ahn had a very strong run, immediately after his return from injury, over the last four matches he has not hit the net, and has seemed more of a hindrance than a help to the offence.

The Reds finally managed to find the net in the 76 minute, as Keita Suzuki fired a blistering shot from long range and the keeper was only able to parry the drive . . . right to Yuichiro Nagai. Nagai, who had just come on as a substitute moments earlier, calmly headed the ball back into the net and gave Urawa the lead.

This seemed to be a signal to the gods: before the Reds had even completed their scoring celebrations, the heavens opened up and drenched the pitch, players and crowd with a cold, torrential rain that continued until the final whistle. Though the Marinos pulled out all the stops to try to get the equaliser (at one point they were playing with four strikers and only two defenders), this only made the Reds more dangerous on the counterattack. Yokohama were fortunate to avoid conceding a late insurance goal to the Reds.

Though Urawa are now back on a winning track, neither team can take much comfort from this result. Six months ago, a Marinos vs Reds contest was the pinnacle of competition in the J.League. This week, it was not even the most exciting match of the afternoon.

Date: 15 May, 2005		Location: Yokohama Intl Stadium
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
	Scoring	Yuichiro Nagai (76')
Daisuke Nasu	Cautions
Lineups: Lineups: Tetsuya Enomoto, Ryuji Kawai, Naoki Matsuda, Yuji Nakazawa, Hayuma Tanaka, Daisuke Nasu, Yoshiharu Ueno (Daisuke Sakata 79) Dutra, Koji Yamase Hideo Oshima (Tatsuhiko Kubo 75), Ahn Jung-Hwan. Ryota Tsuzuki, Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Satoshi Horinouchi 81), Keisuke Tsuboi, Ozalan Alpay, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe (Tomoyuki Sakai 81), Keita Suzuki, Hideki Uchidate, Alessandro Santos, Tatsuya Tanaka (Yuichiro Nagai 67), Emerson .

And so, with one-third of the season over and a six-week break for teams to rest up, get healthy and perhaps add some new personnel in order to improve their chances, the the standings are extremely tight everywhere except at the top and bottom. The Antlers maintain a daunting nine-point margin over second-place Sanfrecce Hiroshima, while Vissel Kobe, Kashiwa Reysol and FC Tokyo are all three points or more below the rest of the pack. The first two, in particular, are starting to look like relegation candidates.

In between these two extremes, however, there are just six points separating second place from fifteenth place! This highlights the high degree of parity in the league, and suggests that over the space of just two weeks, a team could climb (or fall) a long way in the standings. For example, less than ten days ago Jubilo Iwata and Urawa Reds were lagging near the bottom of the pack, but as the summer break begins, they have recovered to fifth and sixth place, respectively. Every team in the league will be working hard over the next month and a half, trying to prepare themselves for the challenge of making up ground once league play resumes, on July 2.

. . . and there is little doubt that the months of July and August will mark the formal start of deer-hunting season.

J2 Review

So far, this season, Kyoto Purple Sanga have shown every indication of being a cut above the rest of the competition, and though the J2 season is quite a bit longer and more exhausting than the J1, there are already signs that Kyoto might just run away from the pack as completely as Kawasaki Frontale did, last season. However, Kyoto still have a long way to go, and as they demonstrated this week, they are succeptible to the occasional upset. On Saturday, Sagan Tosu stunned home fans at Nishikyogoku Stadium with a 3-0 upset that elevated Sagan to fourth place. This coiuld encourage other teams to lift their game, as well, when visiting the presumptive favourites for the J2 title

In any event, though the J2 title-winner does receive a trophy and a monetary bonus (which is usually used to acquire a top player or two in preparation for the following year's J1 campaign), the real prize that J2 teams are aiming for is J1 promotion. For that reason, the emphasis on finishing first is not as intense in the J2. Teams are mainly concerned with claiming one of the the two automatic promotion spots, or failing that, with claiming third place and a chance to play off against the 16th-ranked J1 team.

With that in mind, we have been closely following the progress of six -- or maybe seven -- teams. As we have already mentioned, Kyoto Purple Sanga have established them as the early frontrunner, but only three points separate Montedio Yamagata, Avispa Fukuoka, Sagan Tosu, Ventforet Kofu and Shonan Bellmare. Another three points adrift is Vegalta Sendai, who started off the season with a dreadful performance, but who have since recovered and are starting to climb back into contention. These seven teams are the only convincing candidates for the three promotion spots.

At the start of the season, we thought that Avispa and Vegalta were the most likely to join Kyoto in the top three, but the performances of the various teams in the opening 12 matches has altered our calculations slightly. We still think that the Purple Sanga and Avispa have the best chance to claim automatic promotion, but several teams may give Avispa a run for their money, and the third-place spot is almost completely up for grabs.

Avispa have the most experienced unit of the remaining contenders, and this is why we think they have a slight edge over the course of a long and demanding season. However, the team does not have any real standout contributors who can carry the team through difficult times. The only player who is really "well known" is former Gamba defender Masao Kiba, who certainly has talent, but who never demonstrated much leadership in the past and doesnt seem to be a real "leader" at Fukuoka either. Sometimes you need to have that one standout player to set the example, kick butts in the locker room when the team is struggling and lead the cheers when it is winning. The lack of such a leader is the one factor that might possibly haunt Avispa in the stretch run.

Conversely, the team that is most likely to fade and drop out of the contending pack would have to be Sagan Tosu. Though they do have an excellent leader and role model in their Brazilian playmaker "Biju" (Andre Luis da Souza Silva), the rest of the team is almost unbelievably young. Apart from Biju, there are only two or three players who could be described as "veterans", and the remainder are all kids, ranging in age from around 17 to 23. The cheif advantage of youth is that players can often will themselves to victory in close matches, through energy, enthusiasm and effort. But the corresponding weakness is a tendency to slip into despair when the breaks turn against you, and suffer prolonged slumps. If the team can hang around the top group until the final six or eight weeks of the season, their youth and energy might help them snatch a promotion spot. But we think it is more likely that Sagan Tosu will slip out of contention as the long summer months begin to wear down the pretenders and litreally "separate the men from the boys".

As their performance over the opening five weeks of the season showed, Vegalta Sendai are another team which may deserve the "pretender" label. Vegalta have a large number of well-known players with J1 experience, and it is often difficult to understand what prevents them from achieving superior results. If you are looking for an answer to the team's underperformance, you wont find it here. The Rising Sun News is as baffled as anyone. But anyone who has watched this team play, even once or twice (and even when they are winning) can see that something is not quite right. Perhaps the team is burdened by the high expectations of their tremendously enthusiastic and faithful fans, and are just trying too hard. Perhaps the team suffers from inadequate coaching (head coach Satoshi Tsunami, a former J.League keeper for Verdy Kawasaki, is making his first appearance as a head coach in the professional ranks), or perhaps there is just poor chemistry on the pitch. Whatever the case is, we have changed our minds about Vegalta's chances, and no longer think they will be one of the teams that earns a ticket to the J1 this year.

That leaves three teams to fight over essentially one spot in the promotion pool. Of the three, Montedio Yamagata is currently in the strongest position, though with 32 matches yet to be played, that doesnt mean much. Montedio has a good blend of youth and experience, and they have been well coached over the past two years by Jun Suzuki, who learned the ropes while coaching in the youth national team ranks. He has experience as coach of the U-14, U-16 and U-18 teams, and clearly has a good eye for young talent. He also knows a thing or two about motivating and developing youngsters.

Shonan Bellmare also have a very good coach in Eiji Ueda, the former coach of the Japan women's team. But the key to their success this year has been the presence of Nozomu Kato, a veteran who spent ten years as a central contributor to Kashiwa Reysol. Kato has provided strong leadership for the team, and is also on a goal-scoring tear. Several other experienced veterans, such as Shinji Jojo and Yasunori Takada, give the team excellent depth as well. The only question is whether the team's excellent form so far this season could be maintained if, for any reason, Kato should be sidelined for an extended period of time.

Finally, Ventforet Kofu have become the most oddly consistent team in the chase. Odd, because the individual players all seem to be remarkably INCONSISTENT. Ventforet's leadership is provided by veteran striker Takafumi Ogura, who can be a cracking goal-scorer one day or inconsequential the next (though his bad knees provide a reasonable excuse for this. One can never tell how fit he will be on a given day). Similar comments could be made about other key members, such as Ken Fujita, Hideomi Yamamoto, "Bare" Spindler and local boys Kenji Nakata and Hiroyuki Dobashi. Nevertheless, Ventforet have managed to stay in the chase because when one or two players are having a bad day, others seem to pick up the slack. For this reason, Ventforet has yet to suffer an "upset". They lost to both Purple Sanga and Montedio, but have avoided dropping points to any of the teams that they are "supposed to beat". In the J2, this is an important point. If coach Takeshi Oki can figure out some way to get all eleven to turn in good performances on the same day, the team might manage to make a late dash and claim a promotion spot, though the overall inconsistency of key players suggests that they are the least likely of the three teams we just mentioned to slip into the promotion ranks.

Here are the standings as of this week. From May 21, the J1 will be on holiday but J2 matches will continue. Next week we plan to provide another look at the top contenders in the second division, including a more careful analysis of key players and team strategies.

.	Team	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	G.Dif
1	Kyoto Purple Sanga	29	12	9	2	1	20	10	+10
2	Montedio Yamagata	20	12	5	5	2	16	7	+9
3	Avispa Fukuoka	19	12	4	7	1	15	8	+7
4	Sagan Tosu	19	12	5	4	3	15	11	+4
5	Ventforet Kofu	18	12	5	3	4	21	17	+4
6	Shonan Bellmare	18	12	4	6	2	13	11	+2
7	Vegalta Sendai	14	12	4	2	6	16	17	-1
8	Consadole Sapporo	14	12	3	5	4	11	14	-3
9	Vortis Tokushima	13	12	2	7	3	16	16	+0
10	Yokohama FC	11	12	2	5	5	10	15	-5
11	Mito Hollyhock	11	12	3	2	7	12	21	-9
12	Thespa Kusatsu	5	12	1	2	9	8	26	-18

Rumours and Rumblings

Bye Bye 'Boma

Throughout his stellar career -- which includes two World Cup appearances, an Olympic gold medal and two ANC titles as well as a host of individual accomplishments -- The tall and soft-spoken striker has earned a reputation as one of the finest individuals in the sport. His shining example as a leader, a sportsman and a fine human being, in fact, even overshadowed his fine performances on the pitch. Just ask the citizens of Nakatsue-mura in Kyushu, where Cameroon camped prior to the 2002 World Cup, and where Mboma is viewed as an adopted son.

Mboma had that effect on people throughout Japan, from the moment he arrived in Osaka in January 1997, fresh from Nigeria's gold-medal performance at the Atlanta Olympics. Mboma had already earned a reputation worldwide with his performances at Paris St.Germain, but the Olympics elevated him to budding superstar status, and earned him bids from many top clubs, including Gamba. In his first year in Osaka, Mboma blazed a trail through the J.League with an impressive run of 25 goals from just 28 matches. Unfortunately, the following year saw him pick up the first of many knee and leg injuries which would eventually cut short his career, and he left Japan following the first stage (though he still managed to score four times in just six breif appearances), to accept more lucrative offers in Europe.

Mboma returned to Japan in 2003, and though injuries limited his playing time, he still managed to score 13 goals for Tokyo Verdy, helping them move onto a recovery track following two seasons of flirting with relegation. But last season, after a move to Vissel, he found himself spending most of his time in the physio room, and contributed only two goals in six breif appearances. Despite six months of working to get back into playing condition, this season, he managed to make just a few breif appearances as a substitute, and apparently realised that the time had come to accept a new role. Considering his wealth of knowledge about the game, and his fine qualities as a human being and a role model for younger plauyers, there is little question that he will be able to find plenty of work in the coaching ranks. We certainly hope that this is not the end of his contributions in Japan, since any J.League team would be fortunate indeed to have someone like Patrick Mboma on their coaching staff.

But the majestic story of "Osaka no Kurohyo" (the black panther of Osaka), with his offensive majesty and attacking genius on the playing field, has reached its final chapter. Those who were fortunate enough to watch him in action will not soon forget the sight of his athletic sprints through hapless defenses and the thunder of his shots. We wish him the best in his future career, wherever that may lead him.

A Career in the Relegation 'Zono

But unfortunately, the similarities end right there. Mboma joined Gamba Osaka in 1997 and blazed a trail of goalscoring genius through the league, winning the golden boot and earning fame as one of the dominant players in the league. Maezono joined Verdy Kawasaki in 1997 and blazed a trail of mayhem through the night clubs of Roppongi, earning a boot in the backside from bouncers after one particularly drunken encounter, and earning infamy in the atrocious "Maezono-san ga iu toori" TV commercials, in which he set new standards for bad acting and shallow self-absorption.

Following Verdy's complete financial and competitive collapse in 1998, Maezono sought to escape from the wreckage with a transfer to the legendary Brazilian club Santos, but apparently his carousing lifestyles was starting to catch up to him. Maezono did achieve a historical footnote as the first Japanese player to score a goal in a Libertadores Cup match, but quickly dropped out of the lineup and into total obscurity. By the time he returned to Japan, in 2000, he was a pale shadow of the player who had orchestrated the offence of Japan's 1996 Olympic team -- out of shape, slow, and with little of the razor-sharp passing technique that he had exhibited as a youngster with the Yokohama Flugels. At age 26, he was already viewed as a washed-up has-been.

Following three years of increasingly desperate attempts to win playing time, first at J2 club Shonan Bellmare, then at the recently reorganised Tokyo Verdy, Maezono reached the end of his rope in Japan. When Verdy released him in mid-2002, no J.League teams teams were interested in picking up his contract. Maezono made one last effort to revive his career, playing two seasons at Anyang LG Cheetahs, in Korea, but he never did work his way back into a starting position, and he dropped out of sight completely at the start of his year. News reports had him trying out for a spot at several teams in the Balkan countries, but after failing tryouts with two clubs in Serbia, he finally called an end to his career this week, at the age of 31.

Maezono's career is a story of self-inflicted tragedy, since most of the information available suggests that his addiction to alcohol and his inability to keep himself in match-fit condition were the reasons for his downward spiral. In the heady days of 1997, Maezono was viewed as one of the brightest rising stars in all of Japan, outshining by far his U-23 teammates Shoji Jo and Hidetoshi Nakata. But all the talent and promise in the world could not save him from his own inner demons. The stark and haunting front page of his now-abandoned official website, www.zono.net, provide what is perhaps a fitting and tragically appropriate image of Masakiyo Maezono, as well as his professional football career -- a rumpled, bleary eyed and solitary figure illuminated by a brief flash of golden promise, then retreating into the shadows of obscurity.