July 7, 2005

Midweek Mayhem

What a terrible time to have other pressing time commitments. Not only do we get a nail-biting battle between two of the league's top teams, but also a mind-numbing 7-0 rout of the home team (and the crowd was roaring its approval . . . though there is a good explanation for that), another match where the home team were shelled with a barrage of shots, picked up five yellow cards and had one man sent off, yet somehom managed to survive to a 0-0 draw, and then several other see-saw matches including two that were decided on last-second goals.

Unfortunately, since it is Wednesday evening and the Rising Sun News has other responsibilities that need to be handled in order to pay the rent, we will have to provide only a very breif summary of this round of matches. If time permits, we will try to add more details later in the week, since the excitement and suspense of this week's J.League action was certainly worth a thousand words.

Anyway, rere are the results:

Date	.	Venue
Jul 6	0-2	Kumagaya Stadium
Jul 6	0-0	Kashiwa Stadium
Jul 6	0-7	Tokyo Nat'l Stadium
Jul 6	0-0	Todoroki Stadium
Jul 6	2-1	Yokohama Stadium
Jul 6	3-2	Niigata "Big Swan"
Jul 6	2-2	Nihondaira Stadium
Jul 6	2-0	Nagai Stadium
Jul 6	1-2	Hiroshima Big Arch

0 - 7

Though the match between the Yokohama Marinos and Kashima Antlers may have been for higher stakes, it is impossible to give any other match top billing. Though nominally a home match for Verdy, this contest was played at Tokyo's National Stadium, and as so often happens, the "home" team was outnumbered in the stands by Reds supporters. That was probably for the best, since the Verdy faithful had little to cheer about and every reason to leave for home early. After conceding seven goals in a 7-1 loss last weekend, it seemed like things couldnt get any worse, but Verdy topped that by losing this one 7-0. Things are not looking good in the capitol city.

2 - 1

The Marinos will get a pat on the back from everyone in the league (well, except for their opponent), after they managed to hold off a late rush by Kashima and eke out a 2-1 victory. The Antlers adopted a nonstandard formation in this contest, partly to cover up for the loss of Takeshi Aoki who was sitting out a suspension, but it clearly was not effective as they were pressured by Yokohama for most of the contest, until substitutions reverted the formation to a standard Antlers 4-4-2 in the second half. The main problem was that Mitsuo Ogasawara was playing at volante, and his playmaking abilities were not really in evidence until the second half.

The Antlers did snatch an early lead on a corner kick, headed home by Daiki Iwamasa. However, the Marinos took control of the match soon afterward, and Kashima seemed almost content to defend and look for counterattacks. This did not work for long, however, as the Marinos equalised midway through the first half on a nice cross from Masahiro Ohashi, headed home by Hideo Oshima who seems to be filling the shoes of Ahn Jung-Hwan with no difficulty whatsoever.

Yokohama moved into the lead early in the second half, on a corner kick. Yuji Nakazawa soared high over the penalty spot to head home the cross, asnd the Marinos had the edge. However, this finally prompted Toninho Cerezo to pull the relatively useless Takayuki Suzuki, slide Ogasawara a bit further into attacking midfield and adopt a more traditional formation. It is impossible to say what might have happened if they had taken this stance from the outset, but Kashima certainly dominated down the stretch. Unfortunately, the Marinos are one of the few teams in the league who can protect a lead as well as the Antlers, and they managed to hold on for the victory.

2 - 0

Jubilo Iwata still seem to be relying too much on their veterans, but the insertion of Takayuki Chano, Yoshiaki Ota, Ryoichi Maeda and Robert Cullen, this week, produced a much better offensive flow. Goals by Cullen and Norihiro Nishi gave Jubilo a 2-0 victory

1 - 2

This key clash between the second- and third-placed teams took place under appalling conditions, as a pitch that looked rather poorly-groomed to begin with was churned into a rice paddy by half time, with ankle-deep water standing in several parts of the midfield, and in front of both nets. Both teams tried to take advantage of these conditions by firing long, bounding shots, but the keepers generally did a good job or hanging onto the ball. As far as creating smooth ofensive scoring chances, however, neither team had a prayer. The ball would skip wildly across the wet surface, or come to a sudden halt as it hit a patch of deep water.

Early in the second half, Gamba finally broke the ice as Araujo headed home a high cross from the right corner. But 15 minutes later, Koji Morisaki managed to carry the ball into the Gamba penalty area and as he cut back towards the middle his defender slid uncontrollably into his legs, conceding a PK which Morisaki buried.

With time running out, it seemed like the match would end in a deadlock. But Araujo took one last pot shot from long distance, and tis time Takashi Shimoda's concentration was not quite keen enough. The ball took a funny hop just in front of him, and skidded underneath Shimoda's gloves, and into the back of the net, giving Gamba the victory and a solid hold on second place in the league table.

2 - 0

The contest between Cerezo and JEF United was played under conditions only slightly better than those in Hiroshima. Once again, the match remained deadlocked until half time, but in the second stanza, Cerezo produced two goals which forced JEF into furious counterattack mode. But the intensity of the match got just a bit out of control, and in a wild flurry of rather ugly play, which the referee (naturally) failed to contain effectively, JEF picked up two quick yellow cards on Haas and Ilyan Stoyanov, while Cerezo's Akinori Nishizawa earned two yellows in the space of three minutes, and received his marching orders. The final melee turned out to be much ado about nothing, as JEF were unable to produce even a single goal. Cerezo held on for a 2-0 victory.

2 - 2

S-Pulse's Korean ace Cho Jae-Jin twice gave the home team the lead, once early in the first half, and again early in the second half. But on each occasion Grampus managed to fight their back to equalise before the final whistle, with rookie Keisuke Honda levelling on the stroke of half time and Naoshi Nakamura claiming a share of the points for Grampus just before full time.

3 - 2

This match was one of the wildest of them all, with play swinging back and forth for the full 90 minutes. Twice Albirex took the lead and twice Vissel managed to battle gamely back into the contest. With just two mintues to play, a high ball into the box was fumbled by Makoto Kakegawa, in a rare instance of a misplayed ball by t he usually surehanded Vissel keeper. Before anyone could react, Edmilson flicked the ball over about five Kobe players, packed in front of the goal, and his shot slipped just under the crossbar to give Albirex the win. Nevertheless, the performance by Vissel was just as inspired and encouraging as their outing on Saturday, and hopefully they can continue to improve as the season wears on. For the time being, though, they remain in the cellar

Elsewhere

Despite dominating play, outshooting their opponents by a factor of at least 10 to one, and playing the final 30 minutes with an extra man, FC Tokyo simply couldnt manage to find the net, and were held to a scoreless draw by Kawasaki Frontale

Oita Trinita and Kashiwa Reysol also played to a scoreless draw, which will not help eitehr team's homes of moving away from the relegation danger zone.

And so, the Antlers finally have been reined in a bit, thanks to the strong play of Yokohama. Their lead atop the table remains comfortable, but the Marinos victory will be good news for all the other hopefuls. With 20 matches remaining, there is still plenty of time for other contenders to make up ground, though it is true that they still have a lot of catching up to do. Consequently, there is no reason for anyone to panic at this stage.

Yet oddly enough, there is a palpable sense of desperation among the sports press, as they try to hype the "competitiveness" of the race. With the season less than half over, that should be an obvious truism. Over 20 matches, just about anything could happen, so of COURSE the season is still competitive. Yet for some reason, many of the talking heads on the TV highlight shows are exploring new frontiers of hyperbole and hype, perhaps worried that viewers might start tuning them out if they dont maintain an air of razor-edged uncertainty. One bubbly young woman on NHK (names withheld to protect the sweet & innocent) turned to colour commentator Ryoichi Kawakatsu at the close of the highlights show and declaimed: "So, the Antlers will REALLY be under intense pressure now, wont they! Do you think they can HANDLE it???"

Kawakatsu paused for a second, clearly reluctant to shatter the poor girl on nationwide TV, cleared his throat and mumbled . . . "well, they still have a seven-point edge on the second-place team. I think the Antlers players are professional enough not to let that sort of pressure overwhelm them."

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