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August 20, 2005

Here We Go Again

Actually, on second thought, the match between Urawa Reds and FC Tokyo was a very entertaining one, and represents the sort of football that makes the J.League worth while. But for every exciting contest like that one, we haveto put up with one like the contest between Kashima Antlers and Sanfrecce Hiroshima, which was one long exercise in frustration for both teams. But we will get to that story later. First, the scores of Saturday's matches:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
20 Aug		2-1		Saitama Stadium
20 Aug		1-0		Okayama Stadium
20 Aug		1-2		Kashima Stadium
20 Aug		2-1		Todoroki Stadium
20 Aug		4-2		Niigata "Big Swan" Std.
20 Aug		3-1		Shizuoka Stadium
20 Aug		1-1		Nagai Stadium
21 Aug		1-2		Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
21 Aug		1-1		Tokyo Nat'l Stadium

2 - 1

The Urawa Reds, meanwhile, have been through a fairly extensive restructuring after the team lost all three of its foreign players in midseason. Robson Ponte and Tomislav Maric have recently entered the squad in replacement, and though they still have not been fully integrated into the team, their play in this week's contest suggests that they are on their way to becoming key contributors to the Reds. Ponte was the star of this contest, taking part in both goals for Urawa, which will certainly help Reds fans forget about . . . . . what'shisname? Oh well . . .

FC Tokyo got off to an early lead in this contest, as their recent Brazilian acquisition Sasa Salcedo slipped behind the defence to head home a curling cross from Norio Suzuki in the left corner. The entire Reds defence followed Lucas Severino to the near post, but the ball sailed over their heads and Salcedo slipped in the back door for the finish.

It took the Reds almost until half time to level the score line, but just before the half time break Ponte shredded the FC Tokyo defence with a lovely through ball and Yuichiro Nagai stroked it into the net, to leave both teams on even ground at the intermission.

But it was shortly after the break that Ponte demonstrated his full arsenal of weaponry, collecting a ball just above the top of the penalty arc and curling a perfectly places shot around the flaining fingertips of Yoichi Doi and just inside the right post, to give the Reds the lead. FC Tokyo fought back furiously over the final 20 minutes, with Naohiro Ishikawacoming on for his first appearance since a hamstring injury sidelined him in June, and adding even more speed to Tokyo's wing attacks. But as so often happens, Tokyo failed to find the net, with several dangerous shots either hitting the woodwork or an opposing player when it seremed like the goal was at their mercy. The Reds hung on for the victory, and climbed a bit closer to the league leaders as they prepare for the stretch run.

Date: 20 August, 2005		Location: Saitama Stadium
2	1 1H 1 1 2H 0	1
Yuichiro Nagai (39') Robson Ponte (54')	Scoring	Sasa Salcedo (5')
Makoto Hasebe Keita Suzuki Robson Ponte	Cautions	Yasuyuki Konno
Lineups: Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe, Keita Suzuki, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Robson Ponte (Satoshi Horinouchi 89), Tomislav Maric (Alex Santos 73), Yuichiro Nagai . Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa (Ryoichi Kurisawa 78), Yohei Kajiyama (Fumitake Miura 55), Yasuyuki Konno, Norio Suzuki, Yuta Baba, Lucas Severino, Sasa Salcedo (Naohiro Ishikawa 62) .

3 - 1

With Ryoichi Maeda and Robert Cullen starting the match together for only the second time this season, it took Cullen less than a minute to find the back of the Marinos net, and just 25 minutes to give Jubilo complete command of the contest. Shortly after kickoff, Cullen drifted to the edge of the penalty area and was the recipient of an inlet pass from midfield. At first he tried to head the ball back into the center of the box for Maeda, but when a defender blocked his header rigth back to him, Cullen decided to try his luck and sent a spinning right-footed shot past the unprepared Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi to give his team the early lead.

In the 24 minute Cullen put on a one-man show of dribbling through the Marinos defence and driving a shot home from the left side of the box. The Marinos do not seem to have found their chemistry yet, as a number of personnel changes have given coach Okada extra work this season. Following a tough match against Iran on Wednesday, Yuji Nakazawa sat out this match, and that certainly did not help. The Marinos are also trying to work newcomer Magrao into the lineup at defensive midfield, and though the big Brazilian showed a few promising moves, he spent most of the match arguing with the referees, showing that he has yet to adjust to the hair-trigger whistles that are common in Japan.

It was not until the dying minutes of the contest that Yokohama finally got on the scoreboard. After a Marinos free kick was deflected of target by the Jubilo defensive wall, Yuzo Kurihara slipped in to collect the rebound just to the right of goal and drill the ball into the opposite side of the net. But with Yokohama pressing desperately forward, Jubilo quickly restored their cushion on a counterattack that was finished off by Takahiro Kawamura.

Date: 20 August, 2005		Location: Shizuoka Stadium
3	2 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Robert Cullen (1') Robert Cullen (24') Takahiro Kawamura (89')	Scoring	Yuzo Kurihara (87')
Takashi Fukunishi	Cautions	Naoki Matsuda
Lineups: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Takayuki Chano, Makoto Tanaka, Toshihiro Hattori, Yoshiaki Ota, Takashi Fukunishi, Hiroshi Nanami (Choi Yong-Soo 80), Shinji Murai, Sho Naruoka (Takahiro Kawamura 67), Robert Cullen (Masashui Nakayama 72), Ryoichi Maeda . Tetsuya Enomoto, Hayuma Tanaka, Yuzo Kurihara, Naoki Matsuda, Dutra, Magrao, Daisuke Nasu, Masahiro Ohashi (Daisuke Oku 45), Koji Yamase (Hideo Oshima 64), Tatsuhiko Kubo (Rodrigo Gral 56), Daisuke Sakata .

1 - 2

. . . . what more do we need to say? Although Sanfrecce's exciting youngster Shunsuke Maeda scored a late winner to rescue the match from being a COMPLETE waste of time, the rest of the contest was dominated by the shadow of Mr. Okada, who seemed to be on an all-consuming mission to prove to the world that he is THE the worst referee ever to don a black uniform. Mr. Okada handed out three red cards and seven yellows over the course of the contest. To be quite honest, we didnt see the incident which provoked the final red to be awarded, and therefore we cannot say with absolute certainty that ALL of them were bad calls.

The Rising Sun News may bear part of the blame for this farce. Apparently, Mr. Okada must have read our report last weekend in which we referred to him as "clearly ONE OF the worst referees ever to pick up a whistle." Obviously he did not appreciate our lack of confidence in his abilities, and wanted to demonstrate, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the words "one of" are unnecessary, and that he is truly in a class all his own.

The tomfoolery started 15 minutes into the contest, when a long pass from Sanfrecce sent Hisato Sato off on a footrace with Antlers defender Daiki Iwamasa. Iwamasa had thoughs about trying to clear the ball with a sliding tackle, but as he started to slide he could see that he risked fouling if he continued the move, so he pulled back from the challenge. But Sato had been anticipating the tackle and -- depending upon the colour of your spectacles -- either dove deliberately, or wrongfoted himself by anticipating the challenge and ended up losing his footing.

Mr. Okada, who was still on the opposite side of the midfield stripe when the play occurred, rushed up to brandish . . . . a straight red card. The Antlers players simply could not believe their eyes, and repeatedly tried to convince Mr. Okada to go to the sideline and check his call with the assistant, who would have had a far better view of the play and whose reaction suggested that he did have something to say. But Mr. Okada steadfastly refused to verify the call (perhaps because he knew what the side judge would have to say?)

Naturally this created a huge problem for the Antlers, but Mr. Okada was not satisfied to just ruing the match for Kashima. In order to prove that he doesnt play favourites when it comes to stupid officiating, he spent the remainder of the contest handing out yellow cards to Sanfrecce players every time they breathed a bit too hard on an Antlers player. Some of these calls were beyond ridiculous, prompting even the Antlers players to shake their heads in disbelief. Sanfrecce finally managed to drive home their man advantage in the final minute of the first half, with Sato poking home a ball at the left post, though it looked as if Sato may have been offsides on the play. Apart from that one play, the contest was almost unwatchable. Both teams have very strong defences, and with the Antlers shorthanded, they spend almost all of their energies seeking to prevent anything that might have given fans any excitement.

But the Antlers got a fortunate equaliser in the second half, through Alex Mineiro, and the heavy use of Mr. Okada's yellow card eventually took its toll. Takehito Shigehara picked up his second yellow with eight minutes to play, and it looked like the two teams might produce some excitement down the stretch after all.

Anyone who reckoned on that happening, however, was sorely mistaken. Mr. Okada intervened again, and just moments after sending off Shigehara, he suddenly brandished a red card at another Antlers defender -- Go Oiwa. We have no idea what prompted this call, and no replay was ever shown, so we cannot say for certain whether Oiwa did something rash, or whether it was just another case of Mr. Okada trying to make himself the center of activity in this match, rather than the two football teams.

Thankfully for everyone who had to suffer through this kabuki drama disguised as a football match, Sanfrecce's rookie striker Shunsuke Maeda provided at least one moment of joy in this otherwise contemptable match, with a beautiful, long-distance shot that curled into the top right corner and gave Sanfrecce the win. Naturally, Antlers fans will be chewing tin foil after the sight of both their starting centre backs being sent off, but in truth, Sanfrecce was almost as badly done by Mr. Okada as Kashima. In a just world, the J.League would replay the match with a competent referee, and Mr. Okada would be dispatched to the seventh circle of hell where he would have to spend the rest of eternity watching this horrible excuse for a football match over . . . and over . . . and over.

Date: 20 August, 2005		Location: Kashima Stadium
1	0 1H 1 1 2H 1	0
Alex Mineiro (70')	Scoring	Hisato Sato (44') Shunsuke Maeda (89')
	Cautions	Kazuyuki Morisaki Galvao Takehito Shigehara Kota Hattori Takehito Shigehara Shunsuke Maeda
Daiki Iwamasa Go Oiwa	Sent Off	Takehito Shigehara
Lineups: Hitoshi Sogahata, Jun Uchida, Daiki Iwamasa, Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba, Takeshi Aoki, Fernando, Ricardinho (Akira Narahashi 61), Masashi Motoyama (Masaki Fukai 71), Takuya Nozawa (Alex Mineiro 61), Takayuki Suzuki . Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano, Dininho, Norio Omura, Kota Hattori, Takehito Shigehara, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Susumu Oki (Shinichikro Kuwata 76), Joubert "Beto" Martins, Galvao (Shusuke Maeda 76), Hisato Sato (Shogo Nishikawa 89) .

1 - 0

After an hour of scoreless but hard-fought play, Vissel got the lone goal of the mathc in the 76 minute, when Tomoyuki Hirase collected a ball at the top of the penalty box and threaded a pass to Atsuhiro Miura , breaking in from the left side. Miura volleyed the ball home with his right boot, and Vissel preserved that lead to claim ponly their third win of the season.

Date: 20 August, 2005		Location: Okayama Stadium
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 0	0
Atsuhiro Miura (76')	Scoring
	Cautions	Makoto Kakuda
Lineups: Makoto Kakegawa, Park Kang-Jo, Seiji Kaneko, Martin Muller, Kunie Kitamoto, Atsuhiro Miura, Naoya Saeki, Pavel Horvath, Akihiro Endo (Hideo Tanaka 77), Ivo Ulich, Tomoyuki Hirase (Keisuke Kurihara 89) . Seigo Narazaki, Makoto Kakuda (Satoshi Nakayama 79), Masahiro Koga, Takahiro Masukawa, Yusuke Nakatani (Keisuke Honda 79), An Yeon-Ha, Claiton, Keiji Yoshimura (Keita Sugimoto 65), Toshiya Fujita, Naoshi Nakamura, Luizao .

4 - 2

Date: 20 August, 2005		Location: Niigata "Big Swan" Std.
4	1 1H 1 3 2H 1	2
Hiroyoshi Kuwahara (23') Edmilson (60') Edmilson (62') Shingo Suzuki (76')	Scoring	Araujo (33') Masashi Oguro (85')
Shigenori Hagimura Anderson Lima	Cautions	Yasuhito Endo Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
Lineups: Yosuke Nozawa, Anderson Lima, Naoki Takahashi, Shigenori Hagimura, Yasushi Kita, Isao Homma, Hiroyoshi Kuwahara (Naoya Kikuchi 86), Fabinho (Ryuji Sueoka 83), Yoshito Terakawa, Shingo Suzuki, Edmilson (Yusaku Ueno 79) . Yosuke Fujigaya, Satoru Yamaguchi, Sidiclei, Toru Irie (Tsuneyasu Miyamoto 74), Takahiro Futagawa (Mitsuteru Watanabe 81), Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo (Kota Yoshihara 69), Akihiro Ienaga, Araujo, Fernandinho, Masashi Oguro .

2 - 1

Frontale got the scoring started just 3 minutes in, as teenage striker Masaru Kurotsu fought to collect a long ball into the box, and then slid it in front of Marcus de Morais as he dashed forward out of midfield and poked the ball home. Trinita responded with a spectacular goal on the half-hour mark, as Yuichi Nemoto lofted a corner kick to the far top corner of the penalty box, and Teppei Nishiyama volleyed it out of the air with a blistering shot that streaked into the low right side of the net.

Just before the break, though, Frontale took the lead again on a corner kick of their own, as Hiroyuki Taniguchi headed home from close range. The second half was a relatively dull defensive contest until the final minute of extra time, when Trinita narrowly missed the equaliser. But Takashi Umeda's cut-back shot rolled across the face of goal and bounded off the opposite post before being cleared by the Frontale defence.

Date: 20 August, 2005		Location: Todoroki Stadium
2	2 1H 1 0 2H 0	1
Marcus de Morais (3') Hiroyuki Taniguchi (37')	Scoring	Teppei Nishiyama (29')
Juninho	Cautions	Tomoki Fukaya
Lineups: Takashi Aizawa, Yoshinobu Minowa, Shuhei Terada, Hiroki Ito, Yasuhiro Nagahashi, Kengo Nakamura, Hiroyuki Taniguchi (Hideki Sahara 89), Augusto de Souza, Marcus de Morais (Kazuki Ganaha 85), Juninho, Masaru Kurotsu (Taku Harada 76) . Shusaku Nishikawa, Koji Yoshimura, Takashi Miki, Tomoki Fukaya, Yuichi Nemoto, Teppei Nishiyama, Kazuhiro Kawada (Takayuki Yoshida 45), Edmilson, Takashi Umeda (Masato Yamasaki 45), Daiki Takamatsu, Tulio Pinheiros (Kohei Nishino 77) .

1 - 1

S-Pulse preserved this lead for the next 65 minutes, but as injury time ran down in the second half, Tadaaki Tokushige stole a pass deep in the S-Pulse end and dashed into the box. His shot was swatted clear by the keeper, but Tatsuya Furuhashi headed the rebound back into the net to claim a share of the spoils.

Date: 20 August, 2005		Location: Nagai Stadium
1	0 1H 1 1 2H 0	0
Tatuya Furuhashi (89')	Scoring	Choi Dae-Uk (25')
Tomoki Maeda	Cautions	Yukihiko Sato Toshihide Saito
Lineups: Motohiro Yoshida, Bruno Cuadros, Tomoki Maeda, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Fabinho, Takanori Nunobe, Noriyuki Sakemoto (Nozomu Hiroyama 71), Takuya Kokeguchi (Tetsuya Yamasaki 86), Tatsuya Furuhashi, Hiroaki Morishima (Tadaaki Tokushige 64), Teruaki Kurobe . Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Toshihide Saito, Ryuzo Morioka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Yukihiko Sato (Jumpei Takaki 71), Kazumichi Takagi, Teruyoshi Ito, Choi Dae-Uk, (Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Keisuke Iwashita 80), Yasumasa Nishino (Masaaki Sawanobori 89) .

1 - 2

The first half was a classic battle between the two Chiba clubs, pitting the defensive combativeness and lightning counteratacks of Reysol against the free-flowing artistry of JEF United. Though both teams produced some good opportunities, the defences of both teams did their jobs and it was not until late in the first period that the deadlock was broken. JEF won a free kick on the right side and a long ball for the far post was headed straight at the keeper by Naotake Hayashi. Yuta Minami managed to parry it away, but the ball deflected to the right side of the goal mouth, right at the feet of Seiichro Maki, who managed to fight off the attentions of several Reysol players and flick the ball into the back of the net

As the second half began, Reysol began to create pressure as they fought to get back into contention. Just two minutes after the restart, Keiji Tamada burst past his defender and looked like he was off for a run on goal, but the defender, Kozo Yuki, knocked him off his feet as he dashed past. Yuki was playing with one yellow card already, and this play certainly looked like it was worth another booking. But instead the referee, Mr. Matsuo merely cautioned Yuki, letting him know that he risked being sent off if he kept up that sort of behaviour.

Not even sixty seconds later, Cleber and Tamada worked a one-two exchange on the left sideline, and Cleber dashed into the clear as the defence reacted to the pass. But before Tamada could return the pass to him, Yuki Abe reached out and hauled Tamada down in what looked like a football tackle. This call could easily have merited a yellow as well, but the referee simply pointed for a free kick. Cleber was infuriated, and shouted something at Mr. Matsuo . . . who instantly produced a yellow card for Cleber (his second) without even pausing for thought.

Now it is true that this call was not as horrendous as some of the ones that Mr. Okada made in the Antlers - Sanfrecce match. But it certainly raises the question of what J.League referees consider to be "consistency". You have a play which clearly warrantas a booking, but the ref decides to just calm the player in question down and warn him against repetition. Then less than 60 seconds later he sends another player off for an offence which -- though it may have been worthy of a yellow under strict application of the rules -- was by no means worse than the play that preceeded it. Football is supposed to be a game of skill, not a crap shoot. Are we expected to just sit silently and accept it, when matches (and perhaps even titles) are decided mainly on the whims of the referees? We would have had no argument if both players had been sent off; or alternatively, if both had been warned. But why the double standard? Particularly when the non-card on Yuki less than a minute earlier clearly played a part in causing Cleber to lose his temper?

Not surprisingly, JEF quickly extended their lead with the man advantage, as Naotake Hanyu collected a pas at the top left corner of the Reysol penalty box and chipped a cheeky lob shot over the keeper and into the high, opposite corner.

With time running down, Mr. Matsuo apparently decided to "pull an Okada", and demonstrate to one and all that he can be inept in both directions. Five minutes after Hanyu's goal, Reysol's recently acquired Brazilian Reynaldo raced after a long pass towards the right edge of the box, and Ilya Stoyanov raced after him to keep the speedy striker from turning the corner. Reynaldo turned his back to Stoyanov to screen the ball, and as soon as he felt a tiny bit of contact from behind, he flopped to the turf. The whistle blew, and Stoyanov stood in open-mouthed disbelieve as Reysol were awarded a penalty kick. This cut the Reysol advantage to just a single goal.

The contest got even closer, with nine minutes to play, as Mr. Matsuo awarded JEF ace Seiichiro Maki his second yellow card of the match, again for a relatively minor offence which certainly was less egregious than the earlier foul by Kozo Yuki, which went unpunished. As the final whistle sounded, the two coaches -- Ivica Osim and Hiroshi Hayano, stood within a few paces of one another shaking their heads in disbelief, and apparently exchanging comments. We would have loved to be on the sidelines with a microphone to pick up what passed between these two gentlemen. We certainly doubt it was a conversation about whether to vote for Mr. Matsuo as referee of the year. . . .

Date: 21 August, 2005		Location: Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
1	0 1H 1 1 2H 1	2
Reynaldo (72')	Scoring	Seiichiro Maki (41') Naotake Hanyu (68')
Ryo Kobayashi Cleber Cleber Yukio Tsuchiya Tomokazu Myojin	Cautions	Seiichiro Maki Kozo Yuki Yuki Abe Seiichiro Maki
Cleber	Sent Off	Seiichiro Maki
Lineups: Yuta Minami, Yasuhiro Hato, Norihiro Satsukawa (Tomonori Hirayama 51), Yukio Tsuchiya, Tomokazu Myojin, Cleber Santana Loureio, Ryo Kobayashi (Tatsuya Yazawa 83), Hidekazu Otani, Franza, Reynaldo, Keiji Tamada (Kisho Yano 73) . Tomonori Tateishi, Kozo Yuki, Ilya Stoyanov, Daisuke Saito, Satoru Yamagishi (Yuichi Yoda 83), Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato (Koji Nakashima 66), Masataka Sakamoto, Naotake Hanyu, Seiichiro Maki, Takenori Hayashi (Kohei Kudo 63) .

1-1

Verdy did get off to the lead early in this contest, as a busy midfield press and some quick passing around the box produced a hafl-dozen quality scoring opportunities over the opening fifteen minutes. Verdy finally took the lead in the 9 minute as Kazuki Hiramoto played a beautifully deceptive backheel to Washington as he dashed int the left side of the penalty area. The big Brazilian made no mistake, sliding a shot underneath the keeper to get the scoring started.

But despite producing a number of chances for an insurance goal, Verdy failed to finish off its plays, and as the first half wore on, Omiya withstood the early surge and began to settle down to a more evenly-matched contest. Verdy continued to look like the more offensively potent team, but they simply couldnt generate any more goals, and this began to frustrate the players, who started to slip back into the pattern of trying to make all the moves on their own, rather than looking for an open teammate.

With fifteen minutes left in the contest, Ardija produced one of their few dangerous offensive thrusts of the entire match. Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel broke into the left side of the penalty area, dashed almost to the end line, and then fired a low line drive across the face of goal. Naoto Sakurai was a step too slow to reach it, but Takahito Soma threw out a boot, probably intending to obstruct Sakurai, and ended up volleying the ball straight into the back of his own net.

And so, Verdy fail to claim the full points yet again, and will soon face a serious risk of relegation if they cannot revive their performance soon. Though they played with much more authority and fluidity early in this contest than they did earlier this season, the players lost the script later on. Incoming coach Valdao will need to work on the team's mental difficulties more than anything else, since their performances against Real Madrid and Fiorentina certainly show that they have the talent to do better. It isnt talent that is lacking, but rather, a team concept that can get them back on the winning track. Fans in Tokyo will certainly be hoping that they manage to find it soon.

Date: 21 August, 2005		Location: Tokyo Natl Stadium
1	1 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
Washington (9')	Scoring	Own Goal (76')
Gilberto Washington	Cautions	Tatsunori Hisanaga Tuto Ruschel
Lineups: Yoshinari Takagi, Atsushi Yoneyama, Kentaro Hayashi, Kenta Togawa, Takuya Yamada, Daigo Kobayashi, Kazuyuki Toda, Takahito Soma, Kazuki Hiramoto (Jun Tamano 69), Gilberto (Tadamichi Machida 81), Washington. Tomoyasu Ando, Takuro Nishimura, Yasunari Hiraoka, Daisuke Tomita, Kazuyoshi Mikami, Jun Marques Davidson, Tatsunori Hisanaga (Yusuke Shiumada 66), Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel, Chikara Fujimoto, Satoshi Yokoyama (Masato Saito 74), Naoto Sakurai (Koji Morita 45) .

With both Kashima and Gamba Osaka losing their matches this week, the table tightens up a little bit, though the two leaders still have a bit of a cushion. Though some may view the narrowing of this race as good news, in terms of maintaining fan interest, a more serious concern may be the danger that Japan's increasingly savvy and knowledgeable football fans -- due to their exposure to so much European play -- will begin to recognise how farcical some of the J.League contests have become, and decide to tune out the domestic league altogether. The Rising Sun News also wants to see a title race that remains close right up until the end of the season, but not if it means having to "fix" matches to ensure that the top teams do not run away from the pack.

Some may say that our comments go a bit too far . . . that as bad as the officiating may be, nobody is DELIBERATELY trying to manipulate the standings and ensure that certain teams win while others lose. That may in fact be the case. The problem is, when you have such clear and painfully visible "mistakes" in officiating happening at least once a week, there is a very real moral risk at stake.

We, the viewers, can TELL that the results are often determined by bad calls by the referees, rather than by the players on the pitch. This is not a matter of speculation, but an obvious fact. Meanwhile, the J.League administrators refuse to take action to penalise officials who commit obvious mistakes, and the broadcast and print media to their utmost to AVOID talking about it. Based on these facts, how do you expect us to tell for certain whether this is the result of corrupt, premeditated manipulation or simply sheer mind-numbing stupidity. And in any event, why should we care ?

Rumours and Rumblings