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September 11, 2005

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

This weekend, however, we were surprised to see a fairly broad assortment of club shirts from Europe which did not SEEM to have any connection to a Japanese player. We saw Liverpool and Chelsea shirts, Lazio and Roma, and even Bayern Munich in prominent places. Naturally, a #25 Celtic hoops shirt was displayed right at the front of an aisle, but we were surprised to see Yoshito Okubo's Mallorca kit and Daisuke Matsui's Le Mans "sang-et-or" in nearly as prominent a position. The apparent trend away from "faddish" purchases and idol-worship seemed to us a very positive one. Unfortunately, we also received the strong impression that something was missing.

. . . . the J.League kits were all squirreled away in back racks, and the selection was meagre. Some of the J1 clubs' uniforms were not even available. And this was the case not in just one, but in four different shops. It is true that the J.League official merchandise is sold most prominently at the stadiums of the J.League teams themselves, or at dedicated "team shops". However, it was discouraging to see how little importance the sporting goods retailers seemed to place on this merchandise. The Rising Sun News has noted several times this year the sense that fan interest is taking a dive this season. There was always concern that the single-stage format might have this effect, and though the league received some "surprising good fortune" over the past two weeks as a slew of red cards have hurt the Antlers and allowed some other teams to climb back into contention. Yet that does not seem to be altering the general trend, which is a steady drop in attention and interest in the league matches, particularly in cities where the local club is already out of the running for a title this year.

In addition to our shopping excursions, we were fortunate enough to get a chance to speak with one of the NHK producers who handles the broadcast of J.League matches (an uncle who worked for NHK for 40 years prevailed upon this gentleman, who was a former colleague, to speak with me on the condition that his name not be used and that we clarify that he was not providing official statements of NHK policy, but only his own personal views.

Naturally, the issue that we were most eager to discuss was the fact that NHK, and all other broadcasters as well, avoid showing replays of controversial plays, and announcers are visibly reluctant to say anything that might be viewed as criticism of a referee. At first, he seemed very comfortable with the question, seeing right away where I was going with the question and nodding encouragement. But when I reached the punch line and asked, point blank, why NHK didnt show the controversial plays in slow motion for the fans to judge, and why the anouncers didnt say so when they thought a call was incorrect, he seemed shocked at my directness. His response was very defensive and evasive, but the general gist was as follows:

Announcers have been gaining a bit more confidence lately to discuss calls such as offsides, and they try to explain the rules to the fans so that they can enjoy the match better. But when there is some dispute about a call, the referee is the one who decides the matter, and it does no good to question his judgement or "damage the integrity of officiating" by showing a replay of such a call. After all, everyone is human and makes mistakes, dont they?

I conceded this point, and agreed that it was not necessary to be "confrontational" about it. However, I persisted, isnt it possible that referees could learn lessons, and become better referees, if they received feedback about missed calls? As a broadcaster, NHK could point out instances where the officials might have been able to make a better call if they "concentrated more", or if they asked for input from the linesman (I used the example of Takashi Fukunishi's much-publicised hand-ball goal, and noted that the linesman seemed to see the incident, but was never consulted by head referee Masayoshi Okada).

The question merely made him seem even more tense and evasive. What would be the point of "showing up" an officiating mistake? The call could not be reversed, even in a case like the "hand of satan" goal. The league would never agree to replay a match or change a result. That would be WRONG and UNFAIR.

This response left me speechless for nearly a full minute (yes, hard as it may be to believe . . . .)

Finally I managed to collect my thoughts, and explained to him that the issue of "reversing" a call or changing the outcome of a match, after the fact, had never even entered my mind. The point was not to try to "alter history", but to identify problems that existed in the officiating of matches, and use the information as a way of appraising officials. Those who made too many mistakes could be either given less important duties (like officiating J2 matches) or asked to take refresher courses in officiating to help them address their weaknesses. Furthermore, if broadcasters and league officials could "admit" when a mistake had been made, it would ease the frustration felt by fans of the team that was disadvantaged. Though the results would still be the same, they would at least have the sense that their greivances were "recognised", and that there was public acceptance of the fact that their team had been disadvantaged.

This suggestion only created more tension, and I quickly decided to change the subject before I wore out my welcome. The remainder of our conversation was very useful in helping me understand the relationship of the League to broadcasters, and the unusual condition of simultaneous "competition yet semi-cooperation" between different broadcasters in carrying J.League matches. Overall, however, I left the meeting very discouraged. Though The Rising Sun News has suspected for a long time that Japanese society was simply too "conflict-averse" to deal with the problem of officiating in a positive and open manner, this discussion has confirmed our worst fears. Barring some sort of "gaiatsu" (outside pressure) from an official body, such as FIFA, it seems highly unlikely that our concerns about the poor standard of officiating in the J.League will ever be addressed. League officials, referees, team management and broadcasters alike seem inclined to just sweep the matter underneath the carpet, and hope nobody will notice.

Remember that the next time your team gets robbed by a blind referee. In Japan, the louder you complain, the less likely you are to be heard.

Turning to this week's matches, below is a summary of the scores from Saturday evening:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
3 Sep		1-1		Hiroshima "Big Arch"
3 Sep		1-4		Saitama Stadium
3 Sep		2-2		Kashima Stadium
3 Sep	Kashiwa Reysol	4-2		Kashiwanoha Stadium
3 Sep		0-1		Ajinomoto Stadium
3 Sep		2-2		Yokohama "Nissan" Std.
3 Sep		3-2		Nihondaira Stadium
3 Sep		2-1		Nagai Stadium
3 Sep		1-2		Oita "Big Eye" Stadium

2 - 2

The above comments should probably be taken as an accolade for Mr. Kashiwahara, since a lesser referee might easily have allowed this contest to disintegrate into a brutal free-for-all with multiple sendings-off. Both teams were wound up to a high level of physical combativeness, and there were fouls galore. Yet apart from one incident which seemed to be more due to poor communication than anything else, he managed to avoid excessive use of the yellow card (he "only" used it 12 times, which under the circumstances, seemed mild) while still managing to keep the contest from boiling over..

The contest itself was an example of the sort of highly entertaining football that the J.League can provide when referees stay out of the spotlight. It included a little bit of everything. As noted, both teams were throwing their bodies around with abandon, and it was not surprising that the scoring got started due to a foul. In the 16 minute, Akira Narahashi broke down the right wing and looped a perfect lead pass to Takayuki Suzuki as he dashed into the box. Defender Satoshi Horinouchi was beaten on the play, and rather than allowing Suzuki an open header from just a few meters out, he grabbed a handful of jersey and hauled Suzuki down. It was a fairly obvious PK foul and Mr. Kashiwahara had no difficulty making the decision. Captain Mitsuo Ogasawara hit a cheeky lob which left Ryota Tsuzuki sprawled on the ground helplesslessly. Even though he had guessed the direction correctly, the keeper could only watch as the ball looped over his fingertips and into the net.

A short while later, the Antlers extended their lead on a quick counterattack which sent Alex Mineiro away on a two-on-two rush. The speedy Brazilian finished off the play all by himself, poking the ball past the keeper into the right corner.

The second half got off to an even more physical start than the first, and Mr. Kashiwahara quickly adopted a policy which seemed to be aimed at keeping a lid on the activities. With players from both teams throwing themselves around with increasing recklessness, he began stopping play completely and forcing the players to put the ball back at the exact spot of the foul for the restart. This slowed the melee down a bit, and seemed to prevent things from spinning out of control. It may have interfered with the "flow" of play, but at least from where we were sitting, it was quite apparent what he was doing, and why. When a dangerous Antlers counterattack was cut short because Mr. Kashiwahara spotted a late foul on Ogasawara, and blew his whistle despite an Antlers advantage, there was a bit of gesturing by the players but the message seemed to be delivered clearly . . . at least to the Antlers players.

Unfortunately, the message did not seem to be relayed to the Reds players . . . or at any rate, there was at least one person on the pitch who did not get it. Just moments after the incident where an Antlers break was cut short, the Reds had a similar situation in which a foul was called behind the play, despite the fact that the Reds received an advantage from the ball's subsequent movement. Mr. Kashiwahara blew his whistle and called the play back, which sent Marcus Tulio Tanaka into a tirade. Mr. Kashiwahara flashed a yellow card at Tulio for dissent, but this only sent the hot-headed Reds defender off the deep end. First he started shouting in the referee's face; then he started gesturing wildly, and appeared to give Mr. Kashiwahara "the finger". This naturally earned him a second yellow and a ticket to the dressing room, but his reaction was only to become more enraged. Four of his teammates had to tackle him and drag him to the sidelines to prevent any more extracurricular activities.

Though you might expect that the sending-off would have given Kashima a daunting advantage, this was not the case. It seemed to fire up the Reds players even more, while the Antlers seemed to be confused -- having spent so much of the past three weeks playing shorthanded that they didnt seem to know what to do with an extra player. Furthermore, after sending off Tulio, Mr. Kashiwahara did slip into the typical attitude shown by J.League referees in such situations, trying to "make up" for it by overlooking some offences by the Reds players over the remainder of the contest.

But that takes noting away from the tremendous achievement that Urawa managed over the final 30 minutes. With Kashima playing almost entirely on the defensive (a big mistake, though they seemed to be doing so by choice), the Reds started to attack with wild abandon, and with 13 minutes left to play, a deflected shot from the left sideline by Alex Santos bounced right to Tatsuya Tanaka, who managed to head it just inside the right post.

With time running down and the Antlers looking aminly to run out the clock, Santos again broke around the left corner, and sent a rolling cross in front of net. Somehow, none of the Antlers players managed to spot Robson Ponte breaking through the middle, and the Brazilian playmaker side-footed the ball into the top of the net, to knot the score. After clawing back to get the equaliser, the Reds had to withstand a wild flurry of late pressure by the Antlers, but they hung on and claimed a share of the points, in what was definitely the most emotionally exhausting contest of the day.

Date: 3 Sept, 2005		Location: Kashima Stadium
2	2 1H 0 0 2H 2	2
Mitsuo Ogasawara (17') Alex Mineiro (27')	Scoring	Tatsuya Tanaka (77') Robson Ponte (86')
Masashi Motoyama Takayuki Suzuki Fernando Toru Araiba Akira Narahashi	Cautions	Robson Ponte Satoshi Horinouchi Makoto Hasebe Keita Suzuki Tulio Tanaka Tulio Tanaka Keisuke Tsuboi
Lineups: Hitoshi Sogahata, Akira Narahashi (Jun Uchida 82), Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba, Takeshi Aoki, Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama (Ricardinho 79), Takayuki Suzuki, Alex Mineiro (Masaki Fukai 79) . Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Satoshi Horinouchi, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe, Keita Suzuki (Alex Santos 70), Tadaaki Hirakawa, Robson Ponte, Tatsuya Tanaka (Hideki Uchidate 89), Yuichiro Nagai (Masayuki Okano 82) .

0 - 1

Verdy's dangerous attacking duo of Washington and Gilberto "Jill" Goncalves showed a lot of movement, but the best they could manage to create in the way of offence was a few powerful but long-distance shots. Gamba's chances were fewer and farther between, but when a key stroke of fortune fell their way, they took full advantage of it. In the 77 minute, Verdy broke up a Gamba push, and as they began moving the ball out of their zone, Kazuki Hiramoto played the ball back towards his defenders rather than turning upfield. The defenders had begun to break out of the penalty box, and failed to anticipate the back pass. As a result, the first to reach the ball was Fernandinho, who flicked the ball into space. Araujo scooped it up, stepped past a defender, and fired a shot into the far side of the net for the only goal of the contest.

The victory may have been a narrow one, but it could not be any bigger for Gamba, since it allows them to move into first place on the league table for the first time this season. Naturally, there will be plenty of grumbling from Antlers fans, who may feel that some dodgy decisions over the past two weeks gave Gamba an unfair leg up. But this week, at least, Gamba fully deserved to make the climb into first place.

Date: 3 Sept, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
	Scoring	Araujo (77')
	Cautions	Mitsuteru Watanabe Araujo
Lineups: Yoshinari Takagi, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsushi Yoneyama, Kenta Togawa, Takuya Yamada, Daigo Kobayashi (Kenichi Uemura 82), Takeshi Hirano, Takahito Soma, Kazuki Hiramoto, Masaaki Kuba, Washington, Gilberto "Jill" Goncalves (Tadamichi Machida 74) . Yosuke Fujigaya, Sidiclei, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Satoru Yamaguchi, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Yasuhito Endo, Hideo Hashimoto, Akihiro Ienaga, Arata Kodama, Fernandinho, Araujo, Masashi Oguro .

1 - 1

Unfortunately, as often happens when you get two energetic, talented, but slightly inexperienced teams on the same pitch, the contest may be fun to watch yet not produce a very impressive result. This was the case on Saturday evening, as JEF and Sanfrecce battled each other from one end of the pitch to the other, yet could not produce the crucial pass or shot to score. Following a scoreless first half, the two teams exchanged second hand goals which both were slightly flukish.

Just seconds after the break, Sanfrecce cleared their zone and a defender sent a high, 75-meter clearance towards the front line. Galvao gave chase, but keeper Tomonori Tateishi seemed to have the ball in his sights, and defender Kozo Yuki was screening Galvao off the play. But the Sanfrecce striker refused to give up on the ball, and as the ball took a final bounce, he threw a boot around his defender and managed to poke the ball right out of the keeper's hands. As all three players collided and fell to the turf, the ball continued rolling softly into the back of the net.

JEF's reply, 30 minutes later, was just as fortuitous. Naotake Hanyu took a pass at the top of the Sanfrecce box and fed the ball towards Satoru Yamagishi, cutting in from the left. Two Sanfrecce defenders threw themselves at the ball, and it took a deflection and caromed off Yamagishi's foot as he ran towards goal. The result looked almost like a shot, though slow motion replay shows that it was just an accidental bounce off Yamagishi's shin guard. The ball rolled past the outrushing keeper and into the far side of the net.

Neither team could break the deadlock, and they had to settle for a share of the points, which hurts both teams' lingering hopes of remaining in contention. With eleven matches left to play, JEF is now 12 points adrift, and probably out of the competitive picture, though still mathematically alive. Sanfrecce, on the other hand, is in fourth place, trailing Gamba by 8 and Kashima by 7 points. On current form, it seems unlikely that they can catch the two leaders, but certainly Sanfrecce have demonstrated that they are once again a team to be reckoned with.

Date: 3 Sept, 2005		Location: Hiroshima "Big Arch"
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Galvao (46')	Scoring	Satoru Yamagishi (74')
Kazuyuki Morisaki	Cautions
Lineups: Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano, Dininho, Norio Omura, Kota Hattori, Takehito Shigehara, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Susumu Oki (Koji Morisaki 63), Ri Han-Jae (Seiichiro Kuwata 81), Galvao (Shusuke Maeda 75), Hayato Sato . Tomonori Tateishi, Kozo Yuki (Takenori Hayashi 55), Ilya Stoyanov, Daisuke Saito, Satoru Yamagishi (Koji Nakajima 56), Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Naotake Hanyu, Gabriel Popescu (Kohei Kudo 53), Seiichiro Maki .

2 - 2

The first half was peppered with scoring opportunities, mainly at the Marinos end. Seigo Narazaki was called upon to make three or four spectacular saves and both posts helped him out by rejecting Marinos shots. Though Yokohama's offensive barrage made them appear dominant in the first half, they managed to find the net just once, after Hayuma Tanaka ripped open the right flank and dribbled to the end line before pulling the ball back to Rodrigo Gral. The consummate cherry-picker side-footed a shot into the roof of the net and the Marinos had a narrow half-time lead.

But as the two teams came out for the second act, Grampus brought in a recent acquisition, Luizao, as well as veteran playmaker Tomoya Fujita. The substitutions produced an immediate impact, and barely a minute after the restart Grampus were on level terms once again. Fujita sacrificed his body to keep a play alive, throwing himself in front of an outrushing Naoki Matsuda to deflect the ball to right wing Keita Sugimoto, in the corner. Sugimoto had no defender in signt, and had time to judge Liuzao's run and fire a centering pass right onto the boot of the Brazilian striker. His first attempt at a shot was deflected by a defender, but he immediately hit the ball a second time and looped it into the back of the net.

The two teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the second half, but it was not until the late stages that the deadlock was broken. With five minutes to play, Sugimoto again got free on the right sideline, and fired a cross in front of net. The apparent target, Yohei Toyoda, was unable to reach the ball, but it bounded through to Luizao at the far post, and the Brazilian ace stroked it off the crossbar and into the net.

This set up a wild finish, as the Marinos desperately battled to equalise. As we noted at the top, not all of the referees this week managed to avoid controversey, and at the stroke of full time, Mr. Takayama made his bid for clueless ref of the week. Yokohama won a free kick about 35 meters out, and as the ball was sent into the box, there was a scuffle in front of net. The ball was cleared by the Nagoya defence and everyone started moving to take the free kick when suddenly Mr. Takayama marched up, flashed a red card at Masahiro Koga and pointed to the penalty spot. Both teams looked stunned, and it took almost three minutes for the ref to explain what he thought had happened. Yuji Nakazawa and Koga got tangled up with one another and apparently Mr. Takayama decided that Koga had pulled Nakazawa down. But not only did the Marinos defender seem to take the play in stride, replays suggest that it was Nakazawa who did the worst of the fouling as the two battled for the ball (check back later this week, as we hope to include a video clip to allow you to judge for yourself).

After about five minutes of argument, Yokohama finally were able to take the spot kick, which was converted by Koji Yamase to give the Marinos a share of the points. Clearly, Grampus fans have casuse to feel robbed, but as we noted at the top, you can forget about any illusions that the league might investigate the incident. In the J.League, players can be punished for things they didnt do, but dont expect referees to be held accountable for their own mistakes, even if they can be documented on video.

Date: 3 Sept, 2005		Location: Yokohama "Nissan" Std.
2	1 1H 0 1 2H 2	2
Rodrigo Gral (8') Koji Yamase (89')	Scoring	Luizao (46') Luizao (85')
Masahiro Ohashi Ryuji Kawai Hayuma Tanaka	Cautions	Luizao Masahiro Koga Masahiro Koga
	Sent Off	Masahiro Koga
Lineups: Tetsuya Enomoto, Ryuji Kawai, Naoki Matsuda, Yuji Nakazawa, Hayuma Tanaka, Daisuke Nasu, Yoshiharu Ueno, Dutra, Masahiro Ohashi (Koji Yamase 85), Rodrigo Gral (Daisuke Sakata 76), Hideo Oshima . Seigo Narazaki, Kei Yamaguchi (Luizao 45), Masahiro Koga, Takahiro Masukawa, Makoto Kakuda, Claiton, Keiji Yoshimura, Naoshi Nakamura (Tomoya Fujita 45), Keiji Watanabe (Yutaka Akita 72), Keita Sugimoto, Yohei Toyoda .

1 - 4

But with five mintues to go before the break, Albirex finally broke the deadlock on a play which would change the nature of the contest completely. Albirex won a free kick on the right side, about three meters from the sideline at an angle only slightly superior to a corner kick. The cross went to the far post, and Naoya Kikuchi -- on a six-month loan from Jubilo Iwata -- headed it back across the face of goal and into the net. To add insult to injury, the play was finished off by the referee, Mr. Noda (one of the better J.League referees, who deserves to be recognised for his effectiveness as much as some of his colleagues are singled out for their blunders). Mr. Noda noticed that Toninho had tried to keep the ball out of the net with his hand. Even though the goal was scored despite this bit of "intervention" replays suggest that Toninho fully deserved to be punished for the deliberate hand ball, and though some might argue that a straight red card was a bit harsh, under the circumstances, it was well within Mr. Noda's scope of authority to send Toninho to the locker room.

Naturally, this upset the balance of play, and Albirex came out from the halftime break to quicly take the lead, on a looping shot by Anderson Lima just nine minutes after intermission.

Ardija made an intense effort to keep the match competitive, and managed to pull a goal back five minutes later when Koji Morita collected a ball in the high post, inside the penalty arc, fended off challenges from two defenders, and slipped a pass to a cutting Chikara Fujimoto for the finish.

But this merely offered a temporary repreive, and as Omiya were still a goal behind, as time ticked away they had to come out of their defensive shell to look for the equaliser. Albirex duly took advantage, using their numerical advantage to overwhelm the Ardija defence on the counterattack. First Edmilson finished off a 3-on-2 move with a low shot into the left corner. Shortly thereafter Fabinho noticed that keeper Hiroki Aratani was too far off his line, and put the final nail in the coffin with a powerful blast from 35 meters, which screamed over the keeper's head and slipped just underneath the crossbar.

Date: 3 Sept, 2005		Location: Saitama Stadium
1	0 1H 1 1 2H 3	4
Chikara Fujimoto (59')	Scoring	Naoya Kikuchi (40') Anderson Lima (52') Edmilson (84') Fabinho (87')
Toninho Xxx Xxx	Cautions	Xxx Xxx Xxx
Lineups: Hiroki Aratani, Yasunari Hiraoka (Masato Saito 61), Seiichiro Okuno, Daisuke Tomita Kazuyoshi Mikami, Jun Marques Davidson, Toninho, Tatsunori Hisanaga (Satoshi Yokoyama 68), Chikara Fujimoto (Yusuke Shimada 75), Koji Morita, Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel . Yosuke Nozawa, Anderson Lima, Naoki Takahashi, Shigenori Hagimura (Yasushi Kita 73), Naoya Kikuchi, Isao Honma, Hiroyoshi Kuwahara, Fabinho, Edmilson, Yusaku Ueno (Ryuji Sueoka 86), Yoshito Terakawa, Shingo Suzuki .

2 - 1

Since the departure of the brothers Miura, back in early July, Vissel Kobe has been steadily improving as a team, and recent contributions from the team's new foriegn acquisitions -- Martin Muller and Ivo Ulich -- have provided indications that Kobe might not be doomed to relegation after all. But unfortunately, other struggling teams have also taken steps to address their weaknesses, and if Vissel does not make a move soon, they may be unable to excape the drop.

This week was a perfect example of the problems that the team faces. Though Vissel played a creditable match, Cerezo Osaka was just a shade better at all positions. Kobe's greatest problem may be its lack of any real youth programme from which to draw energetic and hard-working youngsters. Cerezo is a similarly veteran team, and the flaming pinks have also struggled this season. But this week the team got a lift from youngsters Tomoya Maeda and Takuya Kokeguchi. By contrast, Vissel has spent its money signing more talented yet faded veterans, who may have aboundant intelligence and experience, but whose enery levels are in question.

The most recent addition to the Vissel ranks is Akihiro Endo, a veteran midfielder who has been an important contributor for the Marinos for years, but who announced his retirement in June, as age caught up with him. Vissel coaxed him out of retirement, and he has started the last three matches, looking reasonably smooth and efficient but not really providing the "punch" that Vissel so badly needs.

After a scoreless first half, Vissel took a lead shortly after the break on a goal by midfielder Tomo Sugawara. But Cerezo fought back with strikes from Tatsuya Furuhashi and Fabinho to shatter Vissel's hopes of climbing out of the cellar. Though Oita Trinita also lost their match this week, they maintain a goal-difference lead over Vissel at the bottom end of the table.

Date: 3 Sept, 2005		Location: Nagai Stadium
2	0 1H 0 2 2H 1	1
Tatsuya Furuhashi (59') Fabinho (75')	Scoring	Tomo Sugawara (48')
Fabinho	Cautions	Park Kang-Jo Seiji Kaneko
Lineups: Motohiro Yoshida, Bruno Cuadros, Tomoya Maeda, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Fabinho, Tomi Shimomura, Kiyokazu Kudo (Takuya Kokeguchi 81), Ze Carlos (Teruaki Kurobe 74), Tatsuya Furuhashi, Hiroaki Morishima (Tadaaki Tokushige 69), Akinori Nishizawa . Kenta Tokushige, Seiji Kaneko, Martin Muller, Kunie Kitamoto, Tomo Sugawara, Park Kang-Jo, Naoya Saeki, Akihiro Endo (Hiromi Kojima 45), Pavel Horvath, Ivo Ulich (Noriaki Ishizawa 87), Tomoyuki Hirase (Keisuke Kurihara 64) .

4 - 2

This week, however, Reysol's newest acquisition -- the Brazilian striker Reynaldo -- quickly demonstrated that he has the capability to solve Reysol's scoring problems. In just 26 minutes, the young striker found the net twice and earned himself a large number of new admirers from among the Reysol faithful.

Reynaldo went on to provide an assist on one of Keiji Tamada's two goals. The national team hopeful broke out of his slump in style, tallying right after the second-half restart and then capping off Reysol's most offensively profuse performance of the season with an unassisted strike in the 55 minute. This will be equally good news for fans, who can now have at least some hope that the scoring problems they faced earlier this season are behind them.

For FC Tokyo, however, it was just more bad news in what has become a very frustrating season. Unlike Reysol, who really DID seem impotent on offence earlier in the season, FC Tokyo have looked brilliant at times, and seem to produce goal-scoring chances by the fistful. The only problem is that they somehow manage to squander opportunities that even your grandmother would be able to put in the net. This week was yet another chapter in the same old story. Tokyo did look effective for long periods in this match, but couldnt finish off their opportunities. At first, things looked promising, as Sasa Salcedo hit the back of the net less than a minute into the match. But after the opening tally, Sasa and the rest of the FC Tokyo offence went as cold as a steel toilet seat in Sapporo.

Over the years, we have come to admire the "positive" philosophy that coach Hiromi Hara instills in his players. However, there are clear indications that the time may have come for FC Tokyo to start looking for a new head coach. Hara simply cant find the key to get his team to win matches, and at the end of the day, that is the most important task of a coach. Tokyo are clearly a talented team, but this season they have not been playing up to their potential. If the team does not start winning matches soon, we would not be surprised to see the axe fall.

Date: 3 Sept, 2005		Location: Kashiwa-no-ha Std.
4	2 1H 1 2 2H 1	2
Reynaldo (14') Reynaldo (26') Keiji Tamada (46') Keiji Tamada (55')	Scoring	Sasa Salcedo (1') Yoshiro Abe (74')
Reynaldo Norihiro Satsukawa	Cautions	Naohiro Ishikawa Sasa Salcedo
Lineups: Yuta Minami, Yasuhiro Hato, Norihiro Satsukawa, Yukio Tsuchiya, Ryo Kobayashi, Tomokazu Myojin, Hidekazu Otani, Cleber Santana Loureio (Sota Nakazawa 89), Kisho Yano, Reynaldo (Tadatoshi Masuda 79), Keiji Tamada (Lee Chun-Song 88) . Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa, Norio Suzuki, Yohei Kajiyama (Fumitake Miura 75), Yasuyuki Konno, Naohiro Ishikawa (Yuta Baba 67), Ryoichi Kurisawa (Yoshiro Abe 53), Lucas Severino, Sasa Salcedo .

3 - 2

Date: 3 Sept, 2005		Location: Nihondaira Stadium
3	1 1H 1 2 2H 1	2
Marquinhos (29') Kota Sugiyama (82') Kazumichi Takagi (88')	Scoring	Juninho (22') Kazuki Ganaha (55')
Marquinhos Kazumichi Takagi Toshihide Saito	Cautions	Augusto
Lineups: Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Toshihide Saito, Kazumichi Takagi, Takahiro Yamanishi (Hideaki Kitajima 73), Yukihiko Sato (Masaaki Sawanobori 73), Teruyoshi Ito, Kota Sugiyama, Akihiro Hyodo, Marquinhos (Jumpei Takaki 89), Cho Jae-Jin . Takashi Aizawa, Yoshinobu Minowa, Shuhei Terada, Hiroki Ito, Yasuhiro Nagahashi, Kengo Nakamura, Hiroyuki Tankguchi (Hideki Sahara 77), Augusto de Souza, Marcus de Morais, Juninho, Kazuki Ganaha (Taku Harada 75) .

1 - 2

Date: 3 Sept, 2005		Location: Oita "Big Eye" Stadium
1	1 1H 1 0 2H 1	2
Daiki Takamatsu (30')	Scoring	Ryoichi Maeda (34') Kim Jin-Kyu
	Cautions
Lineups: Koji Esumi, Tomoki Fukaya, Masakazu Shibakoya, Taikai Uemoto, Koji Arimura, Takashi Umeda, Taku Harada (Tomoaki Komorida 76), Yoshida, Yoshiro Abe, Magno Alves, Lucas "Dodo" Ricardo (Daiki Takamatsu 51) (Yuichi Nemoto 56) . Yohei Sato, Takayuki Chano (Kentaro Oi 84), Makoto Tanaka, Kim Jin-Kyu, Yoshiaki Ota, Takahiro Kawamura, Takashi Fukunishi, Shinji Murai, Robert Cullen (Keisuke Funaya 59), Choi Yong-Soo (Masashi Nakayama 76), Ryoichi Maeda, .

With Kashima's draw against the Reds and Gamba's victory, the Antlers fall out of the number one spot for the first time this season. This sets the stage for a very interesting race down the stretch. Though most of the other potential competitors have fallen by the wayside, Gamba, Antlers and Reds are all in strong contention to chase the title over the final eleven weeks, and even Sanfrecce and Jubilo appear to be in a sufficiently competitive position that they should not be written off just yet. As disappointing as the events of the past two weeks have been, it is true that the resulting change in the standings will make for a more interesting show in the months of October and November.

The only risk is that, now, the dynamic of all three of the top teams has been changed noticeably by events. Kashima players appear visibly discouraged, and they showed very little energy at all over the final ten minutes against Urawa. Though the Antlers have shown resilience in the past, this year may be an exception. Both Mitsuo Ogasawara and Masashi Motoyama have clearly indicated their desire to play overseas, and it would not be surprising if they lost interest in a J.League competition which in the eyes of many people would seem to be . . . well . . . if not "rigged" than at least a "less-than-level playing field".

Gamba, on the other hand, seem to be coming together well, and all the breaks are falling their way. The irony is that they may not have needed any help to catch the Antlers. The way they have been playing in recent weeks suggests that they could have made it a tempestuous dash to the wire, all the same. The only other strong contender -- Urawa Reds -- are playing more effectively than they did early in the season, but they show clear signs of being an "emotionally fragile" group. Tulio's dismissal will certainly be an additional blow. No doubt, it would be nice to see a team from the Kansai area win a title for the first time ever, and of all the candidates over the years, this year's Gamba Osaka team certainly would make a worthy champion.

Nevertheless, if the Antlers do fall apart, and Gamba go on a tear, running away from the rest of the pack, the events of the past two weeks will loom as another sad chapter in a season that has been one long string of disappointment -- from the "Hand of Satan" goal on opening week to the "divine intervention" which kept one or both of Kashima's starting central defenders off the pitch for four crucial matches in a row. If the second half of the season does turn out to be a Gamba gallop into the sunset, it will be difficult to dispel the impression that horrendous officiating was the only thing that prevented what might otherwise have been an interesting horse race to the wire -- albeit only between two teams.

Rumours and Rumblings

Mr. Yoshida Gains World Renown

Naturally, we were interested to hear what other people think of our fine and upstanding J.League officials. Lets take a look at what some overseas reporters had to say about Mr. Yoshida's performance:

"Should they not progress to a play-off with the fourth-placed team in the CONCACAF qualifying campaign, (Uzbek coach Bobby) Houghton's men will no doubt point to referee Toshimitsu Yoshida's decision to disallow Uzbekistan a second goal, six minutes before the break.

Having awarded Uzbekistan a penalty after Maksim Shatskikh's goal-bound header had been blocked by Mohamed Juma, Mr. Yoshida ruled out Server Djeparov's successful penalty and instead gave the Bahrainis a free-kick.

The home side, understandably furious with the decision, argued that the penalty should be retaken but the official dismissed their protests, much to the delight of the relieved, but equally baffled, Bahrain players. The tight-lipped Mr. Yoshida explained after the game that he had not allowed the goal to stand because Anavr Soliev had encroached into the penalty box when the kick was taken. Television replays were inconclusive about whether this was the case, but question mark remains as to why the kick was not retaken."

Mr. Yoshida's fame seems to be spreading to the international level, as the Uzbek coach promised to appeal to FIFA:

Bobby Houghton, the Uzbekistan coach, has called for FIFA to investigate the Japanese referee's controversial decision to disallow a penalty in their World Cup 2006 AFC Play-off with Bahrain on Saturday night. With the central Asians leading 1-0 after Mirdjalal Kasimov's 11th minute opener, referee Toshimitsu Yoshida pointed the spot six minutes before the break when Maksim Shatskikh's goal-bound header was blocked by Mohamed Juma's hand.

Server Djeparov duly dispatched the spot kick to put the Uzbeks two up but Yoshida immediately blew for an infringement and awarded Bahrain a free-kick much to the Uzbek players' fury. They, like most people watching in the stands and watching on television around Asia, expected the referee to ask Uzbekistan to retake the penalty if there had indeed been an infringement.

(Mr. Yoshida) remained tight-lipped after the game, refusing to be drawn publicly on the reasons for his decision. He did, however, reveal to footballasia.com that he had spotted an encroachement by Anvar Soliev and that was his reason for disallowing the goal.

"There was not any single person in the whole stadium who understood what happened," Alisher Nikimbaev, a high-ranking official at the Uzbekistan Football Federation, told reporters after the game, which ended 1-0. "Maybe it is a rule from the J-League or perhaps it is a new rule introduced by FIFA. But we have never heard about it, and if it is a new rule, why did FIFA not inform us?"

Well well, isnt THAT a surprise . . . . not.

On a side note, Mr. Yoshida (apparently) claimed that there had been a FIFA rule change, and that if there was encroachment during a PK by the team taking the kick, a free kick should be awarded to the other side. Subsequent checking, however, shows that there has been no such rule change, and if the suggestion that there was such a rule change was indeed made by Mr. Yoshida himself, he would seem to be guilty of not only poor officiating, but also a baldfaced lie to try to cover up his mistake.

The most positive result to emerge from this entire sad incident is the fact that FIFA did not even spend much time debating the incident. Just one day after receiving the complaint from the Uzbek football association, FIFA has ordered the match to be replayed, and has gone a step further by stating, in exactly so many words, that the replay was being ordered because "the referee made an error in his decision".

In other words, we now have an official statement by football's highest regulatory body telling everyone who might be interested in the matter that Mr. Yoshida is NOT a competent referee. Incidentally, this is the first time in over 25 years that FIFA has ordered a match to be replayed due to a protest against an officiating call. You have to say one thing for Mr. Yoshida, the man sure knows how to make history.

But the greatest irony of all involves an article published just the days ago by the BBC, regarding discussions between the J.League and the recently-retired officiating maestro Pierluigi Collina. The J.League has apparently contacted the shaven-headed icon of fotball officiating and asked if he would come out of retirement to serve as a J.League official (an idea that the Rising Sun News views as the best thing that could ever happen to the J.League, if only because even a mediocre performance by Pi Collina's will offer football fans and media in Japan a standard of comparison which will make it obvious to even those with their heads in the sand that the J.League officials "could use some improvement").

The irony of it all was that the BBC contacted J.League chairman Masaru Suzuki for a comment on the negotiations, and (just two days before a J.League official made history with his show of incompetence), he replied: "The quality of J.League referees is actually not bad, but they tend to be criticised (unfairly) for their decisions. . . "

Hmmmmm . . . . I wonder if the ruling by FIFA is yet another example of how these "quality" J.League referees keep getting "criticised unfairly for their decisions."

Keep your fingers crossed, folks. This incident with Mr. Yoshida just MIGHT turn out to be one of those debacles which is so painfully embarassing that it actually forces a bunch of complacent old Japanese geezers to get off their butts and DO something about an obvious problem. If anyone is capable of keeping their heads in the sand under such circumstances, it would be the J.League governing body. But then again, there just might be hope for us, after all.