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September 18, 2005

Clashes and Collisions

The two key contests of the day were both exciting and hard-fought affairs, as Kashiwa Reysol upset Gamba Osaka in Kashiwa, and the Kashima Antlers prevailed at home over Vissel Kobe, but not without a struggle, at least over the first 45 minutes.

Here are the scores from Saturday's matches:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
17 Sep		4-0		Kashima Stadium
17 Sep		0-1		Omiya Stadium
17 Sep		2-0		Nagai Stadium
17 Sep		1-2		AjinomotoStadium
17 Sep		2-0		Kumamoto Stadium
17 Sep		2-1		Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
17 Sep		0-0		Yokohama (Nissan) Std.
18 Sep		2-1		Nihondaira Stadium
18 Sep		3-4		Hiroshima "Big Arch"

0 - 0

Rodrigo Gral.

OK, OK, you probably already knew that. But on Saturday night the Brazilian drama queen took it to a level which defies belief, and which will certainly be hard to match. At the end of a fiercely contested 90 minutes of scoreless but furious competition, the two teams threw themselves desperately around the pitch looking for the winning goal. With two minutes of injury time already in the books, Naohiro Ishikawa was tackled low and hard, and hurt his ankle badly enough to have to be carried off on a stretcher. On the subsequent play, a high ball to the middle sent four players high into the air and a thunderous collision ensued. When the dust cleared, Jean Carlo Wittehad a huge gash over his eye and Lucas Severino lkay unconscious on the pitch. As teammates gathered around to check on Lucas, Gral went up to the referee and began shouting and gesturing angrily that the two should be cleared off the pitch so that Yokohama could put the ball back into play.

Jean -- whose eyes were filled with tears of both pain and concern for his teammate -- came over and very nearly ripped Gral's head off, right there and then (a pity he didnt). Only after getting an earful from his fellow Brazilian did Gral apparently stop thinking about how to win the match, by using the three-player advantage that the Marinos would have enjoyed, and realise that Jean was semiconscious and paralyzed. As the trainers called frantically for an ambulance and the crowd fell dead silent, Gral stood with a sheepish look on his face, perhaps realising what he had just done. We certainly hope he does reflect on his behaviour. That sort of "win at all costs" attitude is something that the J.League can do without.

Lucas was taken away in an ambulance and the match concluded on a rather somber note, with the two teams more or less going through the motions until the final whistle. Fortunately, the early reports say that Lucas is in "stable" condition, and we hope that his injuries turn out to be minor. We also hope that Rodrigo Gral learns that there are some times when efforts to "take advantage of the opportunities" is simply in bad taste. Winning a football match is NOT everything. The Rising Sun News would like to wish Lucas a speedy recovery.

Unfortunately for FC Tokyo, they not only were held to a single point in this contest, but they also face the prospect of losing two of their key offensive weapons to injury for an indefinite period of time. As of last week, we thought that FC Tokyo were moving towards safe ground and would not be one of the candidates for relegation. But the loss of both Lucas and Ishikawa would be a difficult blow to overcome. The initial medical report on Lucas said that he was recovering consciousness but had suffered a severe concusssion and a twisted neck, and would be held in hospital overnight for observation. Ishiwkawa, on the other hand, could be sidelined for the rest of the season. Initial reports were that he had damaged ligaments in his right knee, and a detailed examination would be performed on Sunday to see how serious the damage was. For a team already struggling on offence, and floundering just above the relegation zone, this could be a serious problem.

Date: 17 Sept, 2005		Location: Yokohama (Nissan) Std.
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 0	0
	Scoring
Naoki Matsuda	Cautions	Akira Kaji Sasa Salcedo
Lineups: Tetsuya Enomoto, Yuzo Kurihara, Naoki Matsuda, Yuji Nakazawa, Hayuma Tanaka, Daisuke Oku, Daisuke Nasu, Yoshiharu Ueno (Hideo Oshima 83), Dutra, Masahiro Ohashi (Magrao 77), Rodrigo Gral, Daisuke Sakata (Norihisa Shimuzu 58) . Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa, Ryuji Fujiyama, Yohei Kajiyama, Yasuyuki Konno, Norio Suzuki, (Sasa Salcedo 55), Ryoichi Kurisawa (Naohiro Ishikawa 76), Mitsuhiro Toda (Yoshiro Abe 82), Lucas Severino .

2 - 1

Another factor that made this matchup interesting is the dramatic difference in the styles of play adopted by the two teams This year, Gamba has been riding the momentum of its high-scoring, high-octane offence, but have not done quite as impressive a job on the defensive end. By contrast, what little success that Reysol have managed this year has been almost entirely due to their defending, but the team has struggled to find the net until very recently, when the addition of Reynaldo provided a bit more of a scoring punch.

This week, Reysol received yet another boost by the addition of yet another Brazilian -- though not to their lineup. Earlier this week, the team hired former national team star and football icon Ruy Ramos as an assistant coach. Ramos has just finished coaching Japan's beach soccer team to a second-place finish in the world beach soccer tournament, and it seems that he is trying to line himself up for a head coaching job next season. Though he probably will not have much involvement in the actual planning of team strategy and personnel decisions, many have commented this week on the positive impact that his presence has on team moreale. This is something that Reysol need a lot of, as they fight to climb clear of the relegation zone.

This contest started off looking like it would be a typical Gamba shootout. Araujo got things started with a typical slanting dash through the Reysol defence, onto a pass from Masashi Oguro, finishing off with a soft cutback shot behind the sprawling keeper. Equally typical was Reysol's response, just a little over five minutes later. Reynaldo took advantage of a defensive blunder, as the defender went to steal the ball but failed to clear it and allowed Reynaldo to win it back just two meters to the left of the goal mouth. Keiji Tamada cut through the middle and Reynaldo slipped the ball to him for a point-blank finish

So far, everything was going according to the usual script. But this week, Ganba didnt seem to have their offence flowing quite as smoothly as they have in most matches this season. Much of this was a credit to Reysol's dolid defending, as both Yukio Tsuchiya and Norihiro Satsukawa did a fine job of chopping down the penetration moves by Araujo and Fernandinho.

It was also nice to see referee Keiichi Sunakawa calling a tight match on both ends, for once. He did get bamboozled once or twice in the first half by diving exhibitions (on both ends, though the majority involved the highly accomplished Fernandinho), but by the second half, he seemed to get wise to the flipping and flopping, and put a stop to it with a gentle caution to the players. Since we rarely miss a chance to criticise officials for blowing calls, it is only right that we give Mr. Sunakawa accolades for the way he handled this situation. One of the most serious shortcomings of J.League officias in general is that they do not do enough "talking". Top-notch referees keep control of a match with what they say to players, rather than just the wordless brandishing of cards. Sadly, in the J.League, most referees will either get suckered by the players who "enhance" the appearance of collisions, or else will simply whip out a yellow card for simulation. It is much more effective to take a player or two aside, and tell them: "look, you arent fooling anyone with those acrobatics, and if you do it again, Im going to have to card you". This type of approach usually has a MORE effective impact than just whipping out the plastic rectangles. For that calm yet stern approach, Mr. Sunakawa deserves our accolades.

Gamba certainly had their opportunities to reclaim the lead, but with the Reysol defence playing flawlessly and keeper Yuta Minami stopping the few dangerous shots that did get through, Reysol held the contest level until half time. Shortly after the break, Reynaldo once again used his clever ball control skills and quick movement to find open space in the Gamba defensive zone, and once more, he found Tamada cutting through the middle for a pass. Tamada toed the ball along the ground and into the low left corner, and Reysol suddenly had the lead.

Though Gamba pressed hard over the final half hour, and had several chances to claim the equaliser, on this particular evening it was the Reysol defence which won the day. Two experienced veterans who have been out of the spotlight for the past few years -- Tomokazu Myojin and Tadatoshi Masuda -- stood out with particularly strong performances in the defensive midfield, to disrupt Gamba's buildup. In the end, Reysol held on long enough to claim the victory, thus setting up a real showdown next weekend between Gamba and the Antlers.

Date: 17 Sept, 2005		Location: Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
0	1 1H 1 1 2H 0	0
Keiji Tamada (20') Keiji Tamada (51')	Scoring	Araujo (13')
Tadatoshi Masuda Tomokazu Myojin	Cautions	Mitsuteru Watanabe Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
Lineups: Yuta Minami, Yasuhiro Hato, Yukio Tsuchiya, Norihiro Satsukawa, Tomokazu Myojin, Hidekazu Otani, Ryo Kobayashi, Tadatoshi Masuda (Tomonori Hirayama 88), Cleber Santana Loureio (Tatsuya Yazawa 77), Reynaldo (Kisho Yano 86), Keiji Tamada . Yosuke Fujigaya, Sidiclei, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Satoru Yamaguchi, Mitsuteru Watanabe (Akihiro Ienaga 45), Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Araujo, Fernandinho (Masanobu Matsunami 83), Masashi Oguro .

4 - 0

Those who have only seen the final score line may think thus comment sounds a bit ironic, but the fact is that the team from Kobe performed much better in this contest than the final score line might indicate. Though they didnt produce a very large number of shots on goal, Kobe held the Antlers scoreless over the first 45 minutes and even had a few chances to take the lead on counterattacks. Unfortunately for coach Pavel Rehak, a momentary lapse of concentration at the start of the first half allowed Kashima to take the lead, and the coach responded with a substitution and lineup adjustment which turned out to be fatal. One suspects that if Vissel had stuck with the game plan that they used in the first half, they might have had a chance of salvaging a point.

The Antlers dominated possession in the first half, but could not find the key to unlock the Vissel defence despite a lot of pateint ball movement around the perimeter. Vissel packed the defensive area and pursued the ball relentlessly, while avoiding unnecessary fouls, and left only Tomoyuki Hirase up front. Though this granted the Antlers most of the initiative, Vissel did a good job of counterattacking when they did get the ball. The former Antlers striker, Hirase, seemed to have a good sense of how to exploit his former teammates' tactics, while Pavel Horvath and Ivo Ulich were frequently able to find space for Hirase to feed them the ball out of the post. Though Kashima clearly had the edge in possession and shots on goal, Vissel fully deserved to be level at the half time break

But as the two teams returned from the break, Kashima caught Vissel by surprise with a quick thrust that changed the complexion of the contest. Masashi Motoyama collected a long clearance after Vissel's first foray of the half, asnd immediately fired it into the left corner for the small but speedy Masaki Fukai. Fukai dashed to the end line to collect the ball, then fired a centering pass to Alex Mineiro, who side-footed it into the nylon netting.

This sudden turn of fortune was a setback to VIssel, but far more serious than the goal itself was the response from coach Pavel. He quickly went to his bench, bringing on Hiromi Kojima and Hiroyuki Komoto for Hirase and another former Antlers player, Seiji Kaneko . Though there is no denying that Vissel had to adopt a slightly more offensive stance if they hoped to equalise, the team had done a very good job in the first half and was certainly not out of contention due to just one goal. However, the changes did not really make Vissel any more offensive, since they swapped striker for striker and defender for defender. The only real difference was that Kaneko -- who is naturally very familiar with the Antlers tactics -- out of the central defence and add a holding midfielder (when Komoto came on Martin Muller shifted forward a bit, in the formation.

Less than two minutes after this substitution, the Antlers exploited it with the speedy Fukai slipping into space behind Muller, collecting a through pass from Motoyama and beating the last defender with a cutback move. Fukai drilled a shot off the keeper's fingertips and into the back of the net. A mere seven minutes later, "the Pocket Rocket" was zooming through the Vissel defence yet again, and again he was the recipient of a pass from Motoyama, who rounded the right flank of the Vissel defence and centered the ball for Fukai to finish off.

No doubt, coach Pavel would like a second chance to play his cards, after the Antlers' opening strike. As it turned out, the positioning problems created by the substitutions -- particularly the introduction of Komoto for Kaneko -- turned the contest quickly into a rout, and after Fukai's second goal, the Kobe players seemed to give up. Kashima added a late goal by substitute Takuya Nozawa which made the match look even more lopsided, but as we noted at the top, if not for that one blunder, this could have been a very close contest with Vissel at least having a chance to claim a point. FOr the Antlers, however, the win was a much-needed break from their recent struggles, and it will be interesting to see if this gives them any momentum going into their head-to-head clash with Gamba, next week.

Date: 17 Sept, 2005		Location: Kashima Stadium
4	0 1H 0 4 2H 0	0
Alex Mineiro (46') Masaki Fukai (61') Masaki Fukai (69') Takuya Nozawa (89')	Scoring
Go Oiwa Chikashiu Masuda	Cautions	Akihiro Endo
Lineups: Hitoshi Sogahata, Takeshi Aoki, Go Oiwa, Daiki Iwamasa, Toru Araiba, Fernando (Akira Narahashi 75), Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masaki Fukai (Ricardinho 84), Chikashi Masuda (Takuya Nozawa 83), Masashi Motoyama, Alex Mineiro . Kenta Tokushige, Park Kang-Jo, Seiji Kaneko (Hiroyuki Komoto 59), Martin Muller, Kunie Kitamoto, Akihiro Endo, Naoya Saeki, Hideo Tanaka, Pavel Horvath, Ivo Ulich, Tomoyuki Hirase (Hiromi Kojima 50) .

2 - 0

But this year Cerezo has settled down considerably, and though the loss of Okubo has indeed hurt them in the scoring department, they are a much more stable and consistent team. Perhaps most surprising of all is the fact that Cerezo -- who have had a reputation of playing to outscore the opponent and leaving defensive considerations aside -- now boast a number of very solid defensive players such as Bruno Cuadros, Tomoya Maeda and Tomi Shimomura.

Now that the team's defence has solidified, Cerezo are playing very competitive football, as Jubilo Iwata found out. Though Jubilo themselves came into this match on a bit of a "hot streak", they found themselves outmatched, particularly in the seocnd half of this contest.

The scoring got started in 17 minute, after two Cerezo players were unable to control a high lob towards the penalty spot, but the ball bounced out to Fabinho, on a dead run towards the box. The cluster of players in front of goal screened Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, and he did not see Fabinho's drive until it was nearly past him. His flailing glove failed to keep the shot out, and Cerezo had the early lead.

Over the next 20 minutes, Jubilo made a determined effort to claim the equaliser, with both Robert Cullen and Ryoichi Maeda missing their connection on dangerous scoring opportunities. But in the 36 minute, the effort to create offensive pressure caught Jubilo off balance and a counterattack led (surprisingly) by defensive stalwarts Tomi Shimomura and Ze Carlos outran the retreating Jubilo defenders, and as the rush neared the jJubil o goal, Shimomura found Akinori Nishizawa for a close-range tap-in.

In recent week, we have been offering coach Masakuni Yamamoto credit for finally turning over a new page and fielding the team's younger players while easing the old veterans out to pasture. But based on his response to going two goals down, we may have given him too much credit. Jubilo had not played poorly in the first half. Indeed, they could have just as easily been on level terms at half time, if not for a few lucky bounces. But Yamamoto responded at half time by pulling out the very promising defender Kentaro Oi and replacing him with the half-fossilized Hideto Suzuki, who is reportedly moonlighting on weekdays as a part of the dinosaur exhibit at the Shizuoka Science Museum. He also brought off Maeda, who has consistently been one of Jubilo's most dangerous offensive weapons this season, and replacing him with Choi Yong-Soo, who has yet to score a goal in 2005.

You can guess the rest of the story. Cerezo had a relatively easy time of it in the second half, and though they failed to extend their lead (despite several close calls), Jubilo never looked as dangerous as they had in the first half. Though Jubilo are still in a respectable fourth place (at least until tomorrow, when the Urawa Reds play their match), this loss pretty much takes them out of the picture, leaving only Kashima, Gamba Osaka and possibly Urawa still chasing the championship trophy.

Date: 17 Sept, 2005		Location: Nagai Stadium
2	2 1H 0 0 2H 0	0
Fabinho (17') Akinori Nishizawa (36')	Scoring
Tomi Shimomura Hiroaki Morishima	Cautions	Makoto Tanaka Masashi Nakayama
Lineups: Motohiro Yoshida, Bruno Cuadros, Tomoya Maeda, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Fabinho, Tomi Shimomura, Kiyokazu Kudo(Tadaaki Tokushige 88), Ze Carlos, Tatsuya Furuhashi, Hiroaki Morishima (Hiroshi Miyahara 78), Akinori Nishizawa (Teruaki Kurobe 83) . Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Kim Jin-Kyu, Makoto Tanaka, Kentaro Oi (Hideto Suzuki 45), Yoshiaki Ota, Toshihiro Hattori, Hiroshi Nanami (Masashi Nakayama 72) Shinji Murai, Keisuke Funatani, Robert Cullen, Ryoichi Maeda (Choi Yong-Soo 53) .

1 - 2

. . . . wait a minute. Lets back up to the beginning, and discuss the first half of the contest first, since this was actually a very entertaining match before Mr. Nishimura got involved.

Frontale got the scoring started just five minutes into the contest, on a free kick from about 35 meters straight out from goal. Marcus de Morais took the kick, and sent a soft lob over the pack of players in the penalty box, looping for the right post. Like a wide receiver running a fly pattern in American Football, Shuhei Terada got a half step behind his defender and chased the lob pass right to the post, nodding the ball on just enough to get it past the keeper.

But just minutes later, Verdy responded in style on a tremendous individual play by Washington. As Frontale defenders passed the ball around deep in their own end, Washington anticipated an outlet pass perfectly, and with a sudden burst of speed he dashed into the passing lane, snatched the ball, and then motored towards goal for an uncontested finish.

The score remained that way until three minutes before the break, when Verdy won a corner kick and Washington scored his second goal of the match . . . . or at least everyone thought he did. the ball was a bit too low for Washinton to reach with his head, so he threw his shoulder forward and made enough contact to knock the ball into the back of the net. But Mr. Nishimura ruled out the goal and gave Washington a yellow card to boot. In Mr. Nishimura's defence, he was some distance from the play, and was not in a position to tell where the ball made contact with Washington. We have not yet analysed the tape frame by frame, but it does appear that the ball came off Washington's shoulder. The linesman, who should have had a better view than Mr. Nishimura, seemed to think it was a goal. But that was not to be.

Shortly after the break, Verdy AGAIN had the ball in the Frontale net, but this time the play was called back for offsides. The broadcasters showed only one replay, from an angle which made it impossible to tell whether or not it was in fact an offside. We cannot really criticise this call until we can examine the shot from the original camera angle, so for the time being, Mr. Nishimura and his linesman may deserve the benefit of the doubt.. Having said that, experience suggests that if the broadcasters chose to show the replay from a poor camera angle, it probably means that the Verdy player was onside.

Shortly after Verdy's "third goal", Frontale worked the ball up the right sideline and Yoshinobu Minowa fed a lovely slant pass to Akira Konno, racing for the right post. Konno spun around and fired a shot just as Yoshinari Takagi pounced off his line, sending the ball underneath the keeper and dribbling softly into the back of the net.

Not long afterwards, Washington was taken down on what looked like an unnecessarily harsh tackle, and came up with a sore ankle which forced coach Vadao to go to the bench. (Needless to say, the defender who took Washington down escaped without punishment). Though Verdy dominated the latter stages of play, they simply could not finish off their attacks without their "go-to" man on offence. Frontale held on for the win, pushing Verdy a shade closer to the relegation zone.

Date: 17 Sept, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
1	1 1H 1 0 2H 1	2
Washington (12')	Scoring	Shuhei Terada (5') Akira Konno (63')
Washington Daigo Kobayashi	Cautions	Shuhei Terada Akira Konno
Lineups: Yoshinari Takagi, Kentaro Hayashi, Atsushi Yoneyama (Jun Komano 69), Kenta Togawa, Takuya Yamada, Daigo Kobayashi, Kazuyuki Toda, Takahito Soma, Kazuki Hiramoto (Tadamichi Machida 69), Gilberto "Jill" Goncalves, Washington (Takeshi Hirano 63) . Takashi Aizawa, Yoshinobu Minowa, Shuhei Terada, Hiroki Ito, Yasuhiro Nagahashi, Kengo Nakamura, Hiroyuki Taniguchi, Augusto de Souza, Marcus de Morais (Akira Konno 82), Juninho, Kazuki Ganaha .

2 - 0<

Grampus have also been in good form recently, as the arrival of Luis Carlos Bombonato (Luizao) addressed the team's scoring problems, and the young core of the team that coach Nelsinho has been developing, this year, begins to gel as a unit. However, on this particular occasion Grampus was unable to match the home team's intensity. Things might have been a bit different if only Toshiya Fujita had found the net with his wide-open shot just five minutes in. After a lovely through pass and run into the box, Luizao looped a pass back to Fujita, unmarked at the penalty spot. But the veteran midfielder's drive was straight at the keeper, and Nagoya's chance to take an early lead slipped away.

Both teams actually were bailed out by their keepers during the first half. In addition to blocking Fujita's drive, U-20 goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa made several other fine plays to keep Grampus off the scoreboard, and despite his rather moderate stature (183cm), Nishikawa is emerging as a national team prospect for the Beijing Olympics. The best save of the afternoon, however, came from national team member Seigo Narazaki, who made a diving stab at the close of the first half, to turn away a shot that was headed straight for the low right corner.

The crucial play of the match came about 15 minutes after the break. Following a scramble at midfield, an Oita player was able to clear the ball deep into the Nagoya end, and the speedy Magno Alves dashed after it, outpacing the entire Grampus defence. He caught up with the ball just before it reached the end line, at the left edge ofthe box, and chipped a looping ball in front of goal. Daiki Takamatsu sprinted in behind the play, and got to Magno's bounding cross a half step ahead of the defence. With a quick cutback move to settle the ball, Takamatsu sent one Grampus defender stumbling past. then before any help could arrive, he drilled a low shot past Narazaki and inside the right post to break the deadlock.

Grampus did their best to fight back, but Trinita was playing with the spectre of relegation at their backs, and their intensity on defence was too much for the Nagoya players to overcome. With injury time ticking away, Grampus overextended themselves a bit too much, and Ryosuke Kijima joined Magno Alves on a quick counterattack rush, feeding the ball to the Brazilian directly in front of goal to put the contest out of reach.

Date: 17 Sept, 2005		Location: Kumamoto Stadium
2	0 1H 0 2 2H 0	0
Daiki Takamatsu (62') Magno Alves (89')	Scoring
Takashi Miki	Cautions	Keita Sugimoto Makoto Kakuda Luizao
Lineups: Shusaku Nishikawa, Tomoki Fukaya, Takashi Miki, Yohei Fukumoto, Takashi Umeda, Tulio, Edmilson, Takauyuki Yoshida (Ryosuke Kijima 89), Yuichi Nemoto, Daiki Takamatsu (Masato Yamasaki 77), Magno Alves (Teppei Nishiyama 89), . Seigo Narazaki, Makoto Kakuda, Yutaka Akita, Takahiro Masukawa, Yusuke Nakatani, Claiton, An Yong-Ha, Toshiya Fujita (Keisuke Honda 79), Kei Yamaguchi (Yohei Toyoda 67), Luizao, Keita Sugimoto (Naoshi Nakamura 74) .

0 - 1

JEF United was having some particularly serious problems on defence. The absence of Kozo Yuki was clearly apparent as his replacement, Hiroki Mizumoto, was caught three times making weak passes in the back line, which were intercepted by Ardija players to spark a goal rush. But the Ardija strikers let JEF off the hook each time.

After dominating play completely for 75 minutes, Ardija still had nothing to show for their efforts, and you could see the players (and the fans as well) grow frustrated and uncertain. With nine minutes remaining in the contest, JEF got their only TRULY dangerous scoring opportunity of the entire match, on a free kick from just to the left of the penalty area. Koki Mizuno fired a line drive on goal, trying to squeeze the ball inside the far post. The keeper read the shot well, and seemed to have it covered, but he spilled the ball onto the boots of Yuto Sato , who poked it into the goal mouth and gave JEF a narrow but ultimately effective victory.

Date: 17 Sept, 2005		Location: Omiya Stadium
0	0 1H 1 0 2H 0	1
	Scoring	Yuto Sato (81')
Jin Kanazawa Naoto Sakurai	Cautions
Lineups: Hiroki Aratani, Takuro Nishimura, Toninho, Seiichiro Okuno, Daisuke Tomita, Masato Saito, Jin Kanazawa, Tatsunori Hisanaga (Leandro 82), Chikara Fujimoto, Satoshi Yokoyama (Naoto Sakurai 54), Yoshiteru Yamashita (Koji Morita 76) . Tomonori Tateishi, Hiroki Mizumoto, Ilya Stoyanov, Daisuke Saito, Satoru Yamagishi (Koki Mizuno 77), Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Naotake Hanyu (Kohei Kudo 79), Seiichiro Maki, Takenori Hayashi (Yasu Takahashi 68) .

3 - 4

With the stakes this high, it was no surprise to see both teams come out in a roar of offensive energy. The opening half hour of play was so furious in tempo and intensity that we became exhausted just watching. Both teams threw themselves towards goal with wild abandon, and though the defenses of both teams held over the initial surge, play surged from one end to the other and the shots flew as thick as dragonflies in a Nagano marsh in August. Though the Reds had the edge in terms of the number of shots (7 to 3, over just the opening 15 minutes of play!), Sanfrecce had several other close calls which did not produce an actual shot, but forced a wild scramble from the Reds defence.

Just as it seemed that the two teams were starting to run out of steam, and the pace beginning to ease, the Reds finally brome the deadlock, when Tatsuya Tanaka surged around the left flank of the Sanfrecce defence, and then flicked a low pass in front of net. Yuichiro Nagai raced forward to meet the ball and drove it into the back netting.

But Sanfrecce merely took this as a challenge to step up the intensity of their own efforts. After a flurry of opportunities, the home team finally hit paydirt a few minutes before the break, as Yuichi Komano played a lovely cross in front of goal and Hayato Sato met it in full sprint, volleying the ball past the dive of keeper Ryota Tsuzuki. The crowd roared in appreciation, and it looked like the two teams would go in at half time on even terms. But just before the half-time whistle, the Sanfrecce defence experienced a momentary lapse of concentration, and allowed Robson Ponte to slip free in front of goal

The second half was much like the first, with the two teams running at each other with tireless intensity, as if recognising that this would be a shooting battle; whoever found the net the most times was going to be the winner. Less than five minutes after intermission, Sato had Hiroshima level once again, on a very similar play to his first goal. Once again, Sato darted through the Reds defence to meet a lead pass from midfield, and rattled it past the keeper from close range. With 40 minutes to play, the two pugilists were both bloodied but still dead even, and both began to load up, looking for the knockout punch. For the space of about ten minutes after Sato's equaliser, it looked like Sanfrecce might be the ones to land the next punch. Marcus Tulio Tanaka pulled up with an ankle injury and had to be substituted, while Alex Santos was having a dreadful match, and was being schooled again and again by Komano, whose performance in this contest should eliminate any remaining doubts about which of these two wings deserves to be playing for the national team.

But the Reds keeper, Tsuzuki, kept Urawa in the match with some fantastic saves, and after weathering the Sanfrecce surge, the Reds began to look for counterattacking opportunities of their own. As the match passed the one-hour mark, Hiroshima still seemed to have a slight edge, but as Urawa pushed upfield on one of their counterattacking rushes, Nagai fired what looked like a relatively tame cross towards the left post. Kazuyuki Morisaki seemed to get caught in a crisis of uncertainty, not knowing whether to try to trap the ball for his keeper, or head it out of play. This instant of indecision was crucial, as the ball hit him in the chest and bounded towards goal. The keeper was caught unprepared and the ball slipped into the net for an own goal.

Naturally, this was a huge blow to the Sanfrecce morale, and as they drooped in disappointment, the Reds stepped up the intensity in hopes of landing the knockout blow. Sure enough, just a few minutes later, Nene de Brito got his head onto a corner kick and put the Reds up by what looked like an insurmountable 4-2 lead. But Sanfrecce was not finished just yet. While the Reds were still congratulating themselves for their good fortune, Sato made yet another slashing run through the Reds defensive ranks, and once again, xxx found him with a threaded through pass. Sato flicked it into goal to complete his hat trick and give the Hiroshima club new life.

The remaining 15 minutes had every spectator in the stadium -- Reds fans and Sanfrecce fans alike -- holding their breaths in tense anticipation. Sanfrecce had t he majority of the initiative, as they desperately tried to find the equaliser, while the Reds hung back on defence, primarily, but launched speedy counterattacks when the chance presented itself, hoping to put the contest out of reach. Twice in the final ten minutes, keeper Ryota Tsuzuki bailed out his teammates with diving saves, and in the end, Sanfrecce could not get the equaliser past him. With this result, Sanfrecce seem to be out of the championship picture for this year, though clearly their strong performance this season, and the way that their younger players have developed, in particular, suggests that they could be a serious contender next season. The Reds, meanwhile, move into third place, and though they are still in the race, it is beginning to look like they will not be able to catch Gamba and the Antlers this season. The injury to Tulio is just another in a long line of misfortunes thatthe team has faced this year, which have kept them just one step behind hte leaders at every turn. Though Urawa has a fairly solid core team, and they certainly have the money to pick up some additional talent for next season, they will need to make a much more thoughtful effort to scout players over the winter, and land themselves a top-notch playmaker, as well as one large-bodied, reliable (and NOT tempermental) defender. If they can do so, they will also be one of the top contenders for next season. This year, however, it is looking more and more like a two-horse race down the final stretch.

Date: 18 Sept, 2005		Location: Hiroshima "Big Arch"
3	1 1H 2 2 2H 2	4
Yuichiro Nagai (8') Robson Ponte (44') O.G. (62') Nene de Brito (70')	Scoring	Hayato Sato (43') Hayato Sato (49') Hayato Sato (72')
	Cautions	Yuichiro Nagai Makoto Hasebe
Lineups: Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano, Dininho, Shogo Nishikawa, Kota Hattori, Gakuya Shigehara, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Shinichiro Kuwata (Ri Han-Jae 45), Joubert "Beto" Alaves (Shusuke Maeda 70), Galvao (Hiroto Mogi 73), Hayato Sato . Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Satoshi Horinouchi 56), Fabio "Nene" de Brito, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe, Keita Suzuki, Alex Santos (Tadaaki Hirakawa 61), Robson Ponte, Yuichiro Nagai (Masayuki Okano 75), Tatsuya Tanaka .

2 - 1

Albirex Niigata, on the other hand, seem to be just marking time. The team picked up a large number of displaced veteran players at the start of the season, only one of whom (former Reysol defender Shigenori Hagimura) has seen much action at all. Meanwhile, the Brazilian contingent of Anderson Lima Edmilson and Fabinho have done their jobs, more or less, but are by no means the sort of impact players that a team like Albirex needs in order to chase the league leaders. In other words, the team from Niigata is no better off than they wore last season. Considering the strong cash flow that Albirex enjoys, as one of the most well-supported clubs in the league, it is time for management to start thinking long-term, and start using the liquidity that they enjoy to pick up some more talented players.

In this week's contest, S-Pulse showed tremendous energy, and dominated the first hour of play. If not for some narrow misses, a few blown shots, and a good job in goal by Albirex keeper Yosuke Nozawa, Albirex could easily have been down by four or five goals at the half. As it was, S-Pulse were only able to tally twice, both times on headers from Marquinhos who has lost none of his skill at poaching goals in front of net. The first strike came on a corner kick in the 33 minute, which was headed on goal once, blocked, then headed out again by a defender befoire Marquinhos soared skyward to power the ball into the net. Five minutes later he doubled the lead with a running header of Ota's cross from the right corner. Up to the final whistle of the first half, everything seemed to be going S-Pulse's way.

But the home team ran out of steam about midway through the second half, and despite looking comfortable for most of the contest, they finally conceded a goal 13 minutes from full time to a powerful long-range blast by Fabinho. This set up a rather nervous period of see-saw action down the stretch, as Albirex pushed for the equaliser and S-Pulse sought to put the contest out of reach. But neither team could add to the score line, and S-Pulse claimed the victory.

Date: 18 Sept, 2005		Location: Nihondaira Stadium
2	2 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
Marquinhos (33') Marquinhos (38')	Scoring	Fabinho (77)
Toshihide Saito Keisuke Ota	Cautions	Fabinho Shigenori Hagimura Naoki Takahashi Edmilson
Lineups: Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Toshihide Saito, Kazumichi Takagi, Takahiro Yamanishi Keisuke Ota (Junpei Takaki 81), Teruyoshi Ito, Kota Sugiyama (Masaaki Sawanobori 45), Akihiro Hyodo, Marquinhos (Yoshikiyo Kuboyama 86), Cho Jae-Jin . Yosuke Nozawa, Anderson Lima, Naoki Takahashi, Shigenori Hagimura, Naoya Kikuchi, Isao Honma (Yasushi Kita 45), Hiroyoshi Kuwahara (Daisuke Aono 73), Fabinho, Edmilson, Yusaku Ueno (Ryuji Sueoka 77), Shingo Suzuki .

And so, the stage has been set for the biggest clash of the season, as Gamba Osaka hosts the Kashima Antlers next weekend. With just one point separating the two teams, it is clear that whoever emerges victorious from that contest will move onto the home stretch as the favourite, though nine matches still remain in the season, and either team could drop the head-to-head contest and still come back to claim the title.

As we noted in our match reports, the Urawa Reds are still within striking distance, at seven points adrift, and even teams like Jubilo Iwata and JEF United are not completely out of the picture. Even so, the seven-to-ten point cushion that Kashima and Gamba Osaka enjoy seems to have reduced this to a two-horse race, and there is no question that all eyes will be on the contest at Osaka's "Banpaku" Stadium, next weekend.

Rumours and Rumblings

FC Tokyo Fans Face Further Frustration

The string of bad luck continued this week, as three key players all suffered injuries in the match against Yokohama Marinos, on Saturday night. As we discussed in our match report, up above, Lucas Severino gave fans the biggest scare -- he was knocked unconscious in a head-to-head collision with teammate Jean Carlo Witte, in the second minute of injury time. For FC Tokyo fans, the term "injury time" is likely to sound bitterly ironic, since Jean, Lucas and Naohiro Ishikawa all had to be removed from the pitch after regulation time had expired, iun various states of distress.

Jean got off with the lightest injury -- a gash on his forehead that required three stitches to close. He is expected to spend the first few days of this week in the indoor training room, but team doctors say he should rejoin the team in a few days at most. Lucas was the player that most fans worried about on Saturday, as he had to be loaded into an ambulance -- still barely conscious -- and whisked awayu to a hospital. However, he was discharged on Sunday after being diagnosed with a concussion and a sprained neck. He will be given a few days of bed rest and a follow-up examination before he is allowed to begin training again, but doctors say his injuries will probably be healed in just a week or two.

The real tragedy for Tokyo fans is the injury to right wing Naohiro Ishikawa, who has been playing well in recent weeks, and was being considered by Zico as a candidate for a call to the National Team this autumn. Ishikawa also had been courted by some Serie A clubs over the summer, and was considering a possible move to Europe in January. Now, however, those plans will have to be put on hold. A medical examination of his right knee, on Sunday, showed damage to the ligaments in his right knee, and doctors say he will probably have to go under the knife, some time in early October. The team indicated that it can not provide a prognosis for his recovery until after the surgery is conducted, but he is clearly out for the remainder of this season.

Considering all. the other bad luck that the team has encountered this season, the news of Ishikawa's injury will surely be viewed with concern. Though Tokyo had been playing a bit more competitively in recent matches, the loss of Ishikawa for the rest of the year, plus the absence of Lucas for a week or two, at least, means that the rest of the team needs to pick up the slack if they are to remain clear of the relegation zone. In fact, the way things are going at the moment, there is a chance that BOTH Tokyo teams could end up in the J2 next season. All is not well in the big city, this year.

Grampus Guillotine Falls on Nelsinho

The news of Nelsinho's sacking caught us by surprise. Though we have had the impression that several coaches were "on the brink" this summer (including Trinita's Kan Hwang-Bo and Verdy's Ossie Ardilles, who have already faced the executioner), we thought that Nelsinho was actually doing a fairly good job. NAturally, Grampus has not performed as well as fans and management might have hoped, this season, but a lot of that was due to the loss of their scoring duo -- Marques and Ueslei -- who both walked away from the team earlier this year. Some of the rumours swirling around in the wake of their departure had it that their inability to get along with Nelsinho was the reason why they left, but it is hard to blame the coach for the inability to win more frequently, without the team's two most important offensive weapons.

The one thing that Nelsinho DID do effectively, in our view, was to clear out the older players who were draining cash flow from the team without providing much of a return. Nagoya sent a half dozen veterans packing, over the winter, and brought in a cadre of youngsters who have shown a great deal of promise thus far this season, despite Nagoya's mediocre won-lost record. We suspect that the main reason for the decision to dump Nelsinho was his difficult personal relations with some of the team's key players, rather than his winning percentage. As the departure of Ueslei and Marques indicated, Nelsinho was not particularly well liked by his players, and though they may have respected his coaching abilities, when the team started to flounder, there was little sense of "team spirit" in order to carry them through the difficult times.

But whether you liked him or hated him, you have to give Nelsinho credit for establishing a solid base of young talent which is likely to form the core of the team over the next decade. Players like Keisuke Honda, Yohei Toyoda, Keiji Watanabe, Ryota Takahashi and Keita Sugimoto were all brought into the team by Nelsinho, and he also had a hand in the signing of Makoto Kakuda, An Yeon-Ha, Eiji Kawashima and Yusuke Igawa. All of these players are in their teens or early twenties, and all show the promise of developing into first-team players at some point in the future. Though Nelsinho may not be around to take credit for the success, if Nagoya does develop into a championship contender in two or three years time (as certainly seems possible, looking at the players they have on the team right now), it will be largely due to his hard work in moving the team to a new generation.