---

October 1, 2005

Cleaning House?

Mr. Leslie Mottram, who is currently the Chief Instructor of J.League Referees, and who worked for several years as a referee himself before taking up his current position, gave a presentation and answered questions from the media and other attendees. Not surprisingly, the content of his presentation was aimed at calming concerns and trying to convince the press that "things are not as bad as they may appear". While this is to be expected, we must admit that Mr. Mottram demonstrated a very realistic stance on the issue, and though The Rising Sun News continues to view this as a problem that needs to be discussed regularly, we must commend Mr. Mottram for taking the time to explain the J.League's position and discuss some of the things that are being done to try to improve officiating standards

One point that Mr. Mottram made strongly in his presentation was that the behaviour of J.League players is becoming a problem in its own right. Referees (he stated) often make calls which appear perfectly legitimate, on video review, but are attacked by the players and placed in a very difficult position. Players are also resorting to gamesmanship, with behaviour such as "diving" and other forms of "play-acting" to try to trick the officials. This behaviour (Mr. Mottram suggested) has to stop before any real progress can be made. This point is self serving in a way (since it turns the focus away from the performance of the officials, and towards the behaviour of the players), but we also think it is a very legitimate concern. There have been several very disturbing incidents in the past few months of players charging referees, and as The Rising Sun News has been reporting for years, the problem of "diving" has indeed become endemic in the J.League.

However, there is another, equally serious problem which is not directly linked to poor officiating, but which contributes to misunderstanding and dissatisfaction on the part of players and fans, while also interfering with the effort to improve J.League officiating standards. This problem relates to the behaviour of the Japanese media -- and in particular the television broadcasters -- and their reluctance to discuss or depict on video any questionable calls.

When asked about this issue, Mr. Mottram gave a very refreshing and progressive reply. He agreed that broadcasters do not do a very good job of presenting and analyzing plays during a match, and said that this was a problem that the media should try to address and improve. He used the new offsides rule as an example, pointing out that it could be difficult for fans to understand, and suggesting that broadcasters need to do their job by showing replays (even when the referee made a mistake), and discussing the call so that fans can understand what is happening. He even noted his disappointment following the 2002 World Cup -- that even after seeing how other countries dissected plays and reviewed officiating calls -- both good ones and bad ones -- the Japanese broadcasters did not seem to learn anything.

On the other hand, Mr. Mottram took pains to explain that the J.League is indeed working very hard to try to improve officiating quality. He meets every week with all the "special referees" (those who are employed full time by the J.League, and thus can be asked to show up for a "debreifing" session every Monday), and they go over all of the matches that took place that week, reviewing plays and discussing mistakes and how to correct them. He also made it clear that referees are appraised on their performance, and a system of review has been introduced which includes "discipline" for those who have repeated difficulty. On this point he was intentionally vague, noting that there was nothing to be gained from "publicising" any decision made to discipline a referee for a mistake. However, he did make it clear that a system of review and feedback was in place, and commented that -- even though the referees often resented him for pointing out all their mistakes, they respected what he was trying to do, and were trying hard to take the critisicm in a constructive way.

The overall impression that we received from Mr. Mottram's presentation was very positive. Certainly, this does not alter our concern about the poor state of officiating in the J.League, as it now stands. However, it is encouraging to know that a system of monitoring, feedback and appraisal is in place. Most of all, we are encouraged to hear Mr. Mottram's own impressions and views on the situation; his comments suggest to us that there is reason to be optimistic about the future.

Even though the current quality of J.League referees still leaves much to be desired (not for all referees, mind you, but for a certain number of specific refs, in particular), Mr. Mottram's presentation suggests that it is a problem that the J.League is trying hard to address. If this system of monitoring, feedback and disciplinary action is implemented aggressively, there is every reason to expect that things will improve, and that "problem referees" will either learn to overcome their shortcomings, or eventually be replaced by better people.

Anyway, here are the scores from Saturday's matches:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
1 Oct		0 - 1		Komaba Stadium
1 Oct		1 - 0		Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
1 Oct		4 - 4		Ajinomoto Stadium
1 Oct		3 - 0		Todoroki Stadium
1 Oct		0 - 3		Yokohama (Nissan) Std.
1 Oct		1 - 2		Hiroshima "Big Arch"
1 Oct		2 - 2		Kashima Stadium
2 Oct		1 - 4		Nihondaira Stadium
2 Oct		3 - 1		Nagai Stadium

3 - 2

OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but clearly the standard of officiating was "off". We certainly hope that this match will be used by Mr. Mottram in his "evaluation session" this Monday, because it should provide many good examples of how a referee should NOT call a match. Clearly, the Rising Sun News was not the only viewer that was "impressed" Mr Takayama's performance. The reactions on the faces of Ivica Osim and Toninho Cerezo -- two of the best coaches in the league -- clearly indicated that they were not amused.

Apart from Mr. Takayama's participation, this had the potential to be a brilliant match. In fact, it was a very entertaining affair even WITH the interruptions and confusion caused by the calls.. Both teams wanted the victory very badly, and the end-to-end frenzy of the final seven minutes, as both teams searched desperately for the winner, was a good indication of the overall intensity.

Early in the match, JEF pressed the ball very hard, and succeeded in disrupting the offensive flow of the Antlers. Mr. Takayama assisted them in their efforts by ignoring a number of challenges that certainly looked like fouls, but oddly enough, when the Antlers made similar challenges, they were invariably called for a foul. Nevertheless, Kashima got the scoring started in the 21 minute on a corner kick. Though the initial cross was deflected by a defender, the ball fell to Alex Mineiro at the penalty spot, and he swung a roundhouse kick and drove it into the back of the net.

But just a few minutes later, JEF got the equaliser on one of the best examples of Mr. Takayama's double-standard for fouls. As Mitsuo Ogasawara moved the ball out of his own end, he was charged from behind by a JEF player and knocked flying by a lowered shoulder, but Mr. Takayama waved play on. Ogasawara picked himself up and charged after the ball, making what looked like a much cleaner shoulder charge than the one which had dispossessed him. As you can surely guess, Mr. Takayama called THAT one a foul.

On the subsequent free kick, Yuki Abe sent a powerful drive off the crossbar, and Yuto Sato dashed in behind the play to head the rebound home. Five minutes later, JEF took the lead on what was easily the most sparkling play of the match, and perhaps the best goal of the afternoon. Following an Antlers offensive push, JEF sent a long clearance into the Antlers end, and Seiichiro Maki dashed after However, the ball bounded high, and two Antlers defenders managed to close in on him at around the top of the penalty arc, and seemed to have the situation well in hand. But Maki read the situation perfectly, swiveled around and headed the ball off to the right, catching both defenders by surprise. Sato read his teammates intentions, and sprinted onto the ball, firing a low-angle shot that skipped off Hitoshi Sogahata's fingertips and into the top of the net.

Following the break, the content of play changed dramatically. Certainly, part of that was due to the intensified efforts of the Antlers, looking for an equaliser, but one could not avoid the sense that the nature of the officiating had taken a 180-degree turn at the half. For example, early in the second half, Kashima brought in Takayuki Suzuki in place of Masashi Motoyama. Whatever one's opinion about the Blonde Bomber might be, few would dispute the assertion that Suzuki is a highly accomplished diver, perhaps rivalling even the irrepressable "Gon" Nakayama. In the first half, Motoyama was dispossessed time and time again, often on plays that looked very much like fouls, yet the whistle never came. In fact, several times promising Antlers attacks were snuffed out as Motoyama was called for some sort of invisible infraction. But suddenly, the Antlers were getting free kicks every time the ball went into the front line. Suzuki often didnt even have to exercise his acting skills; Takayama was quickly on the scene with whistle sounding.

It may seem that we are once again obsessing over the officiating, and losing sight of the football. However, in light of the comments made by Mr. Mottrram at his press conference this week, we think that this issue is too important to pass over without making one very disturbing observation.; A cynical observer who viewed this match, and considered the disparity in officiating between the first half and second, would be tempted to draw the conclusion that it is DISADVANTAGEOUS for a team to try to fight through fouls, play cleanly and refrain from gamesmanship. In fact, based on the many free kick opportunities that Suzuki received in the second half, in fact, a cynical viewer would be tempted to conclude that DIVING IS GOOD POLICY, at least if you feel that winning is more important than clean play. Is this the message that the J.League wants to be sending to players?

As we noted, the run of play turned very much in the Antlers favour after the break, and even if we ignore the assistance they received from the officials, Kashima really dominated possession and scoring opportunities. However, JEF defended with great determination, and the keeper Tomonori Tateishi, in particular, had a brilliant match. Despite he "helping hand" that JEF received on their first goal, their defensive performance in the second half was certainly good enough to deserve a share of the points. However, they were not able to keep the Antlers at bay forever. After a spell of about ten minutes in which Kashima seemed to be pounding on the door without interruption, Masaki Fukai finally managed to get a cross in behind the JEF defence, and Alex Mineiro pounced to drive the ball home.

Following the equaliser, JEF finally came out of their defensive shell, and the final seven or eight minutes of play were the most exciting and wide-open of the evening, with both teams searching for the winner. But neigher one could snap the deadlock, and they had to settle for one point apiece. This brings the Antlers level with Gamba for the time being, but Gamba play their match tomorrow and could move out to a three point lead if they can overcome Shimizu S-Pulse.

Date: 1 Oct, 2005		Location: Kashima Stadium
2	1 1H 2 1 2H 0	2
Alex Mineiro (21') Alex Mineiro (82')	Scoring	Yuto Sato (29') Yuto Sato (35')
	Cautions	Ilya Stoyanov
Lineups: Hitoshi Sogahata, Jun Uchida (Tomoyuki Abe 63), Go Oiwa, Daiki Iwamasa, Toru Araiba, Takeshi Aoki, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masaki Fukai, Chikashi Masuda (Takuya Nozawa 58), Masashi Motoyama (Takayuki Suzuki 58), Alex Mineiro . Tomonori Tateishi, Kozo Yuki, Ilya Stoyanov, Daisuke Saito, Satoru Yamagishi, Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Koki Mizuno, Naotake Hanyu (Kohei Kudo 82), Seiichiro Maki .

4 - 4

If we were to try to sum up the situation in just a few words, we would say simply that Tokyo Verdy plays best when they are under fierce pressure, and dont have time think about what they are doing. It is difficult to fully understand this explanation unless you have seen the team in action a few times. At times, they seem to be capable of almost uncanny brilliance on offence, but they only seem to show it on breif occasions, usually when they are playing a very tough opponent, or are trailing in a key match. When they are NOT under pressure, the players have a tendency to be too individualistic on offence and to stand around watching the ball, on defence.

Both aspects of the team were on display in the match against Jubilo, who have some "teamwork" problems of their own. Verdy seemed tyo have a slight edge in the first half, but were constantly squandering good opportunities because of their failure to make the extra pass or to put on the extra burst of speed, off the ball, to produce goals. But finally, in the 36 minute, Washington broke into the box and managed to get a half step on his defender and drill a shot past Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi. It was a very individualistic play, but at least Verdy had the lead as they retreated to the locker room for half time.

With Ryoichi Maeda out of the lineup and Robert Cullen hobbling with an injury, Jubilo's offence was pretty toothless in the first half. But just after the break, coach Yamamoto made a very effective double substitution, bringing in Norihiro Nishi and Sho Naruoka to play dual attacking roles behind Masashi Nakayama as the post man. This immediately began to produce results, and Jubilo had a string of close calls before they finally produced the equaliser. Naruoka brought the ball up the right wing and before the Verdy defence settled, fired a low line-drive cross for Nakayama, who managed to get his head on the ball and flick it past the keeper.

For the first time in the match, Verdy seemed to respond viscerally, rather than consciously, to the challenge and the pressure of Jubilo's equaliser. Suddenly, a swarm of green jersies flowed into attack and overwhelmed the Jubilo defence like a tidal surge rolling over a barren beach. Just 45 seconds after Nakayama's goal, Takahito Soma roared down the left wing, surged past his defender, and fired a cross to the far post, where Washington lurked dangerously. Kawaguchi was unable to reach the cross and Washington powered the ball back across the face of goal to put Verdy back in front. The surging tide of green continued, and five minutes later the Tokyoites extended their lead on a header from Gilberto "Jill" Goncalves.

With 30 minutes remaining and Verdy seemingly on a roll, it looked like Verdy had the contest sewn up tighter than a Prada bag. But the mean green offensive surge of the preceding ten minutes was merely a prelude to utter collapse. Over the next ten minutes, Verdy demonstrated why they were able to concede seven goals in two consecutive matches, earliert this season. For reasons that are hard to explain, the entire team suddenly started to behave like disinterested spectators, watching the ball move about the pitch, and standing virtually immobile unless they happened to have the ball at their own feet. In the 71 minute, Naruoka fired a cracking shot from the perimeter to cut the lead to one, In the 79 minute Nishi equalised on a header from a corner kick, and just two minutes later Yoshiaki Ota put his team in frontas he pounced on a deflected ball at the edge of the box and drove it into the back netting.

With time running down and Verdy desperate to produce the equaliser, the home team began pressing forward dangerously, and as you might expect in such a situation, Jubilo got a counterattack break. As Takeshi Hirano tried to cut off Nakayama's drive, he brushed the veteran striker, and Nakayama put on one of his patented shows of diving. Replays suggest that the contact was very minor indeed, but as happens so often, Nakayama was awarded a PK for his performance (it is hard to explain why he continues to get these calls, since all refs in the league should SURELY know by now that Nakayama is one of the most accomplised divers ever to make a splash in the J.League).

The situation would become even gloomier when Takuya Yamada foolishly went too far in protesting the call, and earned hi second yellow card of the match. It took some time before the referee realised that this was the second booking, but eventually things were straightened out, Yamada was sent off and Nakayama lined up to take the spot kick. By this time, three minutes of injury time had ticked away, and if Nakayama had drilled the PK, the match surely would have ended right there.

But after such a Jeckyll and Hyde performance, we should have known that verdy would pull off one last transformation before the final whistle. Nakayama pulled his kick wide and it caromed off the post, bounding out to the edge of the box. Verdy immediately cleared the zone, and Jill collected the ball at midfield, then fed it to Jun Tamada who was in full sprint toward the Jubilo box. Takayuki Chano came in from behind with a wicked professional foul which probably should have produced a straight red, but even without a sending off, his foul gave Verdy one last chance on a set play from the top right corner of the box.

Even a Hollywood screenwriter couldnt have written a better scenario for a cliffhanger ending, and as usually happens at the movies, every person in Ajinomoto Stadium could guess what would happen in the final reel. Washington struck a powerful drive which ricocheted off someone on its way through, blinding Kawaguchi and allowing the shot to slip inside the right post. The final whistle immediately sounded, and Verdy had claimed a hard-won but vital point. More importantly, the fact that the team salvaged something despite their total collapse in the second half should provide much-needed confidence to the team that has faced far too much bad luck this season. With eight matches to go, Verdy still will have to struggle to avoid relegation, but at least the late heroics in this match will give them some hope, and at the moment, attitude may be the most important thing that Verdy needs.

Date: 1 Oct, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
4	1 1H 0 3 2H 4	4
Washington (36') Washington (64') Gilberto Goncalves (69') Washington (89')	Scoring	Masashi Nakayama (63') Sho Naruoka (71') Norihiro Nishi (79') Yoshiaki Ota (81')
Takuya Yamada Atsushi Yoneyama Takeshi Hirano Takuya Yamada	Cautions	Kim Jin-Kyu Takashi Fukunishi Takayuki Chano
Takuya Yamada	Sent Off
Lineups: Yoshinari Takagi, Atsushi Yoneyama (Jun Tamano 87), Kentaro Hayashi, Kenichi Uemura, Takuya Yamada, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (Takayuki Morimoto 87), Takeshi Hirano, Takahito Soma, Daigo Kobayashi, Gilberto "Jill" Goncalves Washington . Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Toshihiro Hattori, Makoto Tanaka, Kim Jin-Kyu, Yoshiaki Ota, Takashi Fukunishi, Hiroshi Nanami (Takayuki Chano 88) Shinji Murai, Keisuke Funatani (Sho Naruoka 55), Robert Cullen (Norihiro Nishi 55), Masashi Nakayama .

1 - 0

The score line of the match supports that view, as well. Reysol got an early goal from Reynaldo, on a strike that caught the visiting team before their defence was fully settled. After that, however, neither team produced too many dangerous scoring chances. Reysol had enough of an edge to deserve the three points, and probable safety from relegation if they can sustain their recent efforts for a few more weeks.

Then again, Reysol did not see it that way. Following the match, they filed an appeal with the league to ask for the result to be nullified. Their reasoning involves a mistake by referee Yoshitsugu Katayama, who displayed a second yellow card to Ryo Kobayashi late in the second half, but forgot that Kobayashi already had one yellow. Vissel immediately substituted Kobayashi, and it was almost a full minute before the fourth official pointed out the error. Mr. Katayama then showed a red card to Kobayashi, who was already sitting on the bench, and "sent off" the substitute. The incident has been played up in many of Sunday's sports newspapers, and Reysol has asked the league to reverse the result since the mistake "involved application of the rules, and not a mistake in judgement".

While this mistake clearly was one that disadvantaged Reysol, we are a bit double-minded on this particular appeal. Certainly, there is no harm in having newspapers report on officiating controversies. In fact, it is a welcome releif from their usual tendency to sweep such problems under the rug. On the other hand, the mistake was not an especially egregious one in terms of its impact on the match. For one thing, this is hardly the first time that such a "miscounting" of cards has occurred. Indeed, it happened in another match on the very same day -- the contest between Verdy and Jubilo -- though the mistake was discovered more promptly. At most, Reysol could have played an extra two or three minutes with an extra man. When one considers how many matches this year have been decided by erroneous PK decisions, goals disallowed, goals allowed despite the fact that four players were in an offside position, and other far more serious errors in officiating . . . . well, it just seems that there are other teams with far more legitimate reasons to appeal a result.

In one sense, we are encouraged to see the press discussing bad calls, but we are concerned that if THIS is the call which stirs up a storm, the league may declare (with some justification) that people are simply nitpicking, and thus cast aspersions on ALL complaints about officiating. Vissel, however, is in a very bad way, and may think that this appeal is their only hope of avoiding relegation. Coach Pavel Rehak has been trying to give playing time to some of the team's younger prospects, such as Hideo Tanaka and Kazutaka Murase. However, the folly of owner Hiroshi Mikitani's "golden oldie" player acquisition strategy is now becoming self-apparent.

The question is no longer whether or not Vissel will be relegated this season, but rather, how long will it take before they can find their way back to the J1. Despite Mr. Mikitani's legendary bankroll, it now seems like Vissel could face a dramatic, and possibly prolonged reorganisation before they are in a condition to regain top-flight status. The biggest problem with hiring aged veterans is not necessarily their price tag, or their fading skills, but the fact that you cannot expect them to perform any better "next year". For some of the Vissel vets, "next year" may never come.

Date: 1 Oct, 2005		Location: Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
1	1 1H 0 0 2H 0	0
Reynaldo (3')	Scoring
Ryo Kobayashi Ryo Kobayashi Reynaldo	Cautions	Kazutaka Murase Akihiro Endo Kunie Kitamoto
Ryo Kobayashi	Sent Off
Lineups: Yuta Minami, Norihiro Satsukawa, Yasuhiro Hato, Yukio Tsuchiya, Tadatoshi Masuda (Tomonori Hirayama 71), Ryo Kobayashi (Harutaka Ono 86), Hidekazu Otani, Tomokazu Myojin (Yuzo Kobayashi 77), Cleber Santana Loureio, Keiji Tamada, Reynaldo . Seiji Honda, Martin Muller, Naoya Saeki, Kunie Kitamoto, Ivo Ulich, Akihiro Endo, Pavel Horvath, Tomo Sugawara (Hideo Tanaka 78), Atsuhiro Miura, Kazutaka Murase (Tomoyuki Hirase 58), Keisuke Kurihara (Park Kang-Jo 67) .

1 - 2

Grampus was clearly buoyed by the early goal, and though Sanfrecce had the better scoring opportunities for the remainder of the first half, Grampus did a fine job of restricting the number of clear shots on goal. Sanfrecce maintained control of tempo and had the better of play, but Seigo Narazaki was never seriously tested until midway through the second half. It took a brilliant, looping lead pass from Shunsuke Maeda and a nice finish by Hayato Sato to finally pull Sanfrecce level, in the 64 minute.

But with ten minutes left to play, Grampus sealed the win on a fine combination play by two Grampus youngsters. Rookie striker Yohei Toyoda slipped into space on the left side of goal, and right wing Keita Sugimoto picked him out with a pinpoint cross-field pass. Toyoda volleyed the ball out of the air and drilled it inside the left post to give Grampus the win.

Date: 1 Oct, 2005		Location: Hiroshima "Big Arch"
1	0 1H 1 1 2H 1	2
Hayato Sato (64')	Scoring	Own Goal (13') Yohei Toyoda (77')
Joubert "Beto" Alaves	Cautions	Yutaka Akita
Lineups: Takashi Shimoda, Yuichi Komano, Dininho, Norio Omura, Kota Hattori, Ri Han-Jae (Galvao 64), Kazuyuki Morisaki, Gakuto Shigehara, Joubert "Beto" Alaves (Issei Takayanagi 83), Shusuke Maeda, Hayato Sato . Seigo Narazaki, Makoto Kakuda, Yutaka Akita, Masahiro Koga, Claiton, An Yong-Ha, Keita Sugimoto (Kei Yamaguchi 85), Toshiya Fujita, Yusuke Nakatani (Keisuke Honda 83), Naoshi Nakamura, Satoshi Nakayama (Yohei Toyoda 68) .

0 - 1

FC Tokyo continue to have trouble putting the ball into the net, and though they seemed to have control of the match for most of the first half, they simply could not find the key to Omiya's defence, and the two teams went in at half time in a scoreless deadlock. Shortly after the break, FC Tokyo suffered a serious blow as Mitsuhiro Toda was sent off on a rather questionable call. Lucas Severino fired a powerful shot from long distance, and the keeper spilled it to his right. Toda dashed after the rebound and slid onto the ball feet-first, actually getting to the ball before the keeper did and setting himself up to score a goal. But the referee's whistle blew and Toda looked up in disbelief as he was shown a red card for dangerous play.

This call provides yet another example of what is wrong with J.League officiating. Mr. Masaaki Iemoto was far behind the play, and a replay shown from about the angle that Mr. Iemoto would have seen did indeed make it look like a potentially dangerous challenge. However, the angle that most viewers saw (and which the linesman presumably should have seen) suggested that not only did Toda get to the ball before the keeper; he did not even make much contact as he slid past. If Mr. Iemoto had consulted with his linesman, he should have received feedback which could have dissuaded him from resorting to a red card (though just by stopping the play, he was making a call that unfairly disadvantaged FC Tokyo). As noted above, what Mr. Iemoto THOUGH he saw can partially excuse this mistake, but that does not let him off the hook for failing to use all the resources at his disposal in order to get the call right.

But despite being reduced to ten men (or perhaps because of it?), FC Tokyo finally managed to get the tally they sought. Just a few minutes after Toda had been sent off, Lucas fired another hard shot which the keeper could only bat away from the goal mouth. The ball fell to Masashi Miyamoto, who stuffd home the rebound. Despite playing shorthanded, Tokyo was able to hold off Ardija's bid for a late equaliser, and claimed the victory.

Date: 1 Oct, 2005		Location: Komaba Stadium
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
	Scoring	Masashi Miyazawa (60')
Chikara Fujimoto Daisuke Tomita	Cautions	Yohei Kajiyama Fumitake Miura
	Sent Off	Mitsuhiro Toda
Lineups: Tomoyasu Ando, Takuro Nishimura, Toninho, Seiichiro Okuno, Daisuke Tomita, Jun Marcus Davidson (Yusuke Shimada 69), Jin Kanazawa (Masato Saito 63), Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel, Chikara Fujimoto (Koji Morita 76), Naoto Sakurai Yoshiteru Yamashita . Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa, Ryuji Fujiyama, Yasuyuki Konno, Masashi Miyazawa (Yohei Kajiyama 73), Ryoichi Kurisawa (Fumitake Miura 89), Norio Suzuki, Yuta Baba, Mitsuhiro Toda, Lucas Severino (Yoshiro Abe 80) .

0 - 3

On paper, it may look like the Marinos just had some bad luck. They actually outshot their opponents, yet still managed to lose by three clear goals. But those who actually watched the match will be able to read between the lines. Many of Yokohama's shots were solo efforts which might have produced a more dangerous shot if the players had been less selfish with the ball. Furthermore, although Tomoki Fukaya's opening goal was a brilliantly taken header on a corner kick, the second and more crucial strike came midway through the second half, and it was the direct result of too much ball-watching by Marinos players -- particularly in the defensive midfield. As Daiki Takamatsu posted up at the top of the Marinos box, several blue-shirted players can be seen standing around and watching the action, as Magno Alves slip in behind the defence, on the right side. Takamatsu slipped the ball off to Magno, who drilled his shot into the nylon and basically decided the outcome.

With time running out, Teppei Nishiyama added insult to injury with a 35-meter drive that caught the keeper napping and snuck inside the right post.

Date: 1 Oct, 2005		Location: Yokohama (Nissan) Std.
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 0	0
	Scoring	Tomoki Fukaya (26') Magno Alves (71') Teppei Nishiyama (89')
Daisuke Oku Dutra	Cautions	Tulio Magno Alves Yohei Fukumoto
Lineups: Tetsuya Enomoto, Yuzo Kurihara, Yuji Nakazawa, Ryuji Kawai, Hayuma Tanaka, Magrao (Hideo Oshima 49), Daisuke Nasu, Dutra, Daisuke Oku (Sshingo Kumabayashi 67), Masahiro Ohashi (Daisuke Sakata 45), Rodrigo Gral . Shusaku Nishikawa, Tomoki Fukaya, Takashi Miki, Yohei Fukumoto, Takauyuki Yoshida (Teppei Nishiyama 82), Tulio, Edmilson (Koji Yoshimura 89), Takashi Umeda, Yuichi Nemoto, Daiki Takamatsu (Ryosuke Kijima 80), Magno Alves .

3 - 0

Date: 1 Oct, 2005		Location: Todoroki Stadium
3	1 1H 0 2 2H 0	0
Hiroyuki Taniguchi (32') Juninho (66') Kazuki Ganaha (89')	Scoring
	Cautions	Shuhei Terada
Lineups: Takashi Aizawa, Yoshinobu Minowa, Shuhei Terada (Tomoaki Kuno 89), Hiroki Ito, Yasuhiro Nagahashi (Yusuke Mori 87), Kengo Nakamura, Hiroyuki Taniguchi (Hideki Sahara 70), Augusto de Souza, Marcus de Morais, Kazuki Ganaha, Juninho . Yosuke Nozawa, Susumu Umeyama, Shigenori Hagimura, Naoki Takahashi, Kentaro Suzuki (Shingo Suzuki 64), Naoya Kikuchi, Hiroyoshi Kuwahara (Daisuke Aono 75), Katsuyuki Miyazawa, Yohito Terakawa, Yusaku Ueno (Neto 75), Edmilson, .

1 - 4

The strategy that coach Hasegawa adopted required his players to maintain tireless pressure at midfield, and using qwuick counterattacks down the wings to create their scoring chances. If only the attacking duo of Cho Jae-Jin and Marquinhos had done a slightly better job of finishing off their chances, it could easily have been S-Pulsewhich took the lead at the half. They certainly had the advantage in possession, and they even had a larger number of shots on goal.

Unfortunately for the home fans, the S-Pulse back line had a few key lapses which played very much into the hands of their opponents. For the first half hour, Gamba was frustrated buy the S-Pulse press, and spent most of the time on the back foot. Even when they did get a chance to break out in numbers, their attacks were turned away by some solid defending. But just when the Wingheads seemed to be on the verge of cracking the deadlock, two serious defensive errors all but handed the match to Gamba. In the 31 minute, a high cross into the box was headed by Kazumichi Takagi right into his own net. Ten minutes later, S-Pulse received a corner kick, and keeper Yohei Nishibe inexplicably kicked the ball directly to a Gamba player. Fernandinho Following these self-inflicted wounds, S-Pulse were basically finished, though they continued to play with great energy and admirable enthusiasm even in the second half. Gamba, with a two-goal cushion, could affort to lay back on defence and use quick counterattacks to create scoring chances without exposing their own defensive zone, and in the second half the superior scoring prowess of the Gamba attackers was on display. Both Masashi Oguro and Araujo tallied breakaway goals when the S-Pulse attack got overextended, and despite the hard work by S-Pulse -- especially the team's young midfield -- the outcome was never in doubt following the first half. Keisuke Ota did claim a late consolation strike, but Gamba coasted easily to a win, and a three-point lead at the top of the table.

Date: 2 Oct, 2005		Location: Nihondaira Stadium
1	0 1H 2 1 2H 2	4
Keisuke Ota (88')	Scoring	Own Goal (31') Fernandinho (41') Masashi Oguro (49') Araujo (77')
Xxx Xxx Xxx	Cautions	Xxx Xxx Xxx
Lineups: Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Toshihide Saito, Kazumichi Takagi, Takahiro Yamanishi (Masaki Yamamoto 61), Keisuke Ota, Teruyoshi Ito, Kota Sugiyama (Yasumasa Nishino 61), Akihiro Hyodo, Marquinhos (Yoshikiyo Kuboyama 75), Cho Jae-Jin . Yosuke Fujigaya, Noritada Saneyoshi (Toru Irie 56), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Satoru Yamaguchi, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Hideo Hashimoto (Kota Yoshihara 79), Toshihiro Matsushita (Akihiro Ienaga 45), Takahiro Futagawa, Araujo, Fernandinho, Masashi Oguro .

3 - 1

At this point, the contest turned ugly. It had been quite physical from the outsed, and just before the break there was an exchange of handbags between Fabinho and Nobuhisa Yamada, which signalled that things might be getting out of control. Following Cerezo's third goal, however, all hell broke loose and it was all that Mr. Tsutomu Anazawa could do just to prevent it from turning into a complete brawl. Mr Anazawa actually did a very admirable job in tough circumstances, trying ton to overuse his yellow card, but intervening when he had to. In spite of his efforts, though ,the number of crushing tackles began to mount up quickly. The most exhausted people in the stadium were the four stretcher-boys, who must have carried off every player from both teams at least once, in the course of the contest.

The Reds finally did get their consolation goal with 15 minutes remaining, as Tomislav Maric came on to score a goal in his second appearance in a row as a late substitute. Maric seems to be almost recovered from the injury which has sidelined him since late May, but unfortunately, even his contributions were not enough to get Urawa back into the contest. The win catapults Cerezo into third place, with still an outside hope of catching the leaders. The Reds, however, fall seven points back of the Antlers and ten adrift of Gamba, which would seem to be too much ground to make up over the remaining eight matches.

Date: 2 Oct, 2005		Location: Nagai Stadium
3	1 1H 0 2 2H 1	1
Hiroaki Morishima (8') Fabinho (52') Tatsuya Furukawa (59')	Scoring	Tomislav Maric (75')
Ze Carlos Fabinho Akinori Nishizawa Hiroaki Morishima Kiyokazu Kudo	Cautions	Nobuhisa Yamada Alex Santos Tomislav Maric
Lineups: Motohiro Yoshida, Bruno Cuadros, Tomoya Maeda, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Fabinho (Takaaki Tokushige 71), Tomi Shimomura, Kiyokazu Kudo, Ze Carlos, Tatsuya Furuhashi, Akinori Nishizawa (Teruaki Kurobe 63), Hiroaki Morishima (Hiroshi Miyahara 63) . Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Satoshi Horinouchi, Fabio "Nene" de Brito (Hideki Uchidate 22), Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe, Keita Suzukii (Tomislav Maric 64), Alex Santos (Tadaaki Hirakawa 64), Robson Ponte, Yuichiro Naga, Tatsuya Tanaka .

As noted above, the Reds' loss, coupled with a win by Gamba has winnowed down the field of remaining title hopefuls significantly. Even before this weekend we felt that the race would be between Gamba and Kashima, and this looks even more certain today. Even Jubilo and JEF United would have to make up ten points in order to overtake Gamba, since there is no way that they are going to score enough goals in their final eight matches to close the gap in goal difference. Cerezo is the only team apart from the two frontrunners with a legitimate shot. They are now eight points adrift of Gamba and five behind the Antlers, and their far inferior goal difference means that they would need to finish the season a point ahead of either one, to claim the title. If they finished even on points, both Gamba and Antlers would surely have the edge.

Looking at the situation for the two frontrunners, though, the contest is still neck and neck. One Kashima win-Osaka loss would pull the Antlers level, and the two teams are still close enough that either one could end up with the advantage on goal difference. Having said that, Gamba now is the clear frontrunner and will be playing with the knowledge that they control their own destiny. Kashima's most formidable competition will come right after the break for international matches, next weekend. They play Jubilo, Grampus and Cerezo in successive weeks before finishing out the season against relatively easier competition. Gamba, on the other hand, has a relatively easy schedule for the next few weeks, but will want to extend their lead if possible because of some tough competition down the stretch.

Here are the standings after 26 matches:

Rumours and Rumblings

"King" Kazu Becomes a World Class Striker

For those of you who thought that Kazuyoshi Miura was an old man who excelled mainly in harming his own legacy by insisting on trying to continue as an active footballer long after he should have turned in his boots and taken up coaching or commentating . . . well, there is no reason to alter your assumptions just yet. But in one sense, Miura has indeed figured out a back-door way to get his name in the papers and attain a bit of global recognition, at least one more time.

On October 4, Kazu held a big press conference (his third in as many months) to announce that he has reached terms with Sydney FC and will soon be on his way to Australia to join the A-League team. This news comes just two months after he left Vissel Kobe under conditions that both he and the press tried desperately to avoid calling "disgrace", and joined Yokohama FC, who were lagging just a few points above the J2 cellar. In the two months since that time, Fulie has actually managed to win two matches . . . . OK, its true, the two wins came against the 10th and 12th ranked teams in the 12-team J2, and FC Yokohama is now even further behind the #10 team than they were when Kazu joined. But at least the deal provided FC Yokohama with a breif flash of publicity which probably put some money in the struggling team's bank account.

With this experience in mind, it is not hard to draw conclusions about the reasons for Kazu's move to Australia. Sydney FC has a ticket to the World Club Championships, due to be held in Tokyo this December. The A-League is still in its first year of existence, having been created from the rubble after Australia's last professional league collapsed. Though there are a few teams with some talented youngsters (Sydney FC being perhaps the most notable), the level of play is still somewhere around J2 quality, and there is little chance of Sydney achieving much at the WCC tournament -- at least not on the football pitch. But the exposure COULD allow the club to earn a bit of money, especially if they can raise some interest among Japanese fans, who will not have a team of their own to root for (Asia's representative will probably be either Al-Itttihad of Saudi Arabia or Al-Ain, from the UAE). What better way to attract interest than to sign a "living legend" of Japanese football.

Of course, the problem with this idea is that Kazu will probably have a hard time making a meaningful contribution on the football pitch, and it is questionable whether Japanese fans will turn out to watch Kazu sit on the end of the Sydney bench. The impression that this is just some publicity stunt is reinforced by the terms of the deal: Kazu is being "transferred" to Sydney for a loan period of just three months. Apart from the WCC tournament, he will be eligible to play in only four regular season matches for Sydney.

Kazu Miura will probably go down in J.League history as half-hero and half-farce. Certainly in his early years he was Japan's finest striker, and perhaps the only player who non-Japanese football fans had heard of. Unfortunately, Kazu is one of those people who enjoys the limelight so much that he simply cant come to terms with the idea of retirement. Even three or four years ago, he was just a shadow of the player he was in his prime, and over the past few years his efforts to remain an active player have looked more and more pathetic. If Sydney has signed him for no other reason than to serve as "poster boy" for their trip to Japan, this December, then perhaps the deal will turn out to be a positive one for all concerned. . . .

. . . but if Kazu has any hope whatsoever of preserving his "legacy" (what little of it still remains), he would be wise to use the WCC post-match interview to announce his retirement from football. Even Ruy Ramos eventually had to bow to the dictates of father time. At least in this writer's opinion, Kazu only degrades his own legacy and reputation by continuing to hang on long after his era has ended.