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November 13, 2005

Countdown to Glory

At the opposite end of the table, Vissel Kobe's loss to Kawasaki Frontale has sealed their fate, and a last-second loss by Tokyo Verdy puts them in what looks like an inescapable predicament. The only real suspense now involves the 16th-place position, which will put the unlucky team which finishes third from the bottom into a promotion/relegation series with the third-placed J2 team.

Considering the high stakes of this week's matches, some of the matches were surprisingly "tame", and many ended up with the two teams sharing the spoils. The most animated contest was the one between Gamba and the Urawa Reds, though there were some "extenuating circumstances" which helped to add some spice to this clash, as we will discuss below. But before we get too far ehead of ourselves, lets start by looking at the results of Saturday's contests:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
12 Nov		0-1		Ajinomoto Stadium
12 Nov		2-2		Niigata "Big Swan" Std.
12 Nov		1-1		Kashima Stadium
12 Nov		3-2		Saitama Stadium
12 Nov		2-2		Chiba Stadium
12 Nov		3-1		Todoroki Stadium
12 Nov		0-1		Nihondaira Stadium
12 Nov		2-1		Expo70 "Banpaku" Stad.
12 Nov		0-4		Hiroshima "Big Arch"

1 - 2

. . . . Mr. Toshimitsu Yoshida

Yes, you heard right. The J.League decided that this crucial match should be officiated by a man who just two months ago was stripped of his international officiating credentials and banned indefinitely by both FIFA and the AFC for gross errors in judgement. We have no idea what sort of drugs the J.League officiating committee has been taking recently, but it certainly does appear that they have indeed taken complete leave of their senses. I guess being the first referee in football history to make an officiating decision so truly egregious that FIFA had to nullify the result just isnt viewed as a very serious a matter by the J.League. But then, the League office's incompetence and stupidity has already been verified on countless occasions (see our "Rumours and Rumblings" section, below). The only question that the Rising Sun News has now is whether the Japanes sports press is too meek and pliant to mention the matter, or whether someone besides ourselves will point out the suspicious nature of Mr. Yoshida's speedy rehabilitation by the J.League.

At the end of the day, Mr. Yoshida did not manage to make any errors severe enough to really decide the outcome of the match, though there were a half-dozen obvious bad calls during the contest, one of which had Guido Buchwald wild-eyed and foaming at the mouth with fury. We can only hope that he is angry enough to file an official protest with the League over Mr. Yoshida's actions. In our view, the man has no business officiating at ANY level after the severity of the mistakes he made in the Bahrain-Uzbekistan match, earlier this fall. But at the end of the day, the Reds did more damage to themselves than any of the calls made by Mr. Yoshida. Although this was a close match, in the end, Gamba seemed to deserve the win.

The scoring got started midway through the first half, when the Reds' central defence got a bit too eager and were caught by a Gamba counterattack which produced a 3-on-3 break. Fernandinho led the break, and used his teammates merely as decoys, taking the ball himself all the way to the top left corner of the box and then firing a shot across the face of the goal which caught the keeper leaning the wrong way and slipped into the far corner.

The Reds dominated the scoring opportunities for the rest of the half, and much of the second half as well, as the once-vaunted Gamba attack continued to sputter. But dreadful finishing by the Reds, and a few fine reaction saves by keeper Yosuke Fujigaya kept them off the board until very late in the match. With time running down, the Reds again got too far forward, and Gamba broke out on another 3-on-3 conterattack. Thkis time it was Araujo who took the ball all the way himself, faking passes to his teammates and then dribbling to the edge of the box for the shot. Keeper Norihiro Yamagishi parried the first drive, but the ball bounced right back to Araujo who found the net with his second attempt.

The Reds, to their credit, did not give up, and just two minutes later Alex Santos scored from a free kick just a meter outside the Gamba penalty area. But that was as far as the comeback would go. Gamba hung on for the final few minutes and claimed the important win, essentially eliminating the Reds' hopes for a title this year.

Date: 12 Nov, 2005		Location: "Banpaku" Stadium
2	1 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Fernandinho (29') Araujo (83')	Scoring	Alessandro Santos (85')
Mitsuteru Watanabe Hideo Hashimoto Toru Irie	Cautions	Makoto Hasebe Keisuke Tsuboi Robson Ponte Tomoyuki Sakai Yuichiro Nagai Alessandro Santos
Lineups: Yosuke Fujigaya, Sidiclei, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Noritada Saneyoshi (Toshihiro Matsushita 89), Mitsuteru Watanabe, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa (Akihiro Ienaga 86), Fernandinho (Toru Irie 89), Araujo, Masashi Oguro . Norihiro Yamagishi, Keisuke Tsuboi, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Satoshi Horinouchi, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe (Masayuki Okano 83), Tomoyuki Sakai (Takuya Yokoyama 70), Alessandro Santos, Robson Ponte, Yuichiro Nagai, Tomislav Maric .

1 - 1

Against the Antlers, their stingy defence remained true to form, staving off all but one well-executed set-play strike in the first half. The Antlers did dominate the contest, but the Tokyo back line did a good job of preventing many clear shots, and the few opportunities that Kashima did generate were turned away by Yoichi Doi, who had another fine afternoon in goal.

Things started out reasonably well for the home team. Just 17 minutes in, they won a fre kick about 35 meters out from goal, on the right side. Fernando took the kick and sent a line-drive towards the near post. Defender Daiki Iwamasa threw a foot at the ball as it zipped past, and managed to make just enough contact to change the ball's trajectory and leave Doi grasping at air, as the ball hurtled past.

But just before half time, FC Tokyo's midfield maestro Yasuyuki Konno demonstrated his quick reactions and intelligence to produce the equaliser. FC Tokyo worked the ball across the top of the Antlers box, but the play seemed well defended and a shot attempt by Yohei Kajiyama was blocked easily by his defender, with the rebound rolling along the top of the box from left to right. Konno came out to collect the ball, and realised that the defence would quickly close in to block his own angle on goal if he took the time to settle the ball. Instead, he flung his body around in a half-pirouette and swung at the ball as he mare the 180-degree turn. Though his shot was not very hard, it surprised everyone and slipped into the low right corner before either the keeper or the defenders could react.

Though Kashima dominated play throughout the second half, the tenacious Tokyo defence did not give them many open looks at goal. The closest they came was on a centering pass that Alex Mineiro chested down at the penalty spot for Takuya Nozawa to snap off a quick shot. But Doi's reflexes saved the day as he managed to parry it just over the crossbar. With the draw, the Antlers fall a full three points behind Gamba, and will have to hope their opponents stumble over the final four matches. Kashima does have a relatively easy schedule down the stretch, with Oita Trinita next weekend as their most dangerous opponent. But Gamba now controls their destiny, and the Antlers will need some help from one of Gamba's remaining opponents if they hope to claim a title this year.

Date: 12 Nov, 2005		Location: Kashima Stadium
1	1 1H 1 0 2H 0	1
Daiki Iwamasa (17')	Scoring	Yasuyuki Konno (42')
Ricardinho	Cautions	Norio Suzuki Fumitake Miura
Lineups: Hitoshi Sogahata, Takeshi Aoki (Akira Narahashi 68), Go Oiwa, Daiki Iwamasa, Toru Araiba, Ricardinho (Takayuki Suzuki 81), Fernando, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masaki Fukai (Takuya Nozawa 70), Masashi Motoyama, Alex Mineiro . Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa (Fumitake Miura 64), Ryuji Fujiyama, Yohei Kajiyama (Satoru Asari 78), Yasuyuki Konno, Norio Suzuki, Yuta Baba (Ryoichi Kurisawa 72) Yoshiro Abe, Lucas Severino .

0 - 1

But with just two minutes left in regulation, Cerezo managed a long clearance and a one-on-two counterattack. Teruaki Kurobe seemed to be well covered, but as he made his cutback, defender Kenta Togawa got his legs tied up while trying to change direction. He stumbled clumsily into Kurobe, who milked the contact for all it was worth, executing a soaring swan dive which got a 9.9 from the diving judges and a second yellow for Togawa. To make things worse, Tatsuya Furuhashi sent the subsequent free kick curling perfectly into the top left corner of goal and sent Verdy spinning down to defeat.

The victory was important for Cerezo as well, as it keeps them within four points of Gamba. However, Cerezo's final four opponents will be challenging, and it looks highly unlikely that they will be able to make up four points in just four matches. Still, at least their hopes are still alive. For Verdy, the loss leaves them in 17th place (an automatic relegation spot) five points adrift of Kashiwa Reysol in 16th (the promotion-relegtation slot), and six behind Shimizu S-Pulse, and complete safety. With matches against Urawa Reds, Nagoya Grampus and Oita Trinita still on the card, it would take a near miracle for Verdy to escape relegation now.

Date: 12 Nov, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
	Scoring	Tatsuya Furuhashi (88')
Kenta Togawa Kenta Togawa	Cautions	Takanori Nunobe Noriyuki Sakemoto Takanori Nunobe
Kenta Togawa	Sent Off	Takanori Nunobe
Lineups: Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Kentaro Hayashi, Kenta Togawa, Takahito Soma, Takuya Yamada, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Daigo Kobayashi, Takeshi Hirano (Jun Tamano 80), Gilberto "Jill" Goncalves (Kazuki Hiramoto 72), Washington, . Motohiro Yoshida, Bruno Cuadros, Tomoya Maeda, Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Takanori Nunobe, Tomi Shimomura, Noriyuki Sakemoto (Takuya Kokeguchi 57), Hiroshi Miyahara (Tomoyoshi Tsurumi 78), Hiroaki Morishima (Nozomi Hiroyama 72) Tatsuya Furuhashi, Teruaki Kurobe .

3 - 1

Despite his boastful talk when he purchased the team, two years ago, owner Hiroshi Mikitani has not splashed out any money for star players, as promised, and Vissel have been spiralling down the drain for months. The most disappointing thing is that -- even though the J.League does not have a transfer window like they do in Europe -- Vissel management has not gone shopping for any late acquisitions to try to rescue the team. Perhaps Mr. Mikitani was too busy trying to pursue a hostile takeover of a TV station to spare time for the team he promised to rebuild into a contender.

This week was little different from any of the other 17 losses that Vissel has piled up this season. Frontale got off to a quick lead on a nice counterattacking move finished off by Juninho, in the 10 minute. Augusto extended Kawasaki's lead shortly before half time on a free kick which he curled expertly into the high left corner. Striker Ryuji Bando, making his return after a long layoff due to a combination of injury and disfavour with the coaches, gave Vissel fans a breif moment of hope midway through the second half, as he pulled the team back to within a goal. But as time ran down, Kazuki Ganaha led a counterattack down the right side and then slid a beautiful cutback pass to Juninho, racing through the center, and the speedy Brazilian drove the final nail into Vissel's coffin with a pouinding shot from just above the penalty spot.

Date: 12 Nov, 2005		Location: Todoroki Stadium
3	2 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Juninho (10') Augusto de Souza (38') Juninho (88')	Scoring	Ryuji Bando (63')
Marcus de Morais Kengo Nakamura	Cautions	Hideo Tanaka Ryuji Bando Seiji Kaneko Hiroyuki Komoto
Lineups: Takashi Aizawa, Yoshinobu Minowa, Shuhei Terada, Hiroki Ito, Yasuhiro Nagahashi, Kengo Nakamura, Taku Harada, Augusto de Souza, Marcus de Morais (Naoki Soma 89), Kazuki Ganaha, Juninho . Seiji Honda, Hiroyuki Komoto, Seiji Kaneko, Kunie Kitamoto, Shusuke Tsubouchi, Park Kang-Jo, Pavel Horvath, Ivo Ulich, Hideo Tanaka (Atsuhiro Miura 74), Tomoyuki Hirase (Mitsutoshi Watada), Ryuji Bando (Keisuke Kurihara 78) .

3 - 2

In a clash between two teams that are beginning to sink into the lower half of the table, and were not yet entirely clear of relegation danger, Omiya Ardija managed a narrow victory over Nagoya Grampus, but also managed to demonstrate the most striking difference between themselves and their cross-town rivals Urawa Reds. The massive expanses of Saitama Stadium swallowed up the 6,000+ fans who did show up, and the huge swathes of empty seats seemed to mock both of the teams playing down below. Hopefully this will provide a good lesson to J.League organizers next year and they will resist the temptation to schedule Ardija at Saitama Stadium unless they are playing a team with a large travelling contingent. The cozy confines of Omiya Park Stadium make a crowd of 6,000 look respectable, but in this match, the cameramen were noticeably restricting their angles to avoid pictures of the mocking emptiness of the back stands.

The cold emptiness of the venue was all the more unfortunate because the contest itself was a rollicking affair -- hard-fought and with constant swings of momentum. Grampus came out the stronger team, and they took an early lead on a corner kick headed home by veteran defender Yutaka Akita. With time running down in the first half, however, Naoto Sakurai collected a ball at the top right corner of the Nagoya penalty area. and --knowing Masahiro Koga's habit of rushing in hard from behind -- he flopped to the pitch when he felt the first contact. The referee awarded a PK, and though Sakurai's acting job made it look a lot worse than it was, it is hard to dispute the call, since Koga's reckless "bumps" from behind are now as well-known among referees as among opposing players. Chikara Fujimoto drilled the PK and it was all even at half time.

Early in the second half, the mighty squirrels forged ahead as Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel chipped a cross from the right edge of the box to Leandro, inside the penalty arc. The speedy Brazilian centre forward chested the ball down, pivoted quickly and fired past Seigo Narazaki into the top right corner. Just minutes later, a defensive blunder allowed Ardija to extend the lead on a corner kick from the right side. Fujimoto's ball for the far post was headed by Masayuki Omori but he failed to hit it hard enough to clear it over the end line. Toninho pounced on the ball before it rolled out of play, and quickly snapped a shot into the roof of the net

But the red whales were far from finished, and following the third Ardija goal, they began to mount a comeback, taking control of the tempo and creating several good chances. Rookie Sho Kamogawa claimed his first J.League goal with 10 minutes remaining, after a long blast by An Yong-Ha was blocked by the keeper right onto Kamogawa's boots. The youngster kept his nerve and settled the ball, then drilled it into the nylon.

But Grampus could not complete their comeback, and Omiya held on over the final ten minutes to claim the win. The three points they claimed from the contest puts Ardija on slightly safer ground, though they still could find themselves in the promotion-relegation playoff if they are not careful. Grampus are still a point above Ardija in the standings, but the risks for them are also not entirely extinguished. Both teams will need at least four or five points from their final four matches to be sure of staying up next season.

Date: 12 Nov, 2005		Location: Saitama Stadium
3	0 1H 0 0 2H 0	2
Chikara Fujimoto (44') Leandro (52') Toninho (60')	Scoring	Yutaka Akita (7') Sho Kamogawa (82')
Jun Marcus Davidson Leandro Hiroki Aratani	Cautions	Yohei Toyoda Keita Sugimoto
Lineups: Hiroki Aratani, Takuro Nishimura (Yasunari Hiraoka 87), Toninho, Seiichiro Okuno, Daisuke Tomita, Jun Marcus Davidson, Masato Saito, Tatsunori Hisanaga, Chikara Fujimoto, Leandro (Shin Kanazawa 81), Naoto Sakurai (Manabu Wakabayashi 87) . Seigo Narazaki, Masahiro Koga, Yutaka Akita, Masayuki Omori, An Yong-Ha, Keiji Yoshimura (Keisuke Honda 61), Claiton (Sho Kamogawa 73), Keiji Watanabe, Naoshi Nakamura, Toshiya Fujita, Yohei Toyoda (Keita Sugimoto 73) .

2 - 2

The match was one of those contests that turn completely about at half time, with JEF dominating the first 45 minutes and Jubilo running rampant in the second half. Everyone will have their own pet explanation for this differnce, but for us, the generational divide at Jubilo seems to be the most important. We have been commenting all year long that Jubilo are less competitive when their aging veterans are on the pitch, and more dangerous when the young guns are let loose. This match provided a particularly stark illustration of the principle, as the doddering old Masashi Nakayama and Hayato Suzuki were replaced at half time by Ryoichi Maeda and Kim Jin-Kyu, with unmistakeable effect.

JEF took an early lead on a corner kick that was headed home by captain Yuki Abe , and they extended their lead midway through the period on a slashing counterattack which saw defender Ilya Stoyanov steal a pass at the top of his own penalty box, feed the outlet oass tp the wing and then sprint 80 meters down the center of the pitch to receive the return pass from Abe, carry it nearly to the Jubilo end line, and then feed a pass in front of net to Yuto Sato for the finish.

But following Jubilo's halftime changes, it was a completely different contest. Murai started the comeback against his former team with a nice overlap on the left and a cross to Maeda, who had just come on for his first appearance since an injury, three months ago. The young poacher qquickly showed why his loss was so crucial to Jubilo, cutting across the box to head home the first Jubilo goal. Murai played a part in Jubilo's second goal as well, chasing a long high deflection in the JEF box and catching up with it just in time to keep it in play. His cutback pass found Yoshiaki Ota sneaking in behind the play, and the young midfielder snapped a low shot into the left corner just past the dive of Tomonori Tateishi.

Play swung back and forth over the remaining 20 minutes but neither side could add to the score, and they were forced to share the spoils. For JEF, the failure to claim all three points will pretty much eliminate them from the title race, though they remain a point ahead of Jubilo, in terms of bragging rights. Both teams will be very interesting to watch next season -- JEF, because they finally seem to have put the pieces together and created a team that can win titles; Jubilo, because coach Masakuni Yamamoto should finally have cause to push the veterans out of the picture altogether and begin building a new contender with the many talented youngsters he has at his disposal.

Date: 12 Nov, 2005		Location: Chiba "Fukuari" Std.
2	2 1H 0 0 2H 2	2
Yuki Abe (25') Yuto Sato (79')	Scoring	Ryoichi Maeda (61') Yoshiaki Ota (72')
Ilya Stoyanov	Cautions	Takayuki Chano Norihiro Nishi Hideto Suzuki Sho Naruoka Ryoichi Maeda
Lineups: Tomonori Tateishi, Kozo Yuki, Ilya Stoyanov, Yuki Mizumoto, Koki Mizuno, Daisuke Saito, Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Satoru Yamagishi (Kohei Kudo 68), Seiichiro Maki, Mario Haas (Takenori Hayashi 77) . Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Hideto Suzuki (Kim Jin-Kyu 45), Makoto Tanaka, Takayuki Chano, Yoshiaki Ota (Robert Cullen 73), Hiroshi Nanami, Toshihiro Hattori, Shinji Murai, Sho Naruoka, Norihiro Nishi, Masashi Nakayama (Ryoichi Maeda 45) .

0 - 1

Full report will be posted later

Date: 12 Nov, 2005		Location: Nihondaira Std.
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
	Scoring	Rodrigo Gral (62')
Naoaki Aoyama Cho Jae-Jin Kazumichi Takagi	Cautions	Tatsuya Enomoto
Lineups: Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Naoaki Aoyama, Kazumichi Takagi, Takahiro Yamanishi (Yasumasa Nishino 84), Keisuke Ota (Choi Dae-Uk 59), Takuma Edamura (Masaaki Sawanobori 84), Teruyoshi Ito, Akihiro Hyodo, Marquinhos Cho Jae-Jin . Tatsuya Enomoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Ryuji Kawai, Hayuma Tanaka, Daisuke Oku (Magrao 69), Yoshiharu Ueno (Daisuke Nasu 81), Dutra, Koji Yamase, Tatsuhiko Kubo, Daisuke Sakata (Rodrigo Gral 60) .

2 - 2

Full report will be posted later

Date: 12 Nov, 2005		Location: Niigata "Big Swan" Std
2	1 1H 0 1 2H 2	2
Edmilson (41') Fabinho (54')	Scoring	Hidekazu Otani (46') Ryo Kobayashi (62')
Edmilson Anderson Lima Fabinho	Cautions	Yukio Tsuchiya
Lineups: Koichi Kidera, Anderson Lima, Naoki Takahashi (Keiji Kaimoto 74), Shigenori Hagimura, Naoya Kikuchi, Isao Honma, Hiroyoshi Kuwahara, Fabinho, Yohito Terakawa (Yusaku Ueno 72), Shingo Suzuki, Edmilson . Yuta Minami, Norihiro Satsukawa, Yasuhiro Hato, Yukio Tsuchiya, Ryo Kobayashi, Tadatoshi Masuda (Yuzo Kobayashi 89), Tomokazu Myojin, Hidekazu Otani, Cleber Santana Loureio, Reynaldo, Keiji Tamada (Yuji Unozawa 85).

0 - 4

Full report will be posted later

Date: 12 Nov, 2005		Location: Hiroshima "Big Arch"
0	0 1H 2 0 2H 2	4
	Scoring	Magno Alves (21') Takashi Umeda (44') Tulio (59') Magno Alves (67')
Susumu Oki Gakuto Shigehara Dininho	Cautions	Taikai Uemoto Tsukasa Umesaki
Lineups: Akihiro Sato, Shogo Nishikawa (Tatsuro Kimura 82), Dininho, Norio Omura, Yuichi Komano, Joubert Alberto "Beto" Martins (Gakuto Shigehara 71), Susumu Oki, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Kota Hattori, Galvao (Shusuke Maeda 56), Hayato Sato . Shusaku Nishikawa, Takashi Miki, Tomoki Fukaya, Taikai Uemoto, Takashi Umeda, Tulio, Edmilson, Teppei Nishiyama (Ryosuke Kijima 86), Yuichi Nemoto (Tsukasa Umezaki 78), Magno Alves, Daiki Takamatsu (Masato Yamazaki 78) .

As we noted at the top, the field of both title contenders and relegation candidates has been whittled down considerably. While Urawa Reds and JEF United are still theoretically in contention, it would take a spectacular collapse by Gamba (and a fairly major one by Kashima) for them to have a chance. Even Cerezo's chances are dimming, with four points to make up. Though the Antlers need only one big win and a Gamba loss to close the gap, Gamba are clearly in control of their own destiny, and can take a big stride towards their first league title with a win next week in Nagoya.

The one disadvantage that Gamba do face is a relatively more difficult schedule. Gamba plays Nagoya and Kawasaki Frontale and Omiya Ardija away, as well as JEF United at home. Only the Ardija contest is likely to be a "comfortable" win. Cerezo's opponents are not that much easier, with Frontale, Oita Trinita and FC Tokyo at home, plus Yokohama Marinos away. The Antlers APPEAR to have the easiest schedule. Their toughest challenge will be Trinita, at Oita Stadium next week. This is followed by a hom match against the Marinos and then two clashes with relegation candidates Kashiwa Reysol and Shimizu S-Pulse. The only spanner in the works is that . . . despite a less than stellar historical record in the league as a whole . . . Shimizu S-Pulse are the ONLY J.League team that has a winning historical record against Kashima. The Antlers clash with S-Pulse at Nihondaira Stadium on November 26 could be the crucial one for all concerned.

At the other end of the table, Vissel Kobe need nothing less than divine intervention to avoid the drop, whereas Verdy are on the brink, and could have the final nail driven into their coffin in their clash with Urawa Reds next weekend. The competition for the 16th place spot, on the other hand, is still wide open. Whoever finishes 16th will have to face the third-placed J2 team in a promotion relegation series (at the moment, that opponent is likely to be either Ventforet Kofu or Vegalta Sendai). Kashiwa Reysol are currently on the hot seat, but they are just a point behind Shimizu S-Pulse and three points behind Omiya Ardija. Even Nagoya Grampus are not completely out of the woods, considering their tough schedule. However, one thing is certain -- the head to head clash between Reysol and S-Pulse, next weekend, is shaping up to be the most important contest of the week.

.	Team	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	G.Dif
1	Gamba Osaka	57	30	17	6	7	76	51	+25
2	Kashima Antlers	54	30	15	9	6	54	34	+20
3	Cerezo Osaka	53	30	15	8	7	42	36	+6
4	Urawa Reds	50	30	14	8	8	56	35	+21
5	JEF United	50	30	13	11	6	50	38	+12
6	Kawasaki Frontale	49	30	15	4	11	51	38	+13
7	Jubilo Iwata	45	30	12	9	9	46	37	+9
8	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	43	30	11	10	9	43	36	+7
9	Yokohama Marinos	40	30	10	10	10	34	37	-3
10	FC Tokyo	39	30	9	12	9	37	36	+1
11	Oita Trinita	38	30	11	5	14	38	36	+2
12	Albirex Niigata	36	30	9	9	12	43	55	-12
13	Nagoya Grampus	35	30	9	8	13	40	45	-5
14	Omiya Ardija	34	30	10	4	16	35	47	-12
15	Shimizu S-Pulse	32	30	7	11	12	34	43	-9
16	Kashiwa Reysol	31	30	7	10	13	33	47	-14
17	Tokyo Verdy	26	30	5	11	14	34	62	-28
18	Vissel Kobe	21	30	4	9	17	28	61	-33

Rumours and Rumblings