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November 20, 2005

Nervous in Naniwa

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
20 Nov		4-1		Saitama Stadium
20 Nov		1-2		Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
20 Nov		2-1		Ajinomoto Stadium
20 Nov		3-1		Yokohama (Nissan) Std.
20 Nov		2-3		Iwata (Yamaha) Stadium
20 Nov		2-1		Toyota Stadium
20 Nov		2-0		Nagai Stadium
20 Nov		0-1		Kobe WingStadium
20 Nov		1-1		Oita "Big Eye" Stadium

2 - 1

Though Grampus have had a difficult season, there have been occasional flashes of promise from what has become a very young team. Their defence did a fine job of keeping the vaunted Gamba attackers at bay, and the second goal in as many matches by rookie Sho Kamogawa gave the home team an early lead. But just before halftime a a mix-up in the defensive coverage gave Gamba one of their most dangerous chances of the half, and An Yong-Ha's effort to chase back and stop the shot merely produced a foul and a PK for Gamba. Yasuhito Endo collected from the spot and the match was even at half time.

But Grampus used unforgiving defence to take control of the match in the second act, and a powerful strike from Claiton midway through the second period produced the winning margin for Nagoya.

Date: 20 Nov, 2005		Location: Toyota Stadium
2	1 1H 1 1 2H 0	1
Sho Kamogawa (4') Claiton (66')	Scoring	Yasuhito Endo (36')
Yusuke Igawa An Yong-Ha Makoto Kakuda Naoshi Nakamura	Cautions	Akihiro Ienaga
Lineups: Seigo Narazaki, Masayuki Omori (Keiji Yoshimura 34), Yutaka Akita, Yusuke Igawa, An Yong-Ha, Keisuke Honda, Toshiya Fujita, Makoto Kakuda (Kei Yamaguchi 80), Naoshi Nakamura, Claiton Sho Kamogawa (Keita Sugimoto 60) . Yosuke Fujigaya, Sidiclei, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Satoru Yamaguchi, Mitsuteru Watanabe (Shigeru Morioka 79), Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Akihiro Ienaga, Fernandinho, Ryota Miki (Masanobu Matsunami 79), Araujo .

1 - 1

Trinita actually had the better opportunities to take a lead in the first half. Though Kashima's experienced defence and crisp passing game gave them the majority of possession, without a tp-notch playmaker to pull the strings, they simply could not produce many shots on goal. By contrast, when Trinita did get the ball they attacked swith good pace and clever movement particularly on the wings. Former Olympic team wing Yuichi Nemoto -- on loan from the Antlers to Trinita -- was a constant menace to his erstwhile teammates, while the speed of Magno Alves had the Antlers defenders constantly on the run.

Midway through the second half, the Antlers finally broke the deadlock when Masashi Motoyama poked a pass in front of Alex Mineiro as he broke into the box with an open look at the left post. Before his defender could close the gap, Alex flicked a shot with the outside of his right foot, sending the ball across the face of goal and into the far corner.

But just five minutes later, the Antlers back line had their most serious lapse of the contest. A high ball towards the top left corner of the box dropped between three Antlers players, and none of them could decide who should clear it. As the ball fell right between all three players, Taksyuki Yoshida dashed in and took a swing at the loose ball, and as luck would have it, it skidded into the far side of the net before anyone could react.

Though Kashima tried to restore their lead over the final 20 minutes, the aforementioned lack of decisive passing up front clearly affected their performance. The Trinita defence was sorely tested, and Takashi Umeda was sent off in the final minute of regular time for one too many "professional" fouls, but in the end they were able to hang on for a share of the points.

Date: 20 Nov, 2005		Location: Oita "Big Eye" Std.
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Alex Mineiro (68')	Scoring	Takayuki Yoshida (72')
Takayuki Yoshida Takashi Umeda Daiki Takamatsu Takashi Umeda	Cautions	Toru Araiba Ricardinho
Takashi Umeda	Sent Off
Lineups: Shusaku Nishikawa, Takashi Miki (Yuichi Shibakoya 45), Tomoki Fukaya, Taikai Uemoto, Takashi Umeda, Takayuki Yoshida (Teppei Nishiyama 87), Edmilson, Tulio, Yuichi Nemoto, Magno Alves, Daiki Takamatsu . Hitoshi Sogahata, Takeshi Aoki (Akira Narahashi 75), Go Oiwa, Daiki Iwamasa, Toru Araiba, Ricardinho, Fernando, Chikashi Masuda (Takayuki Suzuki 80), Masaki Fukai (Takuya Nozawa 68), Masashi Motoyama, Alex Mineiro .

2 - 0

This week the defence did the job once again, holding a very potent Kawasaki Frontale offence scoreless. Cerezo took the lead shortly after the break on a strike by this year's key contributor up front, Tatsuya Furuhashi. After starting his career in the JFL, Furuhashi was already 24 before he played his first J.League match, when Cerezo picked him up in the middle of the season last year. But the Cerezo striker has quickly made up for lost time, emerging as the team's "go-to" striker this season. Shortly after the intermission, a href="../../jleague/cerezo/nishizawa.html"> Akinori Nishizawa made a nice steal in the Frontale half, and fed the ball to a Furuhashi on the break. The speedy Furuhashi dashed into the clear and fired into the left corner to give Cerezo the lead.

Just four minutes later, veteran a href="../../jleague/cerezo/morishima.html"> Hiroaki Morishima raced onto a long ball behind the Frontale defence, and extended Cerezo's lead with a looping shot into the right corner. Thereafter, the solid Cerezo defence sealed the victory, moving the team into second place, just a point behind their hometown rivals.

Date: 20 Nov, 2005		Location: Nagai Stadium
2	0 1H 0 2 2H 0	0
Tatsuya Furuhashi (53') Hiroaki Morishima (57')	Scoring
	Cautions	Taku Harada Yoshinobu Minowa Juninho Givanildo "Hulk" de Souza
Lineups: Motohiro Yoshida, Bruno Cuadros, Tomoya Maeda (Hiroshi Miyahara 69), Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Kota Fujimoto, Tomi Shimomura, Noriyuki Sakemoto, Ze Carlos (Takuya Kokeguchi 76), Hiroaki Morishima (Teruaki Kurobe 84), Akinori Nishizawa, Tatsuya Furuhashi . Takashi Aizawa, Yoshinobu Minowa, Shuhei Terada, Hiroki Ito, Yasuhiro Nagahashi, Kengo Nakamura, Taku Harada (Hideki Sahara 61), Augusto de Souza, Akira Konno (Givanaldo "Hulk" de Souza 65), Kazuki Ganaha, Juninho .

4 - 1

Though the Reds remained in front at half time, Verdy refused to be daunted, and a surge of pressure after the break finally produced the equaliser midway through the second half, with Yoshiyuki Kobayashi claiming the goal. For a moment, it looked like they might have a chance to turn things around. But with ten minutes left in the match, things suddenly fell apart for the boys in green.

The collapse began when Ponte fed a through ball to Tomislav Maric who poked the ball home to restore Urawa's lead. Then, with Verdy pressing desperately for the equaliser, Ponte collected a long outlet pass just outside the box and played a cheeky loop shot to beat the outrushing keeper. Seconds later, Kazuki Hiramoto fought just a bit too hard to win a ball from the Reds defence, and picked up his second yellow card. Reduced to ten men, the team began to lose its poise and when Kentaro Hayashi brought down Takuya Yokoyama, in the penalty box -- earning his second yellow card in the process -- the collapse was complete. Marcus Tulio Tanaka drilled the PK to produce a deceptively strong score line, though it does probably give an accurate indication of how huge this wloss will be for Verdy. Though they still have a mathematical chance of escaping relegation, it is hard to see how they can recover from this loss, which leaves them shorthanded for next week's match, and five points behind Kashiwa Reysol with just three matches left to play.

Date: 20 Nov, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
4	1 1H 0 3 2H 1	1
Robson Ponte (15') Tomislav Maric (79') Robson Ponte (87') Marcus Tulio Tanaka (89')	Scoring	Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (70')
Keita Suzuki Nobuhisa Yamada	Cautions	Daigo Kobayashi Kazuki Hiramoto Takhito Soma Kentaro Hayashi Kazuki Hiramoto Kentaro Hayashi
	Sent Off	Kazuki Hiramoto Kentaro Hayashi
Lineups: Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Satoshi Horinouchi, Nobuhisa Yamada, Keita Suzuki (Hajime Hosogai 80), Tomoyuki Sakai, Alessandro Santos, Robson Ponte (Escudero 89), Masayuki Okano(Takuya Yokoyama 74), Tomislav Maric . Yoshinari Takagi, Masayuki Yanagisawa, Kentaro Hayashi, Takuya Yamada, Takahito Soma, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Kazuki Toda, Daigo Kobayashi (Gilberto "Jill" Goncalves 52), Jun Tamano (Kenichi Uemura 89), Kazuki Hiramoto, Washington, .

0 - 1

Last, and least, Vissel Kobe clinched relegation with a loss to Omiya Ardija, at home. Vissel have had a dismal season, punctuated by repeated personnel and management changes which never seemed to achieve anything except to increase the sense of turmoil inside the clubhouse. When Hiroshi Mikitani purchased the club, just t wo years ago, he boasted that he would turn Vissel into a championship contender by pouring money into the team and making high-profile acquisitions. But unless you view the collection of has-beens and never-weres like Akihiro Endo, Ichiei Muroi and Tomoyuki Hirase as "high profile", Mr. Mikitani never came close to fulfilling his promise. Instead, he achieved what even the corrupt city officials who used to run the club were unable to do -- earn Vissel a spot in the J2.

It will be very interesting to see what happens to Vissel next season, since most of the players who do show promise -- such as Park Kang-Jo, Kunie Kitamoto and Hiroyuki Komoto are likely to request transfers to Jl clubs. It would not be surprising to see Vissel suffer a fate like those of Avispa Fukuoka and Consadole Sapporo -- teams that were so battered by demotion that it took them two or three years to recover. Perhaps Mr. Mikitani's money can attract enough talent to earn the team a return to the J1 at the end of next year, but for that to happen, Vissel management will need to stop talking big, and start providing some actions to back up their words. Relegation is an unfortunate fate, but in Vissel's case, there are more serious matters to consider -- in particular, their team image. While Verdy have stumbled just as badly as Vissel, this season, many opposing teams and fans are going to feel sad to see them relegated. But for reasons that only some board-room introspection by the Crimosn Group can identify, there is not a soul outside of Kobe who will be sorry to see Vissel go down.

Date: 20 Nov, 2005		Location: Kobe Wing Stadium
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
	Scoring	Koji Morita (74')
Ivo Ulich Seiji Kaneko	Cautions	Chikara Fujimoto Jun Marcus Davidson>
Lineups: Seiji Honda, Ryuhei Niwa (Park Kang-Jo 53), Seiji Kaneko, Kunie Kitamoto, Shusuke Tsubouchi, Ivo Ulich, Naoya Saeki, Atsuhiro Miura, Hiromi Kojima (Akihiro Endo 58), Keisuke Kurihara (Mitsutoshi Watada 63), Ryuji Bando . Hiroki Aratani, Takuro Nishimura, Toninho, Seiichiro Okuno, Daisuke Tomita, Jun Marcus Davidson, Masato Saito, Tatsunori Hisanaga, Chikara Fujimoto (Satoshi Yokoyama 85), Leandro (Shin Kanazawa 85), Manabu Wakabayashi (Koji Morita 72).

2 - 2

A hat trick by Edmilson carried Albirex Niigata over Jubilo Iwata, and allowed Albirex to move clear of relegation danger. The contest remained scoreless for almost 70 minutes, then finished with a flurry. Edmilson scored his hat trick over the space of 15 minutes as the visitors took a 3-0 lead. Jubilo battled back with two goals in the finalfive minutes of play, but the clock ran out on their comeback, and Albirex collected a valuable three points.

Date: 20 Nov, 2005		Location: Iwata (Yamaha) Stadium
2	0 1H 0 2 2H 3	3
Robert Cullen (85') Takashi Fukunishi (86')	Scoring	Edmilson (68') Edmilson (70') Edmilson (83')
	Cautions	Fabinho
Lineups: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Kim Jin-Kyu (Masashi Nakayama 75), Makoto Tanaka, Takayuki Chano, Yoshiaki Ota, Hiroshi Nanami, Toshihiro Hattori, Shinji Murai, Sho Naruoka (Takashi Fukunishi 62), Norihiro Nishi (Robert Cullen 50), Ryoichi Maeda . Koichi Kidera, Susumu Umeyama, Keiji Kaimoto, Shigenori Hagimura, Naoya Kikuchi, Isao Honma, Hiroyoshi Kuwahara, Yohito Terakawa, Anderson Lima (Yusaku Ueno 87), Edmilson (Daisuke Aono 89), Fabinho (Daisuke Fujii 89) .

3 - 1

Tatsuhiko Kubo scored his first goal in 18 months, and Rodrigo Gral added a brace to snap the Marinos' losing skid and carry them past Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Date: 20 Nov, 2005		Location: Yokohama (Nissan) Std.
3	3 1H 1 0 2H 0	1
Tatsuhiko Kubo (21) Rodrigo Gral (23') Rodrigo Gral (41')	Scoring	Yuichi Komano (9')
Ryuji Kawai Hayuma Tanaka	Cautions	Issei Takayanagi
Lineups: Tatsuya Enomoto, Eisuke Nakanishi, Naoki Matsuda, Ryuji Kawai, Hayuma Tanaka, Magrao, Yoshiharu Ueno (Daisuke Nasu 80), Dutra, Koji Yamase (Daisuke Oku 80), Tatsuhiko Kubo (Hideo Oshima 76), Rodrigo Gral . Akihiro Sato, Yuichi Komano, Shogo Nishikawa, Norio Omura, Kota Hattori, Ri Han-Jae (Gakuto Shigehara 81), Susumu Oki, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Issei Takayanagi (Shusuke Maeda 62), Galvao (Shinichiro Kuwata 62), Hayato Sato .

2 - 2

In a relegation-related contest, Kashiwa Reysol scored just seconds after the match began, but Shimizu S-Pulse overturned them thanks to a last-minute strike by Choi Dae-Uk. Reysol's disciplinary problems continued as Cleber Santana was sent off in the 78 minute.

Date: 20 Nov, 2005		Location: Kashiwa Stadium
1	1 1H 0 0 2H 2	2
Reynaldo (0')	Scoring	Marquinhos (76') Choi Dae-Uk (89')
Reynaldo Cleber Santana	Cautions	Takahiro Yamanishi
Lineups: Yuta Minami, Norihiro Satsukawa, Yasuhiro Hato, Yukio Tsuchiya, Ryo Kobayashi (Kisho Yano 60), Hidekazu Otani, Tomokazu Myojin (Tadatoshi Masuda 66), Yuzo Kobayashi, Cleber Santana Loureio, Reynaldo (Yuji Unozawa 80), Keiji Tamada . Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Naoaki Aoyama, Toshihide Saito, Takahiro Yamanishi, Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (Choi Dae-Uk 64), Takuma Edamura, Teruyoshi Ito, Akihiro Hyodo (Masaaki Sawanobori 89), Marquinhos (Yasumasa Nishino 89), Cho Jae-Jin .

2 - 1

FInally, a late goal by Yoshiro Abe broke a 1-1 deadlock to carry FC Tokyo over JEF United

Date: 20 Nov, 2005		Location: Hiroshima "Big Arch"
2	0 1H 0 2 2H 1	1
Yohei Kajiyama (51) Yoshiro Abe (84)	Scoring	Mario Haas (64')
Yuta Baba	Cautions	Yuki Abe
Lineups: Yoichi Doi, Akira Kaji, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa, Ryuji Fujiyama, Yohei Kajiyama, Yasuyuki Konno, Norio Suzuki (Sasa Salcedo 79), Yuta Baba (Ryoichi Kurisawa 74), Yoshiro Abe, Lucas Severino . Ryo Kushino, Kozo Yuki, Koji Nakashima, Daisuke Saito, Masataka Sakamoto, Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Satoru Yamagishi (Takenori Hayashi 75), Koki Mizuno, (Naotake Hanyu 74), Seiichiro Maki, Mario Haas (Kohei Kudo 84) .

And so, it looks like the J.League title race is going to go right down to the wire, yet again. With three matches remaining, just two points separate the top three teams -- Gamba, Cerezo and Antlers. Urawa Reds are not ENTIRELY out of the running, though it now looks like they will fall a bit short this season. Since one win, either way, separates the top three teams, there is really no way to tell who might be best positioned for the final stretch run. Though Gamba are still on top, they have lost three of their last four matches and certainly do not have the momentum. Cerezo seem to have all the momentum, but they face arguably the toughest schedule (Oita Trinita at home, followed by the Marinos away and FC Tokyo at home). Kashima have been up and down this season, and the roller coaster seems to have taken a dip with the injury to Ogasawara. But after their home match with Yokohama next week, they play two relegation candidates (S-Pulse and Reysol), giving them clearly the easiest run to the wire. At this point, it is impossible to handicap the contest. All we can say is . . . "dont touch that dial".

At the other end of the table, Vissel Kobe have already clinched a spot in the J2 and Verdy are almost certain to join them. The competition for the 16th place spot is still not certain, but it certainly looks like Kashiwa Reysol will claim it for the second year in a row. Last year they managed to cling to a spot in the J1 in their promotion-relegation contest with Avispa Fukuoka. This year, the opponent is likely to be either Ventforet Kofu or Vegalta Sendai, who (for very different reasons) could prove to be a sterner test.

.	Team	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	G.Dif
1	Gamba Osaka	57	31	17	6	8	77	53	+24
2	Cerezo Osaka	56	31	16	8	7	44	36	+8
3	Kashima Antlers	55	31	15	10	6	55	35	+20
4	Urawa Reds	53	31	15	8	8	60	36	+24
5	JEF United	50	31	13	11	7	51	40	+11
6	Kawasaki Frontale	49	31	15	4	12	51	40	+11
7	Jubilo Iwata	45	31	12	9	10	48	40	+8
8	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	43	31	11	10	10	44	39	+5
9	Yokohama Marinos	43	31	11	10	10	37	38	-1
10	FC Tokyo	42	31	10	12	9	39	37	+2
11	Oita Trinita	39	31	11	6	14	39	37	+2
12	Albirex Niigata	39	31	10	9	12	46	57	-11
13	Nagoya Grampus	38	31	10	8	13	42	46	-4
14	Omiya Ardija	37	31	11	4	16	36	47	-11
15	Shimizu S-Pulse	35	31	8	11	12	36	44	-8
16	Kashiwa Reysol	31	31	7	10	14	34	49	-15
17	Tokyo Verdy	26	31	5	11	15	35	66	-31
18	Vissel Kobe	21	31	4	9	18	28	62	-34

Rumours and Rumblings