But everything else about the picture that greeted fans, as the 2006 J.League season kicked off, seemed very different indeed from the situation just one year ago. Although we noted, in our Xerox Cup report last season, that the J.League was entering a new era, even we were not aware of just how much would change in terms of the balance of power. Three of the league's most established clubs -- Verdy, Kashiwa Reysol and Vissel Kobe -- are battling it out in the second division this season, along with fresh-faced newcomers with names like Tokushima Vortis, Thespa Kusatsu and Ehime FC. Meanwhile, some of the top candidates to claim the J1 championship this season will be teams who have historically been viewed as also-rans -- not only Gamba and Reds, but also JEF United, Cerezo Osaka, FC Tokyo and Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Yes, it is a new era indeed, and the opening match of the new season provided a good picture of the sort of fast-paced, high-scoring football that we can look forward to in the coming year.

One of the subplots to this match was the fact that the same two teams will face off next week, in the true season opener, and this contest provided an opportunity for both sets of players and coaches to measure up an opponent which is likely to be one of their main rivals for the league championship. Reds fans were naturally eager to see their team in action for the first time since the addition of top guns like Washington and Shinji Ono, and those who back other teams besides Urawa or Osaka were probably just as interested to see how good the Reds really are. Though the sports press in Japan often goes overboard in building up a "preseason favourite", for the first time we have the sense that the hype may be justified. The Reds do inded look like a formidable team, at least on paper. We suspect that More than a few "neutral" fans were watching this match and hoping to see a Gamba victory, if only to provide some indication that the reds are not as "unbeatable" as the preseason prognosticators have suggested.

Well, the good news for those who support any one of the other seventeen J1 teams is that the Reds are still "a work in progress". They spent long stretches of this match trying to figure out what their teammates would do with the ball. Passing was occasionally erratic, and there were many occasions when they seemed to misread their defensive assignments, allowing Gamba players to find free space, particularly on the wings. Gamba was slightly below full strength (national teak members Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and Akira Kaji started on the bench, as coach Nishino apparently wanted to rest them ahead of their trip to Germany, tomorrow), yet still managed to control possession and create quite a few good scoring opportunities.

The bad news is that, if the Reds can win matches THIS easily when they are still unfamiliar with their teammates, and unsure of their responsibilities and assignments on the pitch, what will opposing teams do later in the year, when they start to find their rhythm? To say that this was a one-sided contest would be a bit like saying that Japanese politics are petty. The Reds scored all four of the goals in this match, and despite some late pressure by Gamba, after Washington, and NT members Shinji Ono and Alex Santos had been substituted out, they really never even came close to hitting the Urawa net.

As we warned in our preseason analysis of the Reds, the defence does have a tendency to miss assignments, and get pulled out of position. Yet the speed of defenders like Marcus Tulio Tanaka and Keisuke Tsuboi allowed them to chase back and turn away Gamba's offensive thrusts, time after time. And that certainly was not because Gamba's strikers, Fernandinho and Magno Alves, lacked speed of their own. They just couldnt manage to win the footraces on the flanks, and get their crosses into the box. The only real success that Gamba had on offence came on individual penetration moves by Akihiro Ienaga, and later in the contest, by Ryuji Bando who came in as a late substitute at right wing. But these attacks all came to naught, thanks to good group efforts by the Reds, in covering up the middle, and some solid work in net by Ryota Tsuzuki.

On offence, meanwhile, the Reds were often disjointed and out of synch with teammates, but their lack of rhythm and team coordination was not enough to mask the awesome offensive capabilities of the individual players. At times, Shinji Ono seemed to be simply toying with the Gamba defenders, and Washington had several opportunities to demonstrate his power on the ball. Makoto Hasebe is likely to be an ideal understdy to Ono at attacking midfield. His own skills with the ball are already impressive, and it is clear that he is already learning from the master how to slice open defences with a clever pass. And when you add the balletic dribbling contributions of Robson Ponte to the mix, the result is an attacking line that can create goals out of thin air, at any time. One can only imagine what this attacking line will look like once Tatsuya Tanaka returns to full health.

It did not take long for the Reds to show what sort of capabilities the offensive players have, individually. Immediately after the opening kick, Ono took the ball down the left sideline, waltzed between two defenders as if they were plastic pylons on the training pitch, and turned towards the box. Only a desperate clearance over the end line by Tomokazu Myojin (who had a good outing in his first appearance for Gamba) prevented a dangerous shot. The subsequent corner kick was headed on net by Washington, and though keeper Yosuke Fujigaya was perfectly positioned to snatch the ball out of the air, the Reds had their first shot on net with less than a minute elapsed.

However, the Reds' defensive frailties were on display just a minute later, when Gamba won a corner kick of their own, and the ball soared to the far post, where Tsuboi got caught backpedaling and off balance. He would have been better off letting the ball bounce through, but none of his teammates let him know that there were no Gamba players on his back. Instead, he tried to take a stab at the ball and poke it over the end line. But he was off balance and mishit the ball, sending it into his own net, instead.

Despite this unfortunate start, the Reds maintained their concentration, and went right back to work where they had left off. Following some more pressure on the wings (particularly the left side), Urawa won another corner kick in the 9 minute, and this time it was defender Satoshi Horinouchi who met the ball with a running header at the far post and sent it into the roof of the net. The Reds pressure continued, and though a number of promising opportunities went astray due to missed connections and poor communication, the individual dominance of players like Ono, Washington and Hasebe had Gamba clutching and grabbing to try to stay in the contest. In the 17 minute, Ono finally managed to get through on the hotline to Washington, sending a sudden through pass that Sidiclei managed to deflect, but not block. Washington chased down the loose ball, measured the keepern and then slotted his shot low into the left corner, to give Urawa the lead.

Thereafter, the Reds seemed to take their foot off the accelerator, but they continued to produce the more dangerous scoring chances, even as Gamba gained an advantage in time of possession. Shortly after the break, Washington demonstrated his value in the high post as a looping ball came to him inside the penalty arc, and he headed it down, retreating a step or two to collect it and try to clear some space. All three of Gamba's defenders followed, leaving the penatly box completely empty. Santos came dashing in from the left, reaching the ball a half-step ahead of Washington, and spied Ponte making a cut on the opposite side of the box. A quick slant pass put the ball onto Ponte's bootlaces, and the Gamba defensive line was left stranded in the shadow of Washington, while Ponte sashayed unmolested to the penalty spot, before tucking the ball underneath the keeper.

Not long afterward, coach Buchwald rotated his national team members out, and brought in a more defensive lineup, to preserve the lead. At about the same time, coach Nishino brought on Ryuji Bando and Akira Kaji, which added some speed and crispness to the attack. As a result, Gamba dominated play for much of the second half. However, the Reds responded effectively to the pressure, sagging back and soaking up the pressure. The result was a lot of Gamba possession but not very many scoring opportunities. Bando managed to slip behind the defence two or three times, but one each occasion, either Tsuboi or Tulio managed to dash back and cut him off before he could get a shot on net. In the end, Gamba had to admit defeat, and the Reds captured the first prize of the new season, lifting the Xerox Cup for the first time in the team's history.

Date: 25 February, 2006		Location: Tokyo National Stadium
3	2 1H 1 1 2H 0	1
Horinouchi (09') Washington (17') Ponte (51')	Scoring	Own Goal (02')
Sidiclei Akira Kaji	Cautions	Keita Suzuki Robson Ponte
Lineups: Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Satoshi Horinouchi, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe, Keita Suzuki, Alex Santos (Hajime Hosogai 73), Shinji Ono (Tomoyuki Sakai 79), Robson Ponte, Washington (Yuichiro Nagai 73) .
Yosuke Fujigaya, Tomokazu Myojin, Sidiclei, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Shinichi Terada (Akira Kaji 62), Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Akihiro Ienaga, Takahiro Futagawa (Ryuji Bando 62), Fernandinho, Magno Alves .

J2 Preseason Forecasts

Rumours and Rumblings

Hirayama Hustled by "Personal Manager"

But it seems that Mr. Shimada wanted to keep collecting from this golden goose, even after his services were not complete. Though the details of the arrangement are still being investigated, it appears that he helped Hirayama set up his bank account, to which Heracles paid his salary, and arranged an automatic fund transfer which sent 10 percent of Sota's wages -- about 3000 euros a month -- to his own bank account. Last week, when Sota's mother visited her son in Holland, the Hirayamas were taken to dinner by Heracles chairman Jan Smit and the assistant trainer, Hendrie Kruezen. During dinner, it emerged that Hirayama had not been getting as much money as he thought he would receive. It also emerged that Hirayama was growing suspicious of Shimada, and was "having problems" with the so-called "personal manager". An investigation of the bank payments revealed that Shimada had been skimming Hirayama's salary, and that he had also pocketed payments from newspapers and TV broadcasters for interviews and appearances, never telling Sota that he would be paid for these appearances.

The investigation of Shimada's shady scheme is still under way, and Heracles has told local reporters that neither the club nor Hirayama will talk about the issue until the investigation is complete. There have been some reports that Shimada returned some of the money, and made an effort to resolve the "misunderstanding", but from the information that has been confirmed, it sounds like this was a confidence scheme that Shimada was running at Sota's expense, and not just some misunderstanding. The Rising Sun News has also seen some unofficial comments which suggest that the "manager trouble" has been affecting Hirayama's play, recently.

It is hard to think of an appropriate comment to make, in response to this news. When a young football player moves to a strange country, doesnt speak the language and is unwary of the risks, no doubt he is an easy mark for unscrupulous people such as this Shimada character. Perhaps in some way Sota is at fault for being too naiive and trusting. But that doesnt change the fact that Shimada is the lowest of scum, and deserves to be strung up by the heels from the crossbar at Polman Stadium so that Hirayama, his teammates, and every football fan in the Netherlands can take shooting practice.

Take that, scumbag!