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March 15, 2008So Much for PredictabilityConsidering how many of our own forecasts have gone astray over the first two weeks of the season, perhaps the Rising Sun News is not in the best position to be criticizing others. However, at least our preseason analysis did point out some of the underlying weaknesses of the Urawa Reds and Gamba Osaka, and discuss the reasons why these two teams might not be as dominant as most of the mainstream sports press asssumed. Of course, our top pick at the start of the season -- Kawasaki Frontale -- has suffered from some of the same problems that we identified in Urawa and Osaka, so we can hardly claim to be any more prescient than the other football forecasters. The important issue to consider right now is not how poor the punditry might have been, but to examine the reasons why clubs like the Reds, Gamba and Frontale are looking so ineffective at the moment, and what they will need to do in order to get their seasons back on track. Some might say that we are overreacting, and that one should not read too much into the results from just two matches. However, the final results only tell half the story. It isnt simply that these three clubs have dropped points to mid-table opposition; they havent even been able to create scoring opportunities. The vaunted Reds offence -- described in awestruck terms by many writers in their preseason analyses -- has gone 180 minutes without finding the net, and Naohiro Takahara has yet to get off a clean shot in the 2008 season. Gamba Osaka also failed to score over the course of their first two matches, and if you throw in their ACL match on Wednesday, they have just one scrappy, deflected, injury-time strike to show for 4 1/2 hours of effort. Kawasaki Frontale at least did manage to score a goal in each of their first two matches. However, none of the goals have come from the team's strikers, who we expected to be the source of abundant offence this season. On the contrary, the "Big Guns" -- Juninho, Hulk, Chong Tese and Kazuki Ganaha -- have all been misfiring, and there has been no hint of cooperation or coordination among the members of the attacking line. There are clearly a number of different factors at work here, and one of them is the simple fact that all players (and all teams) occasionally have a bad outing or two. But if we had to identify one common thread that runs through the performances of the aforementioned three teams, in recent weeks, it would surely be the proverbial "Blind Faith" effect.
 This is a characteristic of Japanese football that the Rising Sun News has been discussing for nearly a decade, and by now we have developed and refined the theory to quite a degree. Simply put, the theory of Blind Faith holds that a football pitch only has room enough to accomodate a certain volume of ego. Onc you reach the point where there are too many egos to fit onto the pitch, the Blind Faith effect kicks in. It doesnt matter how many superstars might be in the lineup, the result is a spectacular flop. Of course, anyone who is a fan of European football will be aware that there is no clear counterpart of the "Blind Faith Effect" in most European leagues. You do occasionally have cases where a particular player -- though clearly talented -- is unable to fit in with a particular team. But this seems to be more a case of poor "chemistry" or just the inability to adapt to a new environment or style of play. In Japan, though, the Blind Faith Effect runs far deeper. Year after year, you see examples where a team of high-priced, highly talented players simply cant function effectively as a group. For all their individual talent, the end result is far less than the sum of the parts In our view, this reflects the nature of Japanese football, and perhaps in some ways the nature of Japanese culture as well. From the time the J.League was founded right up to the present day, the teams that won the titles were generally the teams that had a lot of "Best supporting actors". Oh sure, there are always going to be a few "star" players. But history has shown that the titles usually go to the teams with just one or two "stars", but many talented, hard-working, relatively un-flashy players who make strong contributions to the team while not necessarily gaining a lot of "fame" for themselves. Browsing through the J.League archives, you can look at any title-winning team and instantly spot the sort of players we are referring to: Tsuyoshi Kitazawa, Yasuto Honda, Takafumi Miura, Hiroshi Nanami, Toshihiro Hattori, Teruyoshi Ito, Daisuke Oku and Yasuhito Endo. These players -- and many others who are even less famous -- are the ones that make for a winning team. This reflects the very team-oriented nature of play in the J.League, where passing and quick movement off the ball are the keys to creating offence, while individual dribbling and single-handed efforts are as rare as they are ineffective. Perhaps the finest icon of a "team player" in the J.League was Bismarck Baretto Faria. The slightly-built Brazilian midfielder certainly did not posess the individual skills of many more famous foreigners who have plied their trade in the J.League. He wasnt particularly quick, powerful, or flashy, and though he had sharp passing and dribbling skills, he almost always used them in a supporting role rather than trying to be at the "center of the action". And it is certainly no coincidence that he holds more championship honours than anyone else in League history. He won two League titles, two Nabisco and one Emperor's Cup titles with Verdy, then three league titles, two Nabisco and two Emperor's Cup titles with Antlers. And always, his focus was on how to best help the team, whether it be making an effective pass, chasing back on defence, running into space, or simply acting as a decoy as a teammate made his move. Individual results and accolades never mattered so long as the team came away with a victory. Some may read the above discussion and think we are implying that the 2008 Reds, Gamba and Frontale are a bunch of glory-seeking ball hogs, or something to that effect. That is not the case. The issue here is simply whether or not the players are cooperating well enough with one another to achieve a good team result. Team defences in the J.League are very effective at closing down individual runs. You can see that any time a J.League club faces the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United or Inter Milan. Though they may be outmatched individually, the J.Leaguers usually can contain even the best players in the world, when they try to make individual runs. In order to beat them, the European clubs need to cooperate effectively, stringing together 4-5 passes or runs to create an opening. If the J.League defenders are able to contain individual penetration when the opponent is Christiano Ronaldo, how much easier will it be for them to close off the likes of Naohiro Takahara or Juninho?| For this reason, any time that players start to look for their own chances first, and fail to spot their support; when they stop running after passing the ball, rather than continuing to run into space and draw away defenders; when they miss a shot or give away a pass and then kick the ground in disgust rather than immediately running back to support the rest of the defence, you can tell that the Blind Faith Effect is starting to kick in. We will elaborate on this issue further in our match reports, below. It is certainly possible that the teams mentioned above will respond to their early mishaps by reining in their egos, working harder to develop teamwork and coordination, and starting to play more effective football. However, readers should keep an eye on these teams -- and particularly on the "star" players for Urawa, Kawasaki and Gamba Osaka. Even if they start winning some matches, so long as they continue to play with the sort of scattered, individualistic desperation they have shown over the first two weeks of the season, you can be sure that there will be more problems further down the road.
Of the three "upsets" that took place on Saturday, most people would probably consider the Urawa Reds 0-2 loss to Nagoya Grampus, at home, to be the biggest shocker. However, a closer look at the situation suggests that these two teams were more evenly matched than it might appear at first glance. First of all, a careful look at the Reds lineup shows that the team is not nearly as strong as many people assumed it would be prior to the start of the season. This is partly due to injuries, which have sidelined Robson Ponte and Marcus Tulio Tanaka, but it also reflects some very short-sighted personnel moves in the offseason, compounded by the player selections of coach Holger Osieck.
  0 - 2   As they usually do during the offseason, the Reds opened up their bulging bank account and splashed out money on a number of high-priced players. Though the skills of the individuals they signed are not in dispute, there seemed to be a total lack of strategic thought given to the player acquisition strategy. Both Shinji Ono and Makoto Hasebe -- who shared time with Ponte in the playmaker role last season -- moved to Germany at the end of last year. But while the Reds signed two high-profile strikers ( Naohiro Takahara and Edmilson) as well as two high-profile wing players ( Alex Santos and Tsukasa Umesaki), they did NOT acquire any playmakers. Ponte's injury has certainly exacerbated that oversight, but even if he were healthy, the Reds would still be lacking in good "set-up" men. Coach Osieck has made a bad situation worse by trying to force Nobuhisa Yamada into this position, when probably Umesaki, Tatsuya Tanaka or even Yuki Abe would be better suited to the role. On the other side of the ball, Nagoya Grampus may not be the most flashy and talent-laden club in the J.League, but they do have a lot of young, hard-working team players of the sort we mentioned earlier. Even the team's "stars"-- Frode Johnsen , Magnum Tavares and Keiji Tamada -- are the sort of hard-running, hard-working contributors that help make those around them play better. A lot of people have expressed surprise at National Team coach Takeshi Okada's decision to call up Tamada for Japan's World Cup qualifier against Bahrain, but while Tamada's star had indeed fallen in recent years, he does have an excellent work rate and a streaky ability to produce impressive results when he is on form. Okada, who has always been brilliant at identifying players who are "in good form" and putting them into a match at just the right moment, must have seen something in Tamada's recent play to convince him to call up the veteran striker. And as if to prove the sharpness of Okada's perceptions, Tamada put on a fine show in this match, acting as an unstoppable bundle of energy and perpetual motion that left the Reds defence spinning in disarray. Of course, no matter how competitive a team might be, it always helps to get a few breaks early in a match. Grampus got two critical ones in the opening 15 minutes which really set the tone for the contest. First, about 10 minutes after kickoff and at a time when the Reds were playing reasonably good attacking football, a looping cross from the right wing was flicked on by Edmilson towards the top of the box, where Keita Suzuki was completely unmarked. Suzuki let rip a shot that had everyone beaten, but the ball slammed into the left post and bounded away. As Urawa was still getting over the disappointment of that miss, Magnum Tavares -- probably the most effective player for the Red Whales over their first two matches of this season -- slipped free down the left channel and looped a cross for the far post. Frode Johnsen was isolated one-on-one against the much smaller Yuki Abe, and the Norwegian striker used his height advantage to flick a header into the right corner. This goal provided a huge boost to the Grampus players, while it caused the Reds to begin forcing their play and trying to create brilliant results through individual effort. Takahara was particularly guilty of wasting possession with ill-conceived runs, and not surprisingly, he was benched at half time in favour of Yuichiro Nagai But while that substitution made quite a bit of sense, coach Osieck's subsequent moves were very hard to understand. Throughout his entire tenure he has neglected Tatsuya Tanaka, whose speed, dribbling skill and hard running off the ball might have been able to unsettle the Grampus defence. And when he did finally bring on Tsukasa Umesaki, it was not as a substitute for the ineffectual Yamada, at playmaker, but rather in place of Suzuki, whose ball-chasing in deep midfield was a key to winning the Reds possession. Nevertheless, Urawa did begin to perk up as the second half wore on, and by the hour mark they had Nagoya on the back foot, pressing steadily forward and maintaining a major share of possession. But in the 68 minute a dramatic blunder by keeper Ryota Tsuzuki would put the final nail in the Reds' coffin. After a rare counterattack by Nagoya ended with an overeager pass and an offsides call, awarding the ball to the Reds, Tsuzuki grabbed the ball and tried to put it back into play immediately. He put the ball down quickly and without surveying the situation, kicked it towards Tadaaki Hirakawa on the left wing. But Yoshizumi Ogawa was lurking just a few yards upfield, anticipated the pass, and dashed forward to nick the ball off the shoelaces of the unsuspecting Hirakawa. Since Tsuzuki had come out almost to the edge of the box to put the ball down and take the free kick, the net was completely untended, and Ogawa casually lofted the ball over Tsuzuki's head to extend Grampus' lead to 2-0. Thereafter, Nagoya focused mainly on defence, and holding the ball up in wide areas of the pitch for as long as possible. Urawa continued to enjoy a major share of possession, but now they were even more desperate in their attacking efforts, and that much easier for the Grampus defence to contain. Despite a lot of pressure and a few close calls, the Reds were not even able to claim a consolation goal.
Well, the J.League referees may not be getting much better, but at least television managed to do the right thing, for once, in their coverage of the match between Jubilo Iwata and Gamba Osaka. Gamba are floundering badly at the moment, unable to find any sort of fluidity up front and still quite shaky at the back, so Jubilo really didnt need any assistance from the Men in Black to seize control of this contest. But they did benefit from one missed call that -- for the first time in recent memory -- was actually replayed by the broadcasters several times, and even discussed (albeit in guarded language) by the announcers.
  3 - 0   Lets not get too far ahead of ourselves, however. As we noted at the top of this report, Gamba has looked completely lost on offence over their past three matches, with only one sloppy injury-time goal to show for 4 1/2 hours of effort. The problems that the team is now facing were accurately identified in our preseason analysis of the team. As we have been saying for several years now, Jader "Bare" Spindler is a very one-dimensional player, who can certainly pile up the goals if he has a chance to run at opposing defences, but whose weakness in the air and tendency to lose the ball in traffic make him ill-suited to the sort of football that the rest of the Gamba team plays. To make matters worse, Bare is now paired with another relatively one-dimensional striker, Lucas Severino, who requires a lot of possession and effective service in front of goal to be effective. Once the two (and the rest of the Gamba offence) become fully comfortable with one another, the results may improve a bit. But for the time being, the Osaka Boys' offence looks about as sharp as a plastic knife in a microwave oven. As was the case in the Grampus-Reds match, the momentum of this contest was dictated by an early goal which fired up Jubilo and caused the visitors to start pressing too hard on the attack, rather than taking their time to develop a rhythm. Just 8 minutes into the contest, Jubilo won a free kick about 35 meters out, and level with the right edge of the box. Takahiro Kawamura sent a looping cross towards the near post, and newcomer Hiroki Bandai made a brilliant play, running towards the ball and then stooping low to head it on towards the opposite corner. The keeper was completely screened out as the ball spun up and over his defenders and into the far side netting Then came a call which Gamba fans probably view as the turning point of the match, though based on Jubilo's extremely solid and hard-working performance over the 90 minutes, it probably was not that decisive. With Gamba pressing forward on the attack, a mishit pass in midfield was intercepted by Yuichi Komano and lofted downfield for Norihiro Nishi , breaking away behind the Gamba defence. As Yosuke Fujigaya raced out to try to clear, Nishi turned on the speed, arrived a half-step ahead of the keeper, and nodded the ball on into the box. Just as Nishi rounded the keeper, defender Satoshi Yamaguchi caught up from behind, and bowled him over with a charge from behind. Mr. Hiroyoshi Takayama rushed up and pointed to the penalty spot, while pulling out a yellow card to show to Yamaguchi. To our astonishment (and great appreciation), the NHK broadcasters proceeded to replay the incident from three different angles, allowing everyone to see quite clearly that Yamaguchi had indeed taken Nishi down from behind -- but a good two steps OUTSIDE the box. Unfortunately, the announcers seemed to be completely confused about what they were supposed to say (and why not? This must be the firt time in ten years that a bad officiating call was shown on replay). The result was a lot of hemming and hawing, which gave viewers the idea that the call was mistaken but nor really analyzing it in detail or discussing what should have happened. In all fairness to the referee, his linesman deserved at least half of the blame for getting the call wrong. Because the incident happened on a sudden breakaway, Mr Takayama was still a good 25 yards upfield and sprinting back to try to catch up with the play. By the time he arrived on the scene, Nishi was sprawled out well within the penalty box, so even though Mr. Takayama had done a good job of spotting -- and calling -- the foul, he had no way of seeing clearly where the foul took place. His linesman should have consulted with him and told him it happened outside the box, but apparently, since Mr. Takayama had already pointed to the spot, his assistant was too meek to correct him. Nevertheless, it is only by showing plays like this on video that fans can understand what happened, and not only determine whether or not the call was correct, but also WHY the ref might not have been able to make the right call. After Nishi dispatched his PK, Jubilo rode the momentum in to the locker room, and with Gamba playing like eleven completely independent individuals, there was never going to be a way back. With time running out, Jubilo brought Masashi "Grandpa Gon" Nakayama off the bench for a bit of late-minute drama. As the clock ticked into injury time, Ota made a lovely counterattacking run down the left channel, beat two men and took the ball almost to the left post, forcing the keeper and last defender to come out towards him. With a beautiful bit of selfless play, Ota centred for the completely unguarded Nakayama . . . who proceeded to stumble over the ball and fall flat on his face! Fortunately, Nakayama kept his wits, rolled over on his side and kicked the ball into the open net before the keeper and defence could get back to block it. As decrepit as he may have appeared, Nakayama certainly gave the fans a good show, while boosting his J.League career scoring record to an amazing 157 goals.
The only one of the "big three" teams to even find the net on Saturday was Kawasaki Frontale, and their goal came in the final minute of regulation time, after the result was far beyond doubt. The problems at Frontale appear to be identical to those at Gamba and Reds -- too much individual play and not enough teamwork. However, an additional issue appears to be the balancing act that coach Sekizuka is trying to perform in order to keep all members of his high-powered attack force happy. Prior to the start of the season we thought that the relative youth, and lack of "fame" might allow the team's six (SIX!) scoring aces to keep the battle of egos to a minimum. However, that does not appear to be the case, and it is now apparent that the team's success or failure this year will depend a great deal on coach Sekizuka's ability to select an effective lineup while keeping all members of the team happy.
  4 - 1   Last weekend the coach started Givanildo "Hulk" de Souza, Chong Tese and Juninho as his three strikers, and this week he replaced Tese with Kazuki Ganaha in the front line. In both cases the result was miserable, as the three players all tried to demonstrate their individual gifts rather than working together to break down the opposing defence. It is important to keep in mind that Frontale's defence is relatively brittle to begin with, and that by using a 3-4-3 formation, Sekizuka is taking a risk that his strikers will be able to score with sufficient frequency to offset the team's defensive shortcomings. Lest anyone assume that this was merely Frontale's game to lose, we need to take a close look at the Vissel Kobe team that lined up against them because it illustrates as well as any team in the league, at the moment, the value of teamwork and selfless play. Last weekend Vissel looked a bit ragged, and only managed a draw against FC Tokyo. But with Yoshito Okubo returning to the lineup, the team looked a lot sharper up front, and well balanced as a whole. Though Okubo might qualify as a "star" player, and he certainly has displayed a bit of self-centered destructiveness in the past, the 25-year-old striker seems to have matured in every sense of the word, over the past two seasons. In this contest, in particular, his play was as selfless as any coach could hope for, as he repeatedly showed a willingness to "carry water" for his strike partner Leandro . Meanwhile, the youthful Brazilian seems to be taking his game to a new level as well. Not only did he sparkle in the attack, but he was almost always popping up around the midfield mark to harass the Frontale players in possession. But the key to the team's performance can be found in the contributions of the "nameless" midfield. Players such as Yosuke Ishibitsu and Botti have already demonstrated their value in the team's sojourn in the J2, and its surprisingly strong performance last year, after returning to the J1. But the addition of Korean veteran Kim Nam-il and the contributions of journeyman veteran Seiji Koga have provided a solid platform on which Okubo and Leandro can perform. Vissel appeared to take the lead just a few seconds after the kickoff, as Koga's free kick from the right side found Okubo streaking towards the near post. But the linesman had his flag up (perhaps incorrectly, based on video evidence) and the goal was disallowed. In the early stages of the contest, Frontale had the best chances they would create all afternoon. But Juninho and Hulk each opted to take difficult shots rather than pass the ball to one another when the teammate was wide open in front of net. The result was predictable, and Frontale would not get many more chances as dangerous as those they created in the opening 5-10 minutes. In the 9 minute, the Crimson Tide swept over Frontale's riickety back line, with Botti sliding a through pass to the right edge of the box and Leandro ripping off a shot with his first touch that screeched into the opposite side netting. The remainder of the half was a see-saw battle, with both teams creating opportunities but neither really taking the upper hand. Frontale got their last "big" opportunity with just a few minutes left in the half, but with the keeper beaten, Juninho's shot was cleared off the line by Kunie Kitamoto's leaping header. As the Kawasaki strikers stood around kicking themselves and cursing their luck, Vissel raced up to the other end, and Ishibitsu's low cross from the wing was scrambled across the goal line by Okubo, to provide a huge boost to the home side going in to the locker room. This momentum broke Frontale's focus and the Blue Dolphins became increasingly scattered, individualistic and ineffective as the second half progressed. Less than 10 minutes after the restart, Okubo found Leandro cutting throug the middle and the nimble Brazilian chested the ball down and fired off a shot, all in one smooth move, catching the inside of the left post and extending Vissel's advantage to 3-0. At this point the contest was over as a competitive event, and the linesmen made amends for their earlier mistake by allowing Leandro to complete his hat trick despite being a good two steps offside. Only when Frontale brought on replacements in the attacking line did things finally begin to click. In the final minute of regulation time, substitute Masahiro Ohashi snatched up a deflected shot and fired just underneath the crossbar to pull a goal back for Frontale. But that was not sufficient to efface a thorough beating, which highlights the problems coach Sekizuka may face in trying to get his high-powered strikers to work together rather than competing for the spotlight.
After taking a serious drubbing at the hands of the Antlers, last week, Consadole was eager to rebound in their home opener against Yokohama Marinos. The Dosanko Bragades did their part by turning out in large numbers at Sapporo Dome, packing 25,000+ into the cozy confines of the dome. The task they faced was formidable, as the Marinos were coming off an uplifting victory over Urawa Reds in the season opener. But Consadole are a far more competitive team than their opening week performance might have suggested. The team's scoring ace, Davi do Nascimento probably will not get a lot of help up front, this season, but if he can score with anywhere near the regularity he achieved last season, Consadole have the energy and work ethic to remain right in the fray this season.
  1 - 2   An example of the Hokkaido Snow Owls' hard work and hustle was provided just a few minutes into the match, as Daisuke Sakata dashed behind the defence onto a lead pass from Yuji Nakazawa. After Sakata rounded the keeper, it looked like he had the opening goal in his hip pocket, but Mitsuyuki Yoshihiro raced back in a desperate bid to cut off the shot, and threw himself feet-first across the goal mouth. Sakata cut the ball back behind Yoshihiro, but the young defender -- on loan from Sanfrecce Hiroshima -- somehow managed to contort his body and head the ball off the line, as he slid full-force into the goal post. The Marinos continued to create opportunities, and control the seagull's share of possession, but Consadole hung tough, and kept the Marinos at bay. Then, on the stroke of half time, Davi was able to con the referee into awarding a penalty kick after what appeared to be a deliberate flop in the bottom left corner of the penalty box. However, the kick was taken not by the sure-footed Davi, but by veteran Claiton Fontoura dos Santos -- last seen as a hard-working but ineffective attacking midfielder at Nagoya Grampus, in 2004-05. Claiton does have a very powerful right boot, but his rocked from the penalty spot slammed right into the intersection of post and crossbar and bounded harmlessly away, leaving the match deadlocked at the intermission. Shortly after the restart, Consadole did manage to stake an advantage, when Claiton's cross was chested down by Masaya Fujita for Davi, inside the penalty arc. Davi blasted his shot off the inside of the left post and Sapporo Dome erupted in celebration. For the next 35 minutes the Marinos battled furiously to try to break down the Black-and-Claret barrier that Consadole erected at the edge of their penalty box, but time after time they were unable to finish off their attacks. With five minutes left on the clock, it looked like Sapporo were on the verge of claiming an important win, when suddenly the resistance crumbled and Yokohama surged to the fore. The first blow was struck on a corner kick that Koji Yamase lofted for the far side of goal. Hideo Oshima came surging in from deep in the box and soared high to head the ball inside the back post. This goal seemed to shatter Consadole's confidence, and suddenly the formerly solid and patient defence was scrambling wildly in a panic. A minute later, Yamase sliced through a mob of red jerseys and plasted a shot for the low left corner. Keeper Yuya Sato made a diving save, but failed to hang on to the ball, and Oshima -- lurking in the goal mouth -- stabbed the rebound into the back of the net to give Yokohama a stunning comeback victory.
Oita Trinita have been the surprise package of the J1, thus far, and provide a perfect illustration of why effective cooperation and selfless play often are more important than individual skill. Although Trinita have yet to face a truly "strong" opponent, their two consecutive 2-0 victories place them temporarily atop the league table. Trinita lost some key players at the end of last year -- Tsukasa Umesaki , Masato Yamazaki and Yohei Fukumoto being the most significant departures. The only real acquisitions they made to offset the losses were a rental deal for Akihiro Ienaga (who proceeded to break his leg in spring training camp and get sidelined for at least 3-4 months) and the aging veteran striker Ueslei. But the supporting cast at Trinita is young, hard-working, and highly motivated under the fine tutelage of coach Pericles Chamusca. We have our doubts about how long the team will be able to keep winning with such a young and inexperienced lineup, but the one thing you can say for this group is that they are well-coordinated and accustomed to playing as a team. The core of the squad has been together in either the youth ranks or reserves for three years now -- the span of Chamusca's coaching career -- and they know exactly what the coach expects from them.
  2 - 0   Although Trinita seemed to be on the back foot for most of the first half, they did a good job of containing Reysol's speedy attacking players, and launched some good counterattacks of their own. On the stroke of the half-hour, a long clearance pass from midfield found the big target of Ueslei, posting up at the edge of the Reysol box. Ueslei knocked the ball down to young Mu Kanazaki, a second-year player who has been handed the responsibility for organizing Oita's attack. Kanazaki feinted wide, then cut back to the middle to beat his defender and send a powerful left-footed shot across the face of goal and into the left corner. Reysol responded with a great deal of pressure, and Trinita spent the next 40 minutes or so fending off one attack after another. But scrampling defensive efforts and a few fine saves by U-23 NT goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa preserved the Trinitans' narrow lead. With 15 minutes left on the clock, a long-distance shot by Trinita was deflected high in the air, and Ueslei used his formidable bulk to run right over a Reysol defender and claim the loose ball. The referee turned a blind eye as Ueslei used the bulldozer approach to clear a path for himself, and with his marker lying in a crumpled heap, the big Brazilian had an easy time settling the ball and slamming it past Yuta Minami, to put the contest out of reach.
At a packed Fukuari Stadium, JEF United faced off against Shimizu S-Pulse in a scrappy battle that featured a lot of sloppy passing, disorganised play and wasted effort, punctuated by three of the most impressive goals of the weekend. Things started off with a bang when just eight minutes into the contest, Jungo Fujimoto picked up a loose ball in midfield and began drifting forward with the ball, looking around for support. Seeing no open teammates in the vicinity, Fujimoto decided to take a crack at goal, and let loose a thunderbolt from about 35 meters out. A good play by the keeper might have turned this into a harmless blast, but rather than putting up his fists and just pummeling the ball over the bar, Tomonori Tateishi tried to block the ball and settle it in front of him. However, Fujimoto's shot had plenty of heat behind it ,and it swerved slightly as it approached the keeper, slipping over his glove and just underneath the crossbar.
  1 - 2   JEF was handed a lifeline in the 38 minute when Tatsuya Yazawa wound up for a shot and in doing so, kicked an S-Pulse defender right in the leg, only to be awarded a penalty kick for what was surely a JEF United foul. Seiichiro Maki struck home from the penalty spot and the two teams went in to the locker room on level terms. The contest picked up in the second half right where it had broken off at half time -- in a discontinuous scramble from end to end, with a lot of hard running but not much quality from either side. But with five minutes left in the contest, substitute Shinji Okazaki took his cue from Fujimoto, let loose with a sudden, powerful and unexpected blast from about thirty meters, and sent the ball rocketing into the top left corner.
If the contest between JEF and S-Pulse can be described as "disconnected", then the clash between FC Tokyo and Albirex Niigata at "Big Swan" Stadium was downright bizarre. FC Tokyo roared out of the locker room, slammed three goals past the dazed Swans in the space of just over ten minutes, and turned the packed stands into a deathly silent cavern of steel and concrete. But after their opening salvo, the offensive guns of the Capitol City Blues went suddenly silent, and the remaining 35 minutes of the first half were a sloppy see-saw affair with neither team producing many opportunities.
  2 - 3   Then, as the second half was just starting to develop a rhythm, out of nowhere the Mighty Swans of Niigata rammed in two goals over the space of 29 seconds, temporarily raising hopes of a dramatic comeback. But once again, the sudden explosion produced no lasting momentum, and the contest petered out with Tokyo killing time and stalling play to preserve their narrow, 3-2 victory.
As their main competition stumbles out of the starting gate, the Kashima Antlers now find themselves trotting along smoothly at the head of the pack, following two consecutive shutout victories. Though we would expect the other top competitors to get back on track eventually, they are going to have to be quick about it. Sunday's contest provided strong evidence of how formidable the Antlers are likely to be this season -- not because Kashima were particularly dazzling. They werent. On the contrary, the Antlers had quite a bit of trouble getting their timing down (perhaps due to lingering jet lag or maybe from the change in surroundings from an artificial grass surface and 40-degree heat on Wednesday evening to natural green turf and a mild 19-degree afternoon temperature on Sunday). Whatever the case, Kashima squandered all of their opportunities over the first 45 minutes, and didnt really start to finc their stride until the final 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Tokyo Verdy adopted an almost perfect game play, excecuted it flawlessly, and showed a great deal of hustle for the full 90 minutes. What is likely to concern opposing coaches most is the fact that Verdy did almost everything right . . . and the Thundering Herd of Ibaraki still galloped away to a 2-0 victory.
  0 - 2   Of course, things might have turned out differently if Diego's powerful shot from the edge of the box, 20 minutes from full time had been just a few centimeters to the right. After a lovely exchange of passes around the right edge of the Kashima box, the big Brazilian ace slipped into an open spot just outside the area and Hiroki Kono laid the ball back to him for an open drive. But the shot came back off the crossbar, scotching Verdy's best scoring opportunity of the contest. The first half of this contest was rather uneventful, though probably enjoyable to watch if you were a Verdy fan. Kashima displayed superior sharpness in its passing and ball movement, but Verdy's game plan of keeping a tight formation and using physical strength and pressure to keep the Antlers players off balance was extremely successful in keeping the visitors at bay. Though the Emerald Vultures didnt produce much offence of their own, they did look fairly impressive in midfield. The play of veterans Takashi Fukunishi and Nozomi Hiroyama was particularly impressive, and Verdy were holding their own when the two teams retired to the locker room for the half time break. Yet for all their hard work, the home team still were not able to contain the Antlers completely. As the second half wore on, Kashima started to get closer and closer to connecting on the exchange of passes that would break the back of the Tokyo defence. Recognizing that the match was starting to slip away, coach Hashiratani rolled the dice, gambling that his team could snatch a lead before Kashima's superior ball skills took their toll. Going to his bench, he brought on the speedy Kono in place of Kazunori Iio, and shifted Diego further into the attack, in an effort to create more offensive pressure. The gamble almost paid off, as we described above. For a few minutes Verdy's accelerated attacking pressure had Kashima leaning backward and though the counterattacks by the Antlers strikers found more room to work with, at the 70 minute mark there was a faint indication that Verdy might be able to steal a result. But coach Oswaldo Ardilles responded with the sort of brilliant adjustment that Antlers fans have begun to take for granted, but which few other J.League coaches can match. The veteran strategist insightfully recognised that Verdy were overextended, and the only thing preventing a deadly counterattack was the desperate (and often downright dirty) physical pressure applied by Fukunishi and the Verdy back four, who fouled at will as soon as Kashima cleared their end of the pitch. Oliveira removed Takuya Nozawa and brought on Danilo, whose height and powerful frame would allow him to fight through the challenges. Sure enough, just four minutes after the change, Mitsuo Ogasawara set Danilo loose on a gallop through the middle, with a pinpoint clearance pass. Fukunishi dashed in to close down the play, but rather than flop to the pitch as Nozawa had been doing all afternoon, Danilo bulled his way right through Fukunishi's challenge, and suddenly broke into the clear with both Yuzo Tashiro and Marqhinhos in front of him and only three Verdy defenders back in coverage. Danilo tracked Marquinhos' run and fed him a perfectly timed lead pass that Marquinhos met at the penalty spot, in full sprint. A clever cut to the right left the keeper in the dust, and then it was just a matter of judging the angle and sliding the ball into the untended net before he ran out of room. Verdy tried gamely to get back into the contest, but the opportunity had passed them by. Now the Antlers were able to sit back in coverage, contain Verdy's offensive efforts and then launch homocidal counterattacks one after another. The fatal blow arrived with five minutes left on the clock, and once again it involved Danilo standing firm against a challenge at midfield and then feeding the ball into the open spaces behind the Verdy defence. Masashi Motoyama darted through the middle to collect Danilo's feed, cut back to his right to dissect the defence, and then slid a lead pass to the cutting Marquinhos for another short-range finish. At the end of the contest both announcers, and even coach Oliveira, paid tribute to a gutsy effort by the recently promoted Vultures. But hidden beneath this praise was the implicit suggestion that Verdy had been outmatched from the start, and even a two-goal defeat was somehow worthy of commendation. Naturally the season is just getting started, and the events of the Xerox Cup match suggest that the Antlers are not entirely invincible. Nevertheless, if they keep playing the way they have done over the past ten days, any prospective challengers will have to get their act together as quickly as possible, or they may find themselves left in the dust.
Verdy's play in the opening two matches of the season -- against two teams that are viewed as prospective title contenders -- suggest that the team should be reasonably competitive this season. At the least, they may be able to avoid a relegation struggle. However, Kyoto Purple Sanga claimed the honours as the first newly promoted team to claim an outright victory. Their opponent on Sunday -- Omiya Ardija -- may not be in the same league as the Antlers or Frontale, but nobody in Kyoto will be complaining after the Purple Phoenix staged a second-half comeback to triumph 2-1.
  2 - 1   This contest was closely contested throughout, as both teams displayed a lot of energy and hard work. The scoring was opened just 16 minutes after kickoff, as captain and midfiled general Chikara Fujimoto made a steal deep in Kyoto territory and then led a three-on-two counterattacking rush into the Sanga box, before passing across the face of goal to the unmarked Kota Yoshihara , for the finish. Actually, Yoshihara appeared to get a bit over-eager, and strayed a step offside when Fujimoto released the pass. But fortunately (for Ardija, at least), the linesman stopped chasing what looked to be an easy play for the Mighty Squirrels, and thus was not in position to see the offside alignment clearly. There isnt any excuse for that sort of laziness, but since most of the Sanga players had also given up hope of stopping the Ardija goal rush, nobody complained too loudly. After the opener, Sanga set to work trying to restore parity, and had a slight edge in the run of play, over the remainder of the half. However, despite a lot of hard running, particularly by veteran Atsushi Yanagisawa and young midfielder Hiroki Nakayama, Kyoto could not breach the Ardija defence. Omiya took their lead into the locker room, but it didnt last very long after the restart. At the break, coach Kato took off the still-hobbling Paulinho, who was rather ineffective in the first stanza, and brought on the tall, powerful Yutaka Tahara . This had an immediate impact in terms of creating disarray in the Ardija box, and less than a minute after the restart, a wild scramble in front of goal was settled by Yanagisawa, who lashed out a boot and toed the ball into the back netting. The next 35 minutes were the most entertaining, as both teams aggressively chased the win. Play swung back and forth from one end of the pitch to the other, and though not always impeccable in technical quality, it certainly did not lack for intensity. With just less than ten minutes remaining, midfielder Daigo Watanabe found himself in a pocket of space just above the penalty arc, and decided to try his luck. The shot was well hit, and sudden enough to catch keeper Koji Esumi off guard. Before he could react, Watanabe's shot slipped under the crossbar, and Kyoto emerged with all three points.
Although the season has only just begun, a look at the league table provides quite a shock. If the season were to end tomorrow, the Reds would face relegation. Apparently, that was a good enough excuse to convince the Urawa head office to pull the plug on Holger Osieck, who has never really enjoyed a great deal of support from either fans or players in Saitama but whose success in leading Urawa to the ACL title last year allowed him to keep his job. Last season Osieck clashed publicly with several key players -- most notably Washington and Shinji Ono -- and there were rumours that he was having differences of opinion with some players this season as well. So perhaps it is not that surprising for the Reds' management to pull the trigger so quickly. Still, firing a coach just two weeks into the new season smacks of desperation. Mitigating the shock is the fact that Gert Engels, who enjoys good relations with most players (as well as the fans), will simply step up from the assistant coach position to take over the reins of the team. Nevertheless, it is always a bit of a disruption to change coaches in midseason, and this move certainly will not improve the Reds' chances of claiming the league title this season. Perhaps the management is hoping that Engels can re-organize the team to his satisfaction and get them back to peak performance by the time the Reds join the ACL knockout stages. If so, then at least the team can vie for one high-profile title this year. But if this is the case, then are we to assume that Urawa are already giving up hope of contesting the league title? The one silver lining for Urawa is that two of their top three competitors are languishing right beside them, at the lower end of the table. The only preseason favourite that has made a strong start is Kashima. The Antlers are followed closely -- on goal difference -- by the surprising Oita Trinita as well as the Yokohama Marinos, who were always viewed as a potential dark horse, depending on how well and how quickly coach Kawamura can mold his young charges into an effective team. Apart from Kashima, the only team that is matching pre-season expectations is Consadole Sapporo. As expected, they lie dead last, though the competition they have faced in the opening two weeks has contributed to their weak results.
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