Most of you coming around Japanesesoccer.net are probably familiar with The Rising Sun News, the website about Japanese soccer managed by “Matsu” and active since 2001. Regrettably, the mother of all websites on Japanese soccer is experiencing some technical problems with its server, and while it is still possible for users to brows among its hundreds of pages, the author is prevented from updating it. Thus, until Matsu and the Rising Sun News find a new home, we are happy and proud to host on our blog the ritual weekly commentary on all games played in J1.
Being constrained by the limit of Wordpress (the software we use to run this blog), we can’t provide you with the game data and the table, as Matsu used to do; however such data can be found on the English version of the J.League Official website.
You can contact Matsu by clicking on his email address, at the bottom of the article.
Now, enjoy the ride!
JSnet
Round 23, 22-24 August 2009
The dearth of goals in last Wednesday’s matches had many fans wondering if perhaps the combination of hot summer weather, a busy schedule and accumulating fatigue had sapped J.League teams of their scoring abilities. It certainly seemed that a lot of teams were firing blanks in the midweek matches. But based on the results over the weekend, it would appear that the teams were just temporarily out of ammunition, and they had been forced into a breif cease-fire in order to reload and replenish their scoring weaponry. Once that task was completed, they all let loose with another barrage, and the result was an extremely eventful, high-scoring round of matches. Only two teams in the entire league failed to find the net this week, and it should come as no surprise that both of those teams are now facing relegation danger.
The race for the J.League crown is rapidly turning into a two-horse race, as everyone but Kashima and Kawasaki fall off the pace. The head-to-head clash between the two leaders, on September 12, is shaping up to be the biggest contest of the season. Meanwhile, the relegation picture has not changed much. Both Reysol and JEF seem to be in a position to salvage their places in the J1 if they can start picking up a few points over the next few weeks. Trinita, however, looks well and truly buried.
Both of Japan’s most prolific strikers –Shinji Okazaki and Ryoichi Maeda– found the net on Saturday, joining Juninho (who was surprisingly silent in Frontale’s 2-0 victory) as co-leaders atop the scoring table.
Omiya Ardija- JEF United Chiba 1-1
In one of several matches that have a significant impact on the relegation race, this season, The Mighty Squirrels of Omiya Ardija played host to JEF United Chiba. Omiya entered the weekend just a few points clear of the danger zone, but despite their poor performance in the first half of the season, Ardija has looked a bit more competitive since acquiring Brazilians Rafael and Dudu, who have provided the sharp edge to their attack that has been lacking since Ichikawa was injured way back in April. Omiya has a fairly solid defensive line, and midfielders who are hard-working and determined, even if they lack a bit in the technical area. Looking at the team’s perfornmances over the past two weeks, they really look like a team that should be on safe ground by now. Unfortunately they have dropped points in some matches that they really should have won.
JEF United, on the other hand, have a long history of flirting with relegation but always managing to narrowly avoid the drop. This year was supposed to be different, as Alex Miller came in and promised to change the way the team played football, and lift it out of the low reaches of the table. However, while Miller’s strategy seemed to be a fairly positive one, he unfortunately did not have the players needed to carry out the task. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, “you have to play the match with the players you have, not the players you WISH you had.” The coach paid the price for failure a few weeks ago, when he was relieved and replaced by Atsuhiko Ejiri, a former star midfielder at JEF United in the early years of the league, and one-time assistant coach at Albirex Niisaka. Since that coaching change the team has made a few changes which seem to be long overdue.
The most important change, in our view, has been the decision to give more playing time to midfield general Masaki Chugo (who was inexplicably ignored by Alex Miller). That, and an increased willingness to play the diminutive duo of Masaki Fukai and Kohei Kudoat the same time has given JEF a much more aggressive and hard-running attack. They still have not cured their problems with scoring goals, but they are at least starting to pick up points from other bottom-half opponents. The dogged determination that JEF has displayed in recent weeks was on display in this match as well. For the opening 30 minutes Ardija pounded the ball at the JEF goal, and the Yellow Dogs of Chiba were backed up into their own box in a ferocious defensive struggle. But on one of their first true offensive thrusts of the contest, Chugo fed the ball to Sakamoto on the right flank, and the wingback looped a cross to Neto Baiano, near the penalty spot. The Brazilian youngster won the aerial battle and flicked a header off the keeper’s gloves and into the roof of the net. After the break, Omiya stepped up the offensive pressure even further, and eventually their constant passing and ball movement around the box paid off. In the 67 minute Rafael tallied his first goal in an Omiya uniform with a dribbling drive down the left channel and then a powerful left-footed blast. Though both teams fought desperately over the waning minutes to claim the full three points, neither managed to add to the score, and thus they remained frozen in the same relative positions in the race to avoid relegation.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima-Urawa Reds 2-1
The scene at Hiroshima “Big Arch” Stadium was one that folks in the Chugoku Region have probably not seen since the first few years of the J.League, when Sanfrecce was one of the league’s early powers. The huge concrete half-bowl which gives the stadium its name was filled with colourful red and violet-clad fans, turning out on the final week of summer vacation to catch a football match. The massive, 63,000-seat stadium usually draws barely 10,000 to home games, but this week there were a stunning 40,000 packed into the bowl, creating a colourful carpet that offers a glimpse of what a magnificent venue this COULD be if Hiroshima managed to draw roughly similar numbers on a regular basis.
The Reds entered this contest on a five-match losing streak (six if you include Nabisco Cup contests), and it was not too surprising to see a number of changes in the lineup. Most significant was the insertion of young Sergio Escudero to replace the Scoreless Wonder Boy, Naohiro Takahara. With so many youngsters in the starting lineup for both team,s it was clear from the outset that both would try to use energy and speed to create space and conjure up scoring opportunities. Sure enough, from the outset the two teams raced up and down the pitch at a breathtaking pace. The first goal of the contest arrived in the 27 minute, and was provided by one of Sanfrecce’s Young Guns, Tomoaki Makino, who drifted across the top of the penalty box and unleashed an thunderous blast that hit the top left corner.
The pace never let up even long enough for a celebration. Shortly after the goal, Escudero made a few dangerous runs into the box, culminating in a dangerous corner kick effort. Then Hisato Sato replied with a dash behind the Reds defence and a rising line drive that the keeper Ryota Tsuzuki was fortunate to have come directly at him, rather than off to either side. Just before the break, however, Mikic broke down the right flank with a sudden dash and fired in his cross before anyone could come out to pick him up. A Reds defender blocked the low bounding drive, but the ball fell to Kashiwagi, who poked it into the top right corner to extend the Purple Archers’ lead to 2-0.
Takahara and Tulio took the pitch at half time, both in rather unusual positions. Tulio lined up in deep midfield and took up a playmaking role, largely on the right flank. Takahara lined up alongside Escudero just behind Edmilson as the central striker. The unusual formation –essentially using only two backs– baffled the Sanfrecce players for a while, and for about the first seven minutes the Reds had nearly all of the ball. But after a few minutes they seemed to figure out the formation, tightened up their own defence and pushed two players into positions just behind the Urawa midfield. As soon as a Sanfrecce player won the ball they quickly fed it out to these outlet men and the Purple Archers were off on a galloping break. Though the team is still young, and tends to squander chances with poor decisions, just about any J.League fan would agree that when they have space and numbers, no team looks quite as frightening on the counterattack than Sanfrecce. After three or four such goal rushes (any one of which had a serious chance to produce a third goal), the Reds were forced to put players into a deep defensive midfield spot, marking the outlet men, and the early pressure that Urawa had created lost its intensity.
In the 70th minute, though, Tulio won a free kick about 30 meters out from goal, and Escudero placed the free kick right onto his head for the Reds’ first goal. Over the next 20 minutes the Reds pressed diligently for the equaliser, but Sanfrecce brought on tall defensive reserves to guard against the looping ball into the box, and the speedy feet of the Hiroshima midfielders prevented them from forcing the ball through the middle. No matter what the Reds attempted, they could not break down the opposing defence, and the frustration they must have felt began to get the better of the players.
Down the stretch, we saw a clear picture of why the Reds fail to receive any sympathy from anyone for their current plight. The cheap shots and ill-tempered play from players who ought to be setting an example (including both Tulio and Takahara, as well Escudero, who displayed a mean streak that I never knew he had) made the final few minutes hard to watch for someone who once admired the Pride of Saitama. To top off the display, keeper Tsuzuki walked past Stojanov without the traditional handshake, after the contest, and when Stojanov nevertheless patted him on the back as if to say “no hard feelings”, he rounded on the Sanfrecce defender and had to be restrained by teammates. What a disgusting way to lose your match, your pride, your temper and your self-respect all in one evening.
If coach Finke is still in charge of the team on Monday morning, the first thing ne needs to do is tell the spoiled brats that these embarassing displays will never be tolerated again, and any player who tries to start a punch-up, or deliberately seeks to provoke opposing players will be watching from the stands the following weekend. Some Reds fans –and apparently some members of management as well– seem to think their biggest concernt right now is how to stiffen the defensive line. On the contrary, the real problem with this team is that they have destroyed their own image as a suitable international representative of Japanese football, and as a result, they no longer get the benefit of the doubt from anybody.
Shimizu S-Pulse-Jubilo Iwata 1-1
Though they might not have been able to match the numbers at Hiroshima Big Arch–or for that matter, at Niigata Big Swan Stadium, the 20,000+ who packed Nihondaira stadium to the rafters to watch the Shizuoka Derby certainly did not take a back seat in terms of volume or intensity. The Derby Match between S-Pulse and Jubilo has a stong claim to being the most intense in the J.League at present, and this contest lived up to the billing. The fireworks began almost as soon as the opening whistle sounded, when Shimizu’s Frode Johnsen charged into the Jubilo box and sent a curling left-footed drive just past the right post. However the shot was tipped by a defender and therefore S-Pulse received a corner kick. After the first cross was headed away by a Jubilo defender, Shingo Hyodo sent the second corner kick for the far post where Keisuke Iwashita launched himself feet first into the goal mouth and bundled the ball across the line.
A mere 30 seconds later Jubilo came within milimeters of equalising on a set play of their own, when Norihiro Nishi played a free kick to Kentaro Oi at the top of the penalty arc, and Oi fired a drive that the keeper barely managed to tip around the right post. That miss was critical because S-Pulse immediately threw a counterpunch of their own. Iwashita streaked down the right flank and fired a low line-drive cross for the penalty spot. Takuma Edamura met the ball in full sprint and headed it into the back netting before Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi could even move his feet.
Again Jubilo charged back, but once again luck was not on their side. Ryoichi Maeda slipped free inside the box to pursue a cross from the right wing, but his shot came back off the crossbar. leaving Jubilo still without a tally of their own. Once more, this failure to finish off opportunities was punished severely by the Wingheads, who added a third goal before the half hour mark. Just before the break, however, Jubilo pulled a goal back on a corner kick which was headed on net by Daisuke Nasu and then poked home by Ryoichi Maeda. Unfortunately, Nasu injured himself on that very play, clouding any silver lining that Jubilo might have drawn from the goal.
On the stroke of the hour, Okazaki stole a pass in the Jubilo back line and took off on a dash for the corner, with two teammates in the middle. Kawaguchi saw the numbers and tried desperately to charge out and block the cross, but it bounded through to Edamura who managed to control the ball with an acrobatic pirouette, and then simply passed it into an empty net.
Up to that point the National Team’s ace striker had been a leading provider but had not managed to find the net himself, thus allowing Maeda to slip in front of him in the scoring table. But 15 minutes from time, Okazaki took care of that matter by finishing off the Wingheads’ offensive display. His rising line drive shot eluded Kawaguchi and drove the final nail into Jubilo’s coffin, bringing down the curtain on a very one-sided derby day.
Kashiwa Reysol-Yokohama F Marinos 1-1
Since Nelsinho Baptista took over as the coach of Kashiwa Reysol, in early August, the team has been playing much more effective football. In their match against Yokohama Marinos, at Tokyo’s National Stadium, Reysol ran hard and gave the Marinos perhaps their severest physical test all summer. Yokohama also started off the season a bit sluggishly, but they have managed to move towards midtable thanks to a large number of relatively younger players who are capable of filling a variety of different positions, and a game plan that involves shuffling the lineup and substituting early to ensure that the team always has fresher men on the pitch than the opposing team. Reysol made the Marinos run hard in this contest, particularly in the second half when they were reduced to ten men. However, this was not enough to overcome the energetic play of the Marinos young guns.
The first half was fiercely contested and there was a fair amount of chippy play on both sides. However, referee Hiroyoshi Takayama –one of the “Fantastic Four”– seemed unable to keep the contest under control. After the break, the Marinos stepped up the pace and seemed to be on the verge of breaking Reysol’s hard press. But on the stroke of the hour, as Koji Yamase burst into the clear, a Reysol player hauled him down from behind and to everyone’s amazement, Mr. Takayama walked up to brandish a yellow card at . . . Yamase, for “siumulation” (as we have noted in the past, Mr. Takayama ought to be carded for “simulation”every time he appears at a J.League match, since he obviously is faking when he pretends to be a competent and unbiased referee). This was Yamase’s second booking, and thus the Marinos were reduced to ten men. But despite being shorthanded, the Marinos continued to charge forward, and in the 72 minute Takanobu Komiyama sliced through the left channel and fired a grounder that just eluded the keeper’s fingertips and caught the base of the right post, bounding into the net. The Marinos continued to pour forward even after claiming the leaqd, and only some excellent work in the net by Takanori Sugeno prevented a second Marinos goal. Reysol continued to press for the equaliser, and with just three minutes left they got a big break. Franza and Kurokawa combined to turn the right flank and Kurokasa’s rolling ball across the face of goal clipped Yuji Nakazawa’s heel and bounded into the net for an own goal.
Albirex Niigata-Kyoto Sanga FC 1-1
In Niigata, another one of the teams chasing a spot in the ACL stumbled, as the Mighty Swans ogf Niigata were grounded by a physical and hard-working Kyoto Sanga who managed to pick up their first win away from home this season. After almost 45 minutes of rather closely matched but largely uneventful play, Albirex took the lead on a remarkable stroke of luck, when Marcio Richardes fired off a shot from the edge of the box and it bounded off a Kyoto player’s shoulder, completely fooling the keeper and bounding softly into the left side of the net.
Shortly after the break, however, Kyoto equalised on a set play that was a bit fortunate as well. After Hayashi dove blatantly to win a free kick just above the right corner of the box, Diego sent the ball for the left post where Lee Jung-soo headed it off the base of the post. Fortunately, Sidiclei was drifting in at the v ery back of the play and managed to flick it home.
As the second half reached its midpoint, the home team started to make a concerted offensive push, searching for the lead. But another set play would give the Purple Gang the next big opportunity. After winning a corner kick on the left side, Diego sent a curling corner kick to Kim Seung-Yong, who leapt high to head the ball into the back netting. Thereafter, Albirex seemed to lose the plot, and it was actually Kyoto who had the better chances to score down the stretch. But the match ended without any further scoring, and Albirex slipped out of the top-three for the first time this season.
Gamba Osaka-Nagoya Grampus 2-3
In probably the most dramatic contest of the weekend, Gamba Osaka and Nagoya Grampus took turns dominating play for 45 minutes each. When the dust cleared at Kanazawa Stadium, Grampus emerged as the late . . . . and I do mean LATE… victors.
At first glance it might seem rather odd that Gamba Osaka and Nagoya Grampus would play a league match on the last weekend of summer in the Japan Sea-coast town of Kanazawa, a good four- or five-hour train ride from either Osaka or Nagoya. Although it might make sense to try to escape the stifling heat of the city for a town that offers relatively cool breezes and low humidity, more than a few people wondered if the two teams would be able to draw much of a crowd at a stadium so far from their home territory. But to our surprise, Kanazawa Stadium was filled to near-capacity with over 30,000 fans–more than either Osaka’s “Banpaku” Stadium or Nagoya’s Mizuho Stadium can accomodate even when every ticket is sold. Though the crowd was not particularly noisy (perhaps because they hadn’t decided which team to support), it did provide a very good setting for a match that both teams view as important in trying to move back into the top tier of J1 teams before the end of the season. Gamba, who were officially the “home” team, took control of the contest at a fairly early point. After some dangerous chances at both ends in the opening ten minutes or so, Yasuhito Endo got the scoring started when he received a drop pass inside the penalty arc, faked a shot to freeze his defender, and then stepped into a lane to curl a left-footed shot into the top right corner. Nagoya, who were without Josh Kennedy, their big target man in the middle, did a pretty good job of moving the ball into the corners, but then were unable to do anything with it to create a shot. Both Magnum and Keiji Tamada kept cutting into the box looking for a low inlet pass but the balls sent in over the top were easily cleared by Gamba’s defence. Just before the break, Lucas broke free down the right channel on a quick counterattack and before the defence could cut down his angles, he slipped a rolling shot past the keeper that just managed to catch the left post and bound into the net.
If the first 45 minutes was largely dominated by Gamba, the second half brought a much more inspired performance from Grampus, who brought in Yuki Maki to serve as the target man in front of net. With 15 minutes remaining Maki sprinted around the left flank and as he turned towards the post he collided with a Gamba defender and flopped to the turf. He was awarded a penalty kick, and stroked it home, to pull Grampus within a single goal. Moments later Maki made another drive into the box and again went to ground after making contact with a Gamba player. While it looked like he embellished the contact, some referees might have awarded a PK. But this time Mr. Matsumura was having nothing of it, and he waved off the frantic appeals from the Nagoya players.
As the clock moved into its final ten minutes Gamba seemed to run out of gas, while Grampus pressed forward with even greater intensity. In the 81 minute the pressure finally paid off as Keiji Tamada. The contest closed out in a flurry of fouls and collisions, with Gambsa picking up several late yellows and the four minutes of extra time awarded stretched to six. With 96 minutes and 40 seconds on the clock, Nagoya won a free kick about 40 meters out and Magnum took the kick. Gamba keeper Matsuo sprinted off his line apparently intending to punch the ball clear, but he misjudged the flight of the ball and it ended up just clearing his fingertips. As the ball bounded into the net, the Gamba players heads all dropped, while Nagoya burst into wild celebrations. Magnum, in particular, was so overjoyed that he threw his uniform into the crowd, and promptly received his second booking of the match. While the letter of the law does state that this is justified, we thought Mr. Matsumura went a bit too far, since the contest was obviously over and Magnum’s feelings can easily be appreciated by any true football fan.
In any event, it was clear from the disparity in play over the two halves that lack of conditioning and fatigue were what killed the Osaka Boys, but coach Nishino has few options to call upon in order to give his veteran (and clearly feeling their years) starting lineup a rest. While not quite “dead”, Gamba’s hopes of catching up and claiming an ACL berth are starting to fade.
Kashima Antlers-FC Tokyo 3-1
The Antlers have been struggling on offense in recent weeks and needed to rediscover their shooting touch. This match certainly gave them the opportunity. Just a few minutes after the kickoff Toru Araiba charged down the left sideline and as he neared the corner flag hi fired a bounding cross in front of net. Danilo had slightly overrun the play but he managed to swivel his body and get a foot on the ball, to send it bounding towartds goal. Fortunately, the keeper had overreacted as well, and was unable to scramble back to the near post and keep the ball from bounding across the line.
FC Tokyo, who are still playing without their talismanic right wing Naohiro Ishikawa, responded to this early goal by compressing their formation and moving everyone –even the defenders– forward to the Antlers half of the field. This created a lot of pressure on the Kashima goal, but it also backfired by opening up space for a counterattack. At the 20 minute mark, as Tokyo pressed furiously in search of the equaliser, keeper Hitoshi Sogahata scooped up a loose ball and immediately released a booming punt into the Tokyo end. Marquinhos took off from the midway stripe, thus avoiding an offside call, and outran Bruno Quadros to catch up with the ball just outside the box. With his first touch, Marquinhos flicked a gentle lob over the stranded keeper which landed softly in the back of the net.
The second goal put Tokyo’s backs to the wall, and they responded with a great deal of intensity and pressure–perhaps a bit too much in the eyes of some. Both Cabore and Sota Hirayama clashed with Kashima players in incidents which surely would have earned them a booking, or perhaps even a red card if they had been playing any team other than the Antlers. We have had a few words about this apparent double standard in officiating before, but rarely has it been so clearly apparent as during the first half of this contest. It wasnt so much that the referee, Mr. Nishimura, was trying to fix the contest for Tokyo. However, it was clear that he adopted a standard that allowed players to get away with a lot more physical contact and “rough play” than is usually permitted in J.League matches. The Kashima players are accustomed to this treatment by now, and generally manage to ignore the rough stuff and get on with the match. However, the impact of the “Kashima Standard” of officiating is starting too take its toll, in a number of recent minor injuries suffered as a result of hard collisions.
Naturally, everyone wants to see the league title chase remain close until the final weeks of the season, so it is understandable that a team with a bit of a lead at the top of the table tends to get fewer calls than one at the lower end (a principle which holds true regardless of whether it is Kashima, or some other team, that is leading the chase). However, this year the officials seem to be going a bit too far in giving the underdogs “the benefit of the doubt”. At the end of the first half, after a string of very soft foul calls to award Tokyo free kicks in the Antlers end, the Antlers fans behind goal began crowding forward towards the barrier and shouting their pointed opinions at Mr. Nishimura. Many readers will recall that Mr. Nishimura’s apalling mishandling of the Xerox Cup match in 2008 prompted a pitch invasion by Kashima fans–not the sort of incident that the league will want to see repeated.
Midway through the second half rookie Yuya Osako came on as a substitute, and within just a few minutes he had extended the Antlers’ lead. Once again, Araiba created the opening with penetration down the left wing, and his cross for the near post was met by Marquinhos, who saw that hehad no shot and instead flicked the ball towards the far post. Osako, who was lurking a few steps behind the play, dashed forward to head the ball in through the back door.
With 10 minutes left penetration in the right channel and a centering pass to Cabore at the penalty spot. Cabore spun and fired into the roof of the net to give Tokyo a colsolation goal, but that was all the visitors would manage in this contest.
Kawasaki Frontale-Montedio Yamagata 2-0
In Kawasaki, the Blue Dolphins of the Kanagawa maintained pace with the league leaders, posting a comfortable win over Montedio Yamagata. They never seemed to move out of second gear, but coasted to victory all the same. Midway through the first half, Hiroyuki Taniguchi burst through the middle and fired a right footed blast past the keeper. Just a few minutes later the Montedio defence was caught ball-watching as Juninho looped a ball to Taniguchi on the left side of the box and the midfielder headed it down towards the goal mouth. Young Yusuke Tasaka was cherry-picking at the edge of the six-yard box, and though it was a narrow call, the linesman decided to keep his flag down as the youngster stepped forward and tapped the ball in from point-blank range.
There followed about 70 minutes of rather uneventful football. Montedio worked hard, and managed to hold their own despite never really threatening to score. Frontale, for their part, were able to maintain the comfortable lead without exerting themselves much. It was only in the final five minutes or so that Frontale put on a late burst in an effort to extend the lead. But some fine stops by the keeper preserved the 2-0 score line and Kawasaki claimed a pedestrian victory.
Oita Trinita-Vissel Kobe 0-2
Played on Monday – sorry, no commentary
Matsu
kenmatsushima@hotmail.com
For those of you nostalgic or curious, here is the chance to download and watch the first J.League proper game. Played on May 15th, 1993, Yokohama Marinos-Verdy Kawasaki captures all the enthusiasm of the early days of Japanese Professional soccer. You have the chance to see Kazu Miura in action before he performed in front of less than 1,500 fans (that was the attendance at a Yokohama FC game yesterday), and to check out how Marinos’ shorts were… short! Enjoy!
