Japanese Soccer News 3 - June 2003

Japan National Team

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On June 8th Japan hosted Argentina in a friendly held at Osaka's Nagai stadium in the first of two matches in the annual Kirin Cup.The Blues were overwhelmed by the guests and lost 4-1. Coach Zico's continued use of aging and ineffective Masashi Nakayama is raising eyebrows. Clearly past his prime, "Gon" Nakayama spent the first half of the match jogging around the field rarely touching the ball. On the rare occasion when he did get near the ball, he was stripped or nullified. Ironically, perhaps the only bright spot for Japan in the home thrasing was Nakayama's hamstring injury: this gives Zico no choice but to insert Yoshito Okubo up front. Okubo is a tiny and talented forward whom many see as the future of Japanese soccer.

Three days later, on June 11th, Japan was held to a draw against Paraguay at Saitama Stadium. But for a glaring miss by converted left back Alessandro Santos, the naturalized Brazilian--who missed from point blank range--Japan would have given Zico his first home win. Paraguay fell back into a zone defense and held on for a tie. The brightest light was the aforementioned Okubo, who in addition to having a goal annulled when he was called just offside, was a constant threat. Strike partner Naohiro Takahara, in contrast, was silent for much of the game.

Following these matches, the Japan team decamped to Paris for the Confederations Cup. Japan was grouped with host France, Colombia, and New Zealand. In the opening match, Japan overwhelmed the much slower-paced Kiwis 3-0. Shunsuke Nakamura got on the scoresheet twice, Hidetoshi Nakata once with a brilliant strike from outside the box. Japan dominated and came away with a good win, much to the relief of Coach Zico. However, forwards Okubo and Takahara failed once again to find the net.

In the second match, on June 20th, Japan fell to France's B team 2-1. With the exception of captain Robert Pires, France fielded a team of second-string national players. Japan conceded a penalty in the first half, which Pires stroked home. In the second half, Shunsuke Nakamura tied things with a lovely 25 meter free kick. Several minutes later Sidney Govou put the defending champions up by one. In all fairness, Japan more than held its own. Several close misses and a yellow card for Junichi Inamoto--for the above penalty--added to the squad's frustration. Coach Zico complained bitterly about the quality of officiating, likening Japan to Spain in the World Cup.

Hidetoshi Nakata

Needing only to tie against Colombia to go through to the second round, Japan came out flat. In the final game of the first round for both teams, Colombia dominated early on. Without the services of Inamoto (two yellow cards) and Nakamura (ankle injury), Japan's midfield lacked cohesion. And, once again, the frontline duo of Yoshito Okubo and Naohiro Takahara failed to score. The latter came close twice--heading into the post and, latter, hit just wide--but ended the tournament without a goal.

With Japan starting to look dangerous in the second half, defender Tsuneyasu Miyamoto made a fatal error. Deep in the Japan end, he casually attempted to backheel a pass to teammate Yasuhito Endo. The poorly played ball was intercepted by Victor Aristizabal, who dribbled to the edge of the box where he fed forward Giovanni Hernandez. Hernandez spun two defenders and fooled goalie Seigo Narazaki with a low shot into the corner of the net. Result: 1-0 Colombia, end of tournament for Hide Nakata et al, not a single goal from the frontline, and disappointing return to Japan.

As the Japanese media have noted, the clock is ticking for Zico--whose hair is reportedly falling out in chunks as a result job-related stress. If the national side does not begin to post results--wins--a much balder Zico and his brother and assorted relatives and hangers-on could be headed back to Brazil. While avoiding direct criticism of Zico, the Asahi Shinbun, among others, called Japanese players "naive" and weak. The article concluded, if national team members can't "break out of their shells," the team will never make it to the top tier of world soccer.

In other news, the Japan Football Association announced in late June that Japan would play Nigeria in a friendly at Tokyo's National Stadium on August 20th. Scheduled to play earlier in June, the Nigeria government forbade its national side from traveling to Japan due to fears over SARS.

J.League

Gert Engels

The top division of the J.League has been off since matches on May 24th. The second stage will see games resume on July 5th. In the interim, there has been some off-field movement. In particular, the sudden sacking of Kyoto Purple Sanga's Head Coach Gert Engels caught J.League watchers by surprise. Though the team fared badly in the first half of this year's season, Engels led a poorly-funded team out of J2 in one year and took the team to a very respectable fifth place finish its first year in the top division. Then, on January 1st, Sanga won the Emperor's Cup. Six months later, Engels is gone.

On the other side of Honshu, in Yokohama, F Marinos annulled the contract of Cafu, Brazil's captain. The AS Roma left back had signed a contract and was set to transfer to Yokohama F Marinos in July in a two-and-a-half year deal worth $3.5 million. However, perhaps because of the SARS scare, perhaps because of an offer from AC Milan, Cafu reneged on the deal and is set to stay in Italy. Marinos have received damages for breach of contract.

Kashima Antlers forward and former national team member Atsushi Yanagisawa will move to Sampdoria in Italy's Serie A in a one-year loan deal starting July 6th. The Genoa-based club will pay Yanagisawa $350,000 with the option to sign him in a full transfer.

2003 All-Japan AET Soccer Tournament

The fourth annual All-Japan AET Soccer Tournament was held in Sugadaira, Nagano, over the second weekend of June. In a tournament featuring twenty men's teams and ten women's teams, Osaka took honors in the men's division by defeating Saitama 1-0 in the Final. Hyogo placed third, with Gunma rounding at the top of the table. In the Plate Division, Kyoto won on a one-on-one shootout over Ibaraki. In the women's division, Toyama downed Nagano 3-2 to win it all. In the Plate Division, Yamanishi defeated Shizuoka in a traditional penalty shoot-out after the game ended in a goalless tie. The majority of the players on most teams are AETs in local areas. The tournament provides a chance to meet their peers and have fun in a lovely mountain setting. In the words of the sponsor, "It was a great footballing spectacle and everybody enjoyed the socializing, especially at the party on the Saturday night." According to organizer Andre Baladi, another tournament is set to be held this October and there are even plans afoot to split the tournament in to East and West finals with the western conference playing on Awaji island, the base for England's team at the 2002 World Cup.

J.League 2003 Schedule, Division 1, 2nd Stage (July & August)

JULY

05 July Saturday

Kashima Antlers 5-2 Jubilo Iwata
Urawa Reds 2-1 Oita Trinita
Kashiwa Reysol 0-2 JEF Ichihara
Shimizu S-Pulse 0-1 Yokohama F. Marinos
Nagoya Grampus 1-1 Kyoto Purple Sanga
Vissel Kobe 4-3 Gamba Osaka

06 July Sunday

FC Tokyo 2-0 Sendai Vegalta
Cerezo Osaka 0-2 Tokyo Verdy

12 July Saturday

Urawa Reds vs FC Tokyo
JEF Ichihara vs Sendai Vegalta
Tokyo Verdy vs Kashiwa Reysol
Yokohama F. Marinos vs Kyoto Purple Sanga
Shimizu S-Pulse vs Kashima Antlers
Vissel Kobe vs Nagoya Grampus

13 July Sunday

Gamba Osaka vs Cerezo Osaka
Oita Trinita vs Jubilo Iwata

16 July Wednesday NABISCO CUP

Urawa Reds vs Vissel Kobe
Tokyo Verdy vs Jubilo Iwata
Vegalta Sendai vs FC Tokyo
Yokohama F. Marinos vs Kashiwa Reysol
JEF Ichihara vs Gamba Osaka
Kyoto Purple Sanga vs Nagoya Grampus

19 July Saturday

Vegalta Sendai vs Tokyo Verdy
Kashima Antlers vs Vissel Kobe
FC Tokyo vs Shimizu S-Pulse
Nagoya Grampus vs Gamba Osaka
Kyoto Purple Sanga vs Oita Trinita
Cerezo Osaka vs Yokohama F. Marinos

20 July Sunday

Kashiwa Reysol vs Urawa Reds
Jubilo Iwata vs JEF Ichihara

26 July Saturday

Urawa Reds vs Vegalta Sendai
Kashiwa Reysol vs Jubilo Iwata
Shimizu S-Pulse vs JEF Ichihara
Nagoya Grampus vs Tokyo Verdy
Gamba Osaka vs Yokohama F. Marinos
Vissel Kobe vs Oita Trinita

27 July Sunday

Kashima Antlers vs Cerezo Osaka
FC Tokyo vs Kyoto Purple Sanga

AUGUST

02 August Saturday

Vegalta Sendai vs Kashiwa Reysol
JEF Ichihara vs Urawa Reds
Tokyo Verdy vs Gamba Osaka
Yokohama F. Marinos vs Vissel Kobe
Jubilo Iwata vs FC Tokyo
Kyoto Purple Sanga vs Kashima Antlers
Cerezo Osaka vs Nagoya Grampus
TrinitaOita vs Shimizu S-Pulse

09 August Saturday

JOMO ALLSTAR SOCCER - J.East v J.West
Sapporo Dome

16 August Saturday

Kashima Antlers vs Nagoya Grampus
FC Tokyo vs Cerezo Osaka
Urawa Reds vs Jubilo Iwata
Kashiwa Antlers vs Kyoto Purple Sanga
Yokohama F. Marinos vs Tokyo Verdy
Shimizu S-Pulse vs Vegalta Sendai

17 August Sunday

Gamba Osaka vs Trinita Oita
Vissel Kobe vs JEF Ichihara
JEF Ichihara vs Gamba Osaka
Jubilo Iwata vs Shimizu S-Pulse
Nagoya Grampus vs FC Tokyo
Kyoto Purple Sanga vs Urawa Reds
Cerezo Osaka vs Kashiwa Antlers
Trinita Oita vs Yokohama F. Marinos

24 August Sunday

Vegalta Sendai vs Vissel Kobe
Tokyo Verdy vs Kashima Antlers

30 August Saturday

Kashima Antlers vs Trinita Oita
Urawa Reds vs Vissel Kobe
Kashiwa Reysol vs Gamba Osaka
FC Tokyo vs Yokohama F. Marinos
Shimizu S-Pulse vs Tokyo Verdy
Nagoya Grampus vs JEF Ichihara
Kyoto Purple Sanga vs Jubilo Iwata
Cerezo Osaka vs Vegalta Sendai

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