J-League News May 2012
Mike Tuckerman
Maybe it's the odd-looking league table or the fact the baseball season is in full swing. Or perhaps it's the rapid-fire hiring and firing of coaches – a most European trait currently doing the rounds in Japan. Whatever the reason, this year's J. League campaign has an unusual feel to it.
That's partly because after 12 rounds northern side Vegalta Sendai sit comfortably at the top of the standings. Most recently they snapped a three-game winless streak with a 4-0 mauling of heavyweights Nagoya Grampus in front of a raucous home crowd. So imposing is their home form they've so far lost only once at Yurtec Stadium, going down 1-0 to fellow surprise package Shimizu S-Pulse.
Just like last year, coach Makoto Teguramori has fostered a tight-knit group hell-bent on defence, only this time Vegalta look more than capable of finding the back of the net as well. Former FC Tokyo striker Shingo Akamine has been rejuvenated since moving north in 2010, while Yoshiaki Ota and Brazilian attacker Wilson have chimed in with several strikes of their own to complement the bustling Akamine in attack, with Vegalta surprising everyone with a veritable avalanche of goals.
Just as surprising has been the form of Sanfrecce Hiroshima. When coach Mihailo Petrovic departed for Urawa Reds after five successful years in charge, many expected the southern side to drop back into the pack. Instead, former Sanfrecce midfielder Hajime Moriyasu has picked up where Petrovic left off, and with star striker Hisato Sato currently sitting atop the goal scoring charts, Sanfrecce have shown scant regard for reputation with a string of wins over big guns Urawa, Kashima, Gamba Osaka, Kawasaki and defending champions Kashiwa. A recent come-from-behind 3-2 win over Vissel Kobe suggests Sanfrecce mean business and they sit just five points behind Vegalta in a curious looking table.
Locked on the same number of points is Shimizu S-Pulse, despite their most recent 1-0 defeat to Urawa Reds which saw Australian striker Alex Brosque sent off for the second time this season. His dismissal prompted coach Afshin Ghotbi to lash out at league officials with the Shizuoka side attracting a flurry of yellow and red cards. It hasn't stopped a surprising run up the standings and defeat to the Reds was just Shimizu's fourth league loss of the year, as the provincial outfit confound the pundits with their impressive run of form.
Neighbours Jubilo Iwata have been equally resurgent and their 6-1 thrashing of Albirex in Niigata prompted yet another coaching dismissal. After a dreadful start to the season, Albirex have shown Hisashi Kurosaki the door as the northern strugglers became the fourth side to make a managerial change midway through the season.
The trend started in Osaka where Gamba gave short shrift to inept Brazilian coach Jose Carlos Serrao, before Vissel Kobe and Kawasaki Frontale sacked underperformers Masahiro Wada and Naoki Soma respectively. Yokohama F. Marinos coach Yasuhiro Higuchi is also immense pressure to kick-start his team's stuttering campaign, with job security seemingly a thing of the past in 2012 edition of the J. League.
Also a distant memory are the big crowds which flocked to J. League grounds towards the back end of the last decade. The virtual halving of Albirex Niigata's average attendance has left spectator numbers well down overall and it's a similar situation at Saitama heavyweights Urawa Reds, who have seen crowds drop significantly on the back of years of defensive football and poor results.
Elsewhere, the likes of Gamba Osaka, Yokohama F. Marinos and Nagoya Grampus have all seen attendances tail off recently and while not all clubs have experienced a drop in gate takings, those posting increases in crowd sizes have tended to do so on the back of promotion from J2.
Not surprisingly, that's partly driven by the fact some of the league's more popular clubs are struggling at the wrong end of the table. At the same time that their compact Hitachi Stadium is being expanded, last season's champions Kashiwa Reysol are sitting just outside the relegation zone.
The situation is even more dire for a Gamba Osaka side in disarray, while Kashima Antlers, Yokohama F. Marinos and Nagoya Grampus have all struggled to replicate their form of old in the current campaign.
That has left a host of upstarts to charge up the standings, including J2 champions FC Tokyo and their cautiously optimistic neighbours Urawa.
But it's Sagan Tosu who have stunned everyone by breezing into mid-table in what is their first ever campaign in the top flight, with South Korean coach Yoon Jung-Hwan's side proving far tougher to beat than expected. The same can't be said for the league's other promoted team Consadole Sapporo, who look set to make a swift return to the second tier having propped up the table for most of the campaign to date.
With the summer months looming there's still plenty of football to be played in the race for trophies in Japan. But while the hot weather may herald changes at the top of the table, it will take an unlikely run of form for some of the J. League's heavyweights to mount a serious challenge as upstarts Vegalta Sendai lead the way in a new-look J. League title race.
Copyright: Mike Tuckerman & Soccerphile.com
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