With the J.League off until the 2004 season starts up in March, the spotlight is now on the national team. Qualifiers for Germany 2006 begin in mid-February. As a warm-up for those matches, the national team will play in two friendlies. On February 7th, the team will face Malaysia at Kashima Stadium. Then, on February 12th, Iraq comes to play at the National Stadium in Tokyo. Japan's first qualifier is on February 18th against Oman in Tokyo.
Jubilo Lift Emperor's Cup
A lone strike from Brazilian forward Rodrigo Gral - his 34th in all competitions - was enough to give Jubilo Iwata their first Emperor's Cup in the final against Cerezo Osaka at Tokyo National Stadium. The J.League's top marksman scored on a second half counter, then was sent off for a second yellow card ten minutes from the end of an otherwise drab New Year's Day showpiece.
Sayonara to Two-Stage Format
In late December, the J.League's executive committee announced that it had ratified plans that would abolish the two-stage format beginning in the 2005 season. Currently, the J.League features both a first stage (March-July) and a second stage (August-November), with a playoff at the end of the year. As of 2005, the League will go to a single-stage format. One reason for the move was financial. When Jubilo won both stages in 2002—therefore negating the need for a playoff between stage winners—the League lost some 500 million yen ($4.6 million) in revenue from sponsors, ticket sales, and tv deals. This year the Yokohama Marinos also won both stages, again putting a dent in the League's coffers. In other news, there are tentative plans to expand to 18 teams from the present 16.
Transfers & Moves
Former national team defender, Yutaka Akita will move to Nagoya Grampus after not having his contract renewed by the Kashima Antlers, where he starred for many years. The 33-year-old courted offers from Kyoto Purple Sanga and others before deciding on Nagoya, his hometown. Joining him will be Olympic team member Makoto Kakuda, who has left Kyoto Purple Sanga on a full transfer to Grampus.
Kyoto's star striker Teruaki Kurobe is staying put, though. The 25-year-old marksman turned down interest from Kashima Antlers and has vowed to help Sanga win promotion back to J1. Kurobe is putting his fledgling international career in jeopardy as national team boss Zico has yet to look outside the top division.
South Korean star striker Choi Yong Soo has been signed by recently relegated Kyoto Purple Sanga for the coming season. Choi scored 17 times for JEF United in the past season, and was a main part of the Korean team that progressed to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup.
Former Japan striker, Kazuyoshi "King Kazu" Miura has extended his contract at Vissel Kobe for another season. The 36-year-old saw little playing time this season for the port team but remains a favorite with the fans.
Vissel Kobe, which filed for bankruptcy in December, will be taken over by Tokyo-based Crimson Group. Crimson is the operator of Japan's largest Internet shopping mall, Rakuten Ichiba, and was the only company to bid on the troubled J.League team. Crimson is headed by Kobe-native Hiroshi Mikitani.
Former Czech international Ivan Hasek has been hired as manager of Vissel next season. The 40-year-old, who played for Czechoslovakia at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, coached French club Racing Strasbourg last season after a successfully leading Sparta Prague from 2000-01.
Hasek will be familiar to Japanese fans as he played in Japan during the mid-1990s, scoring 19 goals to help Sanfrecce Hiroshima win the J-League first-stage title in 1994. He scored 42 goals in 83 games for Hiroshima and JEF United Ichihara.
At Jubilo Iwata, Takashi Kuwahara will be promoted to manager at the end of the 2003 Japanese season, according to officials of the J-League club.
The 55-year-old will take the reins from Masaki Yanagashita, who led the team to J.League titles in 1997 and 1999. Yanagashita will be heading north to lead Consodole Sapporo next season, hoping to take the team back into the first division. Club officials announced that he has signed a two-year deal.
Shimizu S-Pulse announced in early January that Brazilian Antonio would be the new manager for the 2004 season. Antonio previously coached at Kashiwa Reysol in 1995. In other news at the club, Brazilians Araujo, a 26-year-old striker, and midfielder Fabinho - who both played for Gamba Osaka last season - will be moving to S-Pulse this year. At Cerezo Osaka, Yuji Tsukada is out as head coach. In his place, Croatian Albert Pobor will lead the Emperor's Cup runner-ups. Cerezo also recently announced the signing of a Croatian defender, Davorin Kablar.
World Cup winner Cesar Sampaio of Brazil signed a six-month extension to his current contract at Hiroshima Sanfrecce, which recently was promoted to the first division.
In the second division, former German international Pierre Littbarski will remain at the helm of lowly Yokohama FC.
To say things are not going well for Japan's Europe-based players would be a massive understatement, but one the Japanese media refuse to make. The dean of the group and Japan's captain, Hidetoshi Nakata, just moved on a six-month loan deal to Bologna after seeing almost no time on the pitch at Parma. Former Player of the Year and leading scorer in the J.League Naohiro Takahara can't find the Bundesliga net. Shunsuke Nakamura is getting less and less playing time - and fighting the injury bug in Italy. Fulham's Junichi Inamoto was left off the bench for much of December. The one exception is Feyenoord's Shinji Ono, who continues to perform well in Holland. In Japan, though, the local media cannot be bothered with facts and is still bent on star-production. After a recent match for Sampdoria, erstwhile Japan international Atsushi Yanagisawa was showered with the following headline in a Japanese sports newspaper: "The Yanagisawa Show: Forward Contributes to a Draw!" In the Gazzetta della Sport, though, Yanagisawa was awarded a paltry 5 out of 10 for his effort in the match.
Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi: FC Nordsjaelland
Former national keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi was on the bench for the entire month of December. The Danish league is now on winter break until March.
Junichi Inamoto: Fulham
Heading into the second half of the English season, the big question for Fulhams's Junichi Inamoto is whether his Premier League contract will become a full transfer - or, rather, will he continue to labor under a loan deal - next season. If his recent form is any indicator, the latter is more likely. In December he was not even on the bench for two of Fulham's matches. Inamoto said in a recent interview that he has gotten used to the speed of the English game, but "I still feel a bit overwhelmed. I can't only defend; I have to attack as well." The Fulham office agrees. In its recent assessment of the Japanese midfielder, it said he has resorted to playing it safe all too often this year. The number of forward passes has decreased while his side passes have increased.
Whither Tottenham's Toda?
In addition to not having his contract at Tottenham renewed, Kazuyuki
Toda also did not get the rumored ten-day loan deal with a Dutch
team. Can anyone say, Hello J.League?
Hidetoshi Nakata: Bologna Bound
Hide Nakata has signed a six-month loan deal with Serie A team Bologna.
Nakata left cash-strapped Parma to be reunited with Carlo Mazzone, his former coach at Perugia in his second year in Italy. After never quite finding form or favor under Parma manager Cesare Prandelli
Nakata jumped at the opportunity to move to Bologna, currently in 14th place in the Italian top division. His new coach, reflecting
Nakata's wishes, said, "He'll play." He'd better.
Atsushi Yanagisawa: Sampdoria
National team striker Atsushi Yanagisawa is seeing little first
team action in Genoa. His only start being in an Italian Cup game.
Shunsuke Nakamura: Reggina
Shunsuke started in his team's Copa Italia league Cup match;
otherwise, he saw no action and spent much of the month in Japan receiving treatment for an injury.
Takayuki Suzuki: Heusden-Zolder
Used mostly from the bench, Suzuki netted once and started against
his former club Genk.
Naohiro Takahara: SV Hamburg
One assist and one goal punctuated another slow month for the best player in the J.League in 2002. The goal was his first in 15 matches.
Shinji Ono: Feyenoord
Another strong month for Ono. He played the full 90-minutes in all three league matches and the domestic Cup match for Feyenoord. One assist, strong positioning, visionary passing: the only Japanese to really make an impression in Europe this month.
Nozomi Hiroyama: Montpelier
Hiroyama did not appear in any of Montpelier's three December matches. Now off for winter break.
Toshiya Fujita: Utrecht
In Fujita's final month in a Utrecht uniform, he played two full matches and was subbed out of another. As of this month, he will return to the J.League's Jubilo and could be shipped on to another team.
Shiranami Stadium Guide Kagoshima