Australian football fans have had enough controversy for one week, after their grand final was decided on a questionable penalty kick call. So I won’t bore you this week with a lot of gripes about officiating.
Suffice to say, you should count your blessings if a borderline PK was all you have to complain about.
If you want to hear the whole grumblefest, you can visit The Rising Sun News. Instead, let’s focus on the beautiful side of the Beautiful Game.
There were many dramatic matches this weekend, with spectacular goals galore, intriguing strategic contests and heroic performances by players coming off the bench to turn a contest around. Two contests in particular held viewers captivated, as momentum changed directions as frenetically as a puppy in a room full of tennis balls.
Despite their current positions in the league table, the contest between last-placed Consadole Sapporo and struggling Kawasaki Frontale was first-rate viewing. Consadole doesn’t have the depth of talent to really compete at this level, and is expected to make a quick return to the lower division. However, they have a lot of young players who could form the backbone of a solid J1 club within a few years. The fact that six youth players were elevated to the senior squad at the start of the year shows that Consadole is thinking further ahead. If they had remained in J2 for another year, they might be better prepared for the top-flight. The team just achieved a bit too much success a bit too soon.
Consadole’s opponent on Saturday, Kawasaki Frontale, just became the second J1 team to fire their head coach. Naoki Soma did not achieve particularly good results, but if you look at the team he inherited at the start of 2011, it was no real surprise that the Blue Dolphins struggled. It was illogical to expect them to remain near the top of the table, where they had been for most of coach Takashi Sekizuka’s reign.
As in the case of Gamba, however, Soma fell victim of the front office’s overly optimistic expectations. The resulting disarray in the clubhouse – as Frontale conducts a very public search for a new head coach – may harm the team’s prospects in the short term. For a team like Consadole, which must capitalize on any opportunity to claim points, Frontale’s coaching disarray was an open invitation for an upset.
Sure enough, Consadole came out with great energy and a full-pitch press. The pressure caught Frontale flatfooted, and quickly produced a lead when Yasuaki Okamoto rounded the left flank on a short counter, and fired a cross for Shunsuke Maeda. Maeda met the ball with a powerful header to notch his first goal in a Sapporo uniform.
As Frontale reeled in disarray, the home team pressed their advantage. Midway through the first half the Snow Owls extended their lead when Takuma Hidaka overlapped into the right corner and fired a line-drive cross for Jumpei Takaki. Takaki met the ball with a leaping header and Sapporo had a two-goal lead to take into the locker room.
However, while they clearly were caught napping in the first half, Frontale are technically a superior team. The Blue Dolphins managed to regroup during the break, regain their focus, and return to the pitch with more intensity.
The introduction of Kengo Nakamura was a key catalyst. The veteran midfielder provided the calm precision needed to break down the Consadole defence. In the 55th minute Renato carried a ball into the penalty area and fed it across to Nakamura, just above the penalty spot. The ball was slightly behind Nakamura, so he had to halt his run to collect it. But the sudden change of pace surprised his defender, and left a lane for Kengo to shoot through. He curled the ball into the top corner, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Over the next few minutes you could see the momentum shifting, and Sapporo starting to wither. In the 66th minute Renato chased a long lead pass into the box. As the ball bounced up for Renato, his defender knocked it away with his forearm, and was caught red-handed by the linesman. Renato leveled the score from the spot, and Frontale’s momentum increased.
Consadole fought vainly to salvage a point, but the killer blow came in the 88th minute when former Consadole player and Hokkaido native Koji Yamase teamed up with Nakamura on the right side of the box for a beautiful exchange. Yamase fed the ball into the box for Kengo, who returned it to him with a clever backheel as Yamase charged the right post. He fired his shot into the roof of the net, claiming a 3-2 victory for the Blue Dolphins and keeping Consadole winless.
In Kashima, the Antlers and Cerezo Osaka played a similar see-saw battle. As noted last week, Kashima are in the middle of a generation shift. The youngsters Jorginho has been using as regular starters look very promising. However, they still lack the poise, maturity and chemistry to win regularly at this level.
The good news is that neutral fans are getting a chance to see potential future NT stars maturing, right before their eyes. Kazuya Yamamura and Yuya Osako have already proven their worth in the U-23 squad, but previously unheralded kids like Gaku Shibasaki, Takahide Umebachi, Gen Shoji and Shoma Doi (all members of the current U-20 generation) also show excellent promise. Other starters like Daigo Nishi, Shinzo Koroki and Yasushi Endo are still in their mid-20s.
This week’s opponents were also stocked with talented youngsters, albeit slightly more experienced than the Antlers. Cerezo Osaka boasts five players who are candidates for the U-23 squad in London this summer and a sixth Cerezo player – Kim Bo-Kyung – will travel to London with the Korean U-23 team. This U-23 generation gives Cerezo a youthful energy and intensity that is extremely enjoyable to watch.
Unfortunately, the Flaming Pinks are still struggling to find their form. Like Kashima, they have lost some matches due to mental errors and rookie mistakes that a more experienced team might have avoided.
Cerezo provided an enthralling exhibition of their potential over the opening 45 minutes, with a game plan that effectively targeted Kashima’s weak points. The young, five-man midfield swarmed about, pressuring the ball fiercely and exploiting the youngsters’ lack of poise. When they won possession, Hotaru Yamaguchi and Takahiro Ogihara quickly dished the ball out to the wings for Branquinho and Hiroshi Kiyotake, whose incisive passes carved up Kashima’s defence. The Antlers were able to keep lone striker Everton Kempes under wraps, but Kim Bo-Kyung repeatedly found space with runs into the channels. Even before the first goal, it was clear which direction the momentum was flowing.
After several close calls, Cerezo opened their account in the 21st minute, when a quick exchange of passes by Branquinho and Kiyotake sent Kim through the left channel and into the clear. Kim pulled his shot across the face of goal and just inside the right post. In first-half injury time Kim heaped more misery on the home fans, taking a ball through the right channel and flicking it in front of goal. When Kempes’ shot was blocked by Hitoshi Sogahata, Kim pounced on the rebound and fired it home.
At half time Jorginho made a brilliant adjustment in personnel, tactics and formation which completely changed the complexion of the contest. Junior Dutra came on in a shadow striker role, in the pocket behind Koroki and Osako, and the midfield shifted into a diamond pattern. This not only provided a new dimension to the Kashima attack, it also forced Kim to work more on the defence end, while putting Mitsuo Ogasawara directly in his path to goal when Cerezo got the ball.
No sooner had Dutra taken up the spot behind the two strikers than the dynamics of this game were turned on their head. The Antlers needed just ten minutes to tally their first goal. Endo surged into the right corner and sent in a high cross which the keeper punched clear, but Dutra pulled the ball down just above the penalty arc, waited for it to bounce up into his wheelhouse, and drilled a shot into the high right corner.
Cerezo struggled to regroup and their offense was now unable to find traction. Kim Bo-Kyung was challenged every time he collected a pass, and if he tried to work the ball forward on the dribble, Dutra would collapse on him from behind. Kiyotake and Branquinho also found little space to work with, and Cerezo counterattacks were snuffed out before they could even get started. Kashima steadily took control of the contest.
In the 62nd minute, Endo and Nishi exchanged five or six short passes in the centre of the pitch to pull the defenders in, then released Dutra into the right corner. The speedy Brazilian outpaced his defender to the touch line and turned towards goal, firing in a cross that Koroki volleyed home at the near post.
The third goal was the highlight of the afternoon. It came on a lovely, flowing attack which swept from one side of the pitch to the other, then back again, in typically Antler-esque style. After reversing the wings once, near midfield, Ogasawara fed Nishi on the right sideline and the smooth-dribbling wingback cut across the middle, watching his teammates make their runs and inspecting each passing lane carefully as he glided from right to left. At last, he spotted the opening as Endo overlapped down the left wing. Nishi’s pass met him in full stride and the third-year midfielder blasted a rising drive that rocketed into the roof of the net.
Elsewhere, Nagoya Grampus was held to a 1-1 draw in Hiroshima by a stunning Masato Morishige strike four minutes into injury time. Yokohama Marinos remain winless, after a 1-0 loss to Jubilo Iwata. Unbeaten Vegalta Sendai romped to a 4-0 win over FC Tokyo, and Gamba Osaka pummelled Shimizu S-Pulse 3-1. Newcomers Sagan Tosu continued to surprise, with a 1-0 upset of Albirex Niigata, and Vissel Kobe defeated defending champions Kashiwa Reysol, who seem overwhelmed by the challenge of balancing domestic league and ACL commitments. Finally, in the Saitama Derby, Omiya Ardija continued their recent dominance of local rivals Urawa Reds, with a 2-0 victory.
Article link: J.League Wrap: Week 7. Written by Ken Matsushima, on The Roar - Your Sports Opinion
