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Football Japan Minutecast No. 6 – Niigata and Kashima leave it late on day of drama

2009/04/06(月)

Monday 6 April 2009

 

Late drama was the order of the day in an exciting weekend of action in J1, as Albirex Niigata moved clear at the top with a 2-1 victory at home to Yokohama F Marinos. The visitors, who are yet to win a single game this season, had looked set to come away with a well-deserved point after Yuzo Kurihara had cancelled out Marcio Richardes’ opener, but their hopes were destroyed when Kisho Yano finished off a 93rd minute breakaway to take Albirex up to ten points from four games.

 

Hot on their heels are the reigning champions, Kashima Antlers, who were given a real scare on Saturday at home to Kyoto Sanga. Despite remaining under the cosh for most of the match, Diego’s well-taken opener had put the away side on course for an unlikely victory, until the game turned with ten minutes to play following a second yellow card for Yuto Sato. Seizing the momentum, Kashima first equalised through Ryuta Sasaki, before Shinzo Koroki completed the recovery with a scrambled winner in the final minute.

 

Omiya Ardija thought they had stolen the points away to 10-man Kashiwa Reysol with a Tomoya Uchida strike on 89 minutes, before an even later reply from Masahiro Koga ensured that both teams would retain their unbeaten records. FC Tokyo added to the misery of bottom club Jubilo Iwata with a Shingo Akamine winner eight minutes from time, while Masaru Akiba netted with just four minutes left against JEF United Chiba to continue Montedio Yamagata’s excellent start to the campaign.

 

Kawasaki Frontale picked up three points for the first time this season in Saturday’s highest profile encounter, as they quickly recovered from Magnum’s opener to record a convincing 3-1 win over fellow ACL contenders Nagoya Grampus. Gamba Osaka were held 2-2 at home by Sanfrecce Hiroshima despite a stunning opener from Cho Jae-Jin, Urawa Reds ended a week of boardroom unrest with a 1-0 victory over Oita Trinita, while Shimizu S-Pulse won by the same score away to Vissel Kobe.

 

 

J1 results (matchday 4)

Gamba Osaka 2-2 Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Kashima Antlers 2-1 Kyoto Sanga

Kawasaki Frontale 3-1 Nagoya Grampus

Urawa Reds 1-0 Oita Trinita

Albirex Niigata 2-1 Yokohama F Marinos

Kashiwa Reysol 2-2 Omiya Ardija

Jubilo Iwata 0-1 FC Tokyo

Montedio Yamagata 1-0 JEF United Chiba

Vissel Kobe 0-1 Shimizu S-Pulse

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Football Japan Minutecast No. 5 – Nakamura strike puts Japan within touching distance

2009/03/31(火)

Monday 30 March 2009


Japan have one hand on a place in next summer’s World Cup Finals in South Africa following a hard-fought 1-0 victory over bogey side Bahrain in their fourth round Asian qualifying match in Saitama on Saturday. After a goalless first half, the hosts finally took the lead two minutes after the restart, when Shunsuke Nakamura’s free kick deflected off the head of Bahrain defender Abdulla Marzooq and into the top corner of Sayed Jaffer’s net. The single strike proved to be enough to secure the win, and leaves Japan on top of Group A with eleven points from five games.

 

The meeting was these two countries’ fifth in a year and three days, and having gone down to a narrow defeat in Bahrain in Asian Cup qualifying this January, Japan coach Takeshi Okada was understandably delighted with his side’s first home victory in this stage of the current World Cup campaign. ‘It was a difficult game,’ said Okada, ‘but our players were determined to win, and they performed extremely well overall’. Bahrain manager Milan Macala was in no doubt about the significance of the outcome, claiming ‘this win basically means Japan will qualify’.

 

Okada stresses that his team are taking nothing for granted, but following a 4-0 win for Uzbekistan at home to Qatar, Japan will only need one win from their remaining three games to guarantee qualification whatever happens in the two Group A matches played this Wednesday in their absence. In Group B, Saudi Arabia kept their hopes alive by coming from a goal down to win 2-1 in Iran, while North Korea edged closer to their first Finals appearance since 1966 with a 2-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates.

 

Despite the absence of their national team stars, 12 of the 18 J1 clubs were in action this weekend in the group stage of the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup. The latest new format is yet to inject real life into the competition, however, with just six goals being scored in Sunday’s six games. Highlights included a 1-0 win for Urawa Reds away to Yokohama F Marinos, and a 1-1 draw in the second Chiba derby to be played this month.

 

 

World Cup qualifying results (Asia)

Group A

Japan 1-0 Bahrain

Uzbekistan 4-0 Qatar

 

Group B

North Korea 2-0 United Arab Emirates

Iran 1-2 Saudi Arabia

 

Yamazaki Nabisco Cup results (matchday 2)

Group A

Albirex Niigata 0-0 Jubilo Iwata

Oita Trinita 0-0 Omiya Ardija

Yokohama F Marinos 0-1 Urawa Reds

 

Group B

FC Tokyo 1-0 Vissel Kobe

JEF United Chiba 1-1 Kashiwa Reysol

Shimizu S-Pulse 2-0 Kyoto Sanga


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Football Japan Minutecast No. 1 – Hasegawa brace helps Yamagata hammer hapless Jubilo

2009/03/09(月)

Football Japan Minutecast – 9 March 2009

Ben Mabley

 

The two promoted clubs stole the headlines in J1 this weekend as the curtain was raised on the new season with 32 goals in nine games. Last season’s J2 champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima marked their return to the top flight with a 4-2 win at Yokohama F Marinos, but the real story of the opening day was a 6-2 hammering for three-times champions Jubilo Iwata at home to newcomers Montedio Yamagata.

 

Four goals in the final 15 minutes, including a pair from Yu Hasegawa, made Yamagata’s first ever outing in J1 a real day to remember, and underlined the size of the task facing Jubilo manager Masaaki Yanagishita if his side are to avoid another battle against relegation this year.

 

In a pair of clashes between two prospective title contenders, champions Kashima Antlers got off to a fine start with a 2-0 win over Urawa Reds, while a second half double from new signing Davi helped Nagoya Grampus come from a goal behind to beat Oita Trinita 3-2. Asian champions Gamba Osaka won 3-0 at JEF United Chiba with a goal each from their new strikers, Leandro and Cho Jae-Jin, while Albirex Niigata were another of Saturday’s big winners with a surprise 4-1 rout at FC Tokyo.

 

Kawasaki Frontale were held 1-1 at home to Kashiwa Reysol, while in Sunday’s games, Omiya Ardija and Shimizu S-Pulse drew a blank at the NACK5 Stadium, and Kyoto Sanga beat Vissel Kobe 1-0 in a derby of sorts at Nishikyogoku.

 

Finally, ‘King Kazu’ Kazuyoshi Miura set a new J. League record yesterday when he appeared for J2 side Yokohama FC at the age of 42 years and 10 days, in their 2-1 defeat at Shonan Bellmare. The colourful striker, who had spells with Genoa and Dinamo Zagreb in the 1990s, beats the record of his former international teammate, Ruy Ramos.

 

J1 results (matchday 1)

FC Tokyo 1-4 Albirex Niigata

Yokohama F Marinos 2-4 Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Nagoya Grampus 3-2 Oita Trinita

JEF United Chiba 0-3 Gamba Osaka

Kashima Antlers 2-0 Urawa Reds

Kawasaki Frontale 1-1 Kashiwa Reysol

Jubilo Iwata 2-6 Montedio Yamagata

Omiya Ardija 0-0 Shimizu S-Pulse

Kyoto Sanga 1-0 Vissel Kobe

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