A Guide to the Football in Japan

Gamba won the Emperor's Cup. Althogh the match goes into the extra time without any goals, it was rather interesting. Kashiwa attacked from early in the first half and got close to the goal, but Gamba's goalkeeper Fujigaya saved several times. The late goal from Gamba was broght from their experiences.

Gamba Osaka played 61 official matches in this season. This was the most for J.league club team in ten years. They won ACL title and played Club World Cup. While most club quit playing this year on 6th Dec, hard-working Gamba played six extra matches after that. As Gamba 2008 is worth to be the champion of Asia and hold the domestic title, but they faild to perform stably thourgh out the year. The victory gave them the 2009 ACL qualification. In 2008 Urawa Reds payed the price for ACL 2007 with playing 57 matches, how the best Japanese coach Nishino will cheer Gamba 2009 up?

2008.12.21
A sent off of United confused Quito's plan. Club World Cup 2008

Roony finally opened the locked goal

Manchester United 1 - 0 LDU Quito. 21 Dec 2008

It was a warm evening in Yokohama. The match time temperature was 17C, unusual winter. But the match was cold because Quito's plan seemed to freeze the United's attackers. Quito's defense line was lowest in the start that Ronaldo and Roony couldno't find their spaces. The play time went by, their zone became higher bit by bit. Scoreless first half was preferable that I thought of how United break the solid Quito.

In the second half, Quito began attacking. But soon after that, the Red card was shown to a United's defender and it changed the game. United missed Vidic but we missed the trick of the game. After all, ten men United won, it was regrettable that Vidic was sent off and Quito could change themselves more aggressively.

I would like to add one thing, Roony is very, very hardworking guy. He is the hero.

FIFA Club World Cup

2008.12.18
Gamba Scored three times, but far behind from United's back. Club World Cup 2008

C.Ronaldo's shirts goes to..

Manchester United 5 - 3 Gamba Osaka. 18 Dec 2008

At the end of the first half, many thought their train home. Until then, Gamba had trouble with United's high speed and solid control. United have not always played the game tightly, but Gamba only could play fairly.

United:	Vidic 28', C. Ronaldo 45'+1,			Roony 75', Fletcher 78', Roony 79'
Gamba:			Yamazaki 74',			Endo 85', Hashimoto 90'+1

After Roony appeared, the match turned into the entertainment. As Roony himself played at full force, as hard as he always does, they allowed Gamba to enjoy the game. It was a fine moment Endo presented himself with free kicks and a penalty shoot.

In 2007 and 2008 Urawa Reds and Gamba Osaka won the Asia, we had a bounus game in Yokohama. In 2009, FCWC goes to UAE. The final will be Manchester United vs LDU Quito from Ecuador on Sunday.

FIFA Club World Cup

2008.12.13
Iwata stayed on thin ice. Playoff: Iwata 3 - 2 Sendai (agg.)

Jubilo Iwata secured 2009 J1 place by beating Vegalta Sendai, 1-1 (in Sendai), 2-1 (in Iwata) on J1/J2 playoff. Iwata, winning J.league three times, suffered their low performance. The club called on ex-Jubilo, Urawa, and Japan National team coach Hans Ooft in September. OOft does not change the team quickly, but selected several new players and finally achieved his task. Takuya Matsuura, one of Ooft's selection, scored all three goals for Jubilo. Without Iwata's "Lionel Messi", Iwata could not win this tough match.

Vegalta Sendai, played J1 matches in 2002 and 2003, couldn't get the final goal, but they prooved their quality. As the match was very hard and fair, both supporters tribute each other after the match. Although there were several troubles of supportes in this season, league ended with the beautiful scene.

2008.12.06
2008 J1 Surprise Ending. Jef Chiba survives, Tokyo Verdy is relagated again, Jubilo Iwata goes to playoff.

Finally Alex Miller brought a miracle to Jef United Ichihara Chiba. As Chiba could only get two points for these last five matches and the score today went 0-2 after 70 minutes passed, they scored four points in last 15 minutes and won the 15th place. Jubilo Iwata and Tokyo Verdy lost and could not take their home advantages.

18th Colsadore Sapporo and 17th Tokyo Verdy are relagated. Jubilo Iwata competes a place with J2 3rd Vegalta Sendai. Playoffs are 10th (Wed) in Sendai and 13th (Sat) in Iwata.

In Sapporo, Kashima Antlers beat Consadore and clinched their sixth league championship.

2008.12.01
Hiroshima and Yamagata are promoted to J1

J.League confirmed Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Montedio Yamagata to play in 2009 J.League division 1. Hiroshima have already won the second place of J2 in September and Yamagata took two months to celebrate their first J1 promotion on last Sunday. J1 16th place will have playoff with J2 3rd team.

In the same league board, Tochigi SC (JFL 2nd), Kataller Toyama (3rd), and Fagiano Okayama (4th) are approved of joining J2. The division 2 will have 18 teams in 2009.

JFL results and Table

2008.11.29
Late goal advances Kashima's league title

Kashima vs Iwata in Kashima Stadium
under the out-of-season rainbow

Kashima Antlers defeated Jubilo Iwata by a 95-minutes' header from a set-play on Saturday 29th November. Kashima has two points clear from 2nd place Nagoya (Nagoya won the Sunday matche).
Kashima and Iwata dominated from 1996 to 2002 to share the league championship. As Kashima was the leader and Iwata was just one place away from the relegation playoff slot, the big match got a different kind of tense. Iwata concentrated during almost all the time even Kashima crushed in Jubilo's side again.

2008 final matchday will be scheduled on Saturday 6th December. Kashima visits relageted Sapporo, while Iwata (37 points) seeks alive with Omiya (40), Niigata (39), Tokyo-V (37), and Chiba (35) to avoid one relagation and one playoff place.

2008 J.LEAGUE Division 1 Table (as of 11.30)
	PT	GP	W	D	L	GD	(GF	GA)
Kashima	60	33	17	9	7	25	55	30
Nagoya	58	33	17	7	9	13	48	35
Kawasaki-F	57	33	17	6	10	21	63	42

Oita	55	33	16	7	10	9	33	24
FC-Tokyo	55	33	16	7	10	6	48	42
Urawa	53	33	15	8	10	13	49	36
Shimizu	52	33	15	7	11	6	47	41
G-Osaka	50	33	14	8	11	-2	44	46
Kobe	47	33	12	11	10	3	39	36
Yokohama-M	45	33	12	9	12	6	37	31
Kashiwa	43	33	12	7	14	1	46	45
Kyoto	41	33	11	8	14	-7	36	43
Omiya	40	33	11	7	15	-10	35	45
Niigata	39	33	10	9	14	-15	29	44
Iwata	37	33	10	7	16	-7	40	47

Tokyo-V	37	33	10	7	16	-10	38	48

Chiba	35	33	9	8	16	-19	32	51
Sapporo	18	33	4	6	23	-33	36	69

2008.11.23
Kashima or Nagoya, management quality rules the league

Oliveira and Chamusca praise each other in Oita after the tough match

1st place Kashima Antlers beat 4th Oita Trinita in Oita on 23rd November, 2008 and lead two points with two matches remaining. Before the Sunday match, this match is believed as the toughest of all the matches of top four teams, Kashima, Urawa, Nagoya, and Oita. Kashima loses two game maker, Ogasawara and Danilo, and was thoght to be hard to score, but won the important match.

Kashima's Oswaldo de Oliveira and Oita's Pericles Chamusca are the best coaches in J.league 2008. Although the club is not rich, they drove their players hard and made organized team. Another best coach is Dragan Stojkovic from Nagoya Grampus. He changed the unworking team completely. Nagoya, on the 2nd place, is good place to steal the cup from Kashima.

Urawa Reds was only one point behind from Kashima before the match, but they lose in their home again and dropped out of the race. Urawa is the league favorite. But they were challenged by several troubles, they could not solve any of them and could not make any advantages.
Actually, I thought Kashima couldn't win in Oita and it was possible that Urawa rose up to the top on this weekend. But, the poor management from the club management prevent from this seasons success.

2008 J.LEAGUE Division 1 Table (as of 11.23)
	PT	GP	W	D	L	GD	(GF	GA)
Kashima Antlers	57	32	16	9	7	24	54	30
Nagoya Grampus	55	32	16	7	9	11	45	34
Kawasaki Frontale	54	32	16	6	10	17	59	42

2008.11.19
Japan and Aussie make a lead in Arabian match

Tulio with ex-Urawa Brazilian, ex-Qatar international Emerson in Doha

Bahrain vs Australia 0 - 1 in Manama
Qatar vs Japan 0 - 3 in Doha

Japan and Australia passed the tough away match and lead the FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian Qualifiers Group A. Japan won six points from the two Gulf match and coach Mr. Okada might be relieved.
Asia has 4.5 places from 43 teams. Top two teams from Goup A and B will automatically qualifiy to the South Africa 2010.

FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian Final Round

FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian Final Round Group A
	PT	GP	W	D	L	GD	(GF	GA)
Australia	9	3	3	0	0	6	6	0
Japan	7	3	2	1	0	4	7	3
Qatar	4	4	1	1	2	-4	4	8
Bahrain	1	3	0	1	2	-2	3	5
Uzbekistan	1	3	0	1	2	-4	1	5

2008.11.16
The importance of the Emperor's Cup

The importance of the emperor's cup is disccussed.

The cup started in 1921. There are league cup and emeperor's cup in Japan. This emperor's cup is ranked as the FA cup in England, is the only open Japanese football tournament. The final is fixed on 1st of January every season and the match in Tokyo national stadium is known as the new year scene for Japanese.

The discussion started from JFA president Inukai's remarks on Oita Trinita's case of the emperor's cup match on 5th November. For the match the team rested key players after the short interval from the league cup final on 1st Nov and to chase the league title (and they were beaten by J2 team). The president insisted that the emperor's cup is the auhtoritative tournament. He mentioned some penalty for the club.

The substitution match on league cup is known in Japan as well. In April 2000, Avispa Fukuoka's coach Piccoli let substitutions play on Nabisco Cup match. But the Piccoli's statement was too aggressive, the league set up the rule called "best team policy" to pay the attention to the sponcers. The policy says that the starting member of league and league cup match MUST include at least six players from starting players of latest five matches. (Note that this is not applied to the emperor's cup).

After a discussion in JFA official board, no penalty was given for them, JFA announced, but on this weekend league leader Kashima and second place Urawa lose to be dumped out of the tournament.

This defeat includes a essential question especially for Urawa Reds. Because Urawa sent four players in Qatar to play World Cup Qualifier, Urawa does not wish to spoli the cup, but the football calender itself doesn't allow club to play by the "best team" in this weekend's emperor's cup.

I think we don't need the best-team policy. The value of the tournament must be enhanced without the rule. Some respect and the review of the calendar is needed.

The final eight of the 88th emperor's cup is Yakohama-M, Naogya, Shimizu, FC Tokyo, Kashiwa, winner of G-Osaka/Iwata, and J2 Hiroshima and Tosu.

The 88th Emperor's Cup (2008) Results

takahasi@goal2002.com

2008.11.12
Gamba Osaka 2008 ACL Champions

Gamba Osaka, beating Adelaide United by 5-0 on aggregate, won the 2008 AFC Champions League.

Gamba's hard working international year ends with the crown. After 2005 J.league victory, Gamba failed to win the championship. Because Gamba won 2007 league cup title, they force to attend Pan-Pacific Championship to beat Beckham's LA team. The cup broght another novel cup called SURUGA bank Championship 2008 OSAKA J.LEAGUE YAMAZAKI NABISCO CUP / COPA SUDAMERICANA Championship Final. This ACL 2008 qualification came from the runners-up of 2006 Emperors'cup because Urawa won several right to attend this year's ACL. But the finish is the second international cup of the year.

Gamba Osaka will play for FIFA Club World Cup 2008 on 14th December in Toyota. Adelaide participates as Asian runners-up in local club's place.Maybe the adversary will be Adelaide again (This strange regulation must be modified). Anyway, their J.league's No.1 attacking football won the big title.

New ACL regulation will be introduced from 2009. Four Japanese clubs participate (league 1st to 3rd place and the winner of emperor's cup). No defending champions seat. The single match final will be on 7th November 2009 in National "Kokuritsu" Stadium Tokyo.

2008.11.05
Gamba Osaka almost Won 2008 ACL. AFC Champions League Final 1st Leg.

Gamba Osaka 3. Adelaide United 0 in Osaka.

2008.11.01
Oita Trinita won the 2008 Yamazaki Nabisco Cup

Oita Trinita beating Shimizu S-Pulse 2-0 won the league cup title, 1st November 2008 in Tokyo. Oita, encouraged themselves by their league's best defence ability, brought the first major title to Kyushu.

Coach Chamusca, who took the Oita job from the midway of 2005 season, is the most respectable man in Oita. He said, "You must understand that we haven't always been competitive." "We went through a period where we had to fight off relegation, and there is no question this team has had its share of hardship." "We were not out to win a title from the very beginning. We don't have the facilities like the big clubs, and our history in J1 is not long. But what we do have are the players to win titles." "I simply helped the players to get the most out of their potential and this is how we have won this title."

Local newspaper the Oita-press reports, "The club was founded in 1994 and started from the prefectural league. As the club has had no parent compamy, the financial difficulty is tagged after them. In 2005, the club became insolvent and was managed by the advisory committee. In last season, business income reached about 2.3 billion yen but about the third of league leader Urawa Reds. The club is supported by 700 sponcers most of whom are local companies and indivisuals. It is the first time for J.LEAGUE that the prefectual league born club win the title. Club president Mizohata said, "In football, amateur club could became the league top. I couldn't have done it without you all"".

After the league cup final, the league rushes into the final round. The league champion will be made on 6th December and the Emperor's Cup final will be on 1st of January 2009.

Oita Trinita and Shimizu S-Pulse advanced to the Nabisco Cup final

2008 J.LEAGUE Yamazaki Nabisco Cup

2008.10.26
Within 3 points. Who will know the league epilogue?

Who will know?


Kashima	Nagoya	Kawasaki-F	Oita	Urawa
53pts	52pts	51pts	51pts	50pts


Tokyo-V	Omiya	Chiba	Iwata	Sapporo
36pts	35pts	34pts	33pts	17pts

In the similar season 2005, stats after 30 games played was ..


G-Osaka	Kashima	C-Osaka	Urawa	Chiba
57pts	54pts	53pts	50pts	50pts

and the result is ... click

2008.10.22
Gamba Osaka advances to AFC Champions League final

1st leg. Gamba Osaka 1 - 1 Urawa Reds
2nd leg. Urawa Reds 1 - 3 Gamab Osaka

Gamba Osaka won the historic Japanese matchup beating defending champion Urawa Reds in Saitama stadium.
Urawa's ambition of being the Asian big club is frustrated in this season 2008.

2008.10.19
Sapporo relagated. League championship goes to Kashima, Nagoya, Oita, or ..?

Consadore Sapporo, losing home match by socre of 0 - 2, confirmed 17th or 18th that they will play in J2 season 2009. J1 17th and 18th club go to J2 and 16th will have home-and-away playoff with J2 3rd place team.

For the league championship, only Kashima won 7 points from the latest 3 matches in top five teams and goes up to the top. Nagoya and Oita, dreaming their first victory, are following the defending champion.
The league seems to repeat the low and chaotic 2005 season. Who will win?


			Kashima	Nagoya	Oita
			53pts	51pts	51pts
2008.10.25/26	Sat+	J1 #30	FC Tokyo	Iwata	Kobe
2008.11.01	Sat	Nabisco Cup Final			Shimizu
2008.11.02-05	Sun+	Emperor Rd4	KokushiUniv.	FC Gifu	Sagan Tosu
2008.11.08/09	Sat+	J1 #31	Niigata	Kashiwa	Chiba
2008.11.13	Wed	International A Match	Japan v Syria
2008.11.15	Sat	Emperor Rd5	TBD	TBD	TBD
2008.11.19	Wed	World Cup Qualifier	Qatar v Japan
2008.11.23	Sun	J1 #32	Oita	Kyoto	Kashima
2008.11.29/30	Sat+	J1 #33	Iwata	Sapporo	Kashiwa
2008.12.06	Sat	J1 #34	Sapporo	Oita	Nagoya

2008.10.15
Japan and Uzbekistan draw in World Cup Qualifiers

Japan 1 - 1 Uzbekistan. World Cup Qualifiers in Saitama Stadium

They almost have the second goal, but.. Japanese first home match was not successful, as Uzbek goalkeeper and tall center backs kept Japanese chances away from the goal.

We could understand that coach Okada's plan was to use short and first passes in the collective midfield, but it seemded to be too busy. I tought he preferred reactive soccer in J.LEAGUE. Can today's proactive and little risky soccer bring them a luck? The next match is on 19th November in Qatar.

FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian Final Round

2008.10.05
Narrower League

Chiba 3 - 2 Urawa in Fukuda Denshi Arena

No club runs. As four top teams from last week could not win three points, it is still difficult to know who will win the championship. Nagoya, Kawasaki, and Oita should stand up under pressure, meanwhile defending champion Kashima have losed vital player Ogasawara by injury and Asian champion Urawa's condition is worst of top clubs.


Kashima	Nagoya	Kawasaki-F	Oita	Urawa
50pts	50pts	48pts	48pts	47pts

Chiba, beating Urawa by 3-2 today, currently escaped from the relagation zone. When Chiba asked Alex Miller to come from Liverpool FC on early stage of league, they could only won two points from ten matches.


Chiba	Iwata	Tokyo-V	Omiya	Sapporo
33pts	32pts	32pts	32pts	17pts

2008.09.26
Nagoya, one point clear of J.LEAGUE

Nagoya draws with Urawa and is back to the top in this week.
Oita loses first time in their 18 official matches.


			Nagoya	Oita	Kashima	Urawa	Kawasaki-F	FC-Tokyo
			49pts	48pts	46pts*	46pts*	45pts	45pts
2008.10.01	Wed	J1 #26			Omiya	Kyoto
2008.10.04/05	Sat+	J1 #28	Tokyo-V	Kawasaki-F	G-Osaka	Chiba	Oita	Shimizu
2008.10.08	Wed	ACL SF				G-Osaka
2008.10.09	Thu	International A Match. Japan v UAE
2008.10.15	Wed	World Cup Qualifier. Japan v Uzbekistan
2008.10.18/19	Sat+	J1 #29	Yokohama-M	FC-Tokyo	Kyoto	Kobe	Shimizu	Oita
2008.10.22	Wed	ACL SF				G-Osaka
2008.10.25/26	Sat+	J1 #30	Iwata	Kobe	FC Tokyo	Niigata	Sapporo	Kashima
		relax midweek
2008.11.01	Sat	Nabisco Cup Final		Shimizu
2008.11.02-05	Sun+	Emperor Rd4	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
2008.11.05	Wed	ACL Final				☆
2008.11.08/09	Sat+	J1 #31	Kashiwa	Chiba	Niigata	Sapporo	Omiya	G-Osaka
2008.11.12	Wed	ACL Final				☆
2008.11.15	Sat	Emperor Rd5	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
2008.11.19	Wed	World Cup Qualifier. Qatar v Japan
2008.11.23	Sun	J1 #32	Kyoto	Kashima	Oita	Shimizu	G-Osaka	Kobe
		relax midweek
2008.11.29/30	Sat+	J1 #33	Sapporo	Kashiwa	Iwata	G-Osaka	Kobe	Niigata
		relax midweek
2008.12.06	Sat	J1 #34	Oita	Nagoya	Sapporo	Yokohama-M	Tokyo-V	Chiba

2008.09.24
Urawa and Gamba Osaka semi finalists of ACL

Urawa 2 - 0 Al Qadsia in Saitama Stadium

Urawa Reds and Gamba Osaka won the ACL quarter final 2nd leg and qualified on aggregate score. They will meet in the semi finals in October. It is the first time for Japanese club to have local match in the ACL knockout stage.

2008 AFC Champions League Quarter finals
Urawa 2 - 0 Al Qadsia ( 4 - 3 agg.)
G-Osaka 2 - 0 Al Karama ( 4 - 1 agg.)
Kashima 0 - 1 Adelaide United ( 1 - 2 agg.)

2008.09.23
Oita Trinita rises to the top. J.LEAGUE Matchday #26

Oita Trinita beats Consadore Sapporo to reach the top of the league. Oita reached to the final of Nabisco Cup just three weeks ago for their first time, they made their another experience in the league. Bottom place Sapporo scored in the extra time of second half, but Oita scored again in the last seconds to win.

While leader Nagoya loses in Chiba, as Chiba played their best to escape from the relagation line 17th for the first time of the year.

On the other hand, Jubilo Iwata goes down to 17th place by losing FC Tokyo match at the score of 1-5. The ex-champions, winning the league championship three times in the last ten years, have to live with fears of relagation. Hold on Jubilo.


Oita	Nagoya	Urawa	Kashima	Kawasaki-F	FC-Tokyo
48pts	48pts	45pts*	43pts*	42pts	42pts
with 8 matches to play (* 9 matches)

In the Division 2, Sanfrecce Hiroshima confirmed the second place of J2 and achieved the J1 return in season 2009. Hiroshima has won 81 points in 35 matches and celebrates their promotion still leaving 7 matches.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima confirmed J1 Return in Hiroshima Big Arch

2008.09.21
Nagoya, Urawa and Oita improves. J.LEAGUE Matchday #25

Thunder showers Urawa in Omiya
Nagoya Grampus won three points, while Urawa Reds and Oita Trinita also added three points to follow.

Although Urawa returned from sandstorm Kuwait just on Friday morning, and today was the away derby match which was suspended 50 minutes in the first half, they played stadily.

Kashima, second place last week, drew with Kashiwa. In the match, Kashima's one and only midfielder Ogasawara injured his knee and with a diagnosis of six month to recover.


Nagoya	Urawa	Oita	Kashima	Kawasaki-F
48pts	45pts	45pts	43pts	41pts
with 9 matches to play

2008.09.17
AFC Champions League qurterfinals 1st leg

Gamba Osaka wins 2-1 in Syria, Kashima draws 1-1 in Kashima and Urawa Reds loses 2-3 in Kuwait.

2008 ACL
special 2008 ACL MAP

2008.09.13
Here comes another busy final stage of 2008 J.LEAGUE

Busy season for Japanese football fans is coming. Within 12 weeks, they have a league cup final, the Asian Championship, the league championship with two World Cup Qualifiers.

On this weekend, summit matches - Nagoya (1st) v G-Osaka (6th), Kashima (2nd) v Kawasaki (5th), and Urawa (3rd) v Oita (4th) - were made and only Nagoya won three points while others share 1 point each.

Will Stojkovic's new team run out of the scrambled league? Or Asian quarterfinalists Urawa and Kashima win back? How does the dark horse Oita play in leaders while waiting for their first-ever cup final.


Nagoya	Kashima	Urawa	Oita	Kawasaki-F
45pts	42pts	42pts	42pts	41pts
with 10 matches to play

2008.09.13/14	Sat+	J1 - Matchday 24th
2008.09.17	Wed	ACL Quarterfinals - 1st Leg	Urawa (A), Kashima (H), G-Osaka (A)
2008.09.20/21	Sat+	J1 - Matchday 25th
2008.09.23	Tue	J1 - Matchday 26th
2008.09.24	Wed	ACL Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg	Urawa (H), Kashima (A), G-Osaka (H)
2008.09.27/28	Sat+	J1 - Matchday 27th
2008.10.01	Wed	J1 - Matchday 26th (occa.)
2008.10.04/05	Sat+	J1 - Matchday 28th
2008.10.08	Wed	ACL Semifinals - 1st Leg	Urawa (A), Kashima (H), G-Osaka (A)
2008.10.09	Thu	International A Match	Japan v UAE
2008.10.15	Wed	World Cup Qualifier	Japan v Uzbekistan
2008.10.18/19	Sat+	J1 - Matchday 29th
2008.10.22	Wed	ACL Semifinals - 2nd Leg	Urawa (H), Kashima (A), G-Osaka (H)
2008.10.25/26	Sat+	J1 - Matchday 30th
			relax midweek
2008.11.01	Sat	Yamazaki Nabisco Cup Final	Oita v Shimizu
2008.11.02/03/05	Sun+	Emperor's Cup - 4th Round
2008.11.05	Wed	ACL Final - 1st Leg
2008.11.08/09	Sat+	J1 - Matchday 31st
2008.11.12	Wed	ACL Final - 2nd Leg
2008.11.15	Sat	Emperor's Cup - 5th Round
2008.11.19	Wed	World Cup Qualifier	Qatar v Japan
2008.11.23	Sun	J1 - Matchday 32nd
			relax midweek
2008.11.29/30	Sat+	J1 - Matchday 33rd
			relax midweek
2008.12.06	Sat	J1 - Matchday 34th	Champions to be determined

2008.09.07
Oita Trinita and Shimizu S-Pulse advanced to the Nabisco Cup final

TO THE NATIONAL STADIUM
Oita Trinita 1-0 Nagoya Grampus

J.LEAGUE Yamazaki Nabisco Cup Semi Finals second leg were played in Oita and Osaka. Oita beat the league leader Nagoya and Shimizu won over the 07 cup holder G-Osaka.

The night was the best for Brazilian coach Pericles Chamusca. He heads Oita since mid-season of 2005. Oita is known as the "lowest budget" club in the league but he brings young players up and makes solid organized team. Chamusca has been proving his talent in Japan. Awesome provincial club goes to the final.

It is for Shimizu S-Pluse's first league cup final since their victory in 1996 J.LEAGUE Yamazaki Nabisco Cup.

The final is on 1st November (Sat) 13:35 in "Kokuritsu" National Stadium Tokyo.

2008 J.LEAGUE Yamazaki Nabisco Cup

2008.09.06
Japan won 3 points in Bahrain - World Cup Qualifiers

Bahrain 2 - 3 Japan

Japan won 3 points for the first match of the FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian Final Round. Japan actively kept the game advantage in the first half and Nakamura and Endo scored from set play. In the second half, Bahrain player was sent off but after 87 minutes Bahrain won back two goals from Japan.

Japan: Narazaki; Uchida, Nakazawa, Tulio, Abe; Endo, Hasebe (Konno), Nakamura, Matsui (Nakamura Kengo); Tanaka, Tamada (Sato)

FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian Final Round

2008.09.04
New data archive up; 1994-2000 J.LEAGUE and Cup Results

I added new archives include;

J.LEAGUE	1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
J2	1999 2000
League Cup	1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 and
The Emperor's Cup	1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

If you enjoyed these archives, please let me know.

2008.08.23
Urawa leads J.LEAGUE again

Urawa Reds wins over Jubilo Iwata by 3-1 on chilly August evening in Saitama Stadium. In Kashima, visitor Nagoya Grampus upsets leader Antlers to go up to second place.

Top teams are Urawa 40 points, Nagoya 39 points, Kashima 38 points followed by Oita 35 who has match on Sunday tomorrow.

2008.08.21
Japan Women 4th place. 2008 Beijing Olympic Football


Bronze Men 1968 Mexico City	4th Women 2008 Beijing

2008.08.21 Thu 18:00 Germany Women vs Japan Women 2 - 0 (0 - 0) 49,285

Japan women could not beat Germany but they won the historic 4th place in Japanese Olympic football history. Congratulations!

2008.08.18
Japan 2. USA 4. Olympic Women Semifinal Result

Worth supporting match even if their gave four goals against.
They can do it on Bronze match.

WITH A LITTLE LUCK, WE CAN HELP IT OUT,
WE CAN MAKE THIS WHOLE DAMN THING WORK OUT.
WITH A LITTLE LOVE, WE CAN LAY IT DOWN
WITH A LITTLE PUSH, WE COULD SET IT OFF,
WE CAN SEND IT ROCKETING SKYWARDS.
WITH A LITTLE LOVE, WE COULD SHAKE IT UP,
DON'T YOU FEEL THE COMET EXPLODING?

2008.08.17
Japan Women for Olympic semifinal vs USA on Monday Evening

Japan women's first challenge for the final on 18 Aug 21:00 local (22:00 JST) Beijing

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Football

2008.08.12
Japan Women reaches Olympic Quarterfinal

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Women's Football Group G
	PT	GP	W	D	L	GD	(GF	GA)
USA Women	6	3	2	0	1	3	5	2
Norway Women	6	3	2	0	1	-1	4	5
Japan Women	4	3	1	1	1	3	7	4
New Zealand Women	1	3	0	1	2	-5	2	7

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Women's Football Group G
2008.08.06	Wed	17:00	Japan	vs	New Zealand	2	-	2	(0	-	1)	10,270	Qinhuangdao (CHN)
2008.08.09	Sat	17:00	USA	vs	Japan	1	-	0	(1	-	0)	16,912	Qinhuangdao (CHN)
2008.08.12	Tue	19:45	Norway	vs	Japan	1	-	5	(1	-	1)	16,872	Shanghai (CHN)

see detail for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Football

2008.07.27
Kashima vs Urawa. Summer lightning match is drawn.


Lightning in Kashima

Leader Kashima draws with the second Urawa in exciting match.
The summer thunder storm suspended the match in the first half. At the break, Kashima coach Oswaldo Oliveira was sent off. The match was broke for about an hour. Soon after the resuming, Ogasawara scored the beautiful middle. In the second half, Urawa pushed back and finally Tanaka scored after Escudero Sergio's dedication.

No matter how the league 2008 will be scrambled, Kashima or Urawa will be crowned, this match convinced.

2008.07.21
Urawa Reds and Yokohama F-Marinos get stuck in confusion

Urawa Reds and Yokohama F-Marions cannot resume their top form.

Urawa is second place while Yokohama is 16th after 18 matches played today, it looks there is difference in both teams. But these two big clubs share similar situation. Both have fired the coach this season aleady, after two matches played Urawa did, and Yokohama did recently after the 16th match. Two clubs have basis in defence but they seem to lose their strong point. It seems the lack of tactics undermine their champs mentarity.

Can Urawa keep this position? Can Yokohama get off the relegation?
The final match for both is schduled as Urawa faces with Yokohama-M in Saitama on 6th December.

2008.07.17
Urawa takes back the lead of the first half of 2008 J.League

Urawa Reds Tulio scored a hat-trick to overwhelme Tokyo Verdy. As Urawa has not confirmed their form yet, defender Tulio played in the defensive midfield several times and today he constituted the three attackers. Coach Gert Engels finds big volante Patrick Vieira or game maker Michael Ballack in Tulio?

The league favorite Urawa struggles for their best form.
There was no smile in Tulio in the after match interview by the pitch. There was no song of triumph from the Urawa supporters. Both are not satisfied with this situation, but both understand each others' potential for the champion. The big question is that the team should be reformed or cling to the league top?
The league continues on thie weekend without rest.

This season 2008 is the replay of the scrambled season 2005.

2008 J.LEAGUE Division 1 Table (as of 07.17)
	PT	GP	W	D	L	GD	(GF	GA)
Urawa Reds	32	17	10	2	5	13	30	17
Kashima Antlers	31	17	9	4	4	16	32	16
Kashiwa Reysol	29	17	9	2	6	6	21	15
Gamba Osaka	29	17	8	5	4	4	26	22
Nagoya Grampus	29	17	9	2	6	3	23	20
Kawasaki Frontale	26	17	8	2	7	2	28	26
Albirex Niigata	26	17	7	5	5	-1	19	20
Oita Trinita	25	17	7	4	6	4	17	13
Vissel Kobe	25	17	6	7	4	2	20	18
FC Tokyo	25	17	7	4	6	-1	23	24
Kyoto Sanga FC	24	17	7	3	7	-4	16	20
Jubilo Iwata	23	17	7	2	8	-1	23	24
Omiya Ardija	22	17	6	4	7	1	22	21
Tokyo Verdy	20	17	6	2	9	-3	23	26
Shimizu S-Pulse	19	17	5	4	8	-8	16	24
Yokohama F-Marinos	18	17	5	3	9	0	19	19
Consadole Sapporo	15	17	4	3	10	-12	19	31
JEF United Ichihara Chiba	10	17	2	4	11	-21	13	34

2008.07.13
Foggy J.LEAGUE clears up? Kashima goes upto the top

Kashima Antlers goes upto the top leaving the internal troubled Urawa.
In foggy Kashima stadium, Kashima comes from behide win by 4-1 to FC Tokyo. As the most organized Kashima becomes the leader, they heve a chance to leave all teams behind.

The league played 16 of 34 matches of the year. Top Kashima won 31 points for 16 matches. No teams have won two points per maches on average that champions should be cleared at this moment.

2008.07.05
Urawa 2 - Tokyo 0. Battle for the leader in capitol region

June flower and Saitama Stadium

Urawa Reds stay top of the J.LEAGUE on Sunday with 2-0 home victory over FC Tokyo in Saitama Stadium. Tokyo had a chance to go to the top, but Urawa striker Nagai's 88 minutes' goal sealed the game.
Co-leader Nagoya lost away match by 1-2, while third place Kashima won away match and moved into second place.

2008.06.29
Ivica Vastic in Nagoya of J.LEAGUE

Ivica Vastic. Nagoya (2002-2003)

The only ex-J.LEAGUE player who plays in EURO 2008 is Ivica Vastic. He played one and the half season in Nagoya Grampus-eight and scored 13 goals in 27 league matches.
He scored a dramatic goal for Austria in this EURO turnament, he has scored another memorable "last-minutes-goal" in his last match for Nagoya. He is beloved very much in Nagoya as well.

2008.06.28
Close league continues? Resuming 2008 J.LEAGUE

Kashiwa vs Urawa at Kokuritsu - National Stadium - Tokyo

The league is back after the six-weeks-of World Cup Qualifier break. 25 thousands of audiences on an average came to six J1 match stadiums. They were all waiting for the league.

Kashiwa (6th) 2 - 1 Urawa (1st)
Nagoya (2nd) 0 - 4 Kashima (4th)

Co-leaders Urawa and Nagoya lost together on 28th Saturday. Each team will have played 14 of 34 matches this weekend. At this moment, Urawa, Nagoya, Kashima, Kashiwa, FC-Tokyo, Omiya, and G-Osaka won from 22 to 26 points. Upward Kashiwa, Omiya, and FC-Tokyo, declining? early-stage-leader Nagoya, still not top form Urawa and G-Osaka, and the 2007 champion Kashima. How they get out of the group?

At that, Urawa showed very poor performance in Kokuritsu today. The club must be conscious of the league leader's responsibility.

2008.06.27
Japan drawn with Aussies. 2010 World Cup Asian Final Round

Group A: Australia, Japan, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, Qatar
Group B: Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Korea DPR, UAE

FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian Final Round

FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian Final Round Group A

2008.09.06

Sat

Bahrain

Japan

2008.09.06

Sat

Qatar

Uzbekistan

2008.09.10

Wed

Qatar

Bahrain

2008.09.10

Wed

Uzbekistan

Australia

2008.10.15

Wed

Australia

Qatar

2008.10.15

Wed

Japan

Uzbekistan

2008.11.19

Wed

Bahrain

Australia

2008.11.19

Wed

Qatar

Japan

2009.02.11

Wed

Japan

Bahrain

2009.02.11

Wed

Uzbekistan

Bahrain

2009.03.28

Sat

Japan

Australia

2009.03.28

Sat

Uzbekistan

Qatar

2009.04.01

Wed

Australia

Uzbekistan

2009.04.01

Wed

Bahrain

Qatar

2009.06.06

Sat

Qatar

Australia

2009.06.06

Sat

Uzbekistan

Japan

2009.06.10

Wed

Australia

Bahrain

2009.06.10

Wed

Japan

Qatar

2009.06.17

Wed

Australia

Japan

2009.06.17

Wed

Bahrain

Uzbekistan

2008.06.22
Japan 1 - 0 Bahrain. World Cup Asian 3rd Round.

Japan must play defensively.

Japan finished World Cup 3rd round at the top of group 2 on Sunday 22nd June in rainy Saitama Stadium.

FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian 3rd Round Group 2
	PT	GP	W	D	L	GD	(GF	GA)
Japan	13	6	4	1	1	9	12	3
Bahrain	11	6	3	2	1	2	7	5
Oman	8	6	2	2	2	-2	5	7
Thailand	1	6	0	1	5	-9	5	14

Australia and Qatar (group 1)
Japan and Bahrain (group 2)
Korea and Korea DPR (group 3)
Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan (group 4)
Iran and UAE (group 5)

Did Japan proove their strength? Although Japan has qualified to the final round, Japan didn't wish to throw up this match. But, we only scored a late-minutes-lucky-goal.
Players has not understood the concept of the team and coach Okada seems not to find the way they should play yet. Mr. Osim gave us a glimpse of a Japanese offensive football but the days seem to be gone. Defensive and reaction soccer is not bad. I want to see the solid and organized soccer in the final round. That's not shabby, that's a way.

The final round will start on 6th September and it's time to be back to the J.League!!

2008.06.15
Japan beat Thailand 3-0 to reach final round

Japan draw in Oman and win in Thailand. This hot-and-tough tour confirms 2nd place in World Cup 2010 Asian 3rd Round group 2 leaving one match against Bahrain in Saitama on 22nd June. FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian 3rd Round

Ten teams qualify to the final round which include, Australia and Iraq/Qatar (group 1), Bahrain and Japan (group 2), Korea and Korea DPR (group 3), Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia (group 4), and Iran and UAE/Syria (group 5).

The ten final round qualifiers will be drawn in Kuala Lumpur on 27 June 2008 following the seeding pot definition of AFC announcement.
Seeding Pots:
Pot 1: Australia, Korea. Pot 2: Iran, Japan/Saudi Arabia. Pot 3: Saudi Arabia/Japan, Bahrain.

2008.06.08
2008 J.LEAGUE Yamazaki Nabisco Cup Group League Results

The last day of Yamazaki Nabisco Cup group league was on 8th June Sunday and group leaders and the best two second place with ACL seeded two clubs are qualified to knock out stage.

Last 8 are:
Group leaders: Nagoya, Shimizu, Chiba, Yokohama-M
Best two co-leaders: FC-Tokyo, Oita
Seeded: Kashima, G-Osaka

see the detail results and knock out stage fixtures in Nabisco Cup

2008.06.07
Nakata's exhibition, Japan World Cup qualifying, and Euro

7th June was a long day for Japanese soccer fans.

In the afternoon, Nakata hosted "TAKE ACTIOIN! 2008. PLUS ONE FOOTBALL MATCH" was played in Yokohama. While it is discussed the reason why Japan National Team cannot sell out even for World Cup qualifying, Nakata's campaign was commercially successful. At this moment, I don't understand this events concept completely, but the event itself was a refreshing one. The guests came from the world seems to have good relationship with Nakata. Just like Live Aids Bob Geldof's role, Nakata's personal effort helped the event. The thirty-years-old midfielder is said to be in Manchester City or should be back to J.League, I think he won't back. How about asking Davis to come to Japan?

Players included:
Ivan Zamorano, Salvatore Skilacchi, Patrick Mboma, Ilhan Mansiz, Clarence Seedolf, Edgar Davids, Riccardo Montolivo, Serginho, Olivier Dacourt, Dmitri Alenichev, Lee Ho, Aldair, Roque Jnior, Ze Maria, Paolo Montero, Matteo Ferrari, Hong Myung-Bo, Sun Ji, Julip Cesar, Bernard Lama, Paolo Orlandoni, and Jose Mourinho. Legendary Striker, Kamamoto Kunishige also joined the match and enjoyed the audience.

In the evening, Japan National Team played in Oman. They couldn't win but the draw was the acceptable result in the 40 degree Celsius emvironments. The second place of the group is enough for the final round.

In the midnight in Japan, Euro 2008 was kicked off. Unfortunately, no current J.Leaguer play for this Euro, it is a fan for us as well.

2008.06.06
Mr. Ivica Osim returns as advisor for JFA

Former Japan coach Ivica Osim signed an initial six-month advisory contract with the Japan Football Association on 4th June 2008. His first jobs is to fly to Europe to attend Euro 2008 matches in Austria and Switzerland later this month.
This was his first press interview since he had had stroke in November.

2007.11.16 Japan's coach Osim has stroke
2007.12.05 "The game?", Osim said. He awoke.

"I'm back from the other world"
"I watch football matches and that has helped me recover from the illness. I watch football so as not to forget what I am"
"Of course I feel like sitting on the bench." "But at the same time I don't feel like dying on the bench. It won't be a spectacle to behold."
"Generally speaking, Japanese players must run more. They also have to raise their technical levels. They have to start moving a lot more from the time they're children."
"They must increase the speed of thinking and of running. That's the bottom line."
"Japanese football must be liberated from an inferiority complex and discover its strong points." "Football is different from theatre. It is a sport without a premeditated result."

"It is not impossible for Japan to be world champions. It may take some time but I hope the dream will come true."

2008.06.05
Washington and Urawa Reds supporters still strike hearts each other. Fluminense Reaches to the Copa Libertadores Final

Fluminense 2 - 2 / 3 - 1 Boca 28 May / 4 June, 2008. Copa Libertadores Semifinal

Ex-Urawa striker Washington's goal leads Fuluminense to the Copa Libertadores final against LDU Quito on 25 June and 2 July.

Urawa Reds is now last eight of 2008 AFC Champions League.
The drama he meets Urawa in Japan will happen?
2007.12.15 Washington leaves Urawa with FCWC 3rd place

2007.12.05 "The game?", Osim said

2008.06.02
Japan 3 - 0 Oman. World Cup Asian Qualifier 3rd Round

Japan kept Oman off and won by 3 - 0 on 2nd June in Nissan Stadium Yokohama.
It was beautiful scene. As soon as Nakamura hold the ball, defender Tulio found the space in the vital area and rushed into the Oman's penalty area. Pin point long feed from Nakamura hit Tulio's head and he draped the lovely ball to Okubo, then Okubo's shoot became the second score for Japan.
Today's Japan show their best performance, run hard, drive each others, find the space proactively with addin the full of personal techniques.
The team flys to Oman for the weekend match, tours to Thailand then coucluds the Asian 3rd Round on 22nd June in Saitama Stadium.
FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian 3rd Round

Japan:
Narazaki; Komano, Nakazawa, Tulio, Nagatomo (⇒ Konno) Matsui, Endo, Hasebe, Nakamura; Okubo (⇒ Kagawa), Tamada (⇒ Maki)

2008.05.29
FIFA Club World Cup hosts for UAE

FIFA Announced 2009 and 2010 FIFA Club World Cup will be held in UAE and 2011 and 2012 will be back to Japan, some oily and toyoty decision.

FIFA Club World Cup hosts revealed

Another major decision taken by the Executive Committee was to award the organisation of the 2009 and 2010 editions of the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the following two events, in 2011 and 2012, to Japan, where it has been played since 2005 and will be again in December this year. Since its re-launch in 2005, the competition has grown significantly to become one of the major competitions of FIFA. The Executive Committee agreed that a share of the profits from this tournament would be reinvested in club football around the world.
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/bodies/media/newsid=779200.html

2008.05.27
Japan/Paraguay/Cote d'Ivoire, Kirin Cup 2008 Results

Japan defeated Cote d'Ivoire and drew with Paraguay without giving them any score to prepare for the 2010 World Cup qualification 3rd round in June.
These international friendly matches were first ones since they lost in Bahrain. Japan national team coach Okada had success in testing new players including young side-player Nagatomo and called back Nakamura (Celtic), Matsui (Saint-Etienne), Hasebe (VfL Wolfsburg), but failed to improve the process of goal scoring.
Another anxiety for JFA president Kawabuchi is the number of attendance that 27,998 is the lowest for national team match in Saitama Stadium.
Next qualification will be on 2nd June in Yokohama.

Kirin Cup 2008
	PT	GP	W	D	L	GD	(GF	GA)
Japan	4	2	1	1	0	1	1	0
Paraguay	2	2	0	2	0	0	1	1
Cote d'Ivoire	1	2	0	1	1	-1	1	2

Friendly Kirin Cup International A Match
2008.05.22	Thu	19:00	Cote d'Ivoire	vs	Paraguay	1	-	1	(0	-	0)	5,197	Nippatsu/Mitsuzawa
2008.05.24	Sat	19:20	Japan	vs	Cote d'Ivoire	1	-	0	(1	-	0)	40,710	Toyota
2008.05.27	Tue	19:20	Japan	vs	Paraguay	0	-	0				27,998	Saitama

2008.05.24
AFC Champions League Knock-out Stage Draw

Asian Football Confederation announced the fixture of the AFC Champions League knock-out stage today.
Both Japanese clubs, Kashima Antlers and Gamba Osaka qualified. Three J.League clubs, with the entry of the defending champions Urawa Reds, have seats of ACL last eight.
http://www.the-afc.com/eng/index.jsp.html

AFC Champions League 2008 Quarterfinals - 1st Leg

2008.09.17

Wed

Al Karama (SYR)

Gamba Osaka

2008.09.17

Wed

Al Qadsia (KUW)

Urawa Reds

2008.09.17

Wed

Kashima Antlers

Adelaide United (AUS)

2008.09.17

Wed

Saipa (IRN)

Kuruvchi (UZB)

AFC Champions League 2008 Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg

2008.09.24

Wed

Adelaide United (AUS)

Kashima Antlers

2008.09.24

Wed

Gamba Osaka

Al Karama (SYR)

2008.09.24

Wed

Kuruvchi (UZB)

Saipa (IRN)

2008.09.24

Wed

Urawa Reds

Al Qadsia (KUW)

AFC Champions League 2008 Semifinals - 1st Leg

2008.10.08

Wed

IRN/UZB

Kashima/AUS

2008.10.08

Wed

SYR/G-Osaka

KUW/Urawa

AFC Champions League 2008 Semifinals - 2nd Leg

2008.10.22

Wed

KUW/Urawa

SYR/G-Osaka

2008.10.22

Wed

Kashima/AUS

IRN/UZB

AFC Champions League 2008 Final - 1st Leg

2008.11.05

Wed

Urawa/G-Osaka's Block

Kashima's Block

AFC Champions League 2008 Final - 2nd Leg

2008.11.12

Wed

Kashima's Block

Urawa/G-Osaka's Block

ACL 2008 results

Other confederation's status for FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008.

CAF:
Final eights are ASEC Mimosas (CIV), Al-Zamalek (EGY), Dynamos (ZIM), Cotonsport Garoua (CAM), TP Mazembe (COD), Enyimba FC (NGR), Al-Ahly (EGY), Al Hilal (SUD).
The final will be on November.

UEFA: Manchester United (ENG)

CONCACAF: Pachuca (MEX)

OFC: Waitakere United (NZL)

CONMEBOL:
Final fours are Fluminense (BRA), Boca Juniors (ARG), LDU Quito (ECU), America (MEX)
The two-legged final takes place on 25 June and 2 July respectively.

Host Country:
The winner of the J. League earns the right to participate. The final fixture takes place on Saturday 6 December.
** If a Japanese team wins the AFC Champions League, the host representative team will be replaced by the highest placed non-Japanese team from the 2008 edition of the AFC Champions League.

see http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/qualifiers/index.html

2008.05.18
J.League and clubs' Ostrich Policy kills the football - behind the crowd trouble during the Urawa vs G-Osaka match

Gamba Osaka beaten Urawa Reds by 2-3 in Reds home Saitama stadium on 17th May. The match was exciting that Gamba made their few chances to goals and fended off Urawa's attacks. There was a supporters' trouble during the match and it peaked after the match. The trouble is summarized as follows.

1) Before the match several Gamba supporters kept throwing objects including pet bottles to Urawa supporters' zone and kept provoking.
2) After the match Gamba's attack started again and Urawa returned that it went to mutual attacks and all kind of objects flew over the fence of the buffer area. As the fence was broken partially, it was close the crash.
3) Urawa supporters went close to the gate of Gamba's zone and Gamba fans kept in the stadium about three and a half hours.
4) During the period, both head of supporters talked and Gamba's apologized. Urawa officials arranged about 15 buses for guests and took them to the station.
5) Gamba officials admitted the act was planned and malicious and apologized, while Urawa officials apologized for the inefficient handling of the game administration on each Web page on 18th May.

They believe there are no hooligans and Japanese stadium is safe, but it was the worst trouble in Japanese stadium. The day after the match, most media reported the trouble. They all reported the reason was Urawa players and supporters got angry at the Gamba players' celebration of the victory, but it is not true. The reason is very simple that it was from the malicious act of some Gamba supporters and stadium officials failed to pick them out of the stadium at the moment they started attacks. We can't forgive the malicious act but the important thing is the administration of the match. During the attack, Urawa supporters asked the guards for help, but they couldn't stop and it spoiled the actor. The league and the clubs always respect supporters excessively and only ASK to follow the manners. Not to force.

There is an ostrich belief in J.League and clubs' policy and isn't it behind the trouble in Saitama? On 1st March, there was a trouble of the Super Cup in National Stadium. Several Kashima supporters rushed into the pitch just after their teams loss. It was ugly scine and fans gave their eyes to what the league would do. But it took two months to announce. When most fans begun to believe there was no penalty for that, the punishment was announced and it was reported the penalty was finished before the date of the announcement. Can they say they take a resolute stance for the violation?

The trouble in Saitama should be controlled by the league and the club's administration before the many fans and players are involved.

The match contained typical kinds of trouble factors; competitive spirit in players and supporters, manners in supporters and even in players, and referee's misjudgments. I think there is league's another ostrich in the issue of misjudgments and I wish to describe it later, but the main factor is the poor match administration. Let players and supporters be concentrated on the football.

Following is an article from Daily Yomiuri. It illustrates the typical tone from papers. They misunderstand the factor of the trouble.

J.League goes into six week break due to the 2010 World Cup Asian preliminary.

Fans make Reds' loss uglier
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/sports/20080518TDY24301.htm

Shintaro Kano / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter

SAITAMA--Gamba Osaka supporters picked the wrong group of fans to mess with and as a result, they missed their Shinkansen by a few hours.

In arguably the worst crowd trouble the J.League has ever seen, Gamba fans were held hostage at Saitama Stadium for three hours on Saturday following their team's 3-2 victory over Urawa Reds, a win that was marred by a post-match melee on the pitch as well as in the stands.

It all kicked off after the final whistle when Gamba players--in an act that could be misunderstood as taunting--celebrated their first victory ever at Saitama Stadium by dancing around in a ring. With a game in hand, the win saw them close the gap between the J1 leaders to seven points.

Reds midfielder Marcus Tulio Tanaka, never shy about saying what's on his mind, took offense to the celebration, wagging a finger at Gamba as if to say, "Not in our house."

That sparked a shouting, shoving match that drifted toward the stands where the Gamba supporters were located, and the visiting fans decided to get in on the action by tossing all kinds of objects at the Reds players and supporters.

Not a good idea.

For whatever reason, the Gamba fans seemed to have forgotten that a crowd of 57,050 attended the game--and the minor fact that they were not in Osaka.

The stadium erupted and soon enough, the cornered Gamba supporters were being pelted with anything and everything that could be thrown. Reds fans broke through the fencing that separated the two supporters' groups, raiding the Gamba section.

A small army of security guards rushed to the scene, intervening before anyone was seriously hurt. The only casualty was a male Gamba fan who fell out of the stands and was rushed to hospital after being suspected of breaking his right foot.

Around 5,000 Reds supporters waited for the Gamba fans outside the stadium. Approximately 1,000 Gamba fans were forced to stay inside the ground for more than three hours before organizers managed to convince the Urawa fans to stand down.

The jailed supporters were escorted away from the stadium by shuttle bus. How Gamba fans will react on Nov. 29 when Reds travel to Banpaku Stadium will surely be scrutinized.

"We have to accept that we were beaten," a furious Tulio said after the match. "But we wouldn't do what they did if we won at their place. You've got to respect your opponents."

The post-game ruckus took away from what was one of the league's best games of the year, in which Gamba were up 2-0 at halftime with goals by Sota Nakazawa and Masato Yamazaki.

Reds shaved the deficit by one through a Tsukasa Umesaki free kick after 53 minutes, but Japan international Yasuhito Endo reestablished Gamba's two-goal advantage with a superbly spotted strike on 68 minutes from outside the box.

With 11 minutes remaining, Reds striker Edmilson made it 3-2 with a header from a right-wing corner, yet the defense for Akira Nishino's side remained impervious the rest of the way.

Urawa lost for the first time under Gert Engels, who took over after the second game of the campaign. After this weekend, the league enters a month-long break for the World Cup qualifiers, with Reds in first on goal difference ahead of Nagoya Grampus.

Grampus won 3-1 at Consadole Sapporo to improve to 26 points.

"We lost for the first time in a while, and obviously I'm not pleased with the result," Engels said. "But I don't think our performance was too bad. We definitely had the chances to score at least one more goal.

"They made the most of the few opportunities they had. We could get close, but we couldn't finish. We may have lost, but we're still in first. I told the players we start from ground zero now."

"We have to be happy that we took three points from what was an extremely tough game," said Endo, who was forced to start the game from the bench by injury. "I was very free, and Lucas did a great job of picking me out. I read the keeper before I took the shot."

"I think all our games have been close," Nishino said. "The three defeats, five draws--the results could have gone our way. We haven't been able to establish a winning style this season, but that's way it has been for us."

(May. 18, 2008)

2008.05.15
J.LEAGUE 15th Annversary - 1993.5.15 - 2008.5.15

1993 J.LEAGUE 1st stage - week 01
1993.05.15	Sat	Verdy Kawasaki	vs	Yokohama Marinos	1	-	2	59,626	Kokuritsu
.. more (complete 1993 J.LEAGUE Results).

15th March is the birthday of J.LEAGUE. In 1993, J is was phonomenon of the are or some bubble? Fifteen years past, we thank the league they develpved themselves and players who enjoy us every week.
In anniversary of the 15 years of J.LEAUGE, Goal2002.com presents past records of the league. First data presented here is for the first year 1993.

1993 J.LEAGUE Competition:

League Format

There are 10 clubs in the J.LEAGUE ("the original ten"). The league has two stages. The each club plays the others twice in each stages (four times in a season). Each clubs play 36 matches in the season. For each games, the winner is decided using the "v-goal" method. Teams are ranked by total victories (90 minutes' victories and the v-goal victories are regarded as equivalent). Champions of each stages go to home-and-away championship play-offs to decide the season champions. No relegation to other categories. The season lasts from May to December.
(Summery: 10 clubs, two stages with championship play-offs, home-and-away for each stage, victories rank, v-goal, no lower division, May to December)

Original ten: Kashima Antlers, Urawa Reds, Verdy Kawasaki, Jef United Ichihara, Yokohama Flugels, Yokohama Marinos, Shimizu S-Pulse, Nagoya Grampus-Eight, Gamba Osaka, Sanfrecce Hiroshima

League Champions

1st Stage Champions: Kashima Antlers
2nd Stage Champions: Verdy Kawasaki
1993 Suntory Championship Winner: Verdy Kawasaki

League Cup (Nabisco Cup) Format

This cup is played by 10 J.LEAGUE clubs and 3 J.LEAGUE-associate-member clubs from September to November. 13 teams are divided into 6 and 7 group to play single-round-robin preliminary league to win the top and the runners-up place which lead to the semifinal. Teams are ranked by total victories. V-goal is employed to decide the winner (except for the final).

Please enjoy records of season 1993.

League Cup Winners

League Cup Winners: Verdy Kawasaki

Emperor's Cup Winners

The Emperor's Cup Winners: Yokohama Flugels

2008.05.13
Chiba introduces Liverpool coach Alex Miller as new manager

Just arrived, Alex Miller.

Jef United Chiba Ichihara spent a very busy week.

Owen for Chiba

On 6th May (Tue) beaten by Urawa 3-0 and loses 9th matches in first 11 matches without a single victory. Next day 7th (Wed), club announced firing of Croat coach Josip Kuse. On 8th (Thu), club announced they made contract with Alex Miller. On 10th (Sat), Miller arrived in Japan leaving the final Premier match of Liverpool and the team won the first victory from Kyoto. And today 13th May, the large banner was given on the paper "Michael Owen for Chiba!".

Chiba is known as the J.LEAGUE original ten club and have not been relegated to lower division. Can Alex Miller give a solution for United in Chiba?

2008.05.07
Gamba Osaka qualified for the ACL quarter finals.

Gamba Osaka, winning Chonburi FC in Thailand by 0-2, go to the ACL quarter final in September leaving the final group match on 21 May. All leaders for each groups and 2007 Champions qualify for quarter finals.

ACL 2008 Group league status (as of 7 May)

Group A Winner:	Kuruvchi FC (UZB)
Group B Winner:	Saipa (IRN)
Group C:	Al Karama (SYR) or Al Wahda (UAE)
Group D Winner:	Al Qadsia (KUW)
Group E:	Adelaide United FC (AUS) or Changchun Yatai FC (CHN)
Group F:	Kashima Antlers or Beijing Guoan FC (CHN)
Group G Winner:	Gamba Osaka
Defending Champions:	Urawa Reds

2008.04.30
Terrible Squirrel - Omiya

Omiya Ardija plays solidly. The club, scared of relatgation last season, has good start of this season. They moved back to the re-newed Omiya Stadium (NACK5 Stadium) and collects points constantly. This holidays' fixture, meeting with three giants in ten days, Urawa Reds, Kashima Antlers and Gamba Osaka seemed to be difficult for Omiya, but they draw scoreless with Urawa, almost knocking out Kashima by 1-1, and won the away Gamba match today, finally. The 4-4-2 zoned line system, the core competency of the club, keeps the adversary away from the goal.

Kashima and Gamba Osaka couldn't win a single match for these four games. As Urawa lost the 2007 league championship in return for the ACL title, the Asian tour of the ACL is the burden for Kashima and G-Osaka?
After this 9th week, Urawa Reds goes to the top for the first time of this season.

2008.04.23
Kashima and Gamba Osaka almost passing group league, ACL matchday 4

Kashima lose by planned 0-1 score in Beijing. While Gamba Osaka is escaping from the most difficult group of Aussie, Korea, and Thai.

see ACL results.

2008.04.21
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Men's Football Drawing

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Men's Football Group B

2008.08.07

Thu