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
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