July 14, 2009

Man the Barricades

Those of you with a slightly "Continental" upbringing are probably aware that the title above refers to the French Holiday which falls on July 14th - often referred to as "Bastille Day". Though the details are a bit fuzzy, this has always seemed an odd holiday to me, since history tells us that it was not directly inpired by, nor an inspiration for the political overthrow of the French monarchy, in ｔｈe French Revolution which got under way a few months later. From a strictly historical perspective, it seems to have been largely spontaneous and triggered mainly by hot, uncomfortable weather, a lot of inebriated working class people with nothing to do, and the assumption that large stores of food, drink and gunpowder were being kept in the Bastille. In short, you could probably describe this as the world's first riot by football hooligans. Who could ask for a more appropriate date to resume play in the J.League's 2010 title campaign

On Wednesday evening, four matches were played to make up contests from round 11, involving the four ACL participants. All of Japan's entrants have now dropped out of the ACL, and the four teams which took part in the group phase are all in positions to at least make a bid for this season's title. Kashima Antlers and Kawasaki Frontale, in particular, entered the make-up week in a position to close the gap between themselves and league-leaders Shimizu S-Pulse to less than three points. The stakes are therefore considerable, and though only three days have passed since the World Cup concluded, we are now back in the thick of a very interesting race to capture the J.League crown. So without any further ado, here are our reports on the Wednesday evening matchups:

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Kawasaki Frontale pulled out all the stops to attract a large crowd for this midweek match, promoting it as a "farewell match" for two World Cup participants who have signed with clubs in Europe and will leave Japan some time tomorrow. Frontale keeper Eiji Kawashima is off to Belgium, while striker Chong Tese signed with Bochum in the Bundesliga. Though neither player was included in the 18-man roster for this game, they did make appearances at a post-match ceremony to send them off to their new horizons. Unfortunately, the post-match ceremony turned out to be the highlight of the evening. Tese managed to avoid bursting into tears, this time, but the farewell speeches by both players were quite moving. Too bad the play over the previous 90 minutes was a bit less inspirational.

The Blue Dolphins may have been the consensus favorites as they hosted a visit from the Mighty Squirrels of Omiya, who have a new coach in Jun Suzuki, and what appears to be a new formation as well. Unfortunately, Omiya seems to have done some work during the break and look like a more competitive club than they were two months ago. Leading the way for Frontale were two Japan NT players who did NOT see much action at the World Cup - midfielders Kengo Nakamura and Junichi Inamoto. Though the loss of Chong and Kawashima will surely have SOME impact, Kawasaki still has an abundance of talent on their roster, and they entered the match on Wednesday knowing that a win would move them to within two points of league-leaders Shimizu S-Pulse.

But their high hopes ran into a wall of orange, anchored by Chong Tese's North Korean teammate An Yong-Hak. Omiya spent the opening minutes focused mainly on keeping the speedy Frontale attacking line in check. However, as the first half wore on, the Mighty Squirrels began to gain confidence, and create some opportunities on the counterattack. Their Brazilian ace Rafael and his partner Ishikawa teamed up at the sharp end of a flat 4-4-2 that looked much more adventurous, and may perhaps be more competitive than the formation they used in the first half of the season, under coach Chang. Kawasaki had a deserved edge in the number of shots, and generally dictated the pace of play. However, Omiya prevented all but one or two truly dangerous chances and even managed to trouble Frontale's new starting keeper, Takashi Aizawa, on a few counterattacking opportunities

With 20 minutes to go, Kurotsu had the best opportunity of the evening to put his team in front, when Hiroki Ito turned the right corner and fed a ball across the face of goal. But with the entire net at his mercy, Kurotsu somehow managed to pull the ball just wide of the left post. This sealed the scoreless result, and though Kurotsu's miss was a bit hard to believe, Omiya will probably feel that they did enough to deserve the draw.

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The Kashima Antlers also entered their Wednesday evening match against Shonan Bellmare without one of the players who travelled to South Africa with the National Team. Right wingback Atsuto Uchida has already arrived in Germany, where he joins Schalke for the 2010-11 Bundesliga campaign. Like Frontale, the Antlers have plenty of talent available to step in and fill gaps like the one left by Uchida. Veteran Toru Araiba moved across to the right flank, while young Brazilian Gilton took over on the left, and both performed well in what was a calm and professional, though not very eventful demolition of Shonan Bellmare.

The Antlers were in position to close the gap with Shimizu to just a single point, with a win, and they wasted no time in getting the second half of the season under way. Less than ten minutes after kickoff, captain Mitsuo Ogasawara let loose a blast from about 30 meters, and though it slammed into a defender before it even reached the box, the ball fell right to Takuya Nozawa, who teed it up and drove a powerful blast into the low right corner. This opening goal was followed by a barrage of shots as the defending champions tried to score a quick knockout against the struggling, and mentally shaky Beach Boys of the Shonan Shore.

But despite being outshot 12-1 over the opening half hour, Shonan survived the early deluge and eventually settled down into a tight, ten-man defensive shell that forced the Antlers to spend a bit more time probing for an opening. The huge disparity in shots retreated to less embarassing levels, but while Shonan seemed capable of preventing a deluge, they never even came close to looking like a match for the home team.

As half time came and went, but the Antlers continued to control the run of play. The second half became increasingly one-sided as the over-matched Shonan players resorted to cynical fouling, flopping, and desperate "set plays" from 50+ meters out. The fact that Bellmare made it through the match with no cautions, to two yellow cards for Kashima, is a testament to the careful application of "sissy-team rules". Although Mr. Sato's officiating certainly was not as poor as that in the Cerezo-Sanfrecce match, after a month of watching world-class referees in action, the ludicrously one-sided standard adopted in this contest is enough to make a viewer physically ill. Eventually the Antlers seeemed to grow tired of pursuing a second goal, only to have a defender haul them back deliberately, and walk away without punishment. For the final 20 minutes or so they just ground out the clock, securing all three points and moving past Nagoya Grampus into second place in the standings.

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Gamba Osaka entered the first match after the World Cup break with captain Yasuhito Endo sitting in the stands. Although Endo does not appear to have been injured, the latent hepatitis that he suffers from is a constant source of concern, since overexertion can bring on a relapse. The club clearly felt that Endo needs a bit of time to recharge the batteries, and consequently his spot was taken by Futagawa. Though he did a competent job handling the playmaker duties, Futagawa was unable to provide the sort of spark that would break down a very hard-working Kyoto Sanga team. Gamba struggled to create clear chances over the opening half hour, and indeed, Kyoto had a golden opportunity to steal a lead against the run of play when Dutra caught up with a long clearance, behind the last Osaka defender. But as Dutra broke foreward for a one-on-one against keeper, the Gamba netminder was out quickly to the edge of the box, and smothered Dutra's shot.

Gamba finally managed to take the lead, though they needed some help from the Kyoto defence. Two minutes after the break, two separate Sanga players failed to clear the ball as Shoki Hirai dashed through and stroked a shot past his namesake, Naohito Hirai, in the Sanga net. On the stroke of the hour, however, Kyoto equalised on a very impressive bit of sustained pressure. Diego carried the ball around the left flank and worked with Yusuke Nakatani to break down the Gamba defence and get the ball in front of goal. Although one inlet pass was deflected, Hiroki Mizumoto collected it, spun away from his defender and fired a quick shot. The ball was blocked out to the edge of the box, but  Makoto Kakuda snapped it up, measured the keeper, and then drove a shot into the low left corner.

Gamba made a late charge in hopes of stealing all three points, but in the end Kyoto seemed to be well worth a share of the spoils. The contest ended 1-1, moving Kyoto one point out of the cellar, and edging Gamba up to midtable.

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Sanfrecce Hiroshima are the only ACL team that had no members at the World Cup, this year. Though many believe that keeper Nishikawa, defender Tomoaki Makino or striker Hisato Sato deserved to be in the squad that travelled to South Africa, both were dropped from the mix by coach Okada. These three, as well as several younger players who are seeing action at the U-20 level, are clearly eager to prove themselves to whoever takes over as National Team coach. And Makino nearly managed to make it into the eleven-o'clock news highlight reels with a stunning free kick just ten minutes after kickoff, driving the ball 35 meters on a laser-beam trajectory, and just off the left post

Though this early opportunity did not pay off, Sanfrecce controlled play over the opening half against Cerezo Osaka, who were without midfield playmaker Shinji Kagawa, another player who moved to Europe during the World Cup break. Adriano and Takashi Inui were able to create some half-chances with individual penetration moves, but the lack of an orchestrator and creative director at the center of the attacking unit was clearly apparent in the many attacks that got off to a promising start but ground to a halt while still several yards short of the danger zone. As half time approached, it looked like the home team was in control, and simply needed to make the right connections in order to forge into the lead

But moments before the break, Mr.Takuya Maeda dealt the Purple Archers a painful blow when he brandished a second yellow card at Yojiro Takahagi, for what looked -even on first viewing- to be a very mild foul at worst. Replays make the call look even worse, as they clarified that there had been no contact at all between Takahagi and Yusuke Maruhashi, when the Cerezo wing cynically flopped to the turf on the left sideline, a good 30 meters away from the referee.

A few people have suggested, based on a few competent performances at the World Cup by ONE J.League referee, that officiating in Japan is approaching "global standards." Lets face it, those people are only kidding themselves. This sort of overreaction - making a call that will clearly affect the final outcome of a match, on a play which was far from clear-cut, and which the referee could not have seen in any detail - does not just hurt one team in one game. On the contrary, these sort of decisions have a damaging impact on the entire League. It is up to the press to identify such mistakes and make sure that everyone is clearly aware that a mistake was made. This isnt a question of "losing face". Everyone is (or at least SHOULD be) aware that referees are human, and are bound to make mistakes on occasion. But unless mistakes like this one are clearly identified and critiqued, referees are under no pressure to improve their performances.

It was poetically appropriate that Ivica Osim's comments videotaped at half time called on Japanese fans to "put more pressure on players." It is the constant pressure to perform - and the acquired ability to handle such pressure - that makes the difference between competent players, and truly world-class ones. The same principle most definitely holds true for officials, as well.

The extra man proved to be a telling advantage for the Flaming Pinks, with Akihiro Ienaga giving them the lead shortly after half time. Sanfrecce made a breif effort to fight their way back to level terms, but after an own-goal shattered Hiroshima's concentration as well as their hope, Cerezo romped to a five-goal victory. Sanfrecce fans are bound to find this a hard pill to swallow, as the run of play was largely in their favour until the bizarre call that reduced Hiroshima to ten men. Even Cerezo coach Culpi, in his post-game comments, conceded that his team was struggling until the second yellow card on Takahagi, and only in the second half were his players able to dictate the contest.

Those who are constantly obsessing over "what sets European teams apart from the J.League" need to spend a few minutes considering how an incident like this one would be treated in one of the "Elite" European leagues. To begin with, the TV broadcasters would have given viewers more than just one opportunity to see the replay, and would have stated in no uncertain terms that there had been no contact at all - there could be no question that Mr. Maeda blew the call. The following morning, the press would have hammered this point home, with headlines like "Maeda Miscall Shatters Sanfrecce" and without question, at least a few direct questions from reporters to Mr. Maeda, asking if he had seen the replay and recognized his error.

Finally, as anyone who has seen such an incident play out in Europe is well aware, the commentators, bloggers and various talking heads would have the final word. If Mr. Maeda accepted the legitimate criticism and offered a reasonable explanation (eg. "Maruhashi went down dramatically, and I was sure there must have been contact, but I can see now that I was wrong.") they would close the chapter and move on. "We all make mistakes. Lets home Mr. Maeda learns from his." But if the official tried to stonewall, make excuses, or refused to admit the error, demands for disciplinary action would intensify and you could be sure that the man in question would not be considered for overseeing a high-stakes match ever again. This is not just "how it is" in Europe - this is how it SHOULD be. When incidents like this one are just swept under the rug and ignored, nobody gains. Everybody loses.

So the next time someone asks: "what does Japan need to do, to reach the world class level?", the only answer that has any real accuracy, pertinence or value whatsoever is this one:

Start cultivating world-class referees.