J.League wrap: Week six

Two teams that have featured prominently in Australian football fans’ budding impressions of the J.League – Gamba Osaka and Kashima Antlers – entered the week in a very unfamiliar position: the very bottom of the league table. Kashima sat dead last on Saturday morning.

The Golden Herd of Ibaraki has managed just a single draw from their first five league matches, and though a perfect 2-0 record in the Nabisco Cup offers fans a glimmer of hope, the discontent seems to be growing.

There are a few extraordinary factors which help to explain the team’s slow start this year, and which ensured that the team’s expectations (and those of Antlers fans) were subdued. Kashima has embarked on a wholesale rejuvenation of the squad, and if anything, the team’s slow start has encouraged coach Jorginho to accelerate the shift to younger players.

In recent weeks, Jorginho has started as many as seven players who were not regulars last season. Several of these are true rookies, including defender Kazuya Yamamura, defensive midfielder Takahide Umebachi and attacking midfielder Gen Shoji. Shoma Doi and Gaku Shibasaki, who saw only brief action in their rookie seasons last year, are also starting regularly, as are Yasushi Endo and Yuya Osako, who have been on the team for a few years but only earned a starting role in the latter half of 2011.

With all this turnover, perhaps it is not surprising that the team has struggled. But whatever the excuses, it is clear that Kashima needs to break out of its slump soon, or Jorginho’s job could be in jeopardy.

This week, Kashima travelled to Tokyo to face another team with a rookie coach, but one who have achieved solid results in their early matches. FC Tokyo returned to the J1 this season with the momentum that often accompanies teams who win the J2 in the previous year.

However they also face the unique challenge of taking part in the ACL, and their Asian prospects took a serious blow 20 minutes into this week’s match, when Shinzo Koroki broke in behind the Tokyo defence chasing a lead pass into the box. Shuichi Gonda dashed off his line and was able to smother Koroki’s shot, but as the two players collided knee-on-knee, the Tokyo netminder was unable to continue.

After an eight minute delay, Hitoshi Shiota replaced him between the sticks and the contest resumed. This set the tone for what was already a scrappy match on a slippery pitch, and even with a competent referee in charge, it was bound to get a bit heated. With Toshimitsu “The Thing” Yoshida overseeing the mayhem, it was a credit to both teams that things did not spin out of control.

Mr. Yoshida contrived reasons to award nine yellow cards in total, and based on the disgusted look and sad shake of the head that Ranko Popovic delivered as he watched Kashima’s Yuya Osako get booked in the 78 minute, even the “benefitting” teams found some of Mr. Yoshida’s calls hard to stomach.

Midway through the second half, the patient Kashima buildup finally managed to breach Tokyo’s defence, when Yasushi Endo snatched up a deflected ball at midfield and took off with Osako and Koroki on his right and left, respectively. Endo held the ball long enough to force the defenders to commit, and when they did he slid the ball off to Osako in the right channel. Osako played a diagonal cross in front of Koroki and the Kashima ace bulled past Shiota to poke the ball home from inches away.

However, as so often happens in the J.league, Kashima allowed their goal to alter their focus and style of play. Within ten minutes Tokyo was in full control of the momentum and pressing for an equaliser.

The goal came in the 84th minute when Kashima was called for a back pass to the keeper – a rather harsh call since defender Kazuya Yamamura was trying to clear the ball off the boots of Lucas Severino. Even if it did not hit the Tokyo player (which it appeared to do), it could hardly be called a “pass”. Nevertheless, Tokyo took the indirect kick from the edge of the six-yard box, and after two deflections Sotan Tanabe finally managed to slam the ball into the netting.

There was still time for one more bolt of lightning, and it came four minutes deep into injury time. A quick Kashima breakout galloped from penalty box to penalty box, as Juninho finally demonstrated some of the speed on the dribble for which he was famous in Kawasaki.

Collecting the ball on the left sideline, on his own side of midfield, Juninho burst into a sprint and outraced his marker, turning in as he neared the top of the penalty area. While still over 25 metres from goal, he let loose a powerful shot, and though Shiota was able to intercede, he spilled the ball to Endo, dashing in from the opposite side.

Endo skipped past the keeper and tucked the ball into an empty net, giving Kashima their first win of the season.

Meanwhile, Gamba was facing another team that has struggled this season. This week Kawasaki Frontale coach Naoki Soma was relieved of his duties as head coach. Gamba Osaka, who replaced their manager three weeks ago, may have had a bit more time to settle, but it was Frontale who responded first. The visitors opened the scoring on their very first trip down the pitch, as Takanobu Komiyama’s cross from the left flank found Yusuke Tasaka slanting through the middle for a running header.

When the ball looped past the dive of keeper Yosuke Fujigaya, a deathly hush descended on Banpaku Stadium as fans contemplated yet another frustrating evening in north Osaka. With just over five minutes to go before half time, Frontale drove the knife in deeper, on a corner kick from the right side. Kengo Nakamura’s kick found Yu Kobayashi at the edge of the six yard box for a leaping header that slipped through the back door and put Gamba in a 0-2 hole.

But Gamba has regrouped from their early struggles, and the team is actually on a streak of positive results, having recorded an ACL win and a draw in the league over its past two matches. The Osaka Boys were determined to break out of their slump, and that fierce motivation inspired a last surge of offence in the final seconds of the half.

With almost a minute gone in stoppage time, Gamba won a free kick on the right side, and though the Frontale defence cleared Endo’s lob into the box Gamba managed to keep the ball in play, kicking it out to Hiroki Fujiharu on the left flank. Fujiharu chipped the ball back into the box as the Frontale players were still trying to clear their zone. Sota Nakazawa was still onside as the Frontale players raced away from goal, and he slipped behind the offside trap to meet Fujiharu’s chip with a leaping header. The ball drifted into the open right side of goal and the deficit was cut to just a single goal at the break.

Although Gamba has not made as many changes to their squad as Kashima, they do have several talented youngsters moving into the starting line-up. Fujiharu is one of the brightest prospects, and he demonstrated his quality again, early in the second half, with a cross that produced the equaliser. Rounding the left flank, the Gamba wingback dodged to the inside and beat his defender, then dropped the ball back towards the top of the box for another newcomer, Akihiro Sato, who joined Gamba from Tokushima Vortis this season. Sato opened his account for Gamba last week, and he calmly slammed home Fujiharu’s cross to extend his scoring streak. Suddenly the momentum was completely reversed, as the home team surged forward and Frontale reeled uncertainly.

With five minutes remaining, Gamba made one more attack down the flank, this time on the right sideline. Veteran Akira Kaji demonstrated that he still has some speed, beating his man to the corner and turning inside before squaring the ball for young Hiroyuki Abe – a rookie who joined Gamba this year from Kwansei Gakuin U. Abe fired a left-footer low and hard, and the ball managed to slip underneath the keeper, giving Gamba their first win of the season.

Elsewhere, league leaders Vegalta Sendai remained unbeaten with a contentious 3-2 win over defending champions Kashiwa Reysol. Kashiwa were reduced to ten men when Leandro Domingues was given a second booking for “almost” elbowing Taikai Uemoto in the face. In actual fact, there was no contact at all, but Uemoto pulled his best “fake it like Rivaldo” act, and got Leandro sent off. Not exactly the most savoury ending to a battle for first place.

Elsewhere, Urawa Reds beat Vissel Kobe 2-0, Shimizu S-Pulse defeated Jubilo Iwata 3-2 in the Shizuoka Derby, Nagoya Grampus beat relegation favourites Consadole Sapporo 3-1, Sagan Tosu ad Albirex Niigata were 1-0 victors over Sanfrecce and Cerezo, respectively, and Yokohama Marinos drew 1-1 with Omiya Ardija.