S-Pulse 1-0 Urawa Red Diamonds

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 1-0 Urawa Red Diamonds
Omae 63

Att. 21524

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Tsujio
DF Iwashita
DF Bosnar (yellow 15)
DF Ota

MF Jong-a-Pin (yellow 38)
MF Ono
MF Brosque

FW Omae
FW Takagi
FW Nabeta

Subs Used

Edamura on for Takagi (55)
Hiraoka on for Bosnar (65)
Nagai on for Ljungberg (76)

Report

Blistering heat, horrible jetlag, but at least we won and made it 4-0 against Saitama's two teams this year. I woke up less than three hours before kick off meaning a mad dash to make it out to Ecopa in time. For a home game, Ecopa's a mission, but it does make a change and means for the big games noone is left without a ticket. All told, less than 22000 is a disappointing gate, but at the end of the day we had 2000 more than could have fit in Nihondaira.

Anyway, we won. On the first half we deserved it. Urawa twice broke through one on one but lacked the quality to make them count. But for our part, Nabeta nearly opened the scoring, Genki would have done had he directed his shot better, and Jong a Pin crashed one shot against the bar, and another was only denied only by an excellent save by Kato.

The second half was much more evenly balanced, but Urawa lack teeth. Escudero kept falling over (diving) and otherwise making a mess of things. He either had a bad game or he's just crap. As time wore on, and especially after we took the lead, Urawa looked more and more desperate and rarely troubled Kaito for all their possession.

Tsujio's excellent trickery down the right wing and dart into the box was enough to give the breakthrough just past the hour. Genki was there to take it down and poke it home in one movement. Freddie had a good game. His vision is excellent and the only problem was his surrounding players not always anticipating him. We've seen this happen with Ono though, so give it time while everyone gets up to speed with the Swede's lightening decision making.

Next week we play Kawasaki who have just won their first game after nine defeats. Fingers crossed it's a mere blip in their otherwise disastrous season. :)

ADDITIONAL: It's worth mentioning this was a game without our captain or top scorer. That's all.

Pictures

The long road to Ecopa
They said it was for "children only" :(
Ole!

New look S-Pulse

You should be in good health and free from high blood pressure, heart, back, or neck problems, motion sickness, or other conditions that could be aggravated by this adventure. Expectant mothers should not ride.

Youngberry had a decent game

Videos

Highlights.

Urawa 1-3 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

Urawa 1-3 S-Pulse
Umesaki 80 -----------Bosnar 24, 86
-----------------------------Takahara 64

Att. 31921

Line Up

GK Usui

DF Tsujio
DF Iwashita
DF Bosnar
DF Ota

MF Ono
MF Hiraoka
MF Brosque

FW Omae
FW Takahara (Yellow 36)
FW Takagi

Subs Used

Edamura on for Ono (46)
Kobayashi on for Takagi (56)
Nagai on for Takahara (77)

Report

With goals from Bosnar (2!) and, of course, Takahara, we beat Urawa this evening. Everything will come Monday afternoon because I'm in a hotel in Yamanashi right now getting an early night ahead of my first half marathon. All I will say is GET IN!!! S-PULSE, YOU ARE BLOODY BRILLIANT!!! :))))))

------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I never got round to writing much more about this, but in summary it was a good result away from home with a fantastic second goal. A perfect diving header from Takahara after an equally perfect Genki cross. Naohiro is in great shape and if he keeps this up the doubters will be stuffed full of humble pie come December. When you consider he's only been starting as centre forward for the past five games, his recent haul is even more impressive.

It's been a little while, but we all know what he can do, and Bosnar's two free kicks were just unstoppable. Especially his second which must have been moving at some speed. Home to Kawasaki tomorrow under the lights. Looking forward to it. :)

Ghotbi Says

We were excellently organised and could control the game from start to finish. It's fantastic to give the fans a victory with some special goals. We showed our character after conceding to grab a third and wrap up the win.

Let's Talk About ME

If I can be self indulgent for a second, this is what I got up to this weekend (hence the delayed update to these pages).


13 miles before midday on a Sunday? Not something I'll be making a habit of, but might just do another half marathon in the not too distant future. :) I saw a couple of FC Tokyo shirts, a JEF United one and also an Omiya top. I mean to say I saw them as I was leaving them on a cloud of orange DUST. Go S-Pulse!

Videos

Extended highlights:



Bend it like Beckham? Nah, mate. BELT IT LIKE BOSNAR.

Urawa 1-1 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

Urawa 1-1 S-Pulse
Edmilson 19 ----------Okazaki 38

Att. 38909

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Hiraoka
DF Bosnar (yellow 41)
DF Ota

MF Ono
MF Honda
MF Hyodo

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen
FW Fujimoto

Subs Used

M. Yamamoto on for Fujimoto (68)
Edamura on for Ono (74)
Hara on for Okazaki (85)

Report

None, because I'm busy!

Not a fantastic result against 10th placed also-rans Urawa, but it's certainly good to stop the rot after last weekend. The home team will no doubt be more happy with a point against high flying opposition, but despite us missing the chance to close the gap on Nagoya (who stumbled at home to a draw) any away point is valuable. Draw away and win at home and you win the league. Next at home? Nagoya. If you're going to go, then get your ticket now - there are only 2000 left.

-----------------------------------------------------

Sunday update:

I have a few minutes, so just to put on record that Nishibe, while he's prone to the odd howler every now and again, has been solid as a rock in the last couple of games, and has been pretty good all year. With Kaito out of first team contention for the foreseeable, Nishibe has stepped (back) up to the plate and has 1) kept us in the Nabisco Cup, and 2) stopped a couple of cracking shots in this game.

Okazaki's control and finish on his equaliser are top drawer. Check the highlights below. It's worth watching a couple of times in slow motion to appreciate how good his touch was from Jungo's cross to set it up for his volley home.

Videos

Full highlights

Yokohama FM 0-0 Urawa (Nabisco Cup)

Barry writes:

Yokohama FM 0-0 Urawa

Att. 13463

Report

And with that display of sheer bloody mindedness, Urawa (who were already out of the competition), gleefully dragged their old rivals down with them. The Saitama reds knew they had more to play for then just their pride - there was of course the chance to royally screw over a bitter enemy.

And screw them over they did, doggedly defending, rushing them on the counter attack, and wasting time at every opportunity until the ref finally blew his whistle deep into the 95th minute. A single goal would have put Yokohama through to the knock out stage at our expense, but Urawa made it their mission to see it didn't happen.

So all that works out just dandy for us, as the group B final standings look a little like this:

#		Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	D	Pts
1		iwata	6	4	1	1	12	5	+7	13
2		S-PULSE	6	3	2	1	6	3	+3	11
3		Yamagata	6	3	1	2	6	6	+0	10
4		Yokohama FM	6	2	3	1	6	3	+3	9
5		Urawa	6	2	2	2	6	6	+0	8
6		Kobe	6	2	1	3	8	10	-2	7
7		Shonan	6	0	0	6	4	15	-11	0

Iwata's impotence in front of goal clearly came to a head at the Yamaha Stadium tonight, as they released Sunday's frustrations all over Yamagata's face in a veritable ejaculation of goals. A 5-0 win for the sky blues (their largest victory for roughly 152 years) sent the visitors out. Given all they needed was a draw to progress, any Mountain Kings who made the journey to iwata tonight will have just cause to be a little peeved at their team's capitulation.

So the next round of fixtures lines up thusly:

Quarter Finals 1st Leg
September 1st 2010 (Wed)

Kashima v Kawasaki
iwata v Sendai
G. Osaka v Hiroshima
FC Tokyo v S-PULSE

Quarter Finals 2nd Leg
September 8th 2010 (Wed)

Kawasaki v Kashima
Sendai v iwata
Hiroshima v G. Osaka
S-PULSE v FC Tokyo

These games happen to fall when I'm back in England for a week, so it pains me to report I'll be missing my first home game of the season. That said, I'll be there for the semi final first leg against either Hiroshima or G. Osaka on September 29th should we make it. The return leg on October 10th I may or may not treat myself to (it's the day before my birthday after all!).

Urawa 0-1 S-Pulse (Nabisco Cup)

Barry writes:

Urawa 0-1 S-Pulse
----------------------------- Hara 87

Att. 34040

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Tsujio
DF Iwashita (yellow 48)
DF Hiraoka
DF Ota

MF Hyodo
MF Honda
MF Ono

FW Nagai
FW Johnsen
FW Fujimoto

Subs Used

M. Yamamoto on for Hyodo (65)
Omae on for Honda (78)
Hara on for Nagai (78)

Report

I was expecting to watch this one on the box, but as it wasn't on live anywhere I was reduced, like a savage, to listening on *spit* Reds Radio. Urgh. As if that wasn't bad enough, the commentator wasn't even trying to provide a balanced account of what was unfolding at the Saitama Stadium.

I just checked the stats and was genuinely surprised to see we had 12 shots; only two fewer than the home team. You wouldn't have known it. The commentator took any S-Pulse possession as opportunity to babble on about the fact Reds fans were booing Nagai, that three ex Urawa players started for us today, that we hadn't won in four, or the fact that a draw wouldn't really suit either team.

Timely

So it was a confusing / hilarious / surreal moment when, with the presenter off on another mindless rant about God only knows what, he, completely out of the blue, started shouting and yelping about a goal. I was paralysed with fear as I tried to figure out what had just happened, but to cut a long story short, it was Kazuki Hara who had reaffirmed his semi-legendary status as our very own super sub.

I'm yet to see it, but will add a video is and when one appears online. These three points put us back in the race to qualify for the knock out stages, but anything less than a win against those sky blue scumbags next week will see our hopes for another cup run as good as over. Even a victory may yet prove to be insufficient as you can see:

		Played	Pts	W	D	L	F	A	Gd
1	iwata	4	10	3	1	0	7	3	+4
2	S-PULSE	5	8	2	2	1	4	3	+1
3	Yokohama FM	4	7	2	1	1	5	2	+3
4	Yamagata	4	7	2	1	1	3	1	+2
5	Urawa	5	7	2	1	2	6	6	0
6	Kobe	4	3	1	0	3	4	7	-3
7	Shonan	4	0	0	0	4	2	9	-7

It's really too close to call. All we can do is win. See you at Nihondaira next week where there will be near on THREE TIMES more than was at jubilo's home game yesterday.

Videos

OK, so here they are, the highlights:

S-Pulse 2-1 Urawa

Barry writes:
S-Pulse 2-1 Urawa
Okazaki 17 ----------------Ponte 22
Johnsen 93

Att. 38851

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Tsujio
DF Hiraoka
DF Bosnar
DF Ota

MF Hyodo
MF Honda (yellow 25)
MF Ono

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen
FW Fujimoto

Subs Used
Takeda on for Nishibe (HT)
Nagai on for Fujimoto (79)
Takaki (yellow 88) on for Tsujio (83)

Report

On a gorgeous Saturday afternoon third placed Urawa trekked out to the home of football in Japan, Shizuoka, for their biggest game of the season so far. Due to the prospect of a bumper Golden Week crowd, S-Pulse chose to stage this one at Ecopa. It was a decision that paid off as just shy of 39000 turned out to see the league leaders in action. The vast majority went home smiling like Cheshire Cats after Frode Johnsen rose in the 93rd minute to head home and claim three points for S-Pulse. His stoppage time header ensured we remain top of the table and extended our unbeaten start to the season to nine games - eleven in all competitions.

Not many empty seats to be found

The game, and the occasion as a whole, was a cracker. Both sets of fans were in full voice as two teams with genuine title ambitions had the opportunity to stake their claim over the other. Within seconds of the start both ourselves and the other lot had had shots on target and it was clear the game was going to live up to expectations. The thing is, games like this are all well and good for the neutral, but for supporters of either team it means ninety minutes of heart-stopping tension and goal-mouth scares.

Okazaki opened scoring from a corner, glancing a header across goal and into the far corner. Our celebrations didn't last too long though. Five minutes later Ponte repeated his feat of the same fixture last year, firing it home in front of the home end. Nishibe got a hand to it but it wasn't quite enough. Not long after, a poorly timed sliding challenge by Yamada led to lengthy treatment for our keeper. He managed to play on till half time, but was suffering from concussion and so was substituted at the break for youngster Takeda.

An hour from Shimizu, but the orange army was out in force

Ono went achingly close to restoring our lead, once directly after skilfully avoiding a defender and shooting just wide, and once with a world class pass into Okazaki's path who just failed to chip to advancing keeper. So it was all square at half time, a scoreline probably more suited to the away team.

The second half was equally anxiety ridden, and with the chances coming less frequently it was evident that one goal was probably going to win it. When we hit the bar in the 92nd minute that looked like our time was up and we'd have to settle for the draw, but cue the big Norwegian to pop up and head home from point blank range.

The hero of the piece

I've not known an explosion of delirium on the terraces like that since Cho Jae-Jin's stoppage time winner against Jubilo back in 2007. Being a home game with 35000 orange-clad maniacs in attendance, the noise when Johnsen's 93rd minute header hit the back of the net was something incredible. The goal won us all three points and maintains our place at the top of the table.

Onwards and upwards - next is Kyoto away on Wednesday. On the road the first priority is avoiding defeat. If we can play a tight game and stay top, then it's home to Niigata next Saturday. The games can't come quick enough!

Videos

Full highlights:



From a personal cam, Okazaki's opener:



And Johnsen's winner:

Urawa 0-1 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

Urawa 0-1 S-Pulse
-----------------------------Edamura (70)

Att: 45186

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Iwashita
DF Arata

MF Edamura
MF Ito
MF Honda
MF Hyodo

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen

Subs used

Hara on for Okazaki (81)
M. Yamamoto on for Hyodo (83)
Takaki on for Edamura (87)

Report

An excellent result away in Saitama, and the second time we'd beaten Urawa in the space of five days. Kingdom Shimizu!!

A small section of our travelling barmy army

Our goal came from Edamura on 70 minutes, and we had a number of golden chances both before and after to create a bit more of a cushion, but as it was we went into the four minutes of stoppage time hanging on for grim life. Urawa could, and should, have scored at least once, but a lack of real teeth up front cost them, and as their fans concentrated on booing Okazaki, their side slumped to it's fourth defeat in a row.

Things were looking more and more panicy as the stoppage time minutes ticked by, but hang on we did! Together with the defeat of Gamba Osaka, this caps an excellent four weeks. Apart from the hellish stoppage time equaliser we conceeded to Kyoto, it's been a top month. We were unlucky not to beat Kashima, but we've picked up away points at Chiba, Osaka and now Urawa. Not to mention to progressing to the semi finals of the cup!

Life it never dull on the S-Pulse side of life, and now we have a well earned weekend off while the J. League v K. League All Star game takes place. I'm not especially sad to report no S-Pulse players are involved. The lads all deserve a weekend to themselves.

Moments after our goal

Next we face high flyers Albirex Niigata who will be a stern test. Niigata have both conceed the second least and lost the second least in J1 (both behind Kashima, rather predictably), so will be a very tough opponent. Unbeaten at home for well over a year, I'm confident we can turn them over, and in the process do the double over them - of only three defeats this year for Albirex, one was at home against us.

As for today, top job boys! You made a trip out to Saitama totally worth it. :)

Videos etc

Full highlights:



The last minute of stoppage time:

Official match pictures can be found here （top row).

And finally, from down Oita way, the greatest escape from J1 this season so far!　



Wow. Just wow! Ex-Pulser Fernandinho set up the equaliser, but surely Oita have left it too late to save their J1 skins?

S-Pulse 3-0 Urawa (Nabisco Cup 1/4 Final)

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 3-0 Urawa
Own goal (0)
Okazaki (45)
Aoyama (62)

S-Pulse win 4-2 on agg.

Att. 12014

A two one defeat in the first leg, we needed to make sure we didn't conceed at home to have any real hope of getting through. Well, how about 3-0? Yep, that'd do the job nicely. :)

"Kingdom Shimizu"

Urawa came looking for goals, but their confidence was shattered in the very first minute when Abe, under no pressure at all, managed to slice a Johnsen ball straight into his own net. The S-Pulse masses went mad, the Urawa travelling hordes were stunned into silence, and you just kinda knew it was going to be our night.

Yes! And you're out the cup!

The Reds had the better of the chances for the rest of the first half, but Kaito was rarely called upon to make any real stops. Urawa were without Tulio, and they missed him. Edmilson was a danger up front, but he was unable to create anything of any real substance and soon was whining and moaning to the ref about every little decision.The away fans had bafflingly booed Okazaki tonight, presumably for no other reason than they knew he was a huge threat. He proved their point perfectly, when in 1st half stoppage time he rose to slam home an excellent cross from the left. He doesn't make mistakes with these and when the ball nearly burst the net, the boos were silenced and the other three sides of the stadium were sent into raptures.

Another semi final here we come!

At two nil, even just one goal from Urawa would have sent the game into extra time. However, a free kick just past the hour was headed back by Iwashita and met by Aoyama, who claimed his second goal in two games, and that was that. The wind was taken out of the away team's sails, and while they kept huffing and puffing, the number of mistakes they made went through the roof. We almost made it four through Hara a couple times, and the visitors did manage to draw an excellent save from Kaito around 85 minutes, but 3-0 is how it stayed. 4-2 on aggregate, and we make our second league cup semi final running.

The semi final 1st leg line up reads as:

Kawasaki Frontale v Yokohama F. Marinos

S-Pulse v FC Tokyo

First leg: Sept 2nd (Wed) Second leg: Sept 6th (Sun)

Great work lads - an excellent night under the lights, and we're now only two legs away from a chance to banish last year's Kokuritsu nightmare forever!!

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Iwashita
DF Arata

MF Ito
MF Edamura
MF Honda
MF Hyodo

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen

Subs used

Hara on for Okazaki (66)
M. Yamamoto on for Edamura (71)

Videos etc

A few vids today. First, a round up of all the quarter finals. S-Pulse come first.

A personal cam of Okazaki's stunning header which put us 2-0 up.

The same cam captures Aoyama's goal which made it three nothing.

A video taken by your own UK Ultras reporter directly following Okazaki's goal.



The last minute of play and celebrations.

Click here for full information on this year's Nabisco Cup.

Urawa 2-1 S-Pulse (Nabisco 1/4 Final, 1st Leg)

Barry writes:

Half time: 1-0 down to a dodgy penalty. Haraguchi had already fallen half over before he hit Paulo's legs. Well played, you cheating scumbag.

It could be worse; Nagoya are losing 4-0 to FC Tokyo, and they still have the second half to play! :-D (Full time: 5-1)

Full time: 2-1 to Urawa. Had the penalty not come from the 18 year old Haraguchi tripping over his own feet, I would say it was probably a fair result.

Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1 S-Pulse
Tulio (24) (PK)-------------------------------------------------- Edamura (48)
Edmilson (60)

Att: 21271

As usual, for long periods all I could hear was the S-Pulse fans

Dodgy penalty for the home team saw them one up at half time, but they certainly had the better of it in the first 45. In the second half we got one back through Edamura before a cracking shot from Mr. Handsome Tulio came back off the bar, only for Edmilson to head it home (completely taking out Iwashita in the process - wish we'd had the same ref who penalised a shoulder barge the other week...) .

We went close to an equaliser through Okazaki which needed a last ditch block from Abe, a Jungo free kick which brought a fingertip save from Yamagishi, and an Iwashita header from one of our six corner kicks (more than the home team) which needed an excellent one hand save to deny us.

Well, it's always a struggle playing against dirty opponents, but Edamura's absolute beauty just after the restart means a 1-0 win on the 29th will be enough to see us through. That said, a draw is no good, and even a win higher than 2-1 of a one goal margin won't be enough (3-2 / 4-3 etc), so all told, it's not a great result tonight.

Ah, well, sod it. We'd have had to have gone into the second leg looking for a win anyway, and it could be worse - Forgetting Nagoya's capitulation tonight for a minute, Gamba got done 3-1 at home. This means they need to win three nil away to save their rapidly disintegrating season. Looking at the other 1/4 final first leg results, out of the four teams that lost, we're in by far the best position. See below for more info.

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Iwashita
DF Arata

MF Paulo
MF Ito
MF Hyodo
MF Edamura

FW Okazaki
FW Hara

Subs used

Johnsen on for Hara (64)
Fujimoto on for Hyodo (64)
Takaki on for Paulo (80)

Links Etc

Click here for a round up of the other results in the 1/4 final first leg.

S-Pa 2-2 Urawa

Can somebody pinch me? Was that really the same team which was lucky to get away with a point against Reysol? Coming off the back of such recent wretched form, we went into today's game with Urawa ever so slightly wary we might be on the end of a good hiding. Hearing that not only Teru, but also Paulo, had been recalled into the starting eleven however, came as hugely encouraging news.

25000 Glorious Oranges and 5000 Smelly Reds pile into Ecopa

Many people have been wondering over Kenta's logic at not playing at least one of our two most experienced and important midfielders. Today they both got their chance, and we here at UK Ultras Towers feel totally vindicated. We've been calling for greater use of Paulo for weeks, and today he proved why. The guy is a class apart. He was absolutely instrumental in holding our midfield together and instigating many of our attacks. He's must be knackered after playing a full game, but thank you Paulo - you didn't stop running and you put in a great performance.

We took the lead from Hara's penalty after Tulio's clumsy challenge:

Urawa were good and always dangerous. They were attacking and had us on the back foot more than once. On the negative side, Edmilson completely eclipsed Tulio when it came to claiming the award for the most petulant, whining little sod on the pitch.

We looked fast, alert and dangerous on the counter, and we often had the visitors reeling back from another failed attack. Had we not made so many unforced errors, we may well have a) taken the lead b) equalised earlier. Nagai looked good when brought on towards the end, and went achingly close to heading it home shortly after his introduction.

Is that all you take away!?

When Arata slammed the ball home on 86 minutes to draw level, and claim his first pro goal while he was at it, it was nothing more than we deserved. This game, which we could so easily have won at the death, was for that reason frustrating, but having gone into today with confidence at a low, and our form nothing short of horrible, we can take a lot from the draw.

Our fans can also be proud. Hosting a game at Ecopa is asking a lot for our fanbase to traipse all the way over to Fukuroi, but my doubts were blown out the water as over 10000 more than could have fit in 'Daira packed in for a great game of football. Hopefully any first timers will now be heading over to Shimizu in future.

Full time - Both teams knackered

It's all off to Hiroshima on Saturday where three points would really be nice, thanks very much! Too many draws is better than too many defeats, but if we don't start converting draws into wins, we'll end up ruing the dropped points. Jungo was rested today, so we can expect to see him start, and I want to see Teru back in too. Paulo is probably exhausted after racking up a full 90 minutes, bless him! Okazaki and Johnsen to start, with Hara waiting to come on at the hour if the Norweigian still hasn't found the net.

Highlights!

Arata's goal including full build up (personal cam)



Official pics here.

S-Pa v Urawa (preview)

All aboard the S-Pulse express bound for Ecopa! We'll be making brief stops at Nishibedroppeditagain Town, Willjohnseneverscoreville and Nishibefelloveragain City, before reaching our final destination, Bitter Disappointment Central.

Nah, seriously, we're gonna win. :)

With only 15000 tickets remaining as of this evening, the staging of a game at Ecopa for the first time since July 06 appears, on first inspection, to have paid off. The club has been really going for it trying to get as many floating fans through the gate as possible, and if we do end up with upwards of 35000 tomorrow, then S-Pulse will have soundly proved me wrong.

The last time we used Ecopa. We beat Little Jubilo 2-0

When Little Jubilo played Urawa last month less than 19000 turned out, and only the Red travelling army saved them from a crowd smaller than could have fit in The Yamaha. Well it looks like around 30000 S-Pulse maniacs will be descending on Fukuroi tomorrow, so come on boys, don't let us down!

Will Johnsen again be on the bench? Will Nagai be given a start against his old club? Will Teru be back in midfield, or even Paulo, to provide the steady nerves and experience they both possess in spades? And perhaps the biggest Will? of the day is will Calamity Yohei be once again granted an opportunity to fall over / drop the ball / palm it out straight to an advancing attacker?

I don't know the answer to these questions any more than you do, so get yourself down to Ecopa tomorrow and join the immense orange army on tour to the West Side (of Shizuoka) to find out!

Who is the Most Successful Club in the J. League? Debunking the Urawa Myth

Barry writes:

Ask 100 fans the above question, and, after factoring out personal allegiances which sway people's responses, you'll always get the answer Kashima Antlers.

Even newcomers to Japanese football will know how they last year defended their 2007 league title; a crown claimed along with the 07 Emperor's Cup. That alone paints a fairly clear picture of the modern J. League, but how about over the full course of the league's history?

Using a totally arbitrary system conceived by yours truly while down the gym, lets find out! Going back as far as the professionalisation of the game in 1992, teams are awarded:

League title - 3 Points
League runner's up - 1 Point

Cup win - 2 Points
Cup runner's up - .5 Points

Cup points count for both domestic and continental competitions. Show-piece games like super cups and so on aren't counted. So using that system, here we go:

Kashima Antlers 32.5
Jubilo Iwata 21
Yokohama F. Marinos 18
Tokyo Verdy 18
Urawa Red Diamonds 15
Gamba Osaka 10
S-Pulse 10
Yokohama Flugels 6.5
Nagoya Grampus 5.5
JEF United 4.5
Shonan Bellmare 4

Beyond that you start getting into the realms of (so far) one-off cup winners (Oita) or several time cup runners up (Cerezo).

No surprises at the top of the table, then. Kashima are head and shoulders above all comers. Jubilo are up next, and while their time came and went a few years ago, it reflects well the various J. League records they set and which still stand. Marinos always threaten to reclaim, at least in part, their glory days, but it's probably safe to say that Verdy are well past their best. S-Pulse come in far-too-far-below-Jubilo at 6th, joint with Asian Champions Gamba.

So anyway, what made me want to spell out the above? Most people don't need proof for what's self evident. Some people however, a good example being Shintaro Kano of The Daily Yomiuri, seem to be living on another planet.

In an article bemoaning the lack of fight of many Japanese fans, Kano signs off with this absolute gem:

"Is it a coincidence that the fans of Urawa Reds, the most successful club in the J.League, are the toughest to please?"

Is this a well disguised tongue-in-cheek dig at the perpetual Urawa hype-machine, or does he actually believe it? We've already seen it isn't the case, but worse that that, it's not anywhere close to reality. Even if you dispense with my convoluted points system and look at titles won, Kashima come in first with 12, Verdy and Marinos next with 7, followed by Jubilo with 6. Only then do you get to Urawa, sitting level with Gamba at 5.

Average league placings put Kashima first (3.3), Jubilo next (4.5), then Marinos (4.9). S-Pulse pull in a respectable 6.8, and it's only after this that you get to Reds. Last year's finish of 7th should be no big surprise; it's perfectly in keeping with their J1 average - also 7th.

I think what Kano meant to write was:

"...fans of Urawa Reds, the most successful club in the J.League in 2005 and 2006 (but don't look either side of these years as other teams were winning more), are the hardest to please?"

The problem is, that doesn't back up his underlying point of unforgiving fans = successful team, so he seemingly plucked something out of thin air to lend credence to the theory.

Urawa are a big, strong team. They have more money than anyone else, and they've had the potential to deliver for years. This is all common knowledge, but save for a brief burst a few seasons ago, they've consistently failed to produce. Given everything, you'd have to be pretty blind to keep peddling the myth of "most successful team".

Shintaro Kano is guilty of lazy, not to mention entirely inaccurate, "journalism". Re-writing history to suit your own ends? That's how dictators get started, you know.

S-Pulse 2nd Stage Champions 2008

Hot on the heels of transfer rumours and possible stadium expansion excitement comes another snippet of close-season semi-news!

It's only been four years since the J. League adopted a single season format. Before that, all seasons except 1996 had consisted of two stages. It's a point well worth noting, and worth noting loudly and repeatedly, that had this year been a two stage system, your very own Shimizu S-Pulse would have won the second stage by two clear points:

J. League 2008 (Hypothetical) 2nd Stage Standings

P 　 Team　　　Pts　　W　D　L
01　S-Pulse　36　　11　3　 3
02　Kawasaki 34　　　10　4　 3
03　Kashima 32　　 　9　 5　 3
04　Oita 　 31　　　9　 4　 4
05　FC Tokyo　 30　　　9　 3　 5
06　Yokohama　30　　　8　 6　 3
07　Nagoya 30　　　8　 6　 3
08　Chiba　　 　28　　　8　 4　 5
09　Kobe　　 22　　　6　 4　 7
10　G. Osaka　 21　　　6　 3　 8
11　Urawa　　 　21　　　5　 6　 6
12　Omiya 21　　　6　 3　 8
13　Kyoto　　 17　　　4　 5　 8
14　Verdy　　 17　　　4　 5　 8
15　Kashiwa　　17　　　4　 5　 8
16　Niigata 16　　　4　 4　 9
17　Jubilo　　14　　　3　 5　 9
18　Sapporo　 3　　　0　 3　14

Proof, if further proof be needed, that S-Pulse are the best team in the country! Urawa, who won the (hypothetical) first stage, would be our opponents in the play off for the championship. Given current form, (Urawa got destroyed 6-1 at home on the final Saturday) we would probably be lifting our first J. League title right about now. :)

Championes, championes! Ole ole ole!

Urawa Reds 1-2 S-Pa

Beating last year's champions and 2nd place team in the space of a week - a nice pick me up after the league cup and derby disappointments! Having a wedding to attend the previous day meant neither me or Fuz were in any fit state to be waking up at 5am Sunday as per last season. We followed the game from Shizuoka with stinking hangovers, but these were helped considerably by our first ever three points at the Saitama Stadium.

Urawa were going for the league title. We were playing for pride. We came away with all three points and were utterly deserved winners. Both teams had 14 shots on goal, and the fact both teams also had 15 goal kicks also speaks for the many chances created.

Edamura's opening goal was an absolute peach, and one of those you can just watch again and again. Tulio smashed it home in the second half to level, and S-Pulse got away with a goal line clearance a little later, but a lovely move which ended in a perfectly place shot by substitute Yajima won the game for S-Pa.

We now sit five points off an ACL spot with only two games left, so our only realistic route into continental football next season is via the Emperor's Cup. Going into the quarter final with FC Tokyo, I'm pretty confident.

Our squad this year has matured and evolved with each game, and having dispensed with last year's top two placed teams (not to mention the recent defeats of Gamba and Kawasaki) we are clearly a different prospect to the stuttering outfit which spent the first third of the season hovering around the drop zone. With rumours of Nagoya's proven goal scorer Johnsen set to join us, his experience, no to mention 13ish goals a season, would help wonders in the continued development of some of our young guns like Okazaki, Hara and Yajima.

Well, with the season starting to draw to an end, it's hard to look past Kashima as champions yet again. They only need three points against relegation threatened Jubilo this Saturday to wrap up their sixth championship. Sixth out of only sixteen seasons, bare in mind! An amazing record, but one not quite secured yet. If previous years have shown anything, it's that the championship is very rarely a simple matter! Jubilo are fighting for their lives, and Nagoya and Kawasaki are waiting in the wings to step back to first place should Antlers slip up!

I've said it time and again, but there really are few leagues which can match the J. League for drama - bring on the final two weeks!

Highlights:



The final few seconds. The silence that engulfs the stadium at the whistle is soon filled by our travelling thousands. Listen and look out for Loco Loco at around 4 minutes!



Good stuff. :)

S-Pa v Jubilo - Derby Day 2 of 4 Preview

Well, here we go again! With the recent 1-1 draw still fresh in everyone's memories, this coming Sunday we get to do it all again as two teams once again battle it out for the crown of Kings of Shizuoka: Shimizu S-Pulse versus Jubilo Iwata. This time the backstory happens to be the 4th game of the Nabisco Cup group stage. The Nabisco is the J. League's own league cup, and traditionally attracts crowds well below those of the league, but with everything to play for, one of our biggest ever league cup gates will cram into Nihondaira for Jubilo's second visit of the season. For whatever reason, it's yet another Sunday 1pm kick off. I may even start a petition about these for next season - noone should be forced to rise before 10am of a Sunday, even for the footer.

Jubilo won't be relishing their chances given they've only managed one win from the last ten derby day meetings, but S-Pa are without both Ichikawa and Teru through injury, both of which will hit the team hard (not to mention Okazaki, Honda and Aoyama who are all away on international duty). That said, Ichikawa didn't feature in two of our previous cup games, but Teru's presence will be sorely missed. Will this give like-for-like player Marcos Paulo his first opportunity to shine in the first team? So far only making the reserves, and with rumours flying around of discontent behind the scenes, who knows if we'll ever see the ex-Brazilian international grace Nihondaira?

Either way, we're going to miss Teru's influence. He'll be back in two weeks, but Ichikawa won't be seeing action for six - the mid-season Olympic break could not have been better timed! It will also give Kenta some much needed time to assess our horrific start to the season. OK, it's not been all that bad when looked at objectively, and we're only five points off 4th place (Reysol who we took apart with clinical efficiency earlier in the month, are sitting in 4th, which speaks volumes about the randomness of this season), but defeats like those at Albirex and Verdy are simply not acceptable for either the club or it's fans. If we'll be seeing some transfer action over the summer, or if wonderboy Genki Omae will be making his J. League debut any time soon remains to be seen...

So, anyway, yeah, back to the point - the League Cup. Here's how things currently stand:


Clearly in the driving seat, and with the 5-0 spanking of Verdy giving us a huge goal difference advantage, a win could put us through and Jubilo out. Three points on Sunday plus Verdy beating Tokyo, and we'd be in round two barring a goal difference disaster in the final two games. But lets not get ahead of ourselves - we're only half way through the group stage and this season has been nothing if not erratic! With a refreshingly big league cup crowd in attendance, it would be rude not to win our sixth derby from ten and leave Jubilo with just a relegation battle to worry about. My prediction? Not nearly as bullish as last time, but a decent enough 2-0 win for the mighty Oranges - just wait and see. :)

A six foot pole (top left) hurled into the Gamba supporters

In other news: The J. League rules out any punishment for either Gamba or Urawa beyond financial. Good move - way to bottle it. When the next incident happens - and it will, there's a history of intermittent crowd violence in the J. League going back years - can we expect the same worthless punishments from those at the top? Gamba have banned the Black and Blue Squad supporters group, apparently those at the centre of any hooliganism, but Urawa are not able to return the gesture. The reds who destroyed the fence and attempted to attack the visitors were in the more moderate area of Saitama Stadium, and not part of any organised fan group. It can only make you wonder what the nutters down the home end would have done if a water balloon (a water balloon - quick, call the paramedics!!!) had hit a child near them.

In other news: Manchester United beat Chelsea in the Champions League Final.

It's a sorry state of affairs when the biggest club competition in the world can effectively be decided by one man slipping over. I'll never understand the fascination governing bodies have with penalty shoot outs. What's wrong with at least having one replay before resorting to the coin toss solution? Think of all the money to be made in having a SECOND final! PK shoot outs, especially those in finals, just serve to chip away at the credibility of a competition and its subsequent winners. Still, maybe I just don't like pens because England always lose at them...

In yet other news: The domain www.shimizuspulse.com was sitting sadly vacant, and so has since been snapped up by a certain fan blog. For copyright reasons I guess we should state that the website is named after Shimizu's Pulse (my friend Mr. Shimizu who has a very interesting pulse) and not after a certain J. League team who wear bright orange. :) The URL should be active in a day or two, and will point here.

Roll on Sunday. :)

Urawa Reds v Gamba Osaka: Hooliganism alive and kicking in the J. League

Urawa fans tear down the barrier and storm over to Gamba

So fair enough, a mob of Kashiwa Reysol hoolies attacking S-Pulse fans is never going to be headline news. Some Japanese would be hard pushed to even point out Kashiwa on a map, let alone care about any goings on there. Even for those who witness it, (the local police, for one) such incidents are quickly filed under the ignore-it-and-pretend-it-never-happened category. So when ugly scenes broke out at the home of Asian Champion's League winners and self-styled flagship side of Japan, Urawa Reds, there's clearly no avoiding the fact that hooliganism is a problem in the J. League. Well, so you might think. Since Saturday, the JFA denial machine has been working overtime to sweep another instance of supporter violence neatly under the carpet.


Fans clash after Gamba's 3-2 defeat of Urawa

The two old enemies Gamba Osaka and Urawa Red Diamonds met at the Saitama Stadium in what was always going to be a highly charged affair. To spice proceedings up further, Gamba's second goal of three came directly off the back of a refereeing cock up which saw a clear Reds throw awarded the wrong way. A quick throw in and pass later, and it was in the back of the net. Reds fans and players went ballistic as you might well expect. Fast forward to the end: Gamba complete the away victory 3-2 and understandably revel in winning away in front of a 57000 crowd. While they celebrate, Urawa players storm over and start mixing it up, which all soon spills over into the terraces. It was perpetual shit-stirrer Tulio who, after helping to start the melee in the first place, was later the one whining the loudest about a lack of fair play and respect - oh, the irony!

The official line states that Gamba fans began by throwing empty plastic bottles into the neighbouring Reds supporters. Apparently the crushing weight of a water balloon (a water balloon!!) injured a young fan so badly that Reds supporters felt justified in tearing down the dividing barrier in an effort to reach the Osaka area. As parts of the demolished plastic wall and more bottles rained down on the Gamba fans, they too rushed the barrier. When thousands of home fans blockaded the away stand exit and started tearing down and destroying Gamba flags, it took several hours before the visitors could be evacuated past the baying mob to safety. A statement from Gamba this morning apologised for their fans' provocative behaviour, and a lengthy release from Urawa said much the same. There has so far been no word from the JFA or J. League regarding punishments for either team. Will they have the balls to hit Urawa or Gamba with anything other than a nominal fine?

Whoever started it and why, and whoever retaliated and why is all academic. The fact is hooliganism in alive and well in the J. League. This isn't news for many of us, but for some this is yet another incident which needs to be talked away and quickly forgotten. It wasn't even mentioned on the national news on Monday morning, and will likely not be heard of again in the mainstream media. I very much doubt either team will be disciplined in any meaningful way, as that then admits the problem exists - something noone seems willing to do. And yet there it is, on the biggest stage of the national league: barriers being smashed up, fans charging each other and missiles raining down.

I'm often reminded in Japan of England's hooligan problem. Yes, it still sometimes happens in the UK, but I honestly can't remember the last time I saw anything like that inside an English ground. There was no real fighting, but the JFA needs to start dishing our substantial punishments now before things escalate. How many Reds hoolies are now going to be buying tickets for the return fixture in November? On the video below one supporter is seen having fallen a pretty hefty drop into the dry moat. He got away with just a broken ankle, so I guess we'll have to wait until fans start getting more seriously hurt until people start waking up and taking action. JFA - prove me wrong.