Football Japan Minutecast

Kashima Antlers came from two behind to clinch a dramatic 3-2 victory at Jubilo Iwata and extend their lead at the top of J1 to three points, as closest rivals Nagoya Grampus and Shimizu S-Pulse shared six goals in an equally thrilling encounter at the Mizuho Stadium.

Reeling from the shock exit of Korean international defender Lee Jung-Soo to Al-Sadd of Qatar in midweek, the three-times defending J. League champions looked set to surrender to struggling Jubilo when Daisuke Nasu and Sho Naruoka helped the hosts into a 2-0 lead before the interval. Whatever Kashima coach Oswaldo de Oliveira said to his players in the dressing room must have worked, however, as Brazilian left-back Gilton headed the Antlers back into contention just seven minutes after the restart, before goals from Koji Nakata and Marquinhos sealed an impressive comeback.

A point for Shimizu meant they were at least able to hold onto second, but Nagoya were left rueing a missed opportunity after leading three times and failing from the penalty spot. Keiji Tamada scored twice either side of a Frode Johnsen equaliser to give the home side a 2-1 half-time advantage, but the Japan forward skied his spot-kick on the hour mark and saw international teammate Shinji Okazaki restore parity at the opposite end soon afterwards. Mu Kanazaki put Grampus back in front with a fine solo effort with 15 minutes remaining, but Eddy Bosnar promptly headed home to level the scores for S-Pulse once again.

Kawasaki Frontale held onto fourth position with a 1-0 win over bottom club Kyoto Sanga thanks to a last minute winner from star Brazilian forward Juninho, making his first appearance of 2010 following a calf tear in pre-season training. Cerezo Osaka continued their fine form despite the departure of Shinji Kagawa by beating Montedio Yamagata 3-0 to stay fifth.

Elsewhere, Marcio Richardes scored an unlikely hat-trick of set pieces to give Albirex Niigata a 3-2 victory at Vegalta Sendai. Having already expertly converted both a penalty and a free-kick earlier in the second half, the midfielder somehow managed to deceive Vegalta �ekeeper Takuto Hayashi directly from a corner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima won at the Saitama Stadium for the first time ever to move up to sixth and make it just one point from the last 12 available for Urawa Reds, while Yokohama F Marinos are now in seventh following Takashi Amano�fs 94th-minute winner against Gamba Osaka. Omiya Ardija and Shonan Bellmare remain in the relegation zone following 3-1 losses to Vissel Kobe and FC Tokyo, respectively.


J1 results (matchday 14)
Urawa Reds 0-1 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Jubilo Iwata 2-3 Kashima Antlers
Cerezo Osaka 3-0 Montedio Yamagata
Vegalta Sendai 2-3 Albirex Niigata
Yokohama F Marinos 1-0 Gamba Osaka
Nagoya Grampus 3-3 Shimizu S-Pulse
Shonan Bellmare 1-3 FC Tokyo
Vissel Kobe 3-1 Omiya Ardija
Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 Kyoto Sanga

Japan star Yasuhito Endo got the better of his World Cup midfield partner Yuki Abe on Sunday evening with a last-gasp goal to give Gamba Osaka a dramatic 3-2 victory over deadly rivals Urawa Reds at Banpaku.

Little more than 60 seconds after Edmilson�fs second goal of the game looked to have rescued a point for the visitors, Endo collected the ball from debutant Lee Keun-Ho - a recent Gamba arrival from Jubilo Iwata - to fire an unstoppable winner past Norihiro Yamagishi with 94 minutes on the clock.

Edmilson had headed Urawa in front midway through the first half, before 18-year-old Takashi Usami equalised right on half time and Nobuhisa Yamada unwittingly deflected the ball past his own goalkeeper twenty minutes into the second period. Gamba forward Lucas was then shown a straight red card for a tackle from behind, but numerical parity was later restored moments before the injury time excitement when Yamada completed a calamitous performance with a second bookable offence.

The win takes Gamba up to eighth in the table, nine points behind new leaders Kashima Antlers after their 2-1 win over fellow title contenders Kawasaki Frontale. Felipe Gabriel scrambled the ball home to open the scoring for Kashima on 21 minutes, but although Masaru Kurotsu levelled proceedings six minutes before half-time, Frontale�fs momentum was lost almost immediately with a second yellow card for Junichi Inamoto - one of the few World Cup players left in the squad following the departures of goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima and North Korean striker Jong Tae-Se. Lee Jung-Soo later headed home his third league goal of the season to seal victory for the three-times defending champions.

Shimizu S-Pulse fall a point behind in second following an insipid goalless draw in their Shizuoka derby match with Jubilo Iwata, while Nagoya Grampus are now just one point behind them in third after Joshua Kennedy�fs late header secured a 1-0 win at Omiya Ardija despite the earlier sending off of Igor Burzanović.

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A solitary strike from Yoshiro Abe was enough to lift Shonan Bellmare up to 16th position - despite only mustering three shots on goal to the 23 recorded by a Kyoto Sanga side that now prop up the table in their stead. Vissel Kobe needed a 96th-minute penalty from Yoshito Okubo to steal a 2-2 draw at FC Tokyo and stay out of the relegation zone, while Sanfrecce Hiroshima bounced back from a crushing 5-0 home defeat to Cerezo Osaka last Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Yokohama F Marinos.

Cerezo could only draw 1-1 at Albirex Niigata in their weekend match, while Montedio Yamagata moved up to 11th with a 3-1 win at home to Vegalta Sendai.


J1 results (matchday 13)
Omiya Ardija 0-1 Nagoya Grampus
FC Tokyo 2-2 Vissel Kobe
Shimizu S-Pulse 0-0 Jubilo Iwata
Montedio Yamagata 3-1 Vegalta Sendai
Kashima Antlers 2-1 Kawasaki Frontale
Albirex Niigata 1-1 Cerezo Osaka
Kyoto Sanga 0-1 Shonan Bellmare
Gamba Osaka 3-2 Urawa Reds
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3-0 Yokohama F Marinos


J1 results (matchday 11 - postponed matches, played 14 July)
Kashima Antlers 1-0 Shonan Bellmare
Kawasaki Frontale 0-0 Omiya Ardija
Gamba Osaka 1-1 Kyoto Sanga
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 0-5 Cerezo Osaka

You know what, I think I prefer winter to summer. At least, I do when it�fs a sunny 19��C as opposed to an oppressive 34��C. And fresh and dry rather than so humid that a ten-minute walk to the shops will leave you soaked even if you choose one of the few days where it�fs not actually chucking it down. It helps too, of course, when there are parties, songs, and football instead of... well, work.

I had originally intended to follow the Minutecast recorded at Uruguay versus Ghana with another at Ellis Park 24 hours later, but this was ultimately abandoned for three reasons. Firstly, as can be confirmed by the podcast intro spoken that morning, my voice was absolutely shot to pieces from Soccer City the night before. Secondly, I was still a bit gutted that we weren�ft going to be seeing Japan, although I did bump into seven Japanese supporters in and around the stadium that night - including a Bulgarian girl who seemed delighted not to be the only Caucasian with the Yatagarasu on her chest. Finally, Spain against Paraguay was simply never going to compare not only to the drama and controversy of Uruguay�fs penalty shootout win, but also the atmosphere of a genuinely African crowd desperate for the Ghanaians to keep the flag flying.

In this sense, it was almost a shame that the Soccer City experience had come on my first full day in Johannesburg. The overriding image that I shall retain from the South Africa World Cup was that of tens of thousands of locals - encompassing all races, but most strikingly whites (to whom FIFA�fs latter-stage ticket prices had arguably been most targeted) - decorated in flags, shirts, and face paint representing a nation of Ghana that most will surely never have visited. The phenomenon of multinational identity is probably at least as complex when exhibited so openly as is its far subtler form in East Asia, and while enjoying Germany�fs quarter-final with Argentina at the Long Bar in Braamfontein, it was equally fascinating to observe how keen the majority of our fellow punters were to see the gold trophy �eat least stay in the Southern Hemisphere�f.

Not that the four-letter jokes being sprouted about Europe meant that I should be seen as an intruder. On the contrary, virtually every stranger I spoke to - from street traders to one gentleman in a bar draped in an enormous Ghanaian flag who later revealed himself to hail from Cameroon - made a point of welcoming me not only to their country but to Africa. If this is how all tourists and journalists have been greeted throughout the last five weeks, it is little wonder that the negative headlines that once dominated the Western and Japanese press have long been consigned to the archives.

Marc Fletcher mentioned in the first of the Minutecast specials that much of this criticism had been penned by �epeople writing from their armchairs back home rather than coming out here�f, and certainly, there was nothing even witnessed from afar that gave me the slightest cause for concern during the eight days in which I enjoyed Johannesburg in person. Traffic in the central business district delayed our journey to Soccer City slightly but we still arrived comfortably in time for kick-off. Those who were not so fortunate for the Germany-Spain semi-final in Durban - the one logistical incident that has affected these Finals - were apparently muscled aside by jets carrying the VIPs that had left so many seats vacant in the earlier rounds, suggesting that the problem may lie less with the South African organisers and more with FIFA�fs priorities. And any suggestion that vuzuzelas have been a blight on the tournament will curry little favour with this podcast, which thoroughly enjoyed blowing B-flats both at the actual matches and at a friend�fs wedding reception back in Japan this past Saturday.

As for Japan, their elimination to Paraguay barely twelve hours before I embarked on my outward journey was both dramatic and cruel, but I stand by my �etweet�f posted in the glorious aftermath of that 3-1 win over Denmark that a first knockout stage appearance on foreign soil represents the finest achievement in this country�fs footballing history. It was a huge relief that Takeshi Okada finally found the courage to decide that the current crop of players were not suited to 4-2-3-1 against stronger opposition, and a sheer delight to see Keisuke Honda not only sparkle on the highest stage but do so in an unfamiliar striking role that few observers - myself included - would have predicted him to fulfil. The outgoing manager deserves enormous credit for surviving the intense and often excessive condemnation thrown at him by certain naive sections of the domestic media to lead his side to within one penalty kick of a quarter-final against eventual champions Spain.

The challenge for his successor will be to carry the momentum into January�fs Asian Cup in Qatar and a potential guest appearance in next summer�fs Copa America, while the players must prove that they can now cope in the spotlight and live up to their enhanced reputations. Honda has been linked with a host of top European clubs, while a J. League exodus has already been confirmed for Shinji Kagawa to Borussia Dortmund, Atsuto Uchida to Schalke 04, and goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima to Lierse of Belgium. Football Japan wishes them all well in their new adventures.