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By Jeremy Walker
TOKYO (July 29)--All good things must come to an end, and
that's what happened to Kashima Antlers' perfect start to the
second stage of the J.League on Saturday night.
After winning their first six games to open up a three-point
lead at the top of the 16-team table, Antlers came unstuck at
home to Cerezo Osaka in the cruellest possible way. The game was
still goalless five minutes into sudden-death extra time when
Cerezo captain Hiroaki Morishima broke down the right flank. When
he crossed the ball low into the Kashima box, Antlers midfielder
Yasuto Honda slid in to try and intercept, only to see the ball
loop over his own goalkeeper, Daijiro Takakuwa, and into the net.
The 1-0 victory for the visitors sent renewed hope around the
league, and second-placed Gamba Osaka, as well as heavyweights
Jubilo Iwata and Nagoya Grampus Eight, took advantage to make
up some ground on Kashima.
After seven of the 15 games, though, Antlers are still ahead
with 18 points, one more than Gamba, who beat FC Tokyo 2-1 at
home, again in extra time. Olympic team striker Kota Yoshihara
shot Gamba ahead, only for French defender Claude Dambury to head
over his own keeper and give FC Tokyo an equaliser.
The winner came just two minutes into extra time from blond-haired
Brazilian midfielder Reginaldo Vital, whose low cross-shot from
the right flew in at the near post.
Jubilo Iwata, the defending league champions, moved into third
place on 15 points thanks to two more goals from Masashi Nakayama,
taking his tally for the season to 12 in 21 games and for his
career to 102 in 182 appearances. The 32-year-old World Cup marksman
had become only the second player to reach the 100-goal landmark
in the league when scoring twice in a 3-2 victory away to Vissel
Kobe last Wednesday, and two more helped see off JEF United Ichihara
3-1 at Iwata Stadium.
FC Tokyo are fourth on 14, with Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Nagoya
Grampus Eight fifth and sixth, both on 13. Sanfrecce beat struggling
Shimizu S-Pulse 1-0 with a long-range strike 10 minutes from time
from captain Kenichi Uemura, while Grampus came back twice to
beat first-stage champions Yokohama F Marinos 3-2 at Nagoya. South
Korea's World Cup captain in France, Yoo Sang Chul, with his 14th
goal in 15 appearances this season, and national team midfielder
Shunsuke Nakamura both gave Yokohama the lead, but new Brazilian
signing Ueslei and then Tetsuya Okayama pulled Grampus level.
With three minutes to go, Yugoslav veteran Dragan Stojkovic fired
the winner into the far corner from the right side of the box.
Two of the three Grampus players fired by the club for disciplinary
reasons at the beginning of the month made their debut for Kyoto
Purple Sanga--and had a dramatic impact on the relegation battle
at home to Kawasaki Frontale. Trailing 1-0 at the break, Kyoto
manager Gert Engels sent on midfielders Shigeyoshi Mochizuki and
Takashi Hirano and saw them make a major contribution to a 3-1
win, with two goals for Brazilian striker Regis. The defeat left
Frontale on 12 points, four adrift of Kyoto, after 22 of the 30
league games.
Vissel Kobe pulled off a crucial 2-1 win away to Verdy Kawasaki
to climb out of trouble and give manager Ryoichi Kawakatsu a welcome
three points against his former club. JEF United occupy the "safe"
14th spot on 23 points, seven ahead of Kyoto, while Vissel and
Verdy both have 25 and look to be out of trouble. The bottom two
go down when the points from both stages are combined.
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