20 May 2004(Thu)

Urawa Reds managers have not had too much luck with their overseas signings recently.

Reds fans never saw the best of Ned Zelic, and now the career of Russian "Rolls-Royce" Yuri Nikiforov looks to be over.

Manager Guido Buchwald fears the worst--that Nikiforov is finished--as the player attempts to get fit back home in the Netherlands after pre-season knee surgery.

So finding a new, commanding central defender is Buchwald's priority before the second stage of the season starts in mid-August.

Visitors to the Reds-JEF United match at Komaba on Saturday can see why Buchwald is so keen to bring in an experienced defender.

JEF looked to have the game won at half-time, leading 2-0.

Marquinhos scored the first with a sharp header at a corner from the left by Abe.

Shortly after, Marquinhos showed his quality again by holding off Tulio and then passing to his right, where Sandro was completely unmarked. Sandro applied a subtle finish, and JEF were 2-0 up inside the half-hour mark.

Worse was to come for Urawa, as Hasebe limped off before half-time, followed by Emerson four minutes into the second half.

JEF manager Ivica Osim said his players stopped playing at this point, as they thought they were home and dry.

The visitors paid the price.

Nagai pulled one back at a goalmouth scramble, and Tulio scored the equalizer from the penalty spot after Chano had brought down Alex. I can't understand why Chano made his challenge, as Alex went round him on the outside but the ball was on his right foot.

I don't think Alex could have made much use of the ball in that position, but still Chano threw himself into the tackle and gave away the penalty. Alex celebrated the award as if he'd scored a winning goal.

Call me a naive Englishman who cherishes fair play, but I don't like to see a player celebrating the award of a penalty. It looks as if this was their aim, rather than to actually score a goal!

Now completely unsettled, JEF conceded a third when more hesitant defending let in "Ya-jin" for his first league goal back in the red shirt.

Just as Urawa looked to have won 3-2, Suzuki brought down Yamagishi--he thought outside the box, the ref said it was inside--and the cool Abe made it 3-3 from the spot.

There is no doubt Reds have the firepower to challenge for the championship, but Buchwald knows he needs a new defender to stop the goals at the other end.

ends