9 Mar 2006(Thu)

Tokyo, March 7, 2006: In English, we often talk about "a game of two halves."

Every game, of course, has two halves of 45 minutes, and some, in knockout competitions, have another two halves of 15 minutes if they are still level after 90.

The specific reference here, then, to "a game of two halves" is about one half being entirely different to the other, which can happen frequently in football.

It did at Saitama Stadium 2002 on Sunday afternoon, when Omiya Ardija hosted JEF United.

JEF were brilliant in the first half, and at times I thought I was watching Holland in 1974. Saito was Krol, defending in his own penalty box one minute and then attacking at the other end of the field the next; Abe was Neeskens, driving the team forward; and Maki was Rep, but without the mop of blond hair.

Who was Cruyff, you ask?

Well, I'm sorry, but there can only ever be one Cruyff. (What was all that FIFA nonsense recently about the greatest player of all time, Pele or Maradona? Surely it was Cruyff, followed by Alan Shearer...hey, I'm a Newcastle United fan, of course!)

Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating about JEF, because the 1974 Dutch team would have buried Omiya by half-time...and might still be able to do so today (sorry Ardija fans...just a small joke!)

Saito put JEF in front with a lovely shot, curled into the far corner, but poor defending at a corner immediately allowed Tomita to equalise with a back-post header.

Maki then gave JEF the lead for a second time...and the match was still only 15 minutes old.

JEF were running the show, playing bright, inventive, mobile football in the classic Osim way. Forget Reds, Marinos, Antlers, Gamba and Jubilo...there was only going to be one team at the top of the table this season!

But that was the first half -- and this was a game of two halves, remember.

On the hour mark, Sakamoto equalised for Omiya with an own goal (not quite as spectacular as the Hasebe-Tsuboi combo for Gamba in the Xerox Xuper Cup, but still worth watching several times on the big screen), and the JEF collapse had begun.

Yuto Sato was shown the red card for two minor fouls in quick succession -- shame on the Omiya players in question for pretending they were hurt -- and Daigo Kobayashi, pouncing like a young Kazu, promptly headed Omiya into the lead for the first time, 3-2.

They say it never rains, it pours, and Sakamoto's own goal, Yuto's red card and Daigo's header was quickly followed by Haas walking off rubbing his hamstring.

"His left hamstring, wasn't it?" I asked Osim after the game.

"Does it matter?" he replied, with a smile, having made a perfectly good point.

To round off a miserable afternoon for JEF, Toninho headed home Omiya's fourth, and the men in orange (Ardija 2006, not Holland 1974) were in Total Control. So much for Total Football!

To win J1, JEF needed a full-strength team in virtually every game, but already Yuto was suspended and Haas injured.

Maybe they could take Tsuchiya on loan from Omiya. After all, he had only a game of one half...

ends