14 Dec 2006(Thu)

Saitama, Japan, December 12, 2006: The J.League has got many things right in its short history, but none more so than the promotion/relegation play-off.

Last season was sensational, with Ventforet Kofu sending Kashiwa Reysol down in extraordinary style. Kofu won both games, 2-1 at home and then 6-2 away thanks to Bare's six-goal salvo at Hitachi-dai -- and he could have had 10!

There were not quite as many goals this time, only two from both legs, but still the drama was intense as Vissel Kobe returned to the top flight at the expense of Avispa Fukuoka.

A choked-up Atsu Miura, close-up shots of tearful fans of both teams, and an emotional Kobe manager Hiroshi Matsuda, sacked by Avispa early in the season and now taking Vissel up. What a story line!

And then there was that late goalmouth scramble. It was like playing a pinball machine as the ball flew around in all directions, before finally being cleared from the Kobe goal. Had that gone in, then both teams would surely have stayed where they were, Avispa in J1 and Vissel in J2. That is the beauty of this game, that a decisive couple of seconds at the end of a nine-month campaign could have changed everything.

In the end, Vissel went up on the away goals rule, meaning that a goal scored away from home counts double if the scores are level. (I am sure most of you knew this, but just in case!)

Once Kondo had scored for Vissel in the second half, Avispa were always struggling because they would need two. They got one but could not find another, resulting in the scenes of joy and despair after the final whistle -- and full marks at this point to the TV broadcasters as they stayed with the theatre of football and captured all the drama as it unfolded. I don't know about you but I get quite angry when the final whistle is followed immediately by advertisements, replays or studio chit-chat. I love to see the players walk off the pitch -- or, in the case of Hidetoshi Nakata at Dortmund, lie on the pitch and stay there thinking. (Is it true he is still there, that Sunny Side Up take him his meals on a tray and the Bundesliga teams just play around him?)

As I was saying, I love to see the scenes after the final whistle. Players exchanging shirts, players exchanging insults, players applauding their fans, players running off to avoid the wrath of their fans...here is the passion and the emotion of football that FIFA President Sepp Blatter is always talking about -- and the game is over!

The J1/J2 play-off was a fantastic idea, and provides a sting in the tail at the end of a long season.

And congratulations to both teams for their fair play (well, reasonably, as Avispa wasted time in the first leg and Vissel in the second leg, notably Park Kang Jo with his disgraceful bootlace-tying farce for which he should surely have received the red card.)

Avispa will be missed in J1, as their fans are loyal and noisy, but Vissel and others have proved you can bounce straight back.

ends