19 Mar 2007(Mon)

March 17, 2007: When it comes to being down in the dumps, Shigeo Hidaritomo was about as low as it gets after the Yokohama derby.

Naturally the Yokohama F Marinos president was bitterly disappointed after watching his side lose 1-0 to newly promoted Yokohama FC at Mitsuzawa, but his despair went deeper than this.

The away fans, who had contributed to a typical derby-day atmosphere, made their feelings clear after the final whistle by giving their team the thumbs down. It was only two matches into the new season, but this defeat hurt for the Marinos faithful, and hurt more for Hidaritomo.

"We have to realise we are not the same club that won the championship in 2003 and 2004," he mumbled to me, in the corridors under the main stand after the game.

"We are not Newcastle United. We are more like Sunderland."

That last statement must have been hard to admit, as the Marinos president is a keen Newcastle United supporter -- and Sunderland are their fierce rivals in the north-east of England from a division lower.

Clearly money is tight within the Marinos organisation, and Hidaritomo was acknowledging this with his Newcastle-Sunderland comparison. First and first in 2003 and 2004, ninth and ninth in 2005 and 2006 tells its own story.

As a fellow Magpie, I tried to console him by reeling off the names of the Marinos players who were not avaialble for the Yokohama derby -- Matsuda, Kurihara, Takayuki Suzuki -- but to his credit he would not use this as an excuse.

It was probably no consolation, either, that Koji Yamase was in such scintillating form so early in the season.

Yamase had scored a wonderful solo goal in the opening match of the campaign, and was on fire at Mitsuzawa. Showing all the qualities and characteristics of the Japanese player so admired by national coach Ivica Osim, Yamase was carving through the Yokohama FC midfield at will, only to be denied, time and time again, by some last-ditch blocks and interceptions.

I also liked the look of the rangy left back, Yusuke Tanaka, only 20, and the 18-year-old Takashi Inui, from Yasu High School, who came on as a substitute and quickly showed his pace and his flair.

There is plenty of experience in the Marinos squad, a solid team backbone and some young talent, too, but the quality of the foreign players on view -- the ageing, much-travelled J2 specialist Marcus, the ageing, injury-prone Marques -- left a lot to be desired.

ends