8 Mar 2007(Thu)

March 6, 2007: It is never easy to win the first game of a competition, be it in a sprint or a marathon.

The World Cup group phase is like a sprint, with only three games to play and little room for error.

Win the first game and you have one foot in the next round (ask Australia); lose it and the pressure is on (ask Japan).

The J.League is the marathon -- 34 matches over the course of nine months -- and with much more time to recover from a slow start.

This is why the results of two recent championship-winning clubs were a bit worrying in Saturday's first round, as Urawa and Gamba both emerged with three points from opening day struggles that could so easily have ended in a draw.

There is a lot of optimism and renewed ambition at the start of a season, as clubs feel their new signings or new manager can lead them to the promised land.

So the fact that Reds and Gamba both won in testing circumstances sent a message to the rest of the first division that the hunger is still there.

Reds needed a late winner from Nagai to seal a 2-1 win over Yokohama FC at Saitama, while Gamba had new recruit Bare to thank for their 1-0 victory at home to Omiya.

Coming off the bench after 64 minutes, Bare's somewhat fortuitous goal two minutes from time, when his left-foot shot from the edge of the box bounced into the turf, looped over the keeper and dropped into the net, enabled Gamba -- my favoruites for the title -- to make the perfect start.

Two great goals were scored, too, albeit very different in execution.

Kubo's left-footed rocket was spectacular for Yokohama FC. Although Ono should have closed him down as he moved in from the right, who would have expected Kubo to find the top corner from such a long way out? Classic Kubo. When he's fully fit and match sharp he still has the element of surprise and unpredictability that makes him such a danger.

Yamase scored a wonderful goal for Marinos, at home to Kofu. Displaying terrific acceleration, ball control and composure, Yamase looked at peak condition after some bad injuries so early in his career.

ends