7 May 2007(Mon)

May 5, 2007: When Yuki Abe left JEF United for Urawa Reds in the close season, Amar Osim would have been looking for a new leader to emerge.

He's found one already, and his name is Hiroki Mizumoto.

The 21-year-old Olympic team defender is having a fine season with the Chiba club, helping to fill the spiritual void left by Abe. Not only is he strong and quick, and good in the air and on the ground, he also has a bit of attitude. This is always good to see in a Japanese player, especially when confronted by an influential and dangerous foreign player.

Take the case recently of the Frontale-JEF game at Todoroki.

Mizumoto's job that afternoon was to man-mark Juninho, which is not easy due to the speed and the movement of the clever Brazilian. A couple of times the pair had words, and Mizumoto gave as good as he got in the verbal exchanges. He can clearly look after himself in the physical and mental sides of the game, and I am sure he will become a permanent fixture in the national squad in the near future.

In their next game, against Reds at Saitama Stadium, JEF were in big trouble when Saito was sent off early in the second half. They already trailed 1-0, but Mizumoto dragged them back into it with an equaliser which again displayed his fighting quality and character.

Successive 1-1 draws at Todoroki and Saitama are two good results for JEF, but now they must find some consistent home form to start moving up the table. It won't be easy, though, because a confident Reysol are next up for United, in the Chiba derby at Fukari on Sunday evening.

On the subject of confidence, you can't beat Yokohama F Marinos at the moment. Three straight wins, scoring 13 goals in the process and conceding only one, speaks for itself, and it was good to see over 33,000 at Nissan Stadium for the visit of Frontale.

I saw the first of those three wins, 5-0 against Oita, and there were just over 17,000 inside the vast stadium. What impressed me about the home team was how they defended from the front, with both Oshima and Sakata keeping the pressure on and forcing mistakes from their opponents. With the Yamase brothers on fire, things are starting to look up for the Marinos fans.

ends