4 May 2009(Mon)

May 1, 2009: The merit marks for players and managers always make good reading, but the ones I saw for the Kawasaki-Kyoto clash on Wednesday were particularly eye-catching. That's because El Golazo's man of the match, with eight out of 10, was...Takashi Sekizuka, the Frontale manager.

Whether you agree or disagree with the award -- and I am sure Sekizuka himself would be a bit embarrassed by it -- there is no doubt his team selection and his substitutions first refreshed the team and then strengthened it as the match wore on, leading to a handsome 4-1 victory.

Takuro Yajima played particularly well up front in place of Chong Tese -- the last player Sanga wanted to see coming on when they were already 3-0 down -- and was rewarded with his first league goal of the campaign. And what a goal it was, finishing off a classic Frontale counter to make it 2-0 on 63 minutes and virtually end the match as a contest against a Kyoto team that was rapidly falling apart.

The TV replays picked up the action as Vitor Junior split the Kyoto defence with a clever little ball to Juninho, whose low cross from the left was met at the far post by Yajima, arriving quicker than the left back, Yuta Someya. But the move had started with a headed clearance in the Frontale box to Sidiclei's cross from the right, and Frontale exploited the space up the left flank with both Sidiclei and Kyoto right back Daigo Watanabe out of position.

It was stirring stuff to watch, and broke Kyoto's resistance as first Juninho and then substitute Masaru Kurotsu -- who had replaced Yajima -- added further goals to complete the rout. The despair of the Frontale players at conceding a careless late goal to Koken Kato was clearly visible, and summed up their business-like mood as they try to climb the table following a stuttering start to the season.

In the first half, Frontale were lucky not to fall behind when Yohei Toyoda missed a great chance to head Kyoto in front from Someya's perfect cross from the left, but they quickly put this scare behind them to take the lead. Again it was a Sekizuka change -- Yusuke Tasaka on the left side of midfield -- that created the opening goal for Vitor Junior, defending from the front by blocking right back Makoto Kakuda and enabling Juninho to burst into the box. Kakuda would pay the price by being substituted at the break.

On the other bench, Hisashi Kato was moving his players all over the place to try and find some rhythm, but Frontale were much too good on the day. They had needed a boost, and Sekizuka had provided it before and then during the match; hence the rather unusual move of naming him man of the match ahead of Juninho's merit mark of 7.5!

ends