27 Aug 2009(Thu)

August 25, 2009: Compared to the playing resources at his previous club, Toshiya Miura is in a pretty good position at Vissel Kobe.

The same can be said of the team itself now after those three big points at Oita Trinita on Monday night, as Vissel are in 13th position and eight points clear of the relegation zone.

There are still a lot of points to be won and lost before the end of the season – 33 to be precise – but Miura looks to have enough quality and experience around to keep them out of trouble. This was not the case at Consadole Sapporo, who – by Miura’s own admission – came up from J2 one season too early in 2007 and were just not equipped for J1 last year.

Miura has always placed a lot of emphasis on central midfield, and I remember him once, in his days as Omiya manager, raving about Oita’s pair of Brazilians after a league match at Komaba Stadium; how they controlled the game with their composure on the ball and their precise passing.

In the Vissel team now, Miura has the World Cup veterans Kim Nam Il and Tsuneyasu Miyamoto in the two anchor positions, protecting the back four and allowing Botti on the right and Koga on the left to push forward.

Just look how Vissel scored their first goal at Oita. When Oita missed a good chance and the loose ball fell to Kim inside his own box, he did not panic and simply hoof the ball away; he broke out of defence and gave the ball to Botti, who released Yoshida on the right wing. The Oita defence failed to close him down, and Yoshida’s cross was headed home expertly by Okubo arriving between two defenders.

At half-time, manager Miura made a good move, replacing Kondo with Ishibitsu at right back. Kondo had been given the runaround by the quick feet of Ienaga on Oita’s left wing in the first half, and by bringing on Ishibitsu it would push Ienaga back.  This is exactly how the second goal came about on 51 minutes, when Botti sent Ishibitsu racing down the right flank and his low cross was turned in by Yoshida at the near post.

Vissel should have won by more than 2-0 but squandered some clear openings as the match progressed. Miura must have been furious as he watched his players mess around in front of goal and try to play in a teammate instead of taking the responsibility to shoot. You could almost hear the Vissel players: “No, please, after you. I scored last season; it’s your turn now.”

When goal difference could be the difference between survival and relegation, there is no better time to shoot than when you are leading 2-0 away from home with the three points already in the bag.

ends