Grim scenes at Fukuda Denshi Arena
September 15, 2009: JEF United fans witnessed a miracle last season. Or perhaps “Miller-cle” would be more appropriate after the work of Alex Miller in keeping Chiba in J1.
But this year, with the Scotsman long gone, the landscape is bleak around Fukuda Denshi Arena – and I don’t just mean the smoking chimneys and steel works.
Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Albirex Niigata was about as grim as it gets, and time is running out for JEF to turn it round and pull off another great escape.
Losing at home (again) was bad enough – but losing to a header by the opposition centre forward (Yano) at a free kick, and then squandering several clear chances to equalise was just increasing the torment for the home supporters.
On this occasion, Fukai was the main culprit. Last season, when he played such a big part in JEF’s revival, Fukai would have buried at least one of those chances, especially in the second half when the ball was played through on to his powerful left foot but he just didn’t get hold of the shot properly. The earlier opening, in the first half, after he had jinked through the Albirex defence on the edge of the box, was not quite so straightforward, as the ball was on his much weaker right foot and he scooped it over the bar.
There were mistakes galore in all areas of the pitch, though, as JEF gave the ball away carelessly and made too many needless fouls.
The tone was set from the opening minutes, after Yonekura had won a free kick near the right corner flag. The game was only four minutes in, and I expected Fukai to test the Albirex defence and keeper with an inswinging free kick, especially as Bosnar had moved up from the back to try and cause some damage. But Fukai rolled the ball out to the edge of the box in a training ground move that broke down, and it was the JEF keeper, Kushino, who ended up making the save at the other end!
And what about Neto Baiano? After spending the afternoon appealing for free kicks, he was substituted after 61 minutes and was not happy. He headed straight for the tunnel in the corner, via a reluctant detour to the bench to ask why he was being taken off; not the kind of team spirit needed at a time like this, especially as Maki – a player who would run through a yellow brick wall for the team – was having to watch all this from the bench, still to be unleashed.
ends
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Comments
Watched Vissel-JEF Sunday - JEF need to lose NetoBi - what a whinger, what a cheat... flinging elbows at every opportunity - how he stayed on the field - without a card or four from that referee - until being subbed, was beyond belief.... maybe it's experience that's needed to calm 'em down? Saito AND Shimomura not getting starts.... need one calm head in there? But NetoBi needs to go home, along with a good many of the no-name foreigners in Japan - they're taking the places of up-and-coming Japanese and long-term harming the national team and the game itself. Now if Ryan Giggs wanted to come over for a season THAT would be worth a look and be good for the game (like Dunga, Lineker, Mboma, Leonardo, Ilhan - although a failure, it was the right idea, etc. were/are) . No more non-national team foreigners! PLEASE! Send us the good ones :-)
Posted by: Alan | 09/22/2009 at 09:17 AM
@Alan
You have to look at a larger picture here. Some of us do think that the presence of foreign players in J.League actually help and strengthen the national team. For example, precisely because of the likes of Neto Baiano, the Japanese defenders get to learn have to deal with South American-type strikers (i.e. not just lightweight Japanese forwards). When Japan were easily outmuscled by Ghana in Holland recently, some blamed it down to the very LACK of African players in our domestic league. Their argument is that otherwise Japan’s defenders would’ve had the foresight to how best to handle those long ball situations then. Business-wise, too, it’s beneficial for clubs in a long run. Surely, when they buy a Brazilian forward cheaply, they must have in mind nowadays that they get to sell them for big bucks to oil-rich Middle East clubs. (Happening a lot lately - Nagoya’s Davi, Gamba’s Leonardo, etc.) And it so happens that some of these “no-name foreigners” actually turn out to be good talents, like Park Ji-sung and Hulk. “No-names” when they arrived in Japan - used to make their trades in J2 of all places (!) - they’re now playing Uefa Champions League games in Europe for bona fide big clubs, at Man Utd and Porto respectively. And not to mention Alex Santos and Tulio, who each became a vital member of Japanese national squad. Besides, if the “up-and-coming” youngsters you mention are taken their place, I imagine it’s not because of the presence of the “foreigners”, but probably they simply don’t cut it at this level anyway (yet). Or else they have to rise their game to COMPETE their position at this level. At any rate, J.League clubs are able to field three players of ANY NATIONALITY in addition to one spot reserved for an Asian player in their starting XI. In other words, they have the full right to be there as much as any Japanese on the pitch. Anyway, J.League already have quality internationals - ever heard of the likes of the Socceroo Josh Kennedy (Nagoya), N Korea’s Jong Tae-se (Frontale), Bulgaria’s Stoyanov (Sanfrecce), Korea’s Lee Keun-ho (Jubilo)? If we don’t have the class of Giggs, probably because our domestic league isn’t good enough for them. I for one think that that is why J.League should allow unlimited Asian spots in order to make this league more competitive.
Posted by: bluesamurai | 10/07/2009 at 10:30 AM