Goodbye Eiji, Tese

And we're back!

Wednesday night sees the welcome return of J.League action with Omiya Ardija visiting a sweaty Todoroki Stadium.

Not only will fans get to see what progress the stay-at-home members of the team have made during their mid-season training camp, it will also be an emotional farewell to two fine servants of the club - Eiji Kawashima and Chong Tese.

Eiji is heading for the bright lights of the Belgian top flight with newly-promoted Lierse SK. While Tese will be testing his mettle in the German 2nd division with recently-relegated VfL Bochum. Good luck to them both - they will be missed.

No news of any replacements, but judging by Riki Sugiyama's assured performances in goal last season, I'd say a new striker would be the higher priority (after all, who knows what state Juninho will be in after 6 months on the sidelines?). As well as maybe a defender...or two.

Here's the team I hope to see starting against Omiya (assuming Mori is serving his suspension and the rest are all match-fit):

SUGIYAMA
IGAWA, KIKUCHI, ITO, KOMIYAMA
INAMOTO, TANIGUCHI, KENGO
VITOR
JUNINHO, RENATINHO

What's Occurring?

Despite the enforced hiatus in Frontale fun due to some other competition taking place in South Africa, there's still news enough to merit a quick update.

It's been a bit of a mixed bag for our four World Cup hopefuls. Chong Tese is undoubtedly getting the most press coverage, and deservedly so judging by the two belters he scored in a warm-up game against Greece the other week. The sturdy striker is reported to have had a trial with an unnamed EPL team earlier this year, and is hoping to attract the attention of Europe's top coaches during North Korea's spell in the limelight this summer.

Would losing Chong be a major blow to Frontale's title aspirations? I'm not so sure. World Cups tend to throw up some rather inflated transfer fees and, who knows, if coach Takahata could bring in a couple of quality signings in his place, it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Things have also been going well for Eiji Kawashima, who has given himself every chance of being named in Japan's starting XI. A man-of-the-match performance against England (including a penalty stop and an even more impressive finger-tip save from Wayne Rooney's corner-bound curler) was backed up by a reasonably solid display against Ivory Coast. With Seigo Narazaki looking decidedly out of sorts against South Korea, this could be the chance the big shot-stopper has been waiting for.

Opportunities to impress have been a bit more sparse for Kengo and Inamoto. Japan coach Takeshi Okada gave both players a run-out in the second half against Ivory Coast, but neither was involved against England, and Kengo only had a couple of minutes against South Korea.

To be fair, Inamoto was only ever going to be a bench player at best. Kengo, on the other hand, appeared to have cemented his place in the team over the past year or so. As the only player who's been able to provide any real penetration in the final third for Japan, it's difficult to understand Okada's apparent preference for the more workman-like approach of Kobe's Yoshito Okubo.

Closer to home, veteran defender Shuhei Terada has undergone operations on both knees, and is likely to need at least two-month's rehabilitation. If the club do end up pocketing a Chong-sized cheque over the course of the summer, one would think an established centre-back must be pretty high on Takahata's wishlist.

Also missing matches will be Yusuke Mori. The feisty right-back's outspoken behaviour at the end of the Jubilo Iwata game compelled the J.League's disciplinary committee to slap him with a two-match ban. The club has since taken it upon themselves to impose their own two-match ban, making it a total of four games in all. Not entirely sure of the nature of the offence, but where there's Mori there's usually fire.

Jubilo Iwata 3-1 Kawasaki Frontale

Competition: J.League - Division 1
Date: Sunday, 16th May 2010 (14:00 kick off)
Venue: Yamaha Stadium
Attendance: 14,760

Scoresheet:

GILSINHO 02' MAEDA 10' NARUOKA 66'

RENATINHO 49'

Teamsheet:

GK KAWASHIMA
DF MORI (yellow card 58')
DF IGAWA
DF SAHARA
DF KOMIYAMA
MF NAKAMURA
MF INAMOTO (replaced by KUSUKAMI 46')
MF TASAKA (yellow card 69';replaced by NOBORIZATO 84')
FW KUROTSU (yellow card 84')
FW CHONG (replaced by VITOR JUNIOR 46')
FW RENATINHO (yellow card 52')

Comment:

To follow...

Highlights:

Gamba Osaka 4-4 Kawasaki Frontale

Competition: J.League - Division 1
Date: Wednesday, 5th May 2010 (19:00 kick off)
Venue: Expo '70 Stadium
Attendance: 20,317

Scoresheet:

USAMI 33' FUTAGAWA 59' LUCAS 63' MYOJIN 82'

MORI 39' KUSUKAMI 74', 80', 90+1'

Teamsheet:

GK KAWASHIMA
DF MORI
DF IGAWA
DF TERADA (yellow card 90+5')
DF KOMIYAMA
MF NAKAMURA
MF TANIGUCHI (replaced by VITOR JUNIOR 62')
MF TASAKA (yellow card 25')
FW KUROTSU
FW CHONG (replaced by KUSUKAMI 71')
FW RENATINHO

Comment:

Mixed emotions after this game. Ultimately, it was a wonderful show of resilience, with hat-trick hero Jumpei Kusukami the unexpected star of the show. But picking up points away from home has long been Frontale's achilles heel. And this was a badly wasted opportunity against a Gamba Osaka still struggling to find their feet this season.

It will come as little surprise that defence remains the key concern. Of Gamba's four goals, only the last could be described as unavoidable - Tomokazu Myojin's long-range effort taking a hefty deflection on its way past Eiji.

The defending for Gamba's opener wasn't great, but borders on forgivable. Mori isn't a natural right-back, so when one of his centre-backs is pulled out of position and he's required to tuck in, he can't really be expected to do the job properly. Yes, he allowed Takashi Usami to run onto Yasuhito Endo's cross unchallenged, but as far as I'm concerned that's just a peril of the formation Frontale choose to play. And he did atone for his mistake by drawing the sides level before the break.

Less excusable are the (now almost weekly) blunders from Shuhei Terada. For Gamba's second, the aging defender first displayed the turning circle of an eighteen-wheeler as Takahiro Futagawa jinked past him at the edge of the box. He then managed to recover just in time to divert Lucas's harmless flick back into Futagawa's path for the simplest of finishes.

Futagawa's goal was doubly painful, as Frontale had been well on top thus far in the second half. Their problems were then compounded when Yusuke Tasaka flapped wildly at an aimless Gamba clearance to send Lucas through on a one-on-one with Eiji.

So, having been much the better side since the interval, the visitors now found themselves 3-1 down - undone by their own incompetence.

But the introduction of Kusukami for the largely-anonymous Chong Tese proved a master-stroke from coach Takahata. Within 10 minutes of his arrival the youngster had pulled Frontale level again - first tapping in at the far post after good work from Komiyama down the left, and then steering a fine mid-range effort past Yosuke Fujigaya.

Myojin's fortuitous ricochet threatened to give Gamba all three points. But as the clock ticked over into injury time, Kusukami capitalised on a weak defensive header to bundle the ball into the back of the net and rescue a point.

Highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZgSxmio52w

Kawasaki Frontale 4-2 Shonan Bellmare

Competition: J.League Division 1
Date: Saturday, 1st May 2010 (16:00 kick off)
Venue: Todoroki Stadium
Attendance: 19,423

Scoresheet:

RENATINHO 37', 68' KOMIYAMA 73' NAKAMURA 89'

ABE 29' SAKAMOTO 39' (pen.) USUI sent off 65'

Teamsheet:

GK KAWASHIMA
DF MORI
DF IGAWA (yellow card 82')
DF TERADA
DF KOMIYAMA
MF TANIGUCHI (replaced by KUSUKAMI 62'(yellow card 77'))
MF NAKAMURA (yellow card 86')
MF TASAKA
MF VITOR JUNIOR (replaced by NOBORIZATO 74')
FW KUROTSU
FW RENATINHO (replaced by YOKOYAMA 90')

Comment:

Another valuable three points at fortress Todoroki. But might things have been different without the 65th-minute dismissal of Shonan defender Kohei Usui?

I'm not saying he didn't deserve to get his marching orders for what was a careless, two-footed, potential ankle-breaker on Komiyama. But up until the red card Frontale were still trailing their Kanagawa neighbours 2-1 and looking decidedly uncreative in the final third.

In the end it was a comfortable win. But be warned - there'll be plenty more hairy moments like Saturday's as long as the Terada-Igawa axis keeps coughing up cheap goals.

Highlights:

To follow...

Beijing Guoan 2-0 Kawasaki Frontale

Competition: AFC Champions League - Group E
Date: Wednesday, 28th April 2010 (19:30 kick off)
Venue: Workers Stadium
Attendance: 40,000

Scoresheet:

GRIFFITHS 26' ERIVALDO 47'

Teamsheet:

GK KAWASHIMA
DF MORI
DF IGAWA (yellow card 38')
DF ITO
DF KOMIYAMA
MF NAKAMURA
MF TANIGUCHI (replaced by KIMURA 59')
MF TASAKA
MF VITOR JUNIOR(replaced by KUSUKAMI 71')
FW KUROTSU
FW RENATINHO (replaced by NOBORIZATO 39')

Comment:

It's official - the 2010 ACL campaign has died a death. And sadly it went with a whimper rather than a bang.

Frontale actually started quite brightly. The hosts looked nervy and Taniguchi, Ito and Tasaka all spurned good chances to take the lead.

But it was Beijing who went ahead midway through the first half, countering quickly after a poorly delivered Vitor free-kick. There were echoes of Saturday's match against Kobe as Frontale found themselves badly under-staffed at the back, allowing Australian striker Joel Griffiths too much time and space to pull down a cross-field pass and prod a cool finish past Eiji.

As usual, conceding against the run of play left Frontale rattled. All of a sudden, they were struggling to string two passes together and the Chinese were evidently growing in confidence.

Things soon got even worse for the visitors when Renatinho had to leave the field with what is hopefully nothing too serious.

The half-time break gave coach Takahata a chance to rally his troops. But the malaise that had seeped into their game before the interval continued into the second half.

Within minutes of the restart Beijing had doubled their lead. The big, bald Brazilian, Erivaldo, managed to steal in behind a disorganised defensive line. He then calmly took the ball round Eiji and slotted into an empty net, leaving Frontale with a mountain to climb.

The home team sat back for the remaining 40 minutes, content to defend their lead. It's a sad indictment on Frontale that, despite dominating possession, they failed to trouble the Beijing keeper with anything but speculative long-range efforts until the dying minutes of the game.

Make no mistake, Beijing are not a great side. But they took their chances and defended their lead stubbornly.

As for Frontale, their passing was simply atrocious for a good hour in the middle of the game. Nor were they greatly assisted by Kurotsu, who struggled to hold up the ball in what increasingly became a lone striker role. How different might things have been had Chong Tese not picked up that silly red card against Melbourne?

All things considered, it's better to go out of a competition on (lack of) merit rather than through controversy. And let's be honest, given the results in previous games, it was a surprise to most that we were still in contention at this stage of the tournament.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. Just three more games til the World Cup break, during which the team really needs to consolidate its position near the top of the table. Who knows...might even have a fully-fit Juninho back by the time action resumes in July.

Group E - Final standings:

Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Seongnam Ilhwa FC (Q)	6	5	0	1	11	6	15
Beijing Guoan (Q)	6	3	1	2	7	5	10
Kawasaki Frontale	6	2	0	4	8	8	6
Melbourne Victory	6	1	2	4	3	10	4

Highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWSPjuuUiRc