Sunday, April 12, 2009

J-League week 5 report

Week 5 of the J-League came to an end with none other than the Kashima Antlers once again occupying the top spot. The Antlers defeated FC Tokyo as they put up two goals in the first quarter of an hour. Last years league MVP Marquinhos opened the scoring in the opening minute with a drive from outside the box. Only fourteen minutes later eighteen year-old Yuya Osako continued his fast start with his first J-League strike. Shingo Akamine gave the Gas Men hope five minutes before the break but they couldn't find the equalizer.

To start the weekend off Montedio Yamagata continued their impressed start to the year as they defeated Ōita Trinita 1-0 to further compound Pericles Chamusca's side horrible start. After a scoreless first half Tatsuya Furuhashi scored three minutes past the hour to give the visitors a surprising victory.

After four weeks without a win Yokohama F. Marinos exploded with a 5-0 victory over Vissel Kobe at Nissan Stadium with Kazuma Watanabe and Koji Yamase each bagging two and Kenta Kano chipping in with twenty-two minutes left. Yokohama manager Kokichi Kimura said after the match, "That was our first win of the season but, as I have said several times, the content has not been bad. I thought this must come eventually. That's only one match, though, and the next game at Kashima is now going to be very important."

Albirex Niigata
fell from the top-spot with a 1-0 loss to Kyoto Sanga as Paulinho scored the matches lone goal four minutes in. JEF United Ichihara-Chiba and Jubilo Iwata played to a 1-1 draw with Japan international Ryoichi Maeda bringing the match even with sixteen minutes remaining as he headed-in Yuichi Komano. JEF had taken the lead with own goal nineteen minutes after the opening whistle. Mihailo Petrović's

Sanfrecce Hiroshima
was impressive in their 4-1 trouncing of Kashiwa Reysol. Japan U21 international Tomoaki Makino opened the scoring for Hiroshima five minutes before the break with Kota Hattori, heading this year to his 400th match for the club, doubling the margin early in the new half. Yosuke Kashiwagi added an insurance goal before the hour and while Hideaki Kitajima drew one back for Reysol it was too little, too late. With thirteen minutes remaining Hisato Satō restored the three goal margin.

Blue Samurai's Shinji Okazaki header provided the needed margin to give Shimizu S-Pulse the 1 - 0 victory over Kawasaki Frontale.

In the final two matches of the weekend Gamba Osaka's bad start continued as they lost 3-2 to Omiya Ardija. Ōmiya took a two goal lead with Mato Neretljak, formerly of Hajduk Split and Naoki Ishihara scoring before the break. Gamba's Cho Jae-Jin drew one back quickly after the re-start but Denis Marques restored the lead just before the hour mark. Leandro brought Gamba back within one

Finally in a tightly played match Urawa Red Diamonds defeated Nagoya Grampus with the lone goal coming just before the break from seventeen year-old Genki Haraguchi.

J-League media clips are available here


J-League week 5GPWDLGSGAP
Kashima Antlers 鹿島アントラーズ 5 4 0 1 9 5 12
Montedio Yamagata モンテディオ山形 5 3 1 1 8 3 10
Albirex Niigata アルビレックス新潟 5 3 1 1 8 4 10
Urawa Red Diamonds 浦和レッズ 5 3 1 1 6 4 10
Omiya Ardija 大宮アルディージャ 5 2 3 0 9 7 9
Kyoto Sanga 京都サンガF.C. 5 3 0 2 5 4 9
Shimizu S-Pulse 清水エスパルス 5 2 2 1 3 3 8
Gamba Osaka ガンバ大阪 5 2 1 2 12 8 7
Sanfrecce Hiroshima サンフレッチェ広島 5 2 1 2 13 10 7
Nagoya Grampus 名古屋グランパス 5 2 1 2 7 7 7
FC Tokyo FC東京 5 2 0 3 5 9 6
Yokohama F Marinos 横浜F・マリノス 5 1 2 2 11 9 5
Kawasaki Frontale 川崎フロンターレ 5 1 2 2 6 6 5
Ōita Trinita 大分トリニータ 5 1 1 3 3 5 4
Kashiwa Reysol 柏レイソル 5 0 4 1 8 11 4
Vissel Kobe ヴィッセル神戸 5 1 1 3 3 9 4
JEF United Ichihara-Chiba ジェフユナイテッド千葉 5 0 3 2 3 7 3
Jubilo Iwata ジュビロ磐田 5 0 2 3 5 13 2