Ben Somerford
Kashima Antlers are fast establishing themselves as the true giants of Japanese football having claimed their sixth J.League title in 2008.
The Ibaraki-based club are now chasing an unprecedented treble of consecutive domestic championships which would be a J-League first.
And while there aren’t any significant new faces at Kashima Soccer Stadium this season, the Antlers still retain the services of the J.League’s 2008 MVP and Golden Boot winner Marquinhos as well as national team stars like Takeshi Aoki, Shinzo Koroki and 20-year-old defender Atsuto Uchido, who ignored interest from Europe in the off-season to stay in Japan.
Perhaps the added distraction of the 2009 AFC Champions League could be considered a problem for Kashima this campaign. But while boss Oswaldo Oliveira hasn’t spent big in the off-season, he has added a few useful squad members including Korean Park Joo-Hoo and exciting youngster Yuya Osako to ensure his players stay fresh.
So with the 2009 J.League just in its infancy, it is worth asking whether anyone stop Kashima from creating Japanese history? Indeed, who are the contenders to take the crown from Oswaldo Oliveira’s men?
The popular response to that question amongst Japanese football journalists is Asian champions Gamba Osaka. Gamba seem to be going from strength to strength with manager Akira Nishino spending big in the winter to bring in several new acquisitions, who he hopes will help the club better balance their domestic and continental ambitions with another AFC Champions League campaign underway.
Significantly Nishino has moved to improve his defence having conceded the fourth most goals in the J.League last season. Japanese national team defender Kazumichi Takagi arrives from Shimizu S-Pulse while Korean international Park Dong-Hyuk has moved from K-League club Ulsan Horang.
Down the other end of the park, Nishino has acquired another Korean star, Cho Jae-Jin, from Jeonbuk Motors, whilst also adding Brazilian forward Leandro from Vissel Kobe.
Indeed, the impact of Gamba’s new additions in attack was obvious in the club’s first four fixtures of the 2009 campaign, which saw them score 14 goals in the J.League and Champions League cumulatively, before a surprise 2-1 Kansai derby loss at Kyoto Sanga.
Nevertheless, Gamba have started the season brightly with Leandro already having six goals to his name, while star midfielder Yasuhito Endo is his usual self, creating plenty of danger and managing three strikes already too.
The question Gamba must answer though is whether or not they can juggle the Champions League and J.League in 2009. Judging from their start however, Gamba could be enjoying a long campaign in Asia this year.
One side who won’t be experiencing such distractions will be the massively supported Urawa Red Diamonds.
Following a miserable end to their 2008 campaign, which saw them finish down in eighth in the league after crashing out of the ACL at the semi-final stage, the Reds have replaced German manager Gert Engels with another German Volker Finke.
Finke, who served as the manager at SC Freiburg for over 15 years, becomes the fourth consecutive German manager at Saitama.
Expectations remain high for the incoming boss, who despite not making much of an impact in the transfer market has already changed things at Urawa by making Keita Suzuki the captain instead of the incumbent Nobuhisa Yamada.
Indeed it seems the global financial crisis has affected Japanese football with Urawa’s usual transfer activities much quieter this off-season as major stakeholder Mitsubishi tightened things up. Elsewhere it seems Nissan-backed Yokohama F. Marinos and Hitachi-sponsored Kashiwa Reysol have been affected too.
Despite this, Urawa can still call upon some of the finest footballers currently playing in Japan, including superstar Marcus Tulio Tanaka, ex-Hamburg SV hitman Naohiro Takahara, Brazilian Edmilson, international goalkeeper Ryota Tsuzuki and former Bundesliga midfield ace Robson Ponte.
With these riches Finke has the stock to turns things around, it is just a question of whether or not he is the man to do it. And while Urawa have started the J.League season unspectacularly with a win, a draw and a loss, their key man Ponte has shown glimpses of returning to his best which would encourage all Reds fans.
Further afield pundits have also pointed to Kawasaki Frontale and Nagoya Grampus as possible title candidates following impressive 2008 J.League seasons which saw both sides claim a place in the 2009 AFC Champions League after top three finishes domestically.
And Nagoya, led by former Arsene Wenger student Dragan Stojkovic, have begun their campaign well with two wins and a draw whilst being top of their Champions League group.
Stojkovic’s Nagoya could be the dark horses for the Japanese title, having traded in ageing Norwegian forward Frode Johnsen for last season’s J.League second topscorer Davi from relegated Consadole Sapporo, whilst also adding right-back Hayuma Tanaka from Yokohama.
Davi looks a fine signing having fired in five goals already this campaign, but Nagoya will be hoping for more contributions from last season’s J.League Rookie of the Year Yoshizumi Ogawa along with Blue Samurai forward Keiji Tamada.
Kawasaki on the other hand have started their 2009 J.League campaign terribly having not yet claimed a victory despite a good start in the ACL.
Frontale, who stormed home at the end of last season to finish second in the J.League with their brilliant free-scoring football, have manager Takashi Sekizuka back at the club after health problems interrupted his tenure last year.
But it seems Sekizuka has some work to do if Kawasaki are to challenge for the title, as he needs to fix an occasionally frail defence which relies on brilliant young goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima too much, while the boss must also help veteran Brazilian Juninho who has clearly lost a yard of pace, find a new role for himself.
Some journalists have also suggested a few other sides could spring some surprises including FC Tokyo, who’ve retained most of the squad which did well to finish sixth last season, along with Shimizu S-Pulse who have added firepower to their team in the shape of experienced pair Johnsen from Nagoya and Yuichiro Nagai from Urawa.
Nevertheless, both these two clubs have begun 2009 slowly with Shimizu, despite their added options in attack, having managed just one goal in three matches so far.
On that note, the early indications from the three rounds of matches we’ve seen so far in the J-League for a surprise team could point to Albirex Niigata who proudly sit top of the competition at this stage.
Niigata, who are so well supported on the northwest coast of Honshu, have given their fans plenty of reason for hope this season with front trio Hideo Oshima, Kisho Yano and Pedro Junior looking dangerous and seeming more than good enough to replace last season’s topscorer Alessandro who has returned back to Brazil.
At the other end of the table, despite an incredible opening day 6-2 victory at Jubilo Iwata, newcomers Montedio Yamagata are favourites for the drop this season.
Yamagata’s fellow promotees Sanfrecce Hiroshima should be good enough to fend off a relegation battle having won the J2 League with an incredible 100 points and 99 goals scored last season signalling this is a team with a point to prove after being relegated from J1 in 2007.
Jubilo, who have such a glorious history in the J.League with three titles to their name, could also be favourites to go down having escaped relegation last season in the playoff and made a woeful start to the new campaign which sees them bottom of the league after 11 goals conceded in their first three games.
Omiya Ardija were expected to struggle this season too following the departure of star Daigo Kobayashi to Norway but they’ve started reasonably, while JEF United Chiba, who miraculously escaped relegation on the final day last campaign, may have a worrying season ahead after a slow beginning.
A majority of eyes though will surely be on the fight for the 2009 J.League title as Kashima Antlers gun for a record third straight title, perhaps worth considering is the Japanese proverb ‘Nito wo ou mono wa itto wo mo ezu’ which means ‘Trying to do two things at once will make you fail in both’.
Indeed, maybe the distraction of the big prize money on offer in the AFC Champions League could have a say in who claims the 2009 J-League title. But for now, all must wait and see because as they say in Japan, ‘Seiten no heki-reki’, we could be in for a complete surprise.
