Reysol knocked out of Asian Champions League

ULSAN, South Korea — J. League champions Kashiwa Reysol were knocked out in the round of 16 of the Asian Champions League, losing 3-2 away to Ulsan Hyundai on Wednesday.

Nelsinho's side became the second Japanese casualty in as many days following Nagoya Grampus' exit a day earlier. FC Tokyo, Japan's last hope in the knockout phase of Asia's flagship club competition, kicked off against Guangzhou Evergrande later Wednesday in China.

Former J. League-based Lee Keun Ho netted late to win it for Ulsan, who also scored twice more in the second half through Kim Shin Wook and a Kashiwa own goal. Reigning J. League MVP Leandro Domingues and Junya Tanaka both struck after halftime for Reysol.

In a heated contest at Munsu Cup Stadium, Ulsan opened the scoring in the 54th minute through Kim after former Gamba Osaka and Jubilo Iwata striker Lee intercepted a pass out of the Kashiwa defense.

Lee crossed against the run of play for Kim, who scored a free header to make up for being cleared off the line just minutes earlier.

Kashiwa, though, kept their chins up and leveled eight minutes past the hour through Leandro, who was unmarked as he nodded in the equalizer from a throw-in.

Yet fate proved to be cruel for Reysol as Ulsan reestablished the lead through a Kashiwa own goal in the 71st minute, when defender Tatsuya Masushima poked past his own line from a Lee Ho cut-back.

Lee Keun Ho made it 3-1 two minutes to the end of normal time with a clinical left-footed strike off his chest to virtually put the game out of Reysol's reach. Kashiwa still kept at it, pulling one back in the 93rd minute through Tanaka, but could not come closer as their inaugural campaign in Asia came to an end.

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Tosu continues strong start by holding Reysol

KASHIWA, Chiba Pref. — First-division debutants Sagan Tosu kept up their impressive start to the J. League season with a 1-1 draw away to reigning champions Kashiwa Reysol on Saturday.

Full force: Shimizu S-Pulse's Toshiyuki Takagi nets the game-winning goal in the 77th minute against FC Tokyo on Saturday at Ajinomoto Stadium. Shimizu won 1-0. KYODO

Sagan went into the match at Hitachi Stadium fifth in the table with a division-lowest record of three goals conceded from seven games, but an opener in first-half stoppage time from Kashiwa's Hideaki Kitajima threatened to burst the Kyushu side's bubble.

Teruaki Kobayashi pounced on a loose ball midway through the second half to rescue a point for Tosu, however, keeping Yoon Jong Hwang's side firmly among the leading pack in its first-ever campaign in the top flight.

"It was hot today, and this was the first time we have played in an atmosphere like this," said the South Korean, whose team now has 14 points from eight games. "We couldn't adjust to that, and in the first half we lost our concentration and allowed them to score.

"But in the second half the players fought until the end, and we managed to pull a goal back. A lot of our fans made the trip to watch us here, and it was their support that pushed the players on until the final whistle."

An temperature of 18.9 C was recorded for the game, but with the pitch in the full glare of the sun for 90 minutes, the reality was almost certainly different.

"Both teams had to deal with it, so it was the same for everyone," said Tosu striker Yohei Toyoda. "I don't think it made the difference."

Leandro Domingues twice went close to breaking the deadlock as Kashiwa made a strong finish to the first half, and the pressure paid off when Kitajima headed home Jorge Wagner's corner to send the home side into the break a goal up.

Naoyuki Fujita almost leveled the score five minutes into the second half when he thumped a free kick against the crossbar, before Junya Tanaka rattled the woodwork at the other end with a volley from another Wagner cross.

But with Reysol looking more and more likely to add to their tally, Kobayashi grabbed the equalizer. Kim Min Woo swung a free kick into the Kashiwa box, and Kobayashi was on hand to fire the ball home after it broke his way following a scramble in the six-yard area.

Both teams had chances to claim all three points in a frantic finale, but Kashiwa substitute Masato Kudo missed the best of the them when his lunge at a Hiroki Sakai cross fell just short of connecting.

"We haven't been getting good results recently and we wanted to do all we could to win today," said Kashiwa manager Nelsinho. "They are a strong team and we knew they would keep fighting until the end. We created a lot of chances but we just couldn't put them away.

"All we are lacking at the moment is the final touch to put the ball in the net."

Elsewhere in the J. League, Urawa Reds rebounded from defeat in last week's Saitama derby with a 2-1 win away to Nagoya Grampus, while Shimizu S-Pulse also picked up three points on their travels with a 1-0 victory over FC Tokyo. Sanfrecce Hiroshima did likewise, 4-1 over Kawasaki Frontale.

League leaders Vegalta Sendai maintained their unbeaten record with a 1-0 win over Albirex Niigata, Kashima Antlers thumped Gamba Osaka 5-0, and Yokohama F. Marinos finally picked up their first victory of the season, 3-1 over Vissel Kobe.

Omiya Ardija beat Consadole Sapporo 2-1, and in the day's late game Cerezo Osaka topped Jubilo Iwate 3-2.

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Reysol, Marinos to play in opener

Reigning champion Kashiwa Reysol will face Yokohama F. Marinos at home on the opening weekend of the 2012 season as the J. League released the fixtures for the upcoming campaign on Tuesday.

Kashiwa, which became the first team in J. League history to win the championship a year after winning the second division, is involved in Asian Champions League action away to Thailand's Buriram Pea on March 7 and will play Yokohama in the only J. League fixture of the day on March 11.

Vegalta Sendai play Kashima Antlers on March 10 at Yurtec Stadium in what is set to be an emotional meeting on the eve of the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The quake and subsequent tsunami ravaged Japan's northeast coastline and inflicted serious damage on the stadiums of both teams.

The rest of the first-division matches will also be played on March 10, with promoted Sagan Tosu to face Cerezo Osaka and top-flight returnees FC Tokyo and Consadole Sapporo away to Omiya Ardija and at home to Jubilo Iwata, respectively.

The J1 season wraps up on Dec. 1, while the 22-team second tier kicks off March 4 and runs through Nov. 11.

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Reysol ready to take on world after shock title

It would have taken a brave person to tip Kashiwa Reysol for the 2011 J. League title before the season had begun. But as the newly crowned champions prepare to take on Auckland City in the Club World Cup on Thursday, it would take an even braver person to deny they deserved it.

Kashiwa captured its first-ever championship with a nerveless 3-1 victory over Urawa Reds last Saturday, pulling off the extraordinary feat of winning the second- and first-division titles in successive seasons. The Chiba side began the campaign as many people's dark horse to make an impact after a year away from the top flight, but what we got instead was a thoroughbred that charged out the gate and never let up until it had crossed the finish line ahead of the rest.

Reysol served notice of their intent with a 3-0 thrashing of Shimizu S-Pulse on the first day of the season, and went on to drop only five points from their opening nine fixtures. That strong start was soon proven to be founded on genuine quality rather than simple promotion momentum, but to make it stick until the end of the campaign must go down as one of the most remarkable achievements in J. League history.

Kashiwa's strength was its organization, with attack and defense working in perfect synch and the team slipping effortlessly between playing styles as the ebb and flow of each game dictated. No team in the country looked as well-drilled as Reysol, and manager Nelsinho deserves enormous credit for the work he has done since taking over midseason in 2009.

The Brazilian's appointment came too late to arrest the club's slide toward the second division that year, but with the less-demanding environment of J2 providing ideal conditions for his methods to take root, Kashiwa's relegation turned out to be something of a blessing in disguise.

Don't stop: Jorge Wagner and Kashiwa Reysol head into the Club World Cup on Thursday as surprise J. League champions. KYODO

Nelsinho rebuilt a team that had been overly reliant on the gifted but ponderous Franca, shifting the emphasis to a more dynamic style and bringing in playmaker Leandro Domingues to run the midfield. The success this season of Leandro — named J. League Player of the Year on Monday — and fellow Brazilian Jorge Wagner proved how important it is to choose one's foreign players wisely, and their effort was backed up by a similarly outstanding contribution from their teammates.

Forward Junya Tanaka, who chipped in with 13 goals, and force-of-nature right back Hiroki Sakai both caught the eye, but it was the unflashy, cast-iron reliability of players like defender Naoya Kondo, captain Hidekazu Otani and spiritual leader Hideaki Kitajima who laid the foundations. Kitajima's tears at Saitama Stadium showed just how much it meant to a player who almost took the club to the title in 2000, and in recent weeks there has been a quiet determination about Reysol that this opportunity would not go to waste.

With this season's championship also bringing qualification for the Club World Cup, Kashiwa's story is not finished yet. Nelsinho has experience of the tournament in its previous Toyota Cup incarnation, losing to Borussia Dortmund as manager of Cruzeiro in 1997, and the lack of a pause in action means Kashiwa goes into Thursday's match against the Oceania representatives still bubbling with title-winning intensity.

The prospect of meeting Santos in a semifinal and Barcelona in the final is surely not one that anyone at the club seriously entertained at the start of the year, but with success comes belief and Reysol now know that anything is possible.

Other teams at the Club World Cup may underestimate the surprise J. League champions, but they will do so at their peril.

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Reysol, Vegalta continue to impress in season of unpredictability

An impressive start from the less-fancied teams while the big guns struggled gave the early J. League table something of an upside-down appearance. Few expected it to last, but with almost a third of the season played, the underdogs continue to bark the loudest.

Kashiwa Reysol lead Vegalta Sendai by two points at the top of the table going into Saturday's games, with Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Yokohama F. Marinos snapping at their heels.

Kashiwa's 3-0 humbling at home to Jubilo Iwata on Wednesday could be read as evidence that the bubble has finally burst for last season's second-division champions, but the impressive nature of its campaign so far suggests it may have been simply the exception rather than the rule.

Sendai also continues to confound the critics, maintaining the league's last unbeaten record despite the disruptions caused by the March 11 disaster, and also the fact that the club finished last season just three points clear of relegation.

But although Reysol and Vegalta have led the way for most of the season, quality has been evident throughout the division. Jubilo's demolition of Kashiwa on Wednesday night illustrated the depth of competition in what is already one of the world's most even leagues, and this year's championship is shaping up to be as unpredictable as ever.

"Our opponents did to us what we wanted to do to them," said Kashiwa's Hidekazu Otani after the Jubilo defeat, and that could be a familiar refrain around the league as teams continue to take points off each other and prevent a leader from breaking clear of the pack.

There are signs that the heavyweights are beginning to rouse themselves from their slumber, but for now, at least, the underdogs are having their day.

* * *

Kawasaki Frontale beat Omiya Ardija 5-0 to post the biggest win of the midweek fixtures, but then scoring has hardly been Frontale's problem in recent weeks.

Ten goals in the four games leading up to Wednesday's match were offset by a failure to keep a clean sheet since May 3, and manager Naoki Soma was as satisfied to be leaving Nack5 Stadium without conceding as he was with the goal rush at the other end.

"The players never eased up for 90 minutes and never lost their concentration, and because of that we got this result," the former national team defender said. "But when you have a run of games it can be difficult after a big win like this. To play like this again would be difficult, but we'll at least try to win the next one."

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Kashima Antlers returned to Kashima Stadium for the first time since it was damaged in the March 11 earthquake, but Ventforet Kofu's 1-0 win courtesy of a Mike Havenaar injury-time goal ensured the former champions were hardly in the mood to celebrate.

For Ventforet forward Atsushi Katagiri, however, the occasion was a memorable one.

"Ten years ago, when I was playing for Nagoya, I came to Kashima Stadium twice," Katagiri said. "At that time we were only allowed 16 players in the matchday squad and I was No. 17, so I had only ever watched games at Kashima Stadium from the VIP room. This was the first time I have ever stood on the pitch at Kashima Stadium, and it felt great."

* * *

Nagoya Grampus' season has been hampered by an injury list that has bordered on comical at times, but Wednesday's 4-0 hiding of Albirex Niigata suggests Dragan Stokjovic's fit-again side is returning to its fearsome best.

A run of three straight wins has seen the champions jump from 12th to seventh in the table — and triple their goal tally from five to 15 in the process -with Keiji Tamada moving into second in the goalscorer's chart on seven behind Gamba Osaka's Adriano.

"We're playing well in attack and defense, and everyone is pulling their weight," said Tamada, who has scored in each of those three wins. "I think we're moving in the right direction. We're not paying any attention to what the other teams are doing, we're just focusing on what we're doing ourselves."

* * *

"We weren't able to win today, but to get our first point means we have taken half a step forward." — After losing the first nine games of the season, Avispa Fukuoka manager Yoshiyuki Shinoda savors Wednesday's 0-0 draw with Vissel Kobe.

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Tanaka double guides leaders Reysol past Vissel

KASHIWA, Chiba Pref. — Junya Tanaka scored two first-half goals and Leandro Domingues added another to extend Kashiwa Reysol's lead at the top of the J. League to three points with a 3-0 win over Vissel Kobe on Saturday.

Show of respect: Kashiwa Reysol fans congratulate Junya Tanaka (18) after his 24th-minute goal on Saturday against Vissel Kobe. Reysol won 3-0. KYODO PHOTO

Vissel went into the match at Hitachi Stadium on the back of three straight wins, but a brace from Tanaka inside the space of three minutes soon took the wind out of their sails and put last season's second-division champions firmly in the driving seat.

A third from Leandro Domingues in the 73rd minute made the game safe, giving Kashiwa 19 points from eight matches as the Chiba side continues to confound expectations in its first season back in the top flight.

"The results we have been getting are a result of our preparation," said manager Nelsinho. "We have carried on from what we were doing last year, and that gives us a strong foundation to build on.

"In training the players never doubt what we are doing, and that is the key. Maybe other people are surprised at our results, but that's not the case for anyone at this club."

Both teams took time to find their rhythm, but after some nervy moments Kashiwa took the lead in the 21st minute. Leandro Domingues split the Vissel defense with a perfectly weighted pass into the box, and Tanaka took a touch before rifling the ball home.

It was not long before the 23-year-old had his second. Ryoichi Kurosawa switched the play with a brilliant cross-field ball to the left, and Tanaka left goalkeeper Kenta Tokushige clutching at thin air with a ferocious shot from the edge of the box.

"We expected them to come at us, and the players dealt with this by defending well, waiting for mistakes and hitting them on the counter," said Nelsinho. "Then we found our rhythm and got the two goals.

"We knew we were playing against a team that had won its last three games, and I told the players to go back out for the second half with the same attitude. We knew we couldn't just sit on a two-goal lead, and we were determined to get a third or a fourth."

It was the visitors who almost started the second half with a goal, however, with Vissel pressure almost forcing Reysol defender Naoya Kondo to steer the ball into his own net.

But it took a scrambled clearance from Kunie Kitamoto to deny Tanaka his hat trick at the other end, and 10 minutes later Kashiwa put the result beyond doubt. Hideaki Kitajima broke into space down the left, and the striker squared the ball for Leandro Domingues striding through the middle to sweep home.

Vissel substitute Popo then earned a straight red card for a meaty 86th-minute challenge on Tatsuya Masushima, leaving manager Masahiro Wada to pick the bones out of a miserbale afternoon for the visitors.

"We were playing against the team at the top of the league today," Wada said. "For the first 15 minutes we played at a good tempo and created some chances, and if we had managed to score from one of them it might have been a different story.

"But after Kashiwa scored they were able to play at their own pace, and we had trouble putting together moves on the slippy pitch. Games like this happen, and the important thing now is for the players to put it behind them."

Elsewhere in the J. League, Vegalta Sendai and Yokohama F. Marinos — second and third in the table, respectively, at the start of the day — drew 1-1, while struggling Urawa Reds were pegged back from a first-half lead to finish 1-1 against Albirex Niigata.

The Shizuoka derby between Shimizu S-Pulse and Jubilo Iwata finished 0-0, and Ventforet Kofu drew 1-1 with Montedio Yamagata.

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High-flying Reysol holds Grampus

TOYOTA, Aichi Pref. — High-flying Kashiwa Reysol held champions Nagoya Grampus 0-0 away to grab a deserved point in the J. League on Saturday.

Clean sheet: Nagoya's Kensuke Nagai heads the ball during his side's 0-0 draw with Kashiwa Reysol on Saturday. KYODO PHOTO

The result keeps Kashiwa top of the table after seven games and last season's second division champions will feel unfortunate not to be taking all three points back to Chiba Prefecture after another solid performance.

"It was a difficult game. We kept it tight at the back and were looking to get something on the break, and had we had that little bit of extra quality in the final third we might have got the points," said Kashiwa manager Nelsinho.

"But we have had a positive start to the season, the stats will tell you that," said the Brazilian.

Nagoya was looking to bounce back from its shock 3-1 defeat at promoted Ventforet Kofu last Sunday but it was Kashiwa that had the better of the chances in the first period at Toyota Stadium.

Yuki Otsu's close-range effort forced a good save out of Seigo Narazaki and the former Japan goalkeeper was called upon again to make another key block from in-form striker Hideaki Kitajima eight minutes before the interval.

Marcus Tulio Tanaka, back from injury, and Naoshi Nakamura both tested Kashiwa keeper Takanori Sugeno but the visitors continued to look dangerous going forward and Brazilian midfielder Leandro Domingues had Narazaki scurrying across his line with a header that dipped just wide.

"We tried very hard to win the game and I think a draw is not bad because we played against the current leaders of the J. League," said Nagoya boss Dragan Stojkovic. "It was a very hard and competitive game and I am satisfied with our fighting spirit."

In other games, Ryoichi Maeda struck twice as Jubilo Iwata piled more misery on Avispa Fukuoka, hammering the Kyushu side 4-1 to keep them rooted to the foot of the table without a point from seven games.

Former Japan striker Masashi Oguro also hit a brace as Yokohama F. Marinos thumped Ventforet Kofu 4-0 to go second, while goals from Hiroyuki Takasaki and Mazzolla saw Urawa Reds come from behind to draw 2-2 with Kashima Antlers. Mazzolla was sent off in the dying stages.

In Saturday's evening games, Adriano grabbed a late winner with his second of the game as Gamba Osaka edged Albirex Niigata 2-1 at Expo Stadium. Vissel Kobe beat Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-0 at home to move third.

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