Wednesday, November 30, 2005

To have and to have not


"Football teams are extraordinarily inventive in the ways they find to cause their supporters sorrow. They lead at Wembley and then throw it away; they go to the top of the First Division and then stop dead; they draw the difficult away game and lose the home replay; they beat Liverpool one week and lose to Scunthorpe the next; they seduce you, half-way through the season, into believing that they are promotion candidates and they go the other way...always, when you think you have anticipated the worst that can happen, they come up with something new."
Nick Hornby writing in Fever Pitch

I asked Aussie Matt, who will be at the match on Saturday, how he views it "For you, it's pretty much easy come, easy go, if we win great, if not...?" "Yeah, pretty much," he grinned, obviously still rejoicing over Australia's World Cup Qualification. I sigh, like I do with a student who doesn't get the assignment.
"Right." I should be like him, expect a win, enjoy the moment, if not, find other diversions. But I know that what I really want is so close that I can taste it and I close my eyes and I see it, a Latin-type stadium and street explosion, supporters
celebrating, cars honking horns and waving our manly pink colors, restaurant owners in Nagai pouring us free sake, then a all-singing subway ride and surface march to Minami, over the Dotonbori Bridge, victory pints at the Pig and Murphys, taking liberties with the local libertines all through the night.

And then it could all go wrong on Saturday, like a space shuttle burning up in the atmosphere and leaving blackened chunks of sizzling debris scattered across the landscape.

No mid-table mediocrity for us, it is either death or glory. Nagai Stadium sold out today and the clock is ticking.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Gut-wrenched


In the 50s Japanese department stores would display large TVs and let customers and window shoppers watch professional wrestling. Big crowds formed to watch the famed Rikidozan whup some long haired American and return pride to the recently defeated Japanese. It was hardly the same experience when I strode into the Bic Camera store to try to stand and watch a satellite broadcast of Cerezo Osaka away at Yokohama, but after I succeeded in finding a tiny set with the game on, two more interested Osakans joined me for the roller coaster ride. A few feet on another set Osaka Gamba played their half of the unfolding J-League end-of-season drama. Once again we were outplayed by the opposition, hardly the stuff of champions. Yet after a scoreless 1st half, the second began optimistically as Morishima stole a botched Yokohama clearance and we were ahead 1-0. On the other channel Gamba were losing their last home match of the season to their Nabisco Cup nemesis JEF United 2-1. If we won and Kashima, losing 2-1 to Shimizu held, then the championship could only go either of the two Osaka clubs. Time stood still as keeperYoshida saved one, hen two solid Yokohama shots. The opponents, playing like the former chamoions they are, earned corner kick and corner kick, but again we held. Then 45:00 and four minutes of extra time. Nail biting. I thought "Why aren't we playing more keep away, how about just one pass back to the goal?" Then a Yokohama rush, all thier attackers are in the box, the ball sppurts free and one - two shots, uncleared, then a third short range shot- IT GOES IN. Uno a uno. Glory missed by minutes, but Gamba loses, Kashima ties and we are in first place clear by one measly point. Had we won it would have clinched the yuusho for either us or Gamba. Now we have a dogpile! Three teams are tied for third two points back and stumbling Gamba are second. So next Saturday at home only a win will insure the championship. It will be a long week to think about what might have been and next Saturday will be the longest day. Why do I care? I'll try and explain in the next post.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Nausea


I was refused permission from the Mrs to attend the Wednesday match and it was just as well; a nice afternoon in the park with the baby, playing in the sandbox and on the swings was certainly better for my long term health than watching Cerezo take it on the chin from another mid-table upstart. Peter filled me in from the match with his cel and from what I heard made me glad I wasn't there to watch the wheels nearly come off completely. Oita hit the post in the first minute and while the Pink Wolves (yes, that is what we call them!) did get an early goal on a five man rush it was our opponents who dominated play throughout, eventually earning an equalizer in the 81st minute. Then, by all accounts, they should have beaten us outright (and ended Cerezo's epic 13 game unbeaten streak) when a long shot beat Yoshida, went off of the post (again) and came out for an easy Oita tap in. A very late flag went up from a nervous linesman, the kind of call that makes you wonder who is pulling the strings. Japanese coruption is corporate and football is no exception. Watching on replays I shrugged but I knew it tainted our fine efforts. And had we lost we would have been in good company.

Everyone else coughed up points including 1st place Gamba who lost again, this time to 14th place Omiya Ardija. This meant the two Osaka teams were now even on 57 points with two matches left, Gamba only retaining first on goal differential. ARGGHHHHHHH!!! And the three rivals below us could still catch us if they put together 2 victories in the last 2 weeks. Cerezo are away to Yokohama Marinos, a usual contender who are out of it this year, think the Liverpool of Japan. Gamba play at home to JEF United, 5th place with 53 points and winner over them in the Nabisco Cup. The full color spread in the next days Japanese sports paper painted Cerezo in heroic colors, with no mention of the disallowed goal and possible corrupt call. The North Koreans couldn't have done better. And on the 3rd page a giant picture of Gamba players being confronted by their own away supporters. They caption said "ready to explode". So if Gamba were to lose at home on Saturday and cough up the championship it looks like we can get our first real riots here in Osaka. Lovely. At least someone cares.

And this morning Georgie Best passes away in Blighty. C'est la vie.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Cerezo in a Battle Royale


Out of all of my addictions, my zeal for the south Osaka Japan-League football team, Cerezo Osaka, a team that wears a shocking pink and blue uniform and has a fight song stolen from a Grahame Greene novel defies description at times. But as we go to press, my long suffering squad of Japanese socceroos find themselves in 2nd place, one point out of first, just behind our same city rivals with 3 games to go. I cannot attend today's crucial home match but to atone I am actually considering going down to pray at the local shrine for the team's success on the field.

Required background can be found here
http://www.wldcup.com/Asia/jleague/cerezo.html

Our last match on Sunday was one to savor, a 2-0 victory over Kawasaki Frontale. A quorum of our usual foreign supporters were there, finding our perch in the upper terraces. My esteemed scholar friend Damien Flanagan also came out for his first J-league match and was suitably impressed. A goaless 1st half had us wondering if our record 13 game unbeaten streak was at last at an end, but suddenly our veterans produced a two goal burst in 4 minutes and from then on it was a beery coast to victory. The stuff of dreams, indeed.