Urawa Reds: Double winners, but deservingly so?
Tuesday, 09 January 07, 08:27 PM · Comments(0)
Did you know that the average armadillo grows to about 75 centimetres (or 30 inches, for you metric-phobes out there) in length? I just looked it up on Wikipedia. I know it's not football related, but I'd give anything not to re-live the 2007 Emperor's Cup Final.
It should have been a great game! It wasn't. These things happen in football. Urawa beat Gamba Osaka in the 2007 Emperor's Cup Final in fortuitous circumstances. They were lucky to beat Avispa Fukuoka, Jubilo Iwata and to a lesser extent, Kashima Antlers in the rounds preceeding the Final, so it was hardly surprising that luck should favour the Saitama club on the day.
There would have been no need for luck had Ryuji Bando or Magno Alves done what they are paid to do, and that is put the ball in the back of the net. Magno Alves in particular is a fascinating player to watch. On a day when Urawa's own Brazilian striker was enjoying the sunshine on a Brazilian beach (or maybe he wasn't, but that's where I wanted to be come half-time), Alves had the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the skills that saw him share the golden boot with Washington. Instead he demonstrated the skills that lead many J-League fans to believe that he's not in quite the same class as Washington.
Alves spent most of the match pointing and shouting - sometimes aiming withering glares in the direction of his strike partner Bando, often running this way, sometimes running that, but never running in a direction that was going to assist Gamba Osaka in any particular way. In fact, Alves seemed to exert most of his energy in trying to get out of the way of actually doing something useful. When the ball did land at his feet, he seemed startled, and would either pass it straight to a Urawa defender, or otherwise reel off one the hopelessly inaccurate shots that seem to be the forté of his game.
Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on old Alves. He was probably just cold. I know I was cold. As an Aussie, I use to laugh at the descriptions of "bitter cold" when I listened to the FA Cup Third Round on the World Service as a youngster. That is until I experienced it myself. Once, in a feat of idiocy I am yet to match, I ventured out to the Südstadion to cheer on the hapless Fortuna Köln in the derby against Fortuna Düsseldorf. Fortuna Köln were in such desperate need of support, I concluded, that I decided to make my jersey visible. So I piled layer upon layer of clothing under my jersey and set out for the game. It snowed. I nearly caught hypothermia. Freezing, I went to leave five minutes before the end, but turned on my heel at the gate and stood just long enough to watch Frank Süs score a last minute winner. Bless him for it, because if he hadn't scored that goal then I might never have watched football again.
Now where was I? Ah yes, the Emperor's Cup Final. It was boring. I mean, it had its moments, such as Akira Kaji heading the ball straight at ex-Gamba goalkeeper Ryota Tsuzuki in the Urawa goal. Or Akihiro Ienaga fashioning some half-decent chances that didn't end up with him infuriatingly taking the wrong option at a vital moment, which he seems to have a tendency to do. On the whole though, the entire game was tedious.
It might have been more memorable if it was settled by a cracking pile-driver, two minutes from the end. Instead it was settled by a scrappy counter-attack, when substitute Masayuki Okano burst through what appeared to an optimistic 0-0-10 formation on Gamba's part, to send in a low cross to Yuichiro Nagai - who was deputising for Washington up front. The Brazilian marksman probably would have blasted a hole in the back of the net, but Nagai prefers a more subtle option, so he subtly fired the ball straight at Naoki Matsuyo with all the power of a weak kitten. Matsuyo rather unhelpfully diverted the ball straight into the goal, to send the majority of the 46,880 strong crowd into spasms of wild relief. No one could have put up with another thirty minutes of that in extra-time.
And so, Urawa Reds become the first team to win the double since Kashima Antlers in 2000. The match also marked the end of Guido Buchwald's three years in charge at the club. He returns to Germany having successfully retained the Emperor's Cup that Urawa won for the first time last season, not to mention having guided the club to their first ever J-League crown. Midfielder Alessandro Santos has also left Urawa to sign with Salzburg in Austria, where he will be joined by Gamba Osaka's popular defender Tsuneyasu Miyamoto. Miyamoto was no doubt distraught at not having ended his Gamba career by lifting the Emperor's Cup for the first time in the club's history. This is a match that Miyamoto will no doubt not look back on with fond memories. But hey, at least he didn't have to watch it!
It should have been a great game! It wasn't. These things happen in football. Urawa beat Gamba Osaka in the 2007 Emperor's Cup Final in fortuitous circumstances. They were lucky to beat Avispa Fukuoka, Jubilo Iwata and to a lesser extent, Kashima Antlers in the rounds preceeding the Final, so it was hardly surprising that luck should favour the Saitama club on the day.
There would have been no need for luck had Ryuji Bando or Magno Alves done what they are paid to do, and that is put the ball in the back of the net. Magno Alves in particular is a fascinating player to watch. On a day when Urawa's own Brazilian striker was enjoying the sunshine on a Brazilian beach (or maybe he wasn't, but that's where I wanted to be come half-time), Alves had the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the skills that saw him share the golden boot with Washington. Instead he demonstrated the skills that lead many J-League fans to believe that he's not in quite the same class as Washington.
Alves spent most of the match pointing and shouting - sometimes aiming withering glares in the direction of his strike partner Bando, often running this way, sometimes running that, but never running in a direction that was going to assist Gamba Osaka in any particular way. In fact, Alves seemed to exert most of his energy in trying to get out of the way of actually doing something useful. When the ball did land at his feet, he seemed startled, and would either pass it straight to a Urawa defender, or otherwise reel off one the hopelessly inaccurate shots that seem to be the forté of his game.
Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on old Alves. He was probably just cold. I know I was cold. As an Aussie, I use to laugh at the descriptions of "bitter cold" when I listened to the FA Cup Third Round on the World Service as a youngster. That is until I experienced it myself. Once, in a feat of idiocy I am yet to match, I ventured out to the Südstadion to cheer on the hapless Fortuna Köln in the derby against Fortuna Düsseldorf. Fortuna Köln were in such desperate need of support, I concluded, that I decided to make my jersey visible. So I piled layer upon layer of clothing under my jersey and set out for the game. It snowed. I nearly caught hypothermia. Freezing, I went to leave five minutes before the end, but turned on my heel at the gate and stood just long enough to watch Frank Süs score a last minute winner. Bless him for it, because if he hadn't scored that goal then I might never have watched football again.
Now where was I? Ah yes, the Emperor's Cup Final. It was boring. I mean, it had its moments, such as Akira Kaji heading the ball straight at ex-Gamba goalkeeper Ryota Tsuzuki in the Urawa goal. Or Akihiro Ienaga fashioning some half-decent chances that didn't end up with him infuriatingly taking the wrong option at a vital moment, which he seems to have a tendency to do. On the whole though, the entire game was tedious.
It might have been more memorable if it was settled by a cracking pile-driver, two minutes from the end. Instead it was settled by a scrappy counter-attack, when substitute Masayuki Okano burst through what appeared to an optimistic 0-0-10 formation on Gamba's part, to send in a low cross to Yuichiro Nagai - who was deputising for Washington up front. The Brazilian marksman probably would have blasted a hole in the back of the net, but Nagai prefers a more subtle option, so he subtly fired the ball straight at Naoki Matsuyo with all the power of a weak kitten. Matsuyo rather unhelpfully diverted the ball straight into the goal, to send the majority of the 46,880 strong crowd into spasms of wild relief. No one could have put up with another thirty minutes of that in extra-time.
And so, Urawa Reds become the first team to win the double since Kashima Antlers in 2000. The match also marked the end of Guido Buchwald's three years in charge at the club. He returns to Germany having successfully retained the Emperor's Cup that Urawa won for the first time last season, not to mention having guided the club to their first ever J-League crown. Midfielder Alessandro Santos has also left Urawa to sign with Salzburg in Austria, where he will be joined by Gamba Osaka's popular defender Tsuneyasu Miyamoto. Miyamoto was no doubt distraught at not having ended his Gamba career by lifting the Emperor's Cup for the first time in the club's history. This is a match that Miyamoto will no doubt not look back on with fond memories. But hey, at least he didn't have to watch it!
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