Kobe edge dour affair

 

Vissel Kobe 1

Oita Trinita 0

 

Vissel Kobe grabbed another important win at Kobe Home Stadium to keep alive their dreams of a first J-League title. The opponents were tiny Oita Trinita, an obscure football franchise who are having something of an Indian Summer this season. The game was between two sides, tied at second in the league.

 

After that thumping win over Kyoto and a hard-fought three points away to Urawa Reds, Kobe had recently found their confidence. The in form Kim had been working in the engine room of this resurgent side, who were looking to gain ground on Kashima Antlers in first place.

 

Trinita, recently crowned Nabisco Cup Winners, came into this game buoyed by an important win over FC Tokyo. The highflying minnows were hoping to regain the lost form of early season that saw them sit in the top half of the league. Pericles Chamusca’s disciplined side were not going to be a push-over for Kobe.

 

Home Stadium was its usual glorious, picturesque self, unfortunately it was the only nice thing to look at. The attendance was poor, lingering around 15,000 people. Two weeks earlier, against Kyoto, Kobe had almost sold out this arena to what seemed to be a mass of hard core supporters. Clearly, the large crowd against Kyoto had only turned up to see a neighbouring rival, and not because of a huge interest in football.

         

Trinita may be a small, far away and unimportant club every other season, but this year Kobe were meeting them as equals, in a contest for second place. A much more important game than against a shambolic Kyoto. However, the crowd of 15,000 that did turn up did not disappoint, and the atmosphere and festival they created was inspiring. Once again, the civility and good nature of Japanese football fans came to the fore as supporters mingled and chanted with no incidents. There wasn’t one policeman to be seen.

 

The game kicked off and immediately; the short-comings of the domestic Japanese game were exposed. The complete lack, with one exception, of tough physical defenders in the league, coupled with a drought of good strikers to finish them off, makes Japanese football resemble basketball in many ways. No tacking and end to end tediousness.

 

Both teams could have taken three points here, and Kobe’s Tatsuya Enomoto had to be sharp to make two amazing stops in goals. Trinita dominated the first half, owning possession for lengthy periods, unfortunately though, not knowing what to do with it. Japanese midfielders are talented (most high profile Japanese players in Europe are midfielders) and have good technical skills, but are generally lazy and prone to sending high balls into the box. Given that most strikers are below average height, this tactic is pointless.

 

For Kobe, Kim was again in inspiring form, single handedly battling the Trinita midfield in the centre of the park. At the back, the ever present Kunie Kitamoto was a colossus against the opposing forwards, and had to work trebly hard to account for the woeful performances of Hiroyuki Komoto, and the dire Teruaki Kobayashi.

 

Trinita, for all their possession, were unable to break down Kobe, in part due to Kitamoto, Enomoto and Kim, but mainly due to the input or lack thereof upfront of the Brazilian  pensioner Ueslei, whose name conveniently sounds like ‘useless’. At the seventy first minute they replaced him with the popular Morishima, but valuable chances had been squandered, and they were by now on the back foot.

 

An early chance in the first half came for Kobe, when Sakai drilled a long range shot which was pawed away by Nishikawa, only for the follow up to be sent wide. The home fans roared in disbelief, and made huge noise for such a small amount of people. The tiny platoon of away fans were in buoyant mood as the game developed, and gave a non-stop rendition of their team’s anthem for thirty minutes. By half time, neither team had much to cheer about.

 

The fans rushed out to buy their beer, their nuts, their popcorn and all the other snacks readily available to fans in this arena. Kobe’s ridiculous Cow mascot tried in vain to entertain the majority of fans who were half asleep.

 

The second half started brightly for the visitors, as Kanazaki and Suzuki both has decent opportunities. Kobe began to dominate after that, but were missing the industrious flair of Leandro. Hideo Tanaka was working well though, and they began to retain possession more.

 

After roughly seventy or so minutes, Okubo decided he wanted to take part in the game. Strongly resembling the moody attitude of Luis Figo, Okubo seems to spend a lot of time wandering around without really doing anything, but when he decided to play football, the game changed. Within the space of ten minutes the attacking midfielder had three opportunities, all self-created. But for the sharp eyes of Nishikawa and a mistake on his part, the former Real Mallorca ace would have scored.

 

In the end, and quite thankfully, a goal came and was scored by the captain. Taking the ball in his own half, Okubo raced forward, outpacing two defenders even with the ball at his feet, he then held it up to wait for the support from Kim and Tanaka. The ball was spread wide on the right to Tanaka who then drifted a low ball into the box.

Okubo, thinking faster than his adversary, got down quickly to head the ball into the left hand of the net, flying past the helpless Nishikawa. Poor defending, but a great goal, and a testament to the talent of man of the match Okubo. If only he were not so lazy, another chance in Europe might come his way.

 

The stadium erupted, and the feeling that Trinita don’t have it in them to come back was strong. Tanaka got a booking for time wasting a minute from the end in the games only other incident, and the full time whistle blew.

 

Three points for Miroshi Matsuda’s men, and for Trinita; the need to ponder the continuous participation of Useless up front. The fans dispersed with clock-work efficiency and night was closing in. A terrible game, but Trinita were no pushovers. They went on to win the Cup the next week, and are a hard working, if untalented, side.

 

by Philip Farrell