19 Oct 2010(Tue)

The J. League isn’t supposed to be like this. While positions two down to about ten retain the sense of crushing tightness that has continued to characterise Japan’s top division even since the Latin American two-stage season format was ditched in 2005, Nagoya Grampus went into Sunday’s match at Albirex Niigata knowing a win would extend their lead at the top to 11 points with just eight games remaining. They failed – in fact, they were hammered 4-1 – but even then, it didn’t really matter. Japan defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka, who has clearly lost none of the charm that so endeared him to rival fans while at previous club Urawa Reds, was quite straightforward. “It was a match we could afford to lose, and we did. What’s the big deal?”

 

Grampus remain one of the better-known Japanese clubs in the UK by virtue of being the final port of call in Gary Lineker’s playing career and the unlikely location from which Arsenal recruited Arsène ‘Who?’ Wenger, but their trophy cabinet is adorned only with two Emperor’s Cups won back in the 1990s. The team’s current prominence has been carefully crafted through a mid-term project occasioned by the managerial appointment of another of its former European stars, Dragan Stojković, in 2008.

 

Despite flirtation with relegation in 2005 and an uninspiring 11th place finish in 2007, the return of ‘Pixie’ to Nagoya brought an immediate title challenge. Spurred by a dozen goals from Norwegian forward Frode Johnsen and a dozen assists from J. League Rookie of the Year Yoshizumi Ogawa, Grampus led the way for much of the season before fading late on to finish third, conceding the championship to Kashima Antlers on the final day. The following year was slightly more complicated – Brazilian striker Davi was brought in to replace Johnsen after netting 16 times for a Consadole Sapporo side so bad it had finished fully 20 points adrift of safety, but fled for the Qatari riyal after just six months, while the side as a whole embodied the struggle many before them had endured in combining domestic affairs with the AFC Champions League. Stojković’s men ended trophyless – reaching the last four in Asia, the final of the Emperor’s Cup, and slipping to ninth in the league – but better educated for the experience. Australian international Joshua Kennedy arrived from Karlsruhe that summer, and a steady succession of sensible acquisitions continued in the winter close season with the likes of Tulio and 21-year-old winger Mu Kanazaki.

 

A much closer fit to the Johnsen role than the individualistic Davi, Kennedy appeared to settle in immediately with 12 goals in 24 appearances in his first half-season, and currently leads the J1 scoring charts with 15 league strikes so far this year. Even Keiji Tamada, whose 11-year J. League career had only previously brought 53 goals and double figures on just two occasions, has scored ten times from 20 starts. Yet despite an attacking intent from back to front that is undoubtedly pleasing on the eye, the only thing truly spectacular about Grampus is their consistency. 17 wins this season (four more than any other J1 side) have included ten by just a solitary goal, and only one – that 5-1 demolition of Shimizu S-Pulse last month – by a margin of more than two. Heavy defeats like the 4-1 in Niigata happen with surprising regularity, but the two previous occasions on which Nagoya conceded four goals (a 4-1 home loss to Kashima just before the World Cup and a 4-0 reverse at Kawasaki in August) were each followed by hauls of 16 points from their subsequent six matches.

 

Big leads have, of course, been frequently overcome before. Kashima raced into a 10-point advantage in the first single-stage season in 2005 before being overhauled in just two months by Gamba Osaka, who then saw local rivals Cerezo recover from 13 points back only to blow it again right at the very end. Urawa surrendered an eight-point gap over Kashima in the final four games of 2007, and though the Antlers recomposed themselves to clinch last season’s crown despite five consecutive defeats in autumn, this was not before their supremacy had been threatened by Shimizu and Gamba – respectively 17 and 19 points adrift at the halfway mark.

 

However, with Nagoya seemingly the sole steady hand as those around them suffer the traditional title race wobbles, this year more than any appears the leaders’ championship to lose. Second-placed Kashima have won only two of their last ten league games and have drawn each of their last three, while Cerezo Osaka’s tremendous return to the top flight has been tempered by just five points in as many games since the start of September. Perhaps the side best placed to make a late challenge are Gamba, who spent much of the first half of the campaign in the bottom half of the table, but even five wins from the last six have rather been achieved despite themselves.

 

The crucial fixtures will come when Grampus host Cerezo on 30 October, before visiting the defending champions a week later. Interestingly, although losing 4-1 to the latter in May followed similar home thrashings last year (3-0) and in 2008 (4-0), Stojković’s side did respond by winning at Kashima Stadium on both previous occasions. After three years of Antlers dominance, a first ever J. League crown for the Nagoya club would be a popular success, but neutrals would enjoy it even more if they were made to sweat for it.