5 Alive

Or 7 if you prefer. This week's slate of games did absolutely nothing to straighten out the race at the bottom, in fact it probably made it more muddied.

To wit......Consadole, who have been dead for awhile, officially died two weeks ago in Kawasaki. Since then, they pulled off a 2-1 upset in Urawa. Saturday, they ran up against a team that beat them earlier in the season 7-0. What do they do? Hold Kashima scoreless and stone them on a PK. 0-0 tie and Kashima finds itself back in the muck of Relegationistan.

Kawasaki, playing against 17th place Gamba Osaka and the leagues worst goalkeeper, could not hold out against the high scoring squad and fell 3-2. Have I mentioned that key players Endo and Konno both were in Europe for friendlies against France and Brazil and came back to play a full 90? Have I mentioned that Kazama's sons keep playing even though they aren't good? No? Congratulations, Kawasaki.....although you probably won't be relegated, you get a place back in Relegationistan.

Cerezo let FC Tokyo's bald Serbian supersub score in the 74th minute and settled for a draw. 39 points should be enough for Cerezo to stay alive, especially with a game against flatlining Urawa coming up next.

Shimizu went up against a struggling Vissel Kobe squad missing their two starting centerbacks and tied? Seriously? You take out Vegalta and Jubilo and only muster a tie against Vissel?

Finally, Omiya ,who had a big chance to put Albirex away for good, came out flat while playing for a tie, fell behind and then got back into the game. Late sub Daigo Watanabe had a golden chance and blew it. Omiya and Albirex pretty much find themseles in the same situation as when they kicked off.

How the releagtion picture could get more muddled is beyond me....and beyond the 7 teams involved obviously, but hey that's where we are

NEXT WEEK

Two of three teams technically safe from from relegation take on the pair from Osaka. Cerezo heads north to Saitama to take on Urawa in a formality for the pink side of Osaka. Cerezo saw their 3 game win streak snapped by FC tokyo at home last week but are still on a pretty healthy roll. Urawa has been going in the opposite direction, dropping 3 of their last 4 (including embarrassing home losses to Gamba and Consadole). Both teams have full squads for this one but I think Cerezo may be a little bit "fuller".

Gamba will be without Shu Kurata next week for their big encounter against league leader Sanfrecce. The flip side of Kawasaki not getting the job done is that Gamba really gutted out a result. Blue Osaka was led by an Akihiro Ienaga brace and a goal by left back Hiroki Fujiharu. When the teams met in Hiroshima, Sanfrecce came out victorious with a 4-1 result. With the pressure mounting on both squads, I imagine this game will be a much tighter affair.....watch out for Leandro and Hisato Sato, who both haven't scored in a couple of league games.

Albirex goes without U-23 centerback Daisuke Suzuki for their match against Sagan Tosu. Longtime backup Takaya Kurokawa did enough in Omiya to scrape a point. However, Yohei Toyoda might provide a more robust challenge to the Albirex defense in Niigata. This is a matchup of the second worst road team in the league against the second worst home side.

Kashima and Shimizu face off in a sneak peak at next month's Nabisco Cup battle. Shimizu will be missing young forward/wing Toshiyuki Takagi for this game. Shimizu (in spite of last weeks tie) seems to really want a top three spot and the ACL spot while Kashima is kind of in an in-between place in the standings. Will we see Jorginho go with a weakened lineup in order to save his guns for Tokyo, or do they go all out and hope no one gets carded or hurt? Past history says Kashima claims the cup, so Shimizu winning on Saturday seems like a fair swap.

The beginning of the Verdenik era in Omiya saw an unhappy 4-2 result against Noda line co-tenant Kashiwa Reysol. Han Jin Kwon got his first career J league goal for Kashiwa and looks to be more of a fixture in the lineup with the injury to Naoya Kondo. Leandro Domingues is probably more of a game time decision. Giving him rest maybe easier with two straight wins for Reysol in games without their dynamic midfield motor. Omiya comes into the game with a 6 game unbeaten streak.....unfortunately only two of those games were wins. Both teams have allowed 43 goals this season. However, Kashiwa has managed to find the back of the net much more frequently (51 to 29). Big Slovenian striker Novakovic missed Saturday's 2 pointer (downgraded from 6) for unknown reasons (backup keeper Ezumi also was out so I'm thinking maybe it was a cold and not a long temr problem). Daisuke Watabe filled in for Kazuhiro Murakami and had a bit of a rough start. Might be a tough ask to expect Omiya to get a result in Kashiwa.....however they managed it against a better side last year so who knows.

MATCH OF THE WEEK

Kawasaki versus Vissel- Both of these teams should be well and truly done with relegation shenanigans. Neither team has managed to figure out how to get out of their relatively modest surroundings. Kobe enters the game on a 7 game winless string and possibly missing Masahiko Inoha and Kunie Kitamoto as well as forwards Yoshito Okubo, Yuzo Tashiro and backup defender Lee Gwan Son. They did well to scrape a 1-1 tie in difficult Outsourcing stadium and must be considered a slight favorite against non-entity Kawasaki Frontale. Kazama's constant lineup changes and experimentation have destabilized the team....it probably doesn't matter at this point and in terms of long term prospects it is the more appropriate choice. So I guess congratulations are in order for Kobe, Albirex, and Cerezo on your one goal victories over Frontale.

BIG WINNER OF THE WEEK- Gamba Osaka

Hats off to them. They got the job done when nobody else did this week. With FC Tokyo fading and Jubilo absolutely tanking down the stretch, the nightmare schedule looks a lot less scary.

BIG LOSER OF THE WEEK- Omiya Ardija

They failed to bury a wounded Albirex and put pressure on Vissel and Gamba on Saturday and now find themselves teetering between safety and 17th. While the defensive woes seem to be improving, Verdeniks lack of ideas on the offensive side still haunt the squad. If Novakovic is out, that means the team is dependent on Zlatan, who has been this years version of Rodrigo Pimpao.

Finally, YOUR DEAD OSAKA STREAK OF THE WEEK

Cerezo's three game come from behind victory streak seemed like the obvious choice. However Gamba gets the nod. When Shu Kurata picked up his 4th yellow of the season, it ended Gamba's 29 game streak of having all their players eligible for games. They managed to keep all their players on the field even with Endo,Sato, Paulinho, Kaji, and Niwa sitting on three yellows. Iwashita picked up his 9th card on Saturday (6 with Shimizu) and sits out for two games with his next yellow card.

Congrats to next year's first resident of Relegationistan- Ventforet Kofu, your 2012 J2 Champions!!!!