"Win By All!"

Since it is Friday (where did the week go?), and the second round of J.League games will begin tomorrow, I thought I should focus back on things there. I looked at the tv schedule and saw that the three games I'll be able to watch are the Antlers:Gamba, Reds:Frontale, and Jef:Reysol games. I haven't done any entries on Jef United so far, so I thought this would be a good time for me to touch on them.

The above title is Jef United's new slogan for the year. I guess it means "everyone join forces to win"...or something like that. Jef is a team I'd always rooted for, but sort of as an afterthought. I would get too distracted by other teams that basically caught my attention more. I knew they were really doing some great things, and they really showed their stuff at the end of last year's Second Stage by coming in second after Urawa Reds (First Stage they came in seventh).

The first thing that comes to mind when you mention Jef United is its coach, Ivica Osim. From Sarajevo, Osim is one of those coaches that came into the J.League and showed fans how much of a difference one coach could make. He's 63 years old and has had a long career coaching at home, in Greece and in Austria as well as taking the Yugoslavia NT to the quarterfinals at World Cup 90 in Italy. No one is quite sure why he decided to take the offer to come to Japan in the first place, especially at Jef, which was a weak team with some of the worst club facilities and stadium. Some say it was exactly these pathetic club circumstances that may have tickled his curiosity. But with his philosophy of "Running and Thinking Football" he was able to turn the club around, and a new stadium is scheduled to be completed in the fall of this year. (photo: yahoo.sportsnavi.co.jp)

One of the things that football fans in Japan love about Osim is his ability to do something new and exciting, something that we do not see among the Japanese coaches who tend to cling desperately to textbook strategies and sometimes outdated philosophies. His comments are particularly popular, as he comes out with deep, witty and refreshingly biting remarks about everything from the J.League scene, the Jef team, football philosophy in general, etc. What he does in action can also sometimes be bold. For instance, at WC90 Yugoslavia supporters were angered by Osim's intention not to use every single one of numerous "star" players as starters. He believed more in the team balance, which could not be achieved without benching some of the stars. But the supporters continued to protest, so Osim actually used the first game to prove his point -- he threw all the star players together. It was a group round match against West Germany, and Yugoslavia lost 1-4. This basically shut all the protesters up. (lol) The team went on to play Osim-style, and they kept winning until they lost to Argentina in the quarterfinals (on penalty shootout 2-3).

This year, Osim has agreed to continue with Jef, making him the first coach to make it to the third year there. Upon his return to the club though, he was greeted by the discourageing news that two of his top players, defender Chano (NT) and left wingback Murai had transferred to Jubilo. There were also problems with the contracts on a number of foreign players. The lack of proper funds has always been an issue at Jef, especially with regard to the transfer market. Jef got off to an interesting start in their first game against Nagoya Grampus.

Although the media was a-flutter with talk of Osim's aim to transform Jef to a 2-6-2 system, the problems encountered in the pre-season with regard to player transfers put a hold on the idea. Jef started off the season using a 3-5-2 system, coming from 0-2 to 2-2 in the second half against Nagoya. With a bunch of new players dotting the field, Jef could not organize effectively and had difficulty holding back Nagoya's left side. However, in the second half they showed classic Osim-style running, clarified the organization, and were able to capture a promising 1 point going into the new season.

A high profile player on the Jef team is captain Yuuki Abe, who was part of the U23 squad at Athens last year and was also called to the NT at the beginning of this year. Abe is mainly a defensive midfielder but is sometimes brought back to the defense line to bring stability and leadership there. He has a beautiful free kick, and lots of growth potential. With the many new players on the team, it will test his leadership abilities to see how much he can contribute to bringing unity and increasing morale. (photo: shop.kodansha.jp)

Another player to watch out for is Austrian international, Mario Haas (30). A 182cm tall forward, Haas played in Austrian club SK Sturn Graz during the time Osim coached there. He was there for 12 years and scored 104 goals. NT duties delayed his arrival at Jef, but with his technical skills and experience, not to mention his previous relationship with Osim, it is expected that he will be able to soon get used to the team's style.