| | Kawai 82 2 wins in a row! Marinos in dreamland! Sad but true how the little things can get you so excited this season. Allow MOIST to tempt fate by saying perhaps things are heading in the right direction for the Emperor's Cup clash against S-Pulse. Now, obviously, there is a final J-League fixture to take care of, and a slice of revenge to to be had, against Vissel at the weekend but in the greater scheme of things it is the Cup game that is the most important. Silverware, you see? A place in Asia, you see? Well, apparently not anymore. Yes, you get the sivlerware but, so my sources tell me, the powers that be have decided that the teams who finish 1st and 2nd in the J-League will head into Asia. Heaven forbid that the Reds finish second in the league in the future and aren't allowed another historic and unprecendented trip to the largest continent in the world.....ever. Reds bias in the upper echelons on the J-League!!???!!! If anyone asks, you didn't hear it from MOIST. But back to the J-League and a third, yes, you heard correct, a third goal this season for Ryuji Hotshot Golden Boots Picipici Ballon D'or President for Life Kawai. This one was a 50 yard(ish) thunderbolt that in no way whatsoever, not at all, no siree, Bob, not a cat's chance in hell, took any kind of deflection. Honestly, it arrowed straight into the net like a proverbial North Korean Inter Continental Ballistic Missile being fired over Japan's shores and plummeting into the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean (the Pacific Ocean here being represented by the Albirex goal). What a beauty. And that was that. Apart from a little scrap between Edmilson and Dear Leader Kawai over who ordered the last Campari and Sodas (which you won't get to see on the highlights), a truly magnificent save by Tetsusya (which you will see) and Kota Mizunama making his second appearance for the team (an appearance which once again underlined this boy's potential) nothing else happened. I kid you not. Actually, I do kid you, kind of. Nothing else of note happened in the game but the post match speeches, a bit of fun for the last home game, where interesting, to say the least. Kawai proved to be a man of few words but one who I would crawl over broken glass to have a beer with, Yuji down played rumours of him leaving the club (he has been linked with a return to the soon-to-be J1 Tokyo Midori Mushi) to great roars of approval and Mr R, no, Mr Hayano, gave an emotional speech (he seemed on the verge of tears) apologising for our bad performances and talking about the future in such a way that he it seemed obvious he wouldn't be part of it. It actually made MOIST feel a bit bad, considering the tee we were sporting, and almost, almost but not quite, made us overlook the fact he had decided to play a left-back at centre-back today. What would a game be with a Mr R moment? But, anyway, Mr Hayano, thanks for trying your best. Here's to you winning the Emperor's Cup as a sweet farewell. Man of the Match: Kawai - J-League top scorer this season. I think. Yokohama F-Marinos: Testsuya, Hayuma, Yuji, Tanaka Y, Komiyama, Shimizu, Kawai, Koji, Kano, Oshima, Sakata. Subs: Takakuwa, Ueno, Mizunama (Kano, 62) , Tashiro, Kanai, Mini Me (Sakata, 76). J-League Table (after 33 games): | Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | Pts |
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| 1 | Okama Reds | 33 | 20 | 10 | 3 | 55 | 27 | 28 | 70 |  | | 2 | Kashima Merde | 33 | 21 | 6 | 6 | 57 | 36 | 21 | 69 | | | 3 | Gamba Osaka | 33 | 19 | 9 | 5 | 69 | 35 | 34 | 66 | | | 4 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 33 | 18 | 7 | 8 | 53 | 33 | 20 | 61 | | | 5 | Kawasaki Unkotale | 33 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 65 | 47 | 18 | 53 | | | 6 | Albirex Niigata | 33 | 15 | 6 | 12 | 48 | 45 | 3 | 51 | | | 7 | Kashiwa Reysol | 33 | 14 | 8 | 11 | 43 | 32 | 11 | 50 | | | 8 | Yokohama F-Marinos | 33 | 14 | 7 | 12 | 54 | 35 | 19 | 49 | | | 9 | Vissel Kobe | 33 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 58 | 48 | 10 | 46 | | | 10 | Zubilo Inaka | 33 | 14 | 4 | 15 | 50 | 55 | -5 | 46 | | | 11 | Disney F Sea | 33 | 12 | 6 | 15 | 51 | 54 | -3 | 42 | | | 12 | Nagoya Grampus | 33 | 12 | 6 | 15 | 41 | 45 | -4 | 42 | | | 13 | FC Gas | 33 | 13 | 3 | 17 | 48 | 58 | -10 | 42 | | | 14 | Oita Trinita | 33 | 11 | 5 | 17 | 40 | 60 | -20 | 38 | | | 15 | Omiya Ardija | 33 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 23 | 39 | -16 | 34 | | | 16 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 33 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 42 | 69 | -27 | 31 | | | 17 | Ventforet Kofu | 33 | 7 | 6 | 20 | 33 | 64 | -31 | 27 | | | 18 | For one week I love you | 33 | 3 | 4 | 26 | 18 | 66 | -48 | 13 |
The Official Ryuji Kawai I Scored THREE Goals Beat That Goalscoring Chart (J-League goals only) 14 - Oshima 11 - Koji 10 - Sakata 4 - Mini Me 3 - Yoshida, Ryuji 2 - Own Goal, Yuji, Hayuma 1 - Ueno, Naoki, Shimizu The tee: Haya. No. Oh, how we laughed. Once again the J-League comes down to the final game. Reds go to Jokohama needing to win to be sure. Kashima host S-Pulse needing to win to have a chance. At the bottom, Kofu are down and barring two 10 goal thrillers Sanfrecce with play in the promotion/relegation play-off against........probably Kyoto. Currently Verdy are top of J2 with 88 points and +33 goals, Consadole are second on 88 and +20 with Kyoto third on 85 and +21. Draws for the top two means the Tokyo Derby will be back in 2008 and it will be trips to Hokkaido all round. 
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