Hungry JEF Embarrass Sluggish Grampus

This game saw Japan forward Keiji Tamada start on the bench. This meant that both Maki brothers started the match, with Yuki Maki partnering Davi upfront for Grampus, after four goals in a practice game last week against a high school team. This lack of sharpness for Grampus showed as the hungrier JEF made off with the three points. The arrival of Joshua Kennedy is timely, as the team is struggling to find a style that allows Davi to play to his full potential.

The loss sees Grampus drop out of contention, as Kashima extend their lead at the top to seven points over Niigata and Urawa. Nagoya lie a further six points back, and only four points from the relegation zone. Last season, the team over achieved, staying in contention throughout the season. This meant that manager Stojkovic could not try out many of the youngsters, since the old guard was getting results. Their failure to do so this year, gives him the chance to give the younger squad players a chance to prove themselves.

Grampus
Seigo Narazaki
Hayuma Tanaka, Maya Yoshida, Takahiro Masukawa, Shohei Abe
Keita Sugimoto (Koji Hashimoto 79), Naoshi Nakamura, Keiji Yoshimura (Kei Yamaguchi 64), Tomohiro Tsuda (Keiji Tamada 62)
Yuki Maki, Davi

JEF United
Masahiro Okamoto
Masataka Sakamoto, Yohei Fukumoto, Bosnar, Takumi Wada
Yohei Kudo, Tomi Shimomura, Alex, Tatsuya Yazawa (Daisuke Sato 87), Tatsunori Arai (Michael 76)
Seiichiro Maki, Masaki Fukai
Scorers: Fukai 81