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Holy salkow, Batman, Miki’s back! Yes, Japan’s very own Babe on Ice, Miki Ando, roared back to form in the opening event of the Grand Prix figure skating series, not only winning October’s Skate America competition in Connecticut, but overshadowing younger teen star Mao Asada, everybody’s current tip for greatness. Ando, of course, was panned after finishing a disappointing 15th at the Turin Olympics, but she’s lost a bit of chunkiness and taken her skating to a higher level; maybe now she will start to fulfill her promise. Next up on the calendar is the NHK Trophy from November 30 to December 3 in Nagano. Japan’s women skaters are hot right now. Catch them while you can. FV See sports listings for details.
| By
Fred Varcoe
Taking the hard road
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| Ex-Japan international
Shoji Jo looks to help propel Yokohama FC to J1 |
If Pierre Littbarski hadn’t quite figured
out the challenge he was taking on as manager of Yokohama
FC this year, successive 5-1 and 6-1 defeats in April soon
reminded him. For a man used to winning things—he has
a World Cup champion’s medal in his cabinet—the
prospects are daunting, but the German star didn’t reach
the pinnacle of soccer without knowing how to fight. Or, indeed,
knowing the importance of believing in certain things.
“I started the club with Okudera, Tanabe and Tsujino,
so it’s like my little baby,” Littbarski told Metropolis.
“So you do a lot more than perhaps you would elsewhere.
You don’t complain about small problems, about not having
a massage space, about having to train in different places,
in public parks or whatever. In short, I have to think of
this club differently from a regular team.”
In fact, the team’s history is unique. On January 1,
1999, the Yokohama Flugels won the Emperor’s Cup, beating
Shimizu S-Pulse in the final at the National Stadium. But
the moment the referee’s whistle blew for the end of
the match, it also marked the end of the Flugels, which was
being disbanded for lack of funds. But not the end of the
story. The Flugels’ disappointed fans banded together
to form another club—Yokohama FC—coughing up the
cash and working as volunteers to keep their dream alive.
It’s been a struggle ever since, as the club finished
ninth and bottom in its first two seasons in the J. League’s
second division, but the players, staff and fans have faith.
“It’s a people’s club and doesn’t belong
to a company,” former Glasgow Celtic player Rudi Vata
noted. “It’s a working-class club. I come from a
working-class family, and I know that I am working for ordinary
people and we must give them some satisfaction. It’s
a small club, but if they work in the right direction and
they do the right things, it can become a big club.”
The Albanian international believes that Littbarski is the
right man for the job. “To tell you the truth, the main
attraction for coming here was to work with Littbarski,”
Rudi admitted. “He was a big star and a World Cup winner,
and I thought it would be a good experience working with him.
You don’t always get such a chance. He’s done it
all; he can show you something that he’s done in real
life, not just read in a paper or manual.”
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| Things are looking up
for coach Pierre Littbarski |
For “Litti,” the road ahead is
a long one. Since he managed the team in the JFL two years
ago, the standard of Japanese football has risen. “I
noticed all the players in J2 and J1 are stronger and fitter
and tougher than before,” the German says. “And
I think young kids of 18, 19 are more confident now. They
not impressed with the old sempai-kohai relationships any
more. They want to get to the top now, not in two or three
years. But the club itself is not going to be able to jump
up to J1 straightaway.”
Both Littbarski and Rudi hope the city, the fans and the players
pull together to raise the standards of the club. “The
players in particular have to dig deep to find the power within
themselves to change themselves,” Rudi believes. “If
we work together, the club can go forward, but it takes time;
it doesn’t come in one season.”
With the Fujitsu-supported Kawasaki Frontale just up the road
and the Nakata-funded Shonan Bellmare just down he coast,
Littbarski laments that rivalries don’t exist in quite
the same way they do in Europe or South America. “We
think and talk about rival teams in such a way, but I’m
not sure the Japanese think like that,” he said. “But
I feel it, because if we don’t do well, other teams might
take away our supporters.”
With ex-Japan international Shoji Jo on the books, three experienced
foreign players, a World Cup-winning manager, and fans that
believe in them, Yokohama FC might just point the way for
other clubs in the future. It’s a long road, but one
well worth traveling.
Yokohama FC faces Kawasaki Frontale
in Kawasaki on May 10 and northern powerhouse Consadole Sapporo
at their home ground Mitsuzawa on May 14. See listings for
details.
Photo credits: Fred Varcoe
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