2006 JOMO All-Star Soccer

The J-League’s best—and prettiest—go head to head in Kashima

Have you voted yet? The J. League’s annual JOMo all-Star Soccer match is July 15 in Kashima, Ibaraki’s very own sports haven in the middle of nowhere. For the game, the J. League is divided up into East and West divisions (see box).

The routine is simple: fans can vote for any player they want, and it doesn’t matter how bad they (the players, not the fans) are. It helps if the athletes are handsome, of course; this is more a fashion show than a soccer game. Let’s see who’s likely to be Mr. Popularity this summer, based on the interim results.

Managers JEF United’s Ivica Osim, who some are tipping to be the new Japan national team manager, is the “Boss of Bosses” in the J-East, with J-West rival Pericles Chamusca of Oita Trinita trailing by around 20,000 votes. Paulo Autuori of Kashima is yet another 50,000 behind Osim, while Kenta Hasegawa of Shimizu S-Pulse trails Autuori by 27,000 votes. Another manager tipped to lead Japan after Zico, Akira Nishino of Gamba Osaka, is a surprising third in the J-West rankings.

Goalkeepers A couple of surprise leaders: relative unknowns Yosuke Nozawa of Albirex Niigata and Shusaku Nishikawa of Oita are both at least 50,000 votes ahead of their nearest rivals, Yoichi Doi (FC Tokyo) and Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo), who are both in the Japan World Cup squad.

Defenders This is always a one-man race won by the “quasi-soccer player formerly known as Zorro” (in the 2002 World Cup), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto. Perhaps what’s surprising is that Miyamoto’s nearest rival is Gamba teammate Akira Kaji, a recent acquisition from FC Tokyo. For the J-East team, Kashima’s Atsuto Uchida is a surprising No. 1 ahead of Yokohama F. Marinos teammates Yuji Nakazawa and Naoki Matsuda.

Midfielders The top two vote-getters in the entire poll are battling it out for the lead spot in the J-East’s midfield, with Mitsuo Ogasawara of Kashima narrowly ahead of JEF United’s Yuki Abe, each with around a quarter of a million votes. In the West, the media attention surrounding rising star Jungo Fujimoto, Shimizu S-Pulse’s new No. 10 (replacing the magnificent Masaaki Sawanobori) has borne fruit, as he has a 30,000 vote lead over Jubilo’s Takashi Fukunishi.

Forwards Perhaps not too much of a surprise, particularly after his inclusion in Zico’s World Cup squad, is the popularity of JEF United’s big, strong frontman Seiichiro Maki—and devilishly handsome he is, too. Maki outguns Hiroshima’s Hisato Sato by nearly 20,000 votes in the overall polling and Albirex forward Edmilson by nearly 50,000 in J-East voting. Edmilson is the highest-ranked foreigner, with an impressive 180,000 votes. In J-West, Nagoya’s Keiji Tamada trails Sato by more than 50,000 votes, but leads another foreign devil, Magno Alves of Gamba, by around 20,000.

Kashima Stadium, July 15. See sports listings for details.

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