Yokohama
F Marinos
Overview
The
Yokohama Marinos rank as one of the traditional
powerhouses of Japanese football, and have a
long tradition of winning championships that
dates back to their formation in the 1960s as
the club team of Nissan Motor. The Nissan club
team battled with Yomiuri Club (Verdy Tokyo)
and Mitsubishi Motors (Urawa Reds) for dominance
of the JSL right up until the formation of the
J.League. Although Kashima Antlers' near-upset
of Verdy in the 1993 season came as quite a
surprise, no one batted an eyelash when the
Marinos knocked Verdy off their perch after
having won the championship for the league's
first two seasons.
When
the J.League kicked off, most of the top teams
established a character that resembled some
other leading football nation -- usually Brazil,
Italy, or Germany -- based on where they turned
to purchase foreign talent. In the Marinos'
case, the bonds were with Argentina, and the
Argentine streak in Yokohama's character persists
even today. The team name comes from the Spanish
word for "mariners", reflecting Yokohama's
long history as one of the nation's top ports.
Back
in 1993, the team had a number of talented defenders,
anchored by "Mr. Marino" Masami Iihara,
who still holds the record for most national
team caps, at 123. However, the front line was
less impressive, so the Marinos brought in an
entire strike force from River Plate, featuring
Ramon Diaz, Ramon Medinabello and David Bisconti.
These three high-flying strikers propelled the
team to its first league championship in 1995.
Unfortunately, the team was not able to repeat
this success. Ramon Diaz retired, and returned
to River Plate as a coach, Medinabello followed
close behind, and Bisconti was unable to carry
the team's scoring on his own. From the mid-90s,
the team entered a "rebuilding phase",
though in truth, the team never fell very far
out of contention.
At
the end of the 1998 season, the Marinos' cross-town
rivals the Yokohama Flugels were disbanded and
the fallout in terms of fan reaction and turmoil
was tremendous. Officially, the Marinos absorbed
their local rivals, with ten Flugels players
moving across town. In reality, though, the
rivalry was too fierce for more than a handful
of fans to cross the divide, and although the
Marinos picked up a wealth of talent, at least
on paper, the divisions in the team seemed to
show through on the field. Despite being tapped
by nearly all of the pundits to breeze to victory
in 1998, the Marinos instead sank into a slump.
But
the talent which Yokohama possessed was still
lying dormant. Two players, in particular, struggled
to excel despite the team's internal troubles
-- World Cup keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and
young midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura. Along with
veteran midfielders Hideki Nagai and Atsuhiro
Miura, these players had the ability to support
a true contender. It seemed that the only thing
lacking was a coach to bring the pieces together.
In 2000, Yokohama turned back to its Argentine
roots, and called in Ossie Ardilles. Ardilles,
who had already spent one stint in Japan at
Shimizu S-Pulse. Ardilles seemed to be just
the sort of guiding hand that the team needed
to put the divisions and distractions to rest.
Yokohama captured the first stage title in 2000.
Unfortunately, though they fell under the hooves
of the Antlers in that team's charge to a championship
treble.
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Yokohama
F Marinos
Info
Stadium:
Yokohama Stadium
Honours:
J.
League Champions:
1995
Nabisco
Cup Champions:
2001
Emperors
Cup Champions:
1992
Asian
CWC Champions:
1992/93
QUICK
FACT
The
club was founded as the soccer team of
Nissan Motors.
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