Veteran striker Masashi Nakayama and Japan midfielder Daisuke Oku bagged a goal in each half Thursday as Jubilo Iwata downed the Urawa Reds 2-0 to open up a seven-point lead at the top of the J. League standings.
| J-League 1st-division | |||||||
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts. | |
| Iwata | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 5 | 24 |
| Shimizu | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 10 | 16 |
| Nagoya | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 14 |
| Kashiwa | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 11 | 13 |
| Sapporo | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 13 |
| Kobe | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 12 |
| Ichihara | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 11 |
| Urawa | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 10 |
| Osaka G | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 10 |
| Hiroshima | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 14 | 9 |
| Fukuoka | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 9 |
| Osaka C | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 8 |
| FC Tokyo | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 8 |
| Kashima | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 7 |
| Yokohama | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 7 |
| Tokyo V | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 5 |
Urawa's former Japan captain Masami Ihara, who played for Jubilo last year, completely misjudged a huge pass from Oku, allowing World Cup teammate and fellow 33-year-old Nakayama to get behind him.
There was only one winner in the race to goal and Nakayama coolly steered the ball home to seal the win in front of a big holiday crowd of 53,125 spectators at Tokyo's National Stadium.
Oku had earlier fired home a free-kick that curled its way around the wall and fooled the goalkeeper to pave the way for the 1999 champion's seventh straight win of the campaign, while J1 returnee Urawa slipped into 12th place in the 16-team division.
The Reds continue to show a lot of enthusiasm, but frequently fail to gel as a team.
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