Grampus Ease Past Woeful Jets

Nagoya earned three away points at Newcastle, to all but guarantee their progress to the next stage of this year's Asian Champions League tournament. They are four points clear of the teams in third and fourth place, with two games to go, and the upcoming match-ups make it unlikely that either of them will make up the difference, even if Nagoya were to slip up.

This game saw the same 3-5-2 (3-6-1?) formation that finished the game at Kashiwa on Saturday. Apart from the opening few minutes, the Jets were outclassed and had to resort to some very crude tactics to prevent Grampus dominating proceedings completely. Kantarovski's nobbling of Magnum midway through the first half, highlighting their desperation.

The game was decided by Ogawa's cool finish close to the hour mark, after good work by Sugimoto on the flank. Thereafter, Grampus coasted home without really having to exert themselves. Even a Jet's penalty did not really trouble Narazaki, so woeful was the kick. (No real complaints about the decision itself. Bajalica did clip the rear of a Jets' ankle ad although they made the most of it, the contact was fairly clear if unintentional. A penalty, but no card, was a reasonable decision.)


Newcastle Jets v Nagoya Grampus Eight Asian Champions League 22-April-2009 at FootyTube.com

Newcastle Jets
Ben Kennedy
Tarek Elrich, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Matt Thompson, Angelo Costanzo
Adam Griffiths, Ben Kantarovski
Donny De Groot (Sean Rooney 59), Jason Hoffman (Sasho Petrovski 59), Fabio Vignaroli (Kaz Patafta 32) Brodie Mooy

Grampus
Seigo Narazaki
Akira Takeuchi (Hayuma Tanaka 71), Milos Bajalica, Maya Yoshida, Shohei Abe, Takahiro Masukawa
Naoshi Nakamura (Kei Yamaguchi 75), Keiji Yoshimura, Yoshizumi Ogawa
Magnum (Keita Sugimoto 32), Davi
Scorer: Ogawa 57

Other Views
Brisbane Times: Jets bow to Nagoya
Japan Times: Grampus, Antlers collect ACL wins
couriermail.com: Missed penalty costly for Jets against Nagoya Grampus