An intriguing matchup saw Gamba control much of the first half with their slick passing and quicker speed of thought. This duly saw them take an early lead when a quick string of passes sliced through our defence. Nagoya equalised when Naoshi headed home Josh's lay-off near the end. The second half was much more even, with neither team able to stamp their authority on the game. However, Gamba's superior technique and control saw them eventually run out 4-1 winners after a closely fought second half saw them score three goals in the final 15 minutes.
Good link play by Josh. Tamada shot from loose ball. Lucas goal from neat lay-off by Yamazaki after slick move down left flank. Ogawa curler after good break by Magnum down right. Tamada header from Abe cross, straight at Matsuyo. Yamaguchi header from Endo FK comfortably saved by Narazaki. Gamba closed down Grampus build-ups quickly, making them even slower than usual. Bajalaica outfoxed by Myojin to allow Lucas to get free shot off, but fortunately he dragged it wide. Yamazaki long-range effort. Ogawa fluffed FK from 30 meters. Yoshimura shot clips outside of post. Magnum shot flies over. Narazaki smothers good through ball to Yamazaki. Naoshi goal from headed lay-off from Kennedy, after good work by Tamada on right. His beautifully weighted cross gave Josh time and space to head across to Nakamura. THis saw Nagoya get back into the game and spend the remaining minutes pressing for a second.
HT: 1-1
Ogawa shot forced good save from Matsuyo and Tamada's effort from the loose ball deflected wide by good block from Yasuda. Yamaguchi shot drifted wide. JOsh header glanced wide. Scrappy spell. Magnum break through center but cross just slightly under-hit with Josh and Tamada free. ANother good break by Magnum was even more frustrating, as he pulled the ball back behind Kennedy. Futugawa free in box but shot/pass goes out for goal kick. Tamada yellow card for simulation. Endo pick up loose ball in middle drifts past Maya and Milos to place shot wide of Narazaki. Maki shot from 20 meters easily handled by Matsuyo. Maki flick headed over by Cho. Futugawa break through middle sees him add third after exchanging passes with Endo. In added time, an Endo neat chest trap leaves Bajalaica in the dust as he calmly strokes home to add a fourth in injury time.
FT: 4-1
Gamba Osaka
Naoki Matuyo
Akira Kaji, Sota Nakazawa, Satoru Yamaguchi, Michihiro Yasuda
Tomokazu Myojin, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa
Lucas, Masato Yamazaki (Cho Jae JIn)
Scorers: Lucas 6, Endo 77, 90+2, Futagawa 86
Nagoya Grampus
Seigo Narazaki
Hayuma Tanaka, Milos Bajalaica, Maya Yoshida, Shohe Abe
Yoshizumi Ogawa (IGor Burzanovic 21), Naoshi Nakamura (Yuki Maki 80), Keiji Yoshimura (Alex Santos 80), Magnum
Keiji Tamada, Josh Kennedy
Scorer: Nakamura 40
Other Coverage
Malaysia Star: Endo steers Osaka to victory in Emperor's Cup
Nagoya Grampus blog with news and views about Nagoya Grampus (Eight) and Japanese football. (Archives of previous musings on all things Grampus can be found in the original Grampalog. See the Links section below.)
League Champions: 2010. Emperor's Cup Winners: 1995, 1999.
2 comments:
bugger to lose and miss the ACL. i guess 2010 will be all about the league though. hopefully jesus can inspire them!
Yes, it was a disappointing, but not entirely unexpected result.
Gamba are a better team, and have a much better midfield than we do. We did well to get back into the game towards the end of the first half, but were always likely to run out of steam since we were having to work much harder.
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