Grampus Make Bold Statement of Intent!

Nagoya got their 2010 season off to an impressive start. They edged an entertaining and closely-fought contest at Osaka's Banpaku Stadium 2-1. All our major new signings had good debuts, with Tulio and Mu Kanazaki making outstanding contributions to a winning cause.

An early Tamada goal, tucking home a Josh Kennedy cushioned header after 13 minutes, was cancelled out by a well placed shot into the top right corner by Futagawa in the 20th minute. (However, this goal came from a well-worked corner that should never have been. A Lucas header clipping Narazaki's bar on the previous play, but Blind Pew and co awarded a corner to Gamba.) The teams continued to be evenly matched for remainder of the half, with both teams displaying some slick passing under pressure. The deadlock was broken midway through the second half when Josh put way the loose ball after some more good work by Tamada.

Gamba		1		2	Grampus
Starters				Starters
P.	No.	Name		Name	No.	P.
GK	1	Yosuke Fujigaya		Seigo Narazaki	1	GK
DF	21	Akira Kaji		Hayuma Tanaka	32	DF
DF	2	Sota Nakazawa		Tulio	4	DF
DF	4	Kazumichi Takagi		Takahiro Masukawa	5	DF
DF	13	Michihiro Yasuda (OUT 80)		Shohei Abe	6	DF
MF	27	Hideo Hashimoto (OUT 63)		Keiji Yoshimura (OUT 64)	14	MF
MF	17	Tomokazu Myojin		Yoshizumi Ogawa	10	MF
MF	7	Yasuhito Endo		Magnum (OUT 90)	8	MF
MF	10	Takahiro Futagawa		Mu Kanazaki (OUT 75)	25	MF
FW	9	Lucas		Keiji Tamada	11	FW
FW	18	Cho Jae-Jin (OUT 88)		Josh Kennedy	16	FW
Subs Bench				Subs Bench
GK	29	Atsushi Kimura		Yoshinaari Takagi	50	GK
DF	6	Takumi Shimohira		Mitsuru Chiyotanda	3	DF
DF	28	Shunya Sugunuma		Igor Burzanovic	9	MF
MF	8	Hayato Sasaki		Danilson	20	FW
MF	23	Takuya Takei		Alex Santos	38	MF
FW	14	Shoki Hirai		Yuki Maki	17	FW
FW	16	Dodo		Keita Sugimoto	19	FW

Futagawa 21'	Scorers	Tamada 14' Kennedy 68'
Gamba	Timeline	Grampus
	GOAL	Keiji Tamada 14'
Takahiro Futagawa 21'	Goal
Hashimoto > Sasaki 63'	Substitution
	Substitution	Yoshimura > Danilson 64'
	Card	Mu Kanazaki 65' (For persistently embarrassing Yasuda.)
	GOAL	Josh Kennedy 68'
	Card	Josh Kennedy 73'
	Substitution	Kanazaki > Burzanovic 75'
Yasuda > Hirai 80'	Substitution
Cho > Dodo 88'	Substitution
	Substitution	Magnum > Chiyotanda 90'
Lucas 90+3'	Card

Paired alongside Masukawa, rather than Chiyotanda, Japan stalwart Tulio had a commanding game. He marshaled the defence brilliantly and made a couple of vital tackles on the rare occasions Gamba did threaten to break through the ranks. The normally agitated Masukawa looked unflappable and had a equally impressive game, suggesting that late substitute CHiyotanda will find it hard to displace his former Avispa colleague for a regular place. More likely, the two of them will alternate in the second central position. Both side backs, Abe and Tanaka coped well with anything that Gamba threw at them, with Hayuma Tanaka free to make some dangerous advances down the right (since Mu dropped back to cover that side when he did so).

Offensively, Mu cruelly exposed Gamba's weakness on its left flank. His speed and power frequently threatening to overrun the outmatched Yasuda. The Gamba defender often relying on some generous protection from referee Okada to bail him out. This constant threat from the pacey youngster, left Ogawa and Magnum free to play more creatively than either managed last season. Both looking sharp and spraying passes to team mates quickly and accurately. Keiji Yoshimua has clearly been forced to raise his game by the arrival of Danilson, and was also far more positive in his play than last year, before making way for the Columbian midway through the second half.

Up front, Josh and Keiji worked tirelessly to deny Gamba time to dwell on the ball. And although the Suita team's crisp, one-touch passes were sharper and slightly more accurate, they were not decisively so as has been the case over the last few years. Indeed this is the first time that we have been equal matches for the Osakans, for a long time, even in games we have managed to win.

The rival fans prepare to usher in a new season