Kansai Roundup (Round 1)

Gamba fell to a lively display by the visitors from Nagoya, but how did the other teams in Kansai do on opening day. Pretty much as expected in most cases, although Vissel surprised a few with Popo having a spectacular debut for the maroon bulls.

Tokushima Vortis 1 - 0 Thespa Kusatsu

Our J2 team got off to a good start, in what we hope will be a successful year that will see them challenge for one of the promotion places. Fresh from their 2-1 win over Urawa Reds in a preseason game, this match was decided by a 21st minute goal by former Cerezo winger Yoichiro Kakitani. Grampus loanee Tomohiro Tsuda started again, but failed to trouble the scorers this time.

Vissel Kobe 2 - 0 Kyoto Sanga

Kobe surprised many by including the injured Yoshito Okubo on the bench, and surprised even more by actually using him in the game as a late sub for two-goal hero Popo. Keep an eye on Jay's blog entry about this game at La Famiglia di Kobe, which should have more details soon.

Omiya Ardija 3 - 0 Cerezo Osaka

Doubts about Cerezo's readiness for J1 were confirmed by this result. Peter has this to say:
Cerezo were without regular goalie Kim and had suspect back-ups. Our worst fears came true and Matsui, the stand-in goalie, flapped to give away the first goal--a simple take straight in front of the goal only a yard or two out and he jumped and completely missed it--and the ball was bundled in at the far post (I thought it was an own goal but I think it was awarded to an Ardija player, Hashimoto). The second goal was a soft one Matsui should have saved after Uemoto was turned inside out twice out on the wing and the centre was turned into the net by Ishihara from about 8 metres. The third goal came after a free-kick had hit the bar and both Matsui and a defender made unconvincing attempts to clear, but this time difficult to blame Matsui mainly for the goal.

Cerezo started with seven players who were not in the first team in J2: six new signings and Omata who only played two games last season. Not unexpectedly, another of our fears came about: they played as though they were unfamiliar with each other.

The combination of the absence of Kim, lack of height and weight, and a team of strangers makes me fear the worst for Sunday, but in the long run Cerezo may survive in J1. At lot depends on their resilience in the third game against FC Tokyo (a) when Kim will be back and the players should be getting used to each other.

Will Cerezo have the spirit to recover from the travail of the first two games? With seven new players in the first team, we have no idea.

Other Views
Japan Times: Omiya crushes promoted Cerezo

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

Gamba-Grampus; the blue-eyed view :-)

Alan's take on the fare at Banpaku.

Gamba Osaka kicked off their J.League campaign at home to Nagoya Grampus on a cool Saturday evening. While Yamaguchi was still out injured, Kaji, Nakazawa and Myojin had all passed fit for this game, giving the back four a more familiar look than in the Xerox Super Cup game last weekend - Kaji and Michi Yasuda as side backs, Nakazawa and Takagi in the centre. Endo and Myojin - wearing the captain's armband - formed a double volante and Hashimoto and Futagawa rounded out the midfield four. Cho and Lucas took the forward duties, leaving Hirai starting on the bench.

The game began well for Gamba with Yasuda getting forward and causing some consternation in the Nagoya defence three or four times in the first few minutes. Nagoya seemed to be starting with a 4-4-3, with Kanazaki and Tamada flanking Kennedy in the middle, so the Gamba back
four and/or the two volantes were going to have their hands full, but it was Gamba making most of the early play, with Lucas bursting forward from his own half in the 6th minute and getting off a shot. Soon after Endo and Yasuda combined to find the left back in space but his
cross-shot was over the goal.

Kennedy was lucky to get away without a yellow card in the 10th minute as he challenged for a ball with Fujigaya and flopped to the ground looking for a penalty when it was clear there was no contact - considering that the referee was Mr. Okada, who would probably looking for the use of arms and simulation in a big way this season, it was a let-off for the Australian forward, and it was Kennedy who rose high above Takagi and Yasuda in the 16th minute to head a deep left wing cross back across to the unmarked Tamada to volley home from point blank range. 0-1!

A minute later and Gamba came close to a quick leveler as Hashimoto fed Lucas in the area. The Brazilian turned two defenders and got the shot off, which Tulio managed to deflect just wide of the post. Two corners in quick succession failed to show dividend but Gamba's tails were up and they were surging forward, and next it was Cho who got on the end of a multi-pass movement to get in a shot that was blocked, and then Lucas headed onto the bar via a deflection from the resulting corner. And, from Gamba's 7th corner, in the 20th minute, the ball came out to Futagawa 20 yards out and he perfectly placed his first time shot into the top corner. 1-1!

Following the goal there was a long and animated discussion between the officials and Stojkvic, with Tulio putting his oar in, too. No-one seemed to have any idea what it was about, but nothing seems to have changed for either the Grampus coach or the former Reds defender.
"respect" is the name of the game! Or should be!

26 minutes, yet another Gamba corner and the ball fell again to Futagawa. This time his identically positioned shot was touched over by Narazaki for Gamba's 10th corner from which Nakazawa's header was deflected wide for yet another corner - but, no! The referee missed the deflection - possibly the only person on the field who did!

The Osaka boys continued to rack up the possession and the goal attempts as half time approached and the passing game was tearing Nagoya apart and creating holes ... even with Nakazawa off the field after on off the ball clash with Kennedy had left him bleeding, Gamba again carved up the away midfield and sent Cho free but the Korean was stopped in a last ditch tackle from Tulio, as he prepared to pull the trigger. Referee Okada missed that corner, too!

Stojkvic noted in half time comments that he would be more careful of Endo in the 2nd half, and try to close down his space - good luck with that!!

Neither side made changes at half time and Gamba began where they left off, with Nagoya hardly able to get a touch of the ball in the first few minutes until the 50th minute when a lucky ricochet found Kanazawa on the right and his low cross looked dangerous, but came to nothing. Minutes later, Endo robbed Yoshimura in midfield and advanced to goal, his curling low shot just slipping past the post with the keeper beaten.

Kanazawa picked up the first yellow card of the game in the 65th minute for persistent infringements, not a moment too soon

Gamba continued to press and pass but the finishing product was not there and coach Nishino decided to pull Hashimoto and on came Sasaki to add some creativity to the midfield. Nagoya countered with the Colombian Danilson, who replaced Yoshimura in the middle of the Nagoya team..
Sasaki soon showed what he could do as he burst down the right wing leaving three defenders in his wake before his cross was blocked by Danilson.

For all the pressure it was Gamba who conceded another soft goal as Endo, who should have known better, tried to control the ball 8 yards from his own goal instead of clearing, and he was robbed, the ball falling kindly to Kennedy who poked the ball into an open goal with Fujigaya on the ground. 1-2, and an uphill battle for Gamba now! And it was that Gamba preference of trying to play the ball out of danger instead of playing safe that saw Yasuda robbed by Tanaka on the right wing when the ball should have been in row Z! Thankfully, Endo blocked and the resulting corner was easily taken by Fujigaya.

At this point, with just over ten minutes to go, Nishino instructed Sasaki to get further up the field, and brought on Hirai up front for Yasuda - sacrificing a defender to go for the points. Myojin moved a little left to cover the gap left by Yasuda, but defence was the last
thing on Gamba's mind now. And the pressure almost paid off as Cho flicked a header down to Futagawa who volleyed against the post from 20 yards out. The rebound fell to Sasaki who streaked the ball across the goal but Hirai missed the chance as the ball sped off the turf with the goal gaping. To be sure this was going to be a very open last session, and it was Hirai again - this time stopped by a sliding tackle from Tulio - who was not quite quick enough to get the shot off as he found himself in space.

With four minutes to go Hirai latched on to a through ball and sliped past one defender to get the shot off, which was deflected into the side netting by Tulio. And so, with three minutes left, the fans got their first chance to see the 19-year-old Brazilian forward Dodo, who came on
to replace Cho, with little time to impress. Nagoya countered by bringing off Magnum and bringing on another centre back to go for a five back finish, hoping to nullify any attacking threat from Gamba. And nullify it they did, with Nagoya holding on for three points that, on
one hand was extremely fortunate, but on the other, it was Gamba who gave away the goals - hopefully lessons learned in the first game of the season!

Gamba Osaka 1-2 Nagoya Grampus

Gamba Osaka:
GK - Fujigaya
DF - Kaji, Nakazawa, Takagi, M. Yasuda (Hirai, 80)
MF - Endo, Myojin (captain), Hashimoto (Sasaki, 63), Futagawa,
FW - Lucas, Cho (Dodo, 86)

J.League Previews (Round Up J.Media Outllets)

Here is a round up of some of the English previews ahead of the new season. Lets see what the media has to say for itself.

First up, the Japan Times has its usual detailed preview. Not only that, it is now available online.
Japan Times: 2010 TEAM-BY-TEAM J.LEAGUE GUIDE

The best of the rest:
Asahi Shimbum: J.LEAGUE/ Antlers intend to hog it all
Asahi Shimbum: J.LEAGUE/ Return of the favorite sons
Japan Times: Stojkovic hopeful newcomers will bolster Grampus
Daily Gomiuri: J.LEAGUE 2010 / Kashima Antlers / Best Ever? / The sky's the limit as Oliveira's Antlers aim for 4th straight title
Daily Gomiuri: J.LEAGUE 2010 / A Welcome Return / World Cup year sees familiar names, clubs back in J1 as 2010 season vows to be hot

Gamba Better than Villa?

Here's a bit of light reading for J.League fans ahead of the start of the new season later today. the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) Club World Rankings. There are some weird choices, like Grampus (138) being ranked higher than champions Antlers (147), but it is still interesting to see how Japanese teams are ranked.

The top J.League ranking goes to Gamba Osaka, due to their progress in the Club World Cup. This places them above Premier League teams such as Tottenham Hotspur (122) and Aston Villa (135); a ranking that is likely to cause consternations in the Funky Gibson household.:-)

There is a Japanese article about the these rankings in Shigoto no Kikaku, but the rankings themselves are only available in European languages.

Japan and Australia Ease Past Asian Minnows

Japan had already qualified for next year's Asian Cup, eased past Bahrain 2-0 with an improved performance, but made hard work of turning their control into goals. They should really have won by a more comfortable margin.

The likes of Nakamura, Honda and Hasebe proving that the overseas players (even if Nakamura is now back at the Marinos) will be critical to Japan in the Summer. The question is, can the home-based players raise their game enough to make the squad, now that the J.League is set resume.



Other Views
Japan Times: Japan eases past Bahrain

Meanwhile, the Aussies secured their place at the tournament with a narrow 1-0 win over Indonesia. 'Spike' Milligan bundling the ball home in comical fashion. :-)



Other Views
Sydney Morning Herald: Milligan's first makes it mission accomplished for Asian Cup
ABC Online: Oar set to paddle abroad