Abe Called Up to Japan Squad

Nagoya defender Shohei Abe has been added to the Japan squad for the upcoming Asian Cup qualifier against Yemen. Abe has been one of the outstanding players this year for Grampus, and has his much improved defending has been vital to the team's success.

However, his well deserved addition to the Japan highlights the need for Nagoya to strengthen the squad, especially for the two wing backs. Abe has been ever present this year, with no chance to recuperate from any knocks and sprains. This has mainly been due to the lack of a reliable replacement and the team has bee lucky that Abe has proven tough enough to play so consistently. With ACL commitments and Japan national team games likely to place even greater demands on the squad, competent replacements are vital if the team is to sustain the progress made this year.

Grampus Knocked Out by Classy Gamba

Dragan "Pixie" Stojkovic's debut season as a manager cam to an end with Gamba's 2-1 win in the Emperor's Cup 1/4-final at Kobe on Christmas Day. In the end, Gamba's sharpness after their three games in Club World Cup proved a bigger advantage than the well rested, after a couple of week of inactivity, Grampus team.

As with the two league games against Osaka, Nagoya kept the score line close. However, unlike the two league game which were close because the teams were evenly matched, this game saw Gamba have much the better of the game for most of the 90 minutes. Nagoya did not press and close down as effectively as they have throughout much of this season. The extra space an time allowed Gamba to create plenty of chances, especially in the first half. Nagoya were somewhat fortunate to go in at half time only trailing by two goals, scored by Lucas and Nakazawa.

The second half was a bit more even, but Gamba still looked the more likely to score. However, the introduction of Keita Sugimoto at half time changed the balance of the game. His speed unsettled the Gamba defense and he latched onto a long ball through the middle and calmly stoked the ball past Fujigaya to reduce the deficit to one goal. This sparked a revival in nagoya fortunes and Johnsen and Magnun were both unlucky to see good efforts in goal thwarted by excellent saves. Grampus could easily have taken the game into extra time had it not been for Fujigaya fine performance, but doing so would have been a bit of an injustice. A score of 4-2 or 5-3 would have been a more accurate reflection of the chances.

Gamba Clinch 3rd Place in World

Local heroes Gamba eased to a 1-0 win in the third-pkace play off against Pachuca for this year's Club World Club. Man United also looked comfortable against Liga de Quito in the final, as they were duly crowned the best team in the world.

The players then had had to endure some painful interviews on Japanese TV as Gomiuri TV had chosen an interpreter with an American accent who new sweet FA about football. Ronaldo was quickly rescued by a United minder, but poor old Rooney was left to struggle on against the tide of ignorant comments.

Sporting Life "Pachuca 0 Gamba Osaka 1"
BBC News "Liga de Quito 0-1 Man Utd"

Grampus Clearing House for New Acquisitions?

To date Nagoya Grampus have announced the signing (or promotion from the youth team) of seven players. At the same time, the club has released 10 players and two coaches.

Apart from Davi, from relegated Sapporo, none of the signing can be called major acquisitions. The discrepancy between the number released and those arriving suggests that there will be another two or three players heading to Nagoya in the near future, probably after the Emperor's Cup finishes on January 1st. (Since the U-18s have already crashed out of the ongoing J-Youth Cup, we will probably not see any additional promotions this year.)

New Arrivals
FW DAVI from Consadole Sapporo
FW KUBA Hikaru from RKU High School
FW HASHIMOTO Koji from Meiji University
DF MATSUO Genta from Osaka University of Health and Sport
MF TAGUCHI Taishi from RKU High School
MF HIRAKI Yoshiki from Ryutsu Keizai University
MF ISOMURA Ryota from Nagoya Grampus U-18s

Outgoing/Released
MF FUJITA Toshiya
MF/DF OMORI Masayuki
DF MIKI Takashi
MF INOUE Wataru
FW Frode JOHNSEN
MF YONEYAMA Atsushi
DF WATANABE Keiji
MF SUDO Yusuke
DF KATAYAMA Shosuke
ASHIKAWA Masahiko GK Coach
KAMBE Sugao Coach

Honda Inspires Another Venlo Victory

Keisuke Honda scores with a diving header to earn VVV Venlo victory against Excelsior in the Dutch Jupiler League.

Gamba Lose Out in 8-Goal Thriller

An entertaining, and as Sir Bobby Charlton said "friendly", game In Yokohama, Manchester United cam out the 5-3 winners. Although Gamba gave United a good game, forcing them to play crisp, sharp passes, their opponents superior quality and power proved too much them to really threaten an upset. However, they still managed to put three goals past Edwin Van der Sar.

Peter Pakeman's view:
What a terrific performance going forward by Gamba! They were almost the equals of United in everything except for power and Christiano Ronaldo. Swap Rooney and Lucas and this might have been an even more interesting game!!:-)

Not only did Gamba score three, Van der Sar had to make another three excellent saves. This year Gamba were 8th in J1. Did they do any worse than the 8th team in the Premiership usually does against MU? OK, on the pattern of the goals MU didn't have to go through all the gears, but an exciting performance nonetheless by Gamba.

I think Gamba did the J-League proud tonight. It confirms the impression that we watch damn good football in J1. The only thing is the level of physical presence and power is a class below that of the top-league European teams. Where is the Japanese Rooney?

A hugely entertaining evening!

Other Views & Related Articles:
Daily Gomiuri "Man Utd too strong for Gamba"
SkySports "United secure final date"
CNN World Sport "Gamba Osaka - Kings of Asia"