January 1, 2010

Osaka Boys Harpoon the Red Whales

This report marks the tenth Emperor's Cup match that the Rising Sun News has reported on, and though there have been more suspenseful and scintillating examples of New-Year's-Day football in the past, this year's clash between Gamba Osaka and Nagoya Grampus certainly ranks up there in terms of the strategic variety. Both teams have coaches who are known for their love of beautiful football, and despite a chill wind blowing down from the north, both teams attracted large contingents of fans who provided a lovely tableau of red and blue card displays prior to the opening kick. The setting was all any football fan could ask for, and the stakes were high as well. Though Gamba has already booked a spot in the ACL tournament for 2010, Grampus needed a victory to claim a berth, while a Gamba win would hand the ACL spot to Sanfrecce Hiroshima. That was the backdrop as the two teams took the pitch on the bright, blustery afternoon.

4 - 1

As we have already noted, both Gamba coach Akira Nishino and Grampus boss Dragan Stojkovic prefer to take the game to the opponent, and both had clear plans to break down the opposing defence and generate goals. Gamba are alwqays known for their short passing game and quick efforts to penetrate the center of the opposing defence with through passes. Grampus, meanwhile, had the advantage of height in the box, as the absence of Kazumichi Takagi (suspended on accumulated yellow cards) gave Josh Kennedy an even greater edge over the central defenders. Thus it was no surprise to anyone that Nagoya came out seeking to penetrate down the wings, while Gamba fired back with pressure straight up the middle.

Gamba got the first break of the contest, as two Grampus players collided with each other allowing Yasuhito Endo to carry the ball into the left corner. With a quick cutback pass, Endo found Takahiro Futagawa slanting towards goal, and as the defenders collapsed to prefent his shot, Futagawa cleverly dropped the ball back to the top of the box. Yamazaki put the ball onto a platter for Lucas and the Brazilian ace drove a shot into the right corner.

Grampus fought back as expected, working the ball into the corners and trying to find Kennedy in the box. But the first dangerous shot was actually headed on net by the more diminutive Keiji Tamada, who was left open as the Gamba defenders double-teamed kennedy. Yoshizumi Ogawa took the ball down the left flank and crossed to Tamada at the near post, but his header was straight at the keeper, and Gamba's early lead was preserved.

As the first half progressed, Grampus seemed to be their own worst enemy. Their passing was rushed and very imprecise, allowing Gamba to win possession before the Red Whales could even get the ball into a dangerous position. It wasnt until the 30 minute that Grampus got another meaningful shot on goal -- a low free kick by Ogawa that the keeper had no trouble scooping up in the right corner. But this shot did seem to settle Grampus a bit, and over the next few minutes they started to pass the ball with a bit more accuracy, creating pressure on the Gamba defence.

With just minutes to go before the break, Grampus finally managed to unlock the Gamba defence, after a free kick from midfield. The ball went out to Keiji Tamada on the right wing, and he used a cutback move to get a step on his defender and drive towards the middle. As he carried the ball along the top of the box the Grampus big men lined up and started their runs. Tamada looped the ball over the top for Kennedy, easily held the height advantage over 179cm Satoshi Yamaguchi. The keeper seemed to be in good position to intercept Kennedy's header, but the big man cleverly nodded the ball off to his right to the unmarked Naoshi Nakamura, who stuffed it home from point plank range. As the clock moved into first-half injury time Grampus won a few set plays that had Gamba scrambling to mark Nagoya's big men. Butthey were unable to do anything with a free kick, a throw-in and a corner kick, so the half ended in a 1-1 deadlock.

The first half began with Nagoya using the sidelines better than they had in the entire first half. Five minutes in, Kennedy narrowly missed a header at the right (far) post, and this was followed by three or four more dangerous balls into the box. However, Grampus failed to capitalize on theis period of dominance. As the hour mark arrived and passed, their pressure also began to drop off and Gamba began to push back. But unlike the case in the first half, the Osaka Boys were unable to open up the Nagoya defence with their passing work and create significant chances. A stalemate was developing in the center of the pitch, and both teams went to their benches to try to alter the momentum -- Grampus bringing on Igor Burzanovic for Ogawa and Gamba replacing Yamazaki with Cho Jae-Jin.

Naturally, no Japanese football match is complete without the prerequisite officiating controversy, and Mr. Ogiya was happy to provide it. With 15 minutes remaining, Keiji Tamada was clearly tripped up by Satoshi Yamaguchi as he cut through the box, but instead of awarding the obvious PK, Mr. Ogiya decided to show a yellow card to the Grampus striker, for "diving". Just a few minutes later, Yasuhito Endo picked up a loose ball on a rolling counterattack, cut back across the middle and fired a left-footed shot into the low right corner, putting Gamba in front to stay.

Coach Stojkovic responded by throwing caution to the wind, and replacing his two defensive midfielders with striker Yuki Maki and the very attack-minded midfielder Alex Santos. This created pressure and a dangerous series of corner kicks, but as so often happens in these cases, the move backfired. On the second corner kick attempt Gamba broke out in a counterattack that shredded the undermanned Grampus defence, and Takahiro Futagawa finished off the goal rush with an easy tap-in to secure the victory for Gamba. It remained only for Endo to put the final icing on the cake with a powerful right-footed drive into the top right corner, in the second minute of injury time.

While this result surely pleased the folks back in Osaka, the most joyous celebrations in the country will surely be taking place in Hiroshima, where the result has handed Sanfrecce a ticket to the 2010 Asian Champions League. As the second decade of the 2000s commences, it promises to be a very exciting year. The Rising Sun News will follow the action every step of the way, with new contributors and more football news than ever before. If you are a J.League fan, can read a fair bit of Japanese, and are interested in contributing information and reports on your team (and perhaps even picking up a bit of pocket money), please contact us by following the links to our message board, or by sending an e-mail to the address at the bottom of this page.

We wish you all a very happy, healthy and football-filled year in 2010.

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