FORZA GAMBA!

Back Where We Belong!

2006-04-23T05:10:00.000+09:00

Gamba are now 2 points clear of Urawa at the top of the table as we defeated FC Tokyo 1-0 and Urawa were beaten 2-1 by Shimizu. We have past probably the hardest run in of the season with flying colours.
First we defeated Shimizu 3-2 away from home, Then we beat Kashima 1-0 at home, then Yokohama 4-3 and now FC Tokyo 1-0, Amazing results. And keeping 2 clean sheets in the process!

Next we have Albirex, Jubilo and Kofu, We cannot slip to smaller teams after this, that would be so annoying, The players must keep there heads and keep digging in to make this the most memorable season in our history. People assumed (Including me) that without Araujo we would fall apart! But Magno has been BETTER than Araujo! Which is also credit to the brilliant Midfield and of course Fernandinho. And we've started to keep clean sheets! We may just get better and better. And of course we've put ourselves in a brilliant position to progress in the ACL also.
I can't really be bothered giving a match report just now, lol! But i will soon enough.

Todays team

GK Fujigaya

DF Sidiclei

DF Miyamoto

DF Yamaguchi

MF Kaji

MF Hashimoto

MF Endo

MF Ienaga ('85 Aoki)

FW Meada ('70 Irie)

FW Fernandinho ('70 Bando)

FW Magno

GK Matsuyo

DF Irie

DF Aoki

MF Terada

MF Matsushita

FW Bando

FW Nakayama

Gamba Vs Dalian (ACL)

2006-04-13T03:07:00.000+09:00

Gamba 3-0 Dalian

Gamba played brilliantly to go top of the group in the asian champs league last night. Most of all we dominated the second half and it was shown by the score. Dalian were always going to be Gamba's closest rival but i couldn't even have thought of this score. It all started when Kaji was brought down for a penalty and Endo slotted away the penalty just after half time in the 48th. Magno Alves put the game to bed with goals in the 56th and 71st minuites. And we kept our 2nd consecutive clean sheet, Happy days indeed!
I would give more details about the game but i'm too tired now, maybe i'll add it tomorow. Oh! also Futagawa set up both Magno goals after coming on at half time, he had a brilliant second half.

And also want to congratulate Akira Kaji who's wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy before the game on April 12th around 14:30. He may wear the colours of Gamba one day too?
You may have also picked up that someone had a baby with the teams goal celebrations yesterday. Anyway, Well Done Akira!

Gamba Vs Shizuoka Sangyo University (Practice match)

2006-04-02T22:06:00.000+09:00

Gamba defeated Shizuoka Sangyo University with relative ease in a practice match today at Gamba's Training ground. Most of the team was youngsters except Teshima and Gamba's Goalkeeper Matsuyo, The weather was miserable, it was raining.
In the 4th Minuite 18 year old Shoki Hirai scored an easy goal (Hirai is usually a striker but was being used in midfield).
Nakayama, Yasuda and Hirai all had oportunities to score but could not increase the lead. Because of a thunderstorm the game was abandoned for 5 minuites in the 34th minuite. But the game got under way again, and in the 49th minuite Ryota Miki scored a header from a corner to make it 2-0, then in the 54th minuite Satoshi Nakayama slotted the ball calmly into the net. Miki then scored the 4th with his head, latching onto a cross. Nakayama finished the game with his 2nd and Gamba's 5th on 81 minuties getting on the end of a through pass, Gamba's youngsters controled the game well.
GK - Naoki Matsuyo ( 45' Suguru Hino - Age 23)
DF - Daiki Niwa - Age 20
DF - Kazuki Teshima - Age 27
DF - Ryujiro Ueda - Age 18
DF - Hirotada Ito - Age 18
MF - Shigeru Yokotani - Age 18
MF - Yasunobu Matsuoka - Age 19
MF - Michihiro Yasuda - Age 18 ( 45' FW Hideya Okamoto - Age 18)
MF - Shoki Hirai - Age 18
FW - Ryota Miki - Age 20
FW - Satoshi Nakayama - Age 24

Gamba make Brilliant Comeback!

2006-04-02T07:47:00.000+09:00

Shimizu S-Pulse 2-3 Gamba Osaka
Gamba came from 2-1 down against Shimizu S-Pulse and showed yet again there never say die approach. But our Defense was yet again poor (it's getting kind of boring saying that).
The match was very tight with lots of exciting attacking play from both teams. Gamba could have easily lost this match as S-Pulse matched us minuite by minuite.
Gamba went out with an understrength side leaving out national team players Miyamoto, Endo, Kaji. We saw youngster Masafumi Maeda. Also came in was Toshihiro Matsushita. We played a 3-5-2

Gamba scored the first goal with good play from Ienaga and Futagawa. Futagawa recieved the ball from Ienaga, Ienaga made a good off the ball run then Futagawa returned to ball, Ienaga confused 1 defender then blasted the ball into the top corner.
Then in stoppage time of the first half the ball fell to Shimizu's Hyodo and he curled the ball brilliantly into the Gamba goal to equilize. But then worse was to happen further into injury time. S-Pulse stole the ball from an Attacking Gamba, they threw a long ball and ended up with Yajima bursting threw with Sidiclei the only defender in front of him. Sidiclei was poor and just tried to bring Yajima down but he got out of the tackle and then put the ball past Fujigaya in goal. Leaving Gamba fans a bad taste in the mouth at half time.
For a while in the second half it was much the same but we gradually rose above S-Pulse and started to gain speed. Then in the 70th minuite Fernandinho did brilliantly to get away from Defence and scored the important equilizer. We took advantage of the goal and pressed further for a winner. We had a few very good chances in the last 15 minites until finally Magno shot passed the S-Pulse defense and into the corner to score his 7th of the season. We defended well to keep the lead in the last five minuites and in the end took all 3 points.
All in all a good performance for an understrength Gamba and we also saw enough in young gun Maeda that he may be a regular in the next few years for Gamba.
So we are now level on points with Yokohama who drew against FC Tokyo and level with Urawa but they play later today.

The great thing about todays match was 1 player Akihiro Ienaga, He was clear man of the match and had an outstanding display of Midfield abiulity's and his passing was amazing for a player who is only 20 and only started playing consistently last season. He has got to be a future Japan star and if Hasebe and Abe can get into the Japan squad, surly after the World Cup if Ienaga keeps up at this pace he must be in with a chance of a call-up, Only big things to come from him.
Anyway our GOD DAMN DEFENCE!! AGGGHHHH it makes you want to scream, how can we sort this out. We've tried 3-5-2, 4-4-2 and, nope no difference. We've tried different combos of players and nothing. It's been the same for 2 years, yet in the 2004 season our defense was one of the tightest in J1. Could you imagine Gamba witha tight defense, WOW! We could rule the world.
We just can't get a good combination of Defence and Attack 'sigh'.
GK – Fujigaya
DF – Aoki
DF – Sidiclei
DF – Yamaguchi
MF – Maeda ( '83 MF Yasuda)
MF – Matsushita ( '26 DF Irie)
MF – Hashimoto
MF – Ienaga
MF – Futagawa ( '53 FW Bando)
FW – Fernandinho
FW – Magno

Bookings for Yamaguchi and Ienaga

Gamba 15-0 De Nang

2006-03-22T21:47:00.000+09:00

Sorry about lack of posts even though Gamba have already played 3 other matches this season, mixture of me being busy and lazyness. anyway...
Gamba equiled AFC history with a 15-0 mauling and absolute demolition of Veitnam De Nang.
Ryuji Bando scored on his first start for Gamba.
Fernandinho scored 4, Magno scored 4
Just about everyone did

Yasuhito Endo 15 (Penalty),
Fernandinho 20,
Fernandinho 21,
Ryuji Bando 24,
Fernandinho 37,
Magno Alves 42,
Magno Alves 49,
Magno Alves 70,
Masafumi Maeda 77,
Fernandinho 78,
Masafumi Maeda 80,
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto 82,
Hideo Hashimoto 85,
Magno Alves 86,
Akihiro Ienaga 90

We are second in the table 3 points behind Dalian as they won 1-0
Starting Line-up
G-Yosuke Fujigaya
D-Sidiclei - (Takahiro Futagawa 46")
D-Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
D-Satoshi Yamaguchi
D-Akira Kaji
M-Yasuhito Endo
M-Fernandinho
M-Akihiro Ienaga
M-Tomokazu Myojin - (Hideo Hashimoto 46")
F-Magno Alves
F-Ryuji Bando - (Masafumi Maeda 66")

Gamba 1-3 Urawa

2006-02-25T15:56:00.000+09:00

Sorry about the delay of about 3 days or something, i've been busy.
Anyway, very disspointed at the score more than anything else, it just goes to show that this could well be another season showing Gamba's defensive problems. Again we let in 3 goals, same old story, exept we didn't score much in return. Alot was made of the fact that we are without Oguro and Araujo in the pre-game and in-game analysis. But i saw just enough in this game to show some hope for the coming season. The performences for Endo, Fernandinho, Myojin, and even old gamba boy Bando and Kaji coming of the bench were enough i think to say, with enough work we could yet again be challenging for the glory of the J1 crown.
We were on the backfoot almost as soon as the referee blew kick-off, Shinji Ono showing his skills to win a corner. Oh and i forgot to mention that although on paper this is a neutral venue most of the stadium were full of Urawa supporters. Every time a Gamba player touched the ball boos would ring out from almost every side of the stadium.
Gamba won a corner straight after this, Fernandinho sent in the usuall dangerous ball but Tsuboi made a mistake and sent the ball in his own net, putting Gamba 1-0 ahead just minuites into the match, the rest of the first half was almost complete dominance by Urawa with our players trying as hard as possible to stay in with a shout, Horinouchi scored a header not long after Gamba's goal and just a few minuties after that Urawa scored 2-1 after Sideclei deflected a pass right to Washington and he went and scored. Ono and Hasebe were dominating the midfield for the whole first half.
In the second half we began to string more fluent passes together but Urawa then went and made it 3-1, Ponte was left wide open as our defenders went awol again. God Nishino decided to bring on Bando and Kaji for the unimpressive duo of Terada and Futagawa. This changed the game quite a bit in Gamba's favour as the speed of Kaji and Bando finally brought some rapid attacking play that were so used to seeing in Osaka. Bando looked very, very good creating many good chances. After they came on Gamba dominated most of the second half up to the last few minuites. urawa decided to go Defensive and we just passed the ball about trying to find an opening, it was found 3 or 4 times usually thanks to Bando but there was no finish due to urawa's relentless defending.
At the end of the game i was very depressed about how when Urawa did play they dominated Gamba. But on reflection i have started to pick out possitives such as Ienaga's crisp passing, the usuall high class performances of Endo and Fernandinho (I think he's better in attacking midfield rather than an actuall striker) Myojin also looked quite impressive and obvoisly so did Kaji and Bando, and possibly Hashimoto.
Terada connot be blamed for his performance as he is young and inexperienced.

In the next match i would like to see a partnership of Bando and Magno Alves up front with Fernandinho behind, i think this could work very well.
Magno Alves was someone i didn't talk about much, because,well, There was nothing to talk about, he did almost next to nothing against urawa, we have been promised goals by him and i guess we will have to give him time and wait and see if he can gel with this Gamba side.
This is what Akira Nishino said after the game.
"It's disappointing that we didn't make the most our chances but our front line has changed since last year and there are things that we need to work on and it's going to take a bit of time. I am very disappointed, but we played better football than I expected. Overall, I think we controlled over half the game."

Gamba Vs Urawa

2006-02-25T12:25:00.000+09:00

Gamba will go with the usuall 3-5-2
team
GK - FUJIGAYA
DF - MYOJIN
DF - SIDICLEI
DF - YAMAGUCHI
MF - TERADA
MF - HASHIMOTO
MF - ENDO
MF - IENAGA
MF - FUTAGAWA
FW - FERNANDINHO
FW - MAGNO

bench
GK - MATSUYO
DF - IRIE
DF - MIYAMOTO
DF - NIWA
MF - KAJI
MF - MATSUSHITA
FW - BANDO
Strange team with MYOJIN slipping into defence and Bando being left on the bench so that the best brazilian football player in the world Fernandinho can sit further up as a striker.
So a Brazilian partenship up front, good stuff.

We need Endo in top form today and the performance of the strikers and Hashimoto will also be vital. I thought Bando would have started with Fernandinho in Midfield, i guess i was wrong.
It was also a surprise to see the national team trio of Endo, Miyamoto and Kaji in the team.
I predict an extremly hard fought game from Gamba, hopefully a performance worthy of a mauling of Urawa, lol
I only hate them cause of the Man u thing.
I'm not going to the match, Which completley pis'ses me off!

Lack of updates

2006-02-18T23:57:00.000+09:00

I've to much Uni and studying to do and everything else, be back for the Xerox Super cup when Gamba take On Urawa

Gamba 2-1 Omiya

2006-02-06T23:33:00.000+09:00

Gamba beat Omiya 2-1 in Guam in a practice tournament, For once it wasn't raining. Nishino said before the game that he really wanted to win it. Don't think it was a proper pre-season friendly, just practice match

Sidiclei scored a penalty in the 16th minuite, don't see that very often.
Ryota Miki a talented youngster score the second in the 42nd minuite
There was some sloppy play in the second half.
Gamba said that motovation is very good in camp just now

Gamba "ACL is a Priority"

2006-02-02T10:08:00.000+09:00

Am i dreaming? can this really be true, a Japanese club actually want to win the ACL, surely not. But it's true or so Magno sais. Magono Alves said yesterday how there worried about the long season ahead and the fact that Gamba will be participating in more compititons this year. He mention's how the players will have to improve physically so they don't burn out early and they should have as much practice as possible before the Xerox Final. He said that Gamba want to put in geniun challenge for ACL and that along with defense of the J title will be the main priorities , and he sais Gamba connot afford to hide in the shadow's .

Players had to get up at about 6.00 i'm told, unlucky hahaha. They were playing 6 on 6 matches yesterday. Later on they had physicall practice with 20 minuite running and other stuff.
Later they went on to yet another puzzle, lol

Koji Nakata unvieled at FC basel

2006-02-02T00:17:00.000+09:00

Koji signed a two and a half year contract for the swiss club, heres there website http://www.fcb.ch/start.html

hers an interview
"I chose this club because I'm confident I can get my job done here," Nakata said as he was introduced by Basel after completing the signing of a contract that runs through the end of June, 2008."I was impressed with the quality of the training sessions and the skills of individual players, making me feel that I'll be able to grow into a better player here with this team," Nakata said.
"I don't regret that I moved to Marseille. I believe the year I spent there will help me fit into a new team quickly."
"I'll play in any position and I think it'll raise the bar for me. (Japan coach) Zico has told me to play in midfield but I don't think being a defender here will affect my role for Japan," he said.

More of Gamba hard at it in training

2006-02-01T11:04:00.000+09:00

Pic of the new old boy Bando!
I think this Pic is pretty funny by the fact that there all palying PSP hahaha very un footballerish, aghhhhh the greatness of Japansese football players, beckham can learn something from these great men or boys, lol

How come Fernandinho always looks like he's up to something hahahaha, suspicous as hell! It looks like he's about to burst out laughing
The players are working hard.
over a star wars puzzle hahaha

Click on the pics to make bigger, if you didn't know that already

Gamba's pre-season training starts

2006-01-31T22:22:00.000+09:00

Gamba in Guam training camp from 30th of January
Gamba's website will be having training camp reports every so often.

Gamba Preview Pt 2

2006-01-31T10:34:00.000+09:00

Tomokazu Myojin, He's probably been the signing thats got me most excited, I've always been a big fan of his like Bando and I'm delighted he's here, He's one off those player that does alot of dirty work for the team and helps the cause ammensly. As well as Bando he'll put put 100% all the time.
Now Akira Kaji, Someone who gets alot of critizism thrown at him due to his defensive side, which isnt all that great to be honest, but he has very fast legs and can run like lightning down the right hand side. He will also help improving Gamba's attacking sense but will probably see us leak more goals, but as long as we keep scoring, well be fine.
So are these signings going to help Gamba or will they bring a very quick end to Gamba domination, i guess we'll have to wait and see. But really it depends on 1 man, Magno Alves and weather or not he has what it takes to fill Araujo's boots.
For some reason Gamba let a few other perfectly decent squad players go for whatever reason, that really annoyed me.
The Xerox Super cup on the 25 of Febuary against Emperor's Cup Champs Urawa who seem to be getting there best squad ever this season. But lucky for us Ono, Santos and others will be gone with the National team, as will Endo, Kaji and Miyamoto. So it will be an interesting contest but a win would set us up perfectly for the long season ahead.
Anyway a full list of Gamba's signings, including a couple of young guns
Magno Alves - FW - 30 yrs
Kazuki Teshima - DF - 26 yrs
Ryuji Bando - FW - 26 yrs
Tomokazu Myojin - MF - 28 yrs
Akira Kaji - DF - 26 yrs
Hirotada Ito - DF - 18 yrs
Ryujiro Ueda - DF - 18 yrs
Shigeru Yokotani - MF - 18 yrs
Hideya Okamoto - FW - 18 yrs
Michihiro Yasuda - MF - 18 yrs
Shoki　Hirai - FW - 18 yrs

Do Gamba have a real chance of J1 Success this year

2006-01-25T13:26:00.000+09:00

This is something i cannot guess, i don't think anyone actually thinks Gamba have a chance this year, but do we?
After high profile transfers of King Araujo and traitor Oguro, some doubt our ability to put in a worth while chance this coming season, they do have a point and often wonder if we will be another high profile burn-out like Tokyo Verdy. Gamba's main problem last season was conceding goals, we had one of the worst goals against in the league as far as i can remember, and we only won the league due to our unbelievable and world class attacking players i.e. Araujo, Oguro and Fernandinho, and occasionly Endo even though he's usually a Defensive midfielder, he scores many free-kicks and pens.
So far we've brought in Akira Kaji, Tomokazu Myojin, Ryuji Bando and Magno Alves, and god I hate Magno Alves, why oh why did we have to sign HIM! Yes i know he was one of the top goalscores last season but i can't stand him! As for Ryuji Bando, he's a player i've always like, he's not exactly an Oguro but he tries 100% and gets stuck in and will help the team with assist's

More Gamba preview to come, I'm far to sick just now