Gamba extended their unbeaten run to 11 matches after earning a 1-1 draw in a scrappy, physical battle with neighbours Cerezo Osaka on Culture Day. Kawasaki’s surprise loss at home to Sapporo reduces the gap at the top to 16 points, which is academic at this stage, but Nagoya’s 0-0 draw at Tosu will have come as welcome news to both Osaka teams.
Patric returned to the starting eleven in place of Kazuma Watanabe who dropped down to the bench where he was joined by returning skipper Genta Miura (his comeback would come in very handy later). For Cerezo, Riku Matsuda made a welcome return from injury, taking Eiichi Katayama’s spot at right-back and young Ayumu Seko, this week named the Levain Cup’s New Hero for 2020, was dropped after a poor display at Urawa last time out. Yasuki Kimoto slotted in at centre-half alongside Matej Jonjic while Naoyuki Fujita started next to Leandro Desabato in central-midfield.
The game as a whole was fairly even, but Cerezo, the home side, and fresher of the two did have the better of the limited chances on offer. In the 11th minute Yuki Yamamoto, who in truth didn’t have his best game in the Gamba engine room, failed to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick and had his pocket pinched by the dangerous Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, the right-winger’s cut-back found Desabato, but his shot was well blocked by Kim Young-gwon. Cerezo pressed further in the next 10 minutes, but Sakamoto’s volley wide from a corner and an inviting Murahashi cross that was just too far ahead of Yuta Toyokawa were as close as they came.
At the other end, Usami and Ideguchi looked a cut above for Gamba with their close control and direction of play a joy to watch at times. The Nerazzurri took the lead just after the half-hour mark when good work from Usami started a move that eventually ended up at the feet of Kosuke Onose on the edge of the box. The former Renofa Yamaguchi man swung over a left-foot cross for Patric who used his head, chest and foot to evade the attention of Jonjic and his pass was deflected by Riku Matsuda into the path of Ideguchi who slammed the ball past Kim Jin-hyeon for his 2nd in as many games. He’s doing his chances of a 2020 J1 Best Eleven selection no harm.
Unfortunately for Gamba, their lead lasted a mere 2 minutes, the first time they’ve ceded the advantage so quickly this season. Yamamoto made a careless foul in midfield and from the resulting free kick, Maruhashi picked out Kimoto at the back post. The big centre-back evaded the attention of Usami and Takao to volley against the bar and Toyokawa nodded the rebound into an empty goal for his 4th in the past 3 matches. Cerezo were in the ascendancy after that and Fujita should really have put them ahead, but he scuffed his shot wide after neat build-up play involving Sakamoto and Toyokawa. Gamba almost stunned the Cherry Blossoms with a break of their own, Patric controlled well and found Onose who threaded a beautifully weighted ball through to Usami, I was expecting to see the net bulge, but Kim spread himself well to deny the ex-Bayern man. 1-1 at the break.
The second period had a real derby feel to it with physical contests taking place all over the pitch. Perhaps the most intriguing one was between Jonjic and Patric with both earning yellow cards in the 50th minute after engaging in a pushing contest. Elsewhere there was bad news for Gamba as Kim Young-gwon had to leave the field with a left-knee problem, his place was taken by the returning Miura and Cerezo fans may feel he should have seen red. Already on a yellow, he felled Hiroaki Okuno on the edge of the area in the 90th minute, but the referee opted to just give the home side a free-kick, and no more. The otherwise excellent Hiroshi Kiyotake wasted the opportunity with a weak delivery, before firing an over-head kick just wide following a long throw from Katayama. Apart from that there wasn’t a great deal to report in the second half, Miura blocked a Kakitani effort late on and the Nerazzurri picked up a season high 5 yellow cards, however, 1-1 after such a short turnaround and against quality opposition like Cerezo makes me pretty content.
Gamba now have 8 days to dust down their wounded warriors before Vissel Kobe are the visitors to Panasonic Stadium for the final Kansai derby of the year next Wednesday. Gamba will find themselves in the same position Cerezo did today, having the weekend off while their opposition have to play. Can the Nerazzurri make it 12 games unbeaten or will Iniesta, Furuhashi and co. have something to say about that?
Gamba MVP
If this were a neutral blog I’d definitely give this award to Hiroshi Kiyotake who I thought had an outstanding game, especially in the second half. I would have no arguments if he made the J1 Best Eleven this year. As it is a Gamba blog, it should come as no surprise that Yosuke Ideguchi is my pick. Another energetic performance, he got stuck in from the word go, covered the whole pitch, moved the ball around well and of course notched the all important opening goal.
Key Takeaways
* Gamba did a good job of doubling up on Sakamoto, especially in the 2nd half.
* Yamamoto and Fukuda looked particularly tired after the recent tough schedule. Yamamoto’s passing and positioning was questionable at times while Fukuda’s crossing let him down.
* Kiyotake, Usami and Ideguchi really looked a level above all the other players at times today.
Gamba U-23
Just a quick mention that the Under-23s went down 2-0 at FC Imabari this afternoon. I only caught the first-half as the second overlapped with the Osaka derby. Gamba basically monopolised possession until they were caught cold in the 39th minute when Shungo Tamashiro fired home with Imabari’s first shot of the match. Further bad news followed when Keisuke Kurokawa injured his hamstring 5 minutes later and had to be replaced by Ryusei Sugano. The Shikoku based side took advantage of Ren Shibamoto’s dismissal for two yellow cards in the second half to double their lead through Masamichi Hayashi and it finished 2-0. Gamba U-23 sit 13th in the standings with 9 games left.
Starting Lineup
GK: Lee Yunoh, RCB: Hayate Toma, CB: Riku Matsuda, LCB: Tatsuya Yamaguchi, RWB: Keishi Murakami, RCM: Kohei Okuno, LCM: Ren Shibamoto, LWB: Keisuke Kurokawa, R Shadow: Jiro Nakamura, L Shadow: Daisuke Takagi ©, CF: Shoji Toyama.
*After Kurokawa was subbed off, Murakami moved to LWB, Takagi to RWB and Sugano to L Shadow
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Cerezo Osaka 1-1 Gamba Osaka 3 November 2020
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