I wrote a "professional" (<=euphemism) article about the game for japanesesoccer.net. Click here to read it , it is a good intro to what you'll find here! So, on top of that, for ONK's aficionados only, here are my personal thoughts...
"...Oh well... Dear, dear, last thing I honestly expected was to bag three points against Gamba, especially after deserving them. It was a marvelous display of coolness from Sanga players, who kept playing football in front of an ultra-nervous Gamba (three yellows in 30 minutes, Paulinho sent to hospital...). Fujigaya after the penalty really behaved as a spoiled elementary school child, and Leandro really seemed to be one of those Brazilians who is very nice as far as things go his way, but quickly morphs into a whiner as soon as he is displeased. Problem with Gamba is that they took this game for granted, and if they wouldn't have chopped Pau after 13 minutes, they might have lost with a big goal difference, since we had dominated the game completely until then. They put together basically three chances in the whole game, two rather random. Not enough for the great team they can be on a good day.
My feeling is that Gamba, after the triumphal ending of last season is suffering of a bit of "Urawitis Acutis." How quick clubs forget where they come from, and how winning an Asian Champions League doesn't mean the refs you play with are immune from mistakes... OK, I don't think that the one on Yanagi was a penalty, but it is clearly one of those mistakes that can happen. There was no diving, and surely a contact. A controversial penalty against when you're one down pisses you off, sure, but with more than 30 minutes left, they had all the time to turn it around (and they nearly did, anyway), besides the fact that a penalty awarded is not a goal conceded yet.
OK, enough about Gamba, let me talk about Sanga. I believe that these are the best defenders we've ever had. I mean in the history of the club, so since 1922. Lee "Jonzu" is an awesome player, also very skilled with his feet, he has an elegance in his movements that [hyperbole coming, watch out!!!] reminds me a bit of Van Basten. And surely he scored one as Marco today, as he towered over the Gamba defenders to slam it in under the Gamba supporters' eyes. Besides that, how many balls did he win in his penalty area? 20? 25? He is fantastic, really, so much that we could afford today to field a debutant as left-back, Someya, who I believe won his duel with Yasuda. OK, he is not as nice-looking as Uchida, but watch him, because he seems very good too--just as Mizumoto, who did something superhuman when bicycling that ball away from our goal... Uh! Thanks for selling him to us, Gamba! If you want to get rid of Kaji next...
Finally, there were some moment of good soccer today: Diego dueted naturally with Paulinho, and later began to find some good geometries with Yanagisawa, Sato and Ando. The future looks bright, and we're look definitely a few notches above those at the bottom of the chart. I won't be overoptimistic, but I just say that Kato's goal (9th place) is not impossible. We're actually 5th, y'know!
Nabisco Cup incoming, two games next week. Time for some stressless soccer, and I will probably go to Shizuoka for the game.
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