Three Points Are Always Three Points: Kyoto Sanga - Vissel Kobe 1-0

I am not sure if Kyoto Sanga have ever won a kaimakusen (=Round 1 Game). I should check my brand new J.League Almanac, but I am too sleepy and I will trust my memory, even because it sounds great to see that today we won our first kaimakusen ever! Nishikyogoku was packed (almost 17,000) also thanks to the Kobe-san-tachi who filled the opposite stands. The match wasn't beautiful, and it could have finished 2-0 or, even (more likely?) 1-1, but we did win it and thanks to a great goal by Daigo Watanabe in the first half, so there is reason to celebrate, since the next three games (Trinita and Gamba and Antlers) really sound like troubles. I don't have much to say about the game, even because Akira dragged me in the middle of the craziest fans in the goru no ura, and I was in a sort of soccerly trance the whole time, I suppose. I just remember that at the end it seemed like Vissel had 20 corner kicks and the ref would never whistle, but probably it wasn't so dramatic--it was just me who desperately wanted to win the first J1 game I saw in three years or so with a victory. Probably I should have been cooler, as it is true that Vissel had its chances, but by the end of the game both teams seemed very tired, and Lee was towering every single ball that come close to our box, helping Mizutani to spend an overall quiet afternoon.

As the game was over, me and Akira (sporting his new Yuto Sato #7 replica shirt), sat on the stands for a good 30 minutes, awaiting for the human mass to move out. We chat with the Supporters' Kaicho (nice dude that he is, as always), we helped to clean up and to fold the huge flag and finally dragged ourselves home.

The sky was grey, if there was a sun out there it should have been a really pale one, because I don't remember it. But it was perfect. And now, just as when I was a boy, back home on the evening of a day I went to the stadium, now if I close my eyes I see the flags and hear the fans' chants.

Geez, I really missed this, and I would say the same if we had lost 0-4.

But we've won, and it makes it even better.

Akira poses with "Yanagi and Daigo" outside the stadium...