J-League News September 2012
Mike Tuckerman
Time catches up with everyone. That's true even in Japan, a country where experience is venerated to the point J. League players often stick around well past their prime. No team has experienced that more in 2012 than Gamba Osaka, with the Kansai giants belatedly paying the price for their failure to effectively regenerate their squad.
Prior to their Round 24 clash with Sagan Tosu at the start of September, Gamba looked like they might have saved their season. A marquee clash with a Nagoya Grampus side celebrating its 20th anniversary saw more than 30,000 fans pack into Toyota Stadium. Gamba won 5-0. Then the utterly hopeless Consadole Sapporo ventured south to Expo '70 Stadium and promptly headed back to Hokkaido on the receiving end of a 7-2 mauling. Brazilian striker Leandro blasted a hat-trick in that game and it was just like the Gamba of old.
Only it wasn't like the Gamba of old at all. For one thing long-serving coach Akira Nishino is now at Gamba's bitter local rivals Vissel Kobe. For another, the free-scoring Leandro only returned in June, and even that was on loan from Qatari club Al-Sadd. Most shocking of all is the fact that despite thrashing Nagoya and Sapporo in consecutive matches, Gamba are currently languishing in the relegation zone after finding themselves on the receiving end of a 4-1 thumping from the promoted Tosu. It didn't use to be this way. It didn't use to be this way at all.
Gamba started the season with Brazilian coach Jose Carlos Serrao in charge. He only found himself in the Gamba hotseat because their original target, former Japan international Wagner Lopes, did not possess the requisite coaching licence to coach in the J. League. Lopes was thus hired as Serrao’s assistant but after a dreadful start to the season, both were swiftly shown the door. Former Gamba midfielder Masanobu Matsunami took charge but the Osakans have been a sinking ship ever since.
Part of the problem has been Gamba's failure to shed ageing players. This season the Osakans jettisoned 33-year-old midfield stalwart Hideo Hashimoto, who joined coach Nishino and former Gamba team-mate Kazumichi Takagi at neighbours Vissel Kobe. But Takahiro Futagawa and Tomokazu Myojin remained, joined by one of Japanese football’s most talented ever playmakers, Yasuhito Endo. Together with Hashimoto the quartet used to comprise one of Japan’s most feared midfields. But sadly for Gamba fans their time has long since passed.
Compounding the problem is the fact that in Yosuke Fujigaya, Gamba possess one of the worst goalkeepers in the league. Fujigaya has been a liability for years but it is only in 2012 – after Gamba released 272-game central defender Satoshi Yamaguchi to his former club JEF United – that Fujigaya’s deficiencies have been so obviously realised. Gamba have conceded a whopping 51 goals in 25 games this season and despite signing the highly-rated Yohei Takeda from Shimizu S-Pulse to bolster their goalkeeping ranks, the error-prone Fujigaya continues to hold onto the number one jersey.
It is against this backdrop Gamba have resorted to a number of panic buys to try and dig themselves out of a hole. Leandro was brought back from the Gulf having left for Qatar in 2009. Former Gamba winger Akihiro Ienaga joined on loan from Ulsan Hyundai. Add to their ranks the likes of former FC Tokyo star Yasuyuki Konno, FC Seoul youngster Lee Seung-Yeoul and Brazilian veteran Paulinho from Ventforet Kofu and Gamba's is a much-changed line-up from the one which recently dominated Japanese football. Gamba won the J. League in 2005 and finished runner-up in 2010, but ahead of their blockbuster clash with Urawa Reds at Saitama Stadium on September 22, they are closer to dropping out of the division than winning it.
Perhaps Gamba need to take a leaf out of Urawa's book. The Reds found themselves in a similar position last season, flirting with relegation throughout a dismal campaign before eventually dismissing under-performing coach Zeljko Petrovic despite staying up. His namesake Mihailo Petrovic stepped in from Sanfrecce Hiroshima and the Reds have been a team transformed, with the Saitama giants lying third going into their clash with the Osakans, just two points behind current league leaders Sanfrecce.
Those who thought Hiroshima might struggle without the enigmatic influence of Petrovic on the bench have been proved well and truly mistaken, with his replacement Hajime Moriyasu possessing an equally attacking outlook. The southern side most recently went down 1-0 at home to FC Tokyo but nevertheless remain favourites to win a first ever J1 title, after taking out the second division title as recently as 2008.The fact that Sanfrecce's closest competitor is Vegalta Sendai - one of the most popular sides in Japan but hardly one versed in winning titles – suggests that Moriyasu's side should have what it takes to storm home and win the championship.
Only nine games remain for Sanfrecce to claim their piece of history and for Gamba to avoid theirs. The former has never won the J. League, whilst the latter has never been relegated from the top flight. But while the situation looks bright for Sanfrecce, time is fast running out for Gamba. City rivals Cerezo and Saitama strugglers Omiya Ardija lie just above them in the standings, and like Gamba both have new coaches. Former Cerezo coach Levir Culpi recently stepped in for the sacked Sergio Soares, while Slovenian Zdenko Verdenik recently took charge at Omiya following the dismissal of the unpopular Jun Suzuki. Both will be keen to make their mark and avoid relegation.
That means one of Japan’s most famous sides could find itself in the second tier next season. Perhaps it would prove a cathartic experience, but with Gamba officials eager to secure funding for a new state of the art stadium, it's the last thing one of the biggest clubs in western Japan needs, as the Osakans lurch from perennial title favourites to unexpected relegation fodder.
Copyright: Mike Tuckerman & Soccerphile.com
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