NEWS

A 23-member Japan squad was named on Monday to play in the AFC Under-19 Championship in Saudi Arabia from October 31 to November 14. The Championship will serve as a qualifier for next year’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup.

Gamba will meet Adelaide United in the final on November 5 at home and then away in Australia on November 12. The Australian club lost 1-0 at the hands of Kuruvchi in Uzbekistan but advanced to the final thanks to their 3-0 first-leg win.
The ACL champions will qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup, slated for December 11 to 21 in Japan.
If Gamba wins the ACL, Adelaide will go to the Club World Cup in place of the J. League champions. If Gamba fails to win, the J. League champions – to be determined by December 6 – will take part in the annual FIFA tournament.
“Our initial objective was to get through the group stage in the ACL. I didn’t think we would come this far,” Gamba manager Akira Nishino said.
“I’m very happy that we played such a wonderful game. I’d like to praise my players, who showed great resolve.”
Playing before a crowd of 53,287 at Saitama Stadium 2002, Gamba needed to attack to overcome Urawa’s away-goal advantage after the 1-1 first-leg draw in Osaka, and the visitors showed their resolve from the start.
Reds were without three suspended players – goalkeeper Ryota Tsuzuki, defensive midfielder Hajime Hosogai and left wing Takahito Soma. Reds manager Gert Engels brought in defender Shunsuke Tsutsumi to play on the left wing, Japan defender Yuki Abe in defensive midfield and Norihiro Yamagishi in goal. They coped well with Gamba’s attack to give the home side a chance of a favorable result.
Reds came close to scoring through a header by defender Satoshi Horinouchi from a corner in the 22nd minute, but Gamba goalkeeper Yosuke Fujigaya was able to push the ball away.
The home team went ahead in the 36th minute when forward Naohiro Takahara controlled his own rebound in the box and fired home from 12 meters out.
Reds threatened the Gamba goal with efforts from Brazilian forward Edmilson in the 41st minute and Takahara in the 42nd and 43rd minutes – the former Hamburger SV and Eintracht Frankfurt striker hitting the bar from mid-range on the latter attempt.
After the break, Gamba boss Nishino brought on right wing Hayato Sasaki in an effort to step up his team’s attack.
His attempt helped the visitors earn corner kicks, and one of them resulted in a goal when Satoshi Yamaguchi headed in Yasuhito Endo’s kick in the 51st minute.
The equalizer encouraged the visitors to come further into the game, while the Reds players appeared confused by Gamba’s formation change after the arrival of Sasaki. Nishino brought another attacking player, Masato Yamazaki, off the bench in the 71st minute.
A minute later, Gamba took the lead. Midfielder Tomokazu Myojin scored with a skillful lob off the post following another Endo corner.
Engels said: “The game could have gone a different way if we had kept it 1-1 for another 10 minutes.”
The north Osaka club added another goal four minutes later when Endo took a pass from Sasaki and fired home from the left side of the box.
Engels brought on forwards Tatsuya Tanaka and Yuichiro Nagai in an attempt to rally. Edmilson hit the post in the 81st minute, while Tulio came close with a header during stoppage time, but the home team couldn’t produce any more goals.
“It’s tough to take, but I’d like to congratulate Gamba,” Engels said. “It’s good for Japanese football to have a J. League team in the ACL final, but we wanted to be the one.”
The German coach added, “We played very good football in the first half, with good pressure and many scoring chances.”
“It’s a shame that we gave up goals from set plays over a short period of time. After we went behind, we had to go for goals. We continued attacking to the end but couldn’t produce a miracle. Being 3-1 behind was too much. It was a bad result.”
A jubilant Nishino said, “We suffered in the first half as Reds showed their style of football. We could have been broken there, but our players held firm.
“We knew we had to score to advance [to the final], so I told my players to attack, and we were able to score at the right moments.”
“I suppose Urawa were hit psychologically when they gave up an away goal, and we took advantage of that. I am quite delighted that we played according to our plans,” Nishino added.