NEWS

Gamba Osaka midfielder Yasuhito Endo scored the only goal of the game as the Asian champions beat Adelaide United 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008 presented by Toyota on Sunday night.

Gamba will meet European champions Manchester United in the semifinals on Thursday night at International Stadium Yokohama.
“I’d like compliment our players for getting a win in such a tough tournament as this,” Gamba manager Akira Nishino said.
Gamba, who beat Adelaide 3-0 at home and 2-0 away in the AFC Champions League final last month, faced strong resistance from the A-League club in front of 38,141 fans at Toyota Stadium in Aichi Prefecture.
Travis Dodd had a chance in the 14th minute when he broke on a counterattack, but his shot went wide.
Gamba has a setback in the 20th minute when midfielder Hayato Sasaki picked up a leg injury and had to leave the pitch on a stretcher, forcing Nishino into making an early substitution. The Gamba boss changed his formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-2-2-2, which allowed his team to move more freely in attack.
The goal came in the 23rd minute. Substitute forward Ryuji Bando held off two defenders to head down a lobbed ball from Takahiro Futagawa to Endo, who stayed calm and sent a low shot through the legs of Adelaide goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic.
Adelaide came close to equalizing when Dodd hit the bar shortly before halftime.
After the break, Gamba took the initiative and could have widened their lead with attempts from Endo, Bando and Lucas. In the 75th minute, Lucas, who scored three goals against the Aussies in the two-leg ACL final, had a chance with a shot off an Endo pass, but Galekovic reacted well.
Adelaide launched a late attack in a last-ditch attempt to pull the goal back, and Osama Malik, Robert Younis and Dodd all had chances, but their shots missed the target.
Adelaide manager Aurelio Vidmar said, “We played a very, very good game tonight. Probably, we deserved a little bit more out of the game than we got.”
Vidmar said he was pleased with the improvement of his team from the ACL final.
“Certainly in terms of playing – how a game should be played and the tempo of the game should be played – it was a big improvement from our team tonight,” he added.
Endo commented: “I thought they were not the same team from the previous two matches. They seemed to have better shape and moved more. I’m glad we won.”
“It was tougher than I expected,” Nishino said. “Adelaide came out to pressure us and negate the good parts of our game. But Endo showed we can create chances by escaping their pressure, and that helped make things easier for us. Our players played hard throughout and controlled the game well.”
Asked about his side’s next game, Nishino replied: “Because of injuries to our players, we’re going to be less powerful. I don’t think they will be available and I cannot make our plan at the moment. But we will savor this victory and move on to Yokohama to prepare for the next game.”