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NEWS
01/01/2010
Gamba retain Emperor’s Cup title
Gamba Osaka won the Emperor’s Cup for the second straight year with a 4-1 victory over Nagoya Grampus in the final at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Friday.
Brazilian forward Lucas and Takahiro Futagawa scored a goal apiece, while midfielder Yasuhito Endo struck twice for the north Osaka team.
The result means that Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who finished fourth in the J. League, qualified for the 2010 AFC Champions League. Gamba had already qualified by finishing third in the league.
“I’m so happy we won this title,” Gamba manager Akira Nishino said. “We were determined to win the Emperor’s Cup after failing to win any other title in 2009. All our players combined to win this.”
Gamba, who lost twice to Nagoya in their league encounters in 2009, scored first with Lucas slotting home a Masato Yamazaki pass in the seventh minute.
The former Asian champions came close again with attempts from Satoshi Yamaguchi and Lucas in the first quarter of the match.
But Nagoya also attacked hard and created chances through Keiji Tamada and midfielder Keiji Yoshimura. Dragan Stojkovic’s side equalized in the 41st minute when Naoshi Nakamura headed home from a Joshua Kennedy header.
After the break, Nagoya pressured their opponents and Kennedy almost got on the scoresheet with a header from a Shohei Abe cross in the 50th minute and again with a left-foot shot after being set up by Magnum in the 66th minute.
But it was Gamba who broke the deadlock in the 78th minute. Endo latched on to a fine through ball from Takahiro Futagawa, cut inside from the right, beat two Nagoya players and fired home a left-foot shot from the edge of the box.
Nagoya manager Stojkovic brought on forward Yuki Maki and midfielder Alessandro Santos, but Gamba widened their lead in the 87th minute when Futagawa connected with a good pass from Endo and fired in from 10 meters.
Endo found the target again in stoppage time after neatly controlling an Akira Kaji cross with his chest inside the box and firing home with his right foot.
Stojkovic commented: “Unfortunately we lost the game, but I’m very proud of my players and how we played today. The result is too much and some may think Gamba dominated the game, but that wasn’t the case. We controlled the game and had chances, but didn’t score.”
Asked about failing to qualify for the ACL, the Serbian manager replied: “I didn’t think too much about the ACL as I was focusing on this game, which was our objective today. We lost out on a place in the ACL, but this is life and we have to continue to work.”
Stojkovic added: “This year was very good for Grampus; we worked very hard to be here. I’m proud of my players for their efforts, their mentality and the strong character they showed. It means that we have the materials to work with next year, and this is very important for our club. I’m very optimistic for 2010.”
Gamba captain Yamaguchi said, “This is the best way to complete the season. A key element for our strength? I suppose we were just hungry to win.”
Nishino added: “We were able to win by showing our own style of football.
“We had a hard time in the second half as Nagoya cranked up the pressure, as they had to win this title to get an ACL berth. But we believed in our own brand of football and continued to play in our style, and that brought us this result.”
Nishino continued: “This is a difficult tournament to win and we won it back to back, which means a lot to us. As we have played some good football on New Year’s Day, I hope this can help develop not only our game, but also Japanese football.”
Emperor’s Cup holders Gamba will next play J. League champions Kashima Antlers in the Fuji Xerox Super Cup on February 27 (kickoff at 1:35 p.m.) at the same venue. The Fuji Xerox Super Cup serves as the curtain-raiser for the 2010 season.
In other Emperor’s Cup news, Meiji University player Hiroyuki Yamamoto was honored with the “Suruga I Dream Award.”
The new prize was introduced to the tournament to celebrate a symbolically significant goal in tournament.
Yamamoto scored as his team shocked Division One club Montedio Yamagata in the third round on October 31.
Brazilian forward Lucas and Takahiro Futagawa scored a goal apiece, while midfielder Yasuhito Endo struck twice for the north Osaka team.
The result means that Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who finished fourth in the J. League, qualified for the 2010 AFC Champions League. Gamba had already qualified by finishing third in the league.
“I’m so happy we won this title,” Gamba manager Akira Nishino said. “We were determined to win the Emperor’s Cup after failing to win any other title in 2009. All our players combined to win this.”
Gamba, who lost twice to Nagoya in their league encounters in 2009, scored first with Lucas slotting home a Masato Yamazaki pass in the seventh minute.
The former Asian champions came close again with attempts from Satoshi Yamaguchi and Lucas in the first quarter of the match.
But Nagoya also attacked hard and created chances through Keiji Tamada and midfielder Keiji Yoshimura. Dragan Stojkovic’s side equalized in the 41st minute when Naoshi Nakamura headed home from a Joshua Kennedy header.
After the break, Nagoya pressured their opponents and Kennedy almost got on the scoresheet with a header from a Shohei Abe cross in the 50th minute and again with a left-foot shot after being set up by Magnum in the 66th minute.
But it was Gamba who broke the deadlock in the 78th minute. Endo latched on to a fine through ball from Takahiro Futagawa, cut inside from the right, beat two Nagoya players and fired home a left-foot shot from the edge of the box.
Nagoya manager Stojkovic brought on forward Yuki Maki and midfielder Alessandro Santos, but Gamba widened their lead in the 87th minute when Futagawa connected with a good pass from Endo and fired in from 10 meters.
Endo found the target again in stoppage time after neatly controlling an Akira Kaji cross with his chest inside the box and firing home with his right foot.
Stojkovic commented: “Unfortunately we lost the game, but I’m very proud of my players and how we played today. The result is too much and some may think Gamba dominated the game, but that wasn’t the case. We controlled the game and had chances, but didn’t score.”
Asked about failing to qualify for the ACL, the Serbian manager replied: “I didn’t think too much about the ACL as I was focusing on this game, which was our objective today. We lost out on a place in the ACL, but this is life and we have to continue to work.”
Stojkovic added: “This year was very good for Grampus; we worked very hard to be here. I’m proud of my players for their efforts, their mentality and the strong character they showed. It means that we have the materials to work with next year, and this is very important for our club. I’m very optimistic for 2010.”
Gamba captain Yamaguchi said, “This is the best way to complete the season. A key element for our strength? I suppose we were just hungry to win.”
Nishino added: “We were able to win by showing our own style of football.
“We had a hard time in the second half as Nagoya cranked up the pressure, as they had to win this title to get an ACL berth. But we believed in our own brand of football and continued to play in our style, and that brought us this result.”
Nishino continued: “This is a difficult tournament to win and we won it back to back, which means a lot to us. As we have played some good football on New Year’s Day, I hope this can help develop not only our game, but also Japanese football.”
Emperor’s Cup holders Gamba will next play J. League champions Kashima Antlers in the Fuji Xerox Super Cup on February 27 (kickoff at 1:35 p.m.) at the same venue. The Fuji Xerox Super Cup serves as the curtain-raiser for the 2010 season.
In other Emperor’s Cup news, Meiji University player Hiroyuki Yamamoto was honored with the “Suruga I Dream Award.”
The new prize was introduced to the tournament to celebrate a symbolically significant goal in tournament.
Yamamoto scored as his team shocked Division One club Montedio Yamagata in the third round on October 31.
