So Gamba Osaka’s ace striker Leandro Montera da Silva joins Al Sadd of Qatar for a rumoured 1,000,000,000 (10 oku – did I get the right number of zeroes there!!?)… one billion yen, basically! Pathetic how, just like in the Premier League, money drags players around and spoils the game… of course, if you’re a Gamba fan, it probably hurts even more…..Leandro’s replacement was made quick work of by Gamba Osaka, as Pedro Junior (just 22 years old) came on board within hours of Leandro hitting the airport! The former Albirex forward is not (yet) a patch on Leandro, but Nishino has worked wonders with Brazilians coming from “smaller” clubs…. just look at Araujo, Magno Alves and Bare, before Leandro. Gamba took them, molded them into matchwinners and lost them to the cash rich Arabs. It’s actually a nice little earner for Gamba Osaka – Nishino deserves a bonus!!On the other hand, football fans the world over need to be treated with a little more respect before money destroys the game completely! Time for a salary cap? More stringent contract controls? No moving during the season? etc. Think about it – let me know!While we’re at it, and just to rub salt into the wounds, here’s what newspapers were writing just one week ago: “Gamba Osaka have told Al Sadd that Leandro is not for sale after team official Hiroyasu Yamamoto revealed Wednesday the J-League club have received interest from the Qatari side. “We received a written enquiry(about Leandro yesterday asking if we would let him go. I said we wouldn’t and turned them down,” said Yamamoto.

Honda sets Holland alight !!Reports from fans in Holland show Honda to be by far the best midfield player in the league right now AND top scorer (with 5 goals in 4 matches). Further to jsoccer.com’s exclusive report last month… we now hear that SEVEN English Premier League clubs, as well as PSV Eindhoven, Ajax Amsterdam, FC Porto and CSKA Moscow are all showing interest in the player with an estimated value of 10 Mill. Euros. Good news for the Japan national team on their way to South Africa 2010?!

Yes, it’s true – finally some Japanese strikers are getting the goals after years of the foreigners topping the charts … in the run-up to the World Cup the likes of Okazaki, Maeda, Ishikawa, Sato, Watanabe et al are staking a claim for a national team place. It’s about time!12 goals – Shinji OKAZAKI Shimizu S-Pulse, Ryoichi MAEDA Jubilo Iwata, JUNINHO Kawasaki Frontale11 goals – Naohiro ISHIKAWA F.C.Tokyo, LEANDRO Gamba Osaka10 goals – Hisato SATO Sanfrecce Hiroshima, EDMILSON Urawa Reds, PEDRO JUNIOR Albirex Niigata, DAVI Nagoya Grampus9 goals – Yu HASEGAWA Montedio Yamagata, MARQUINHOS Kashima Antlers, MARCIO RICHARDES Albirex Niigata, Kazuma WATANABE Yokohama F･Marinos, CHO Jae Jin Gamba Osaka

Gamba make hay (and take points) as the four above them all lose!

Vissel derail Antlers with all-round killer performance.

Gamba finally get the victory they deserved in this encounter with their rivals. All the possession, all the shots on target but an injury time winner was all they had in the end!

1-0 VVV, beauty of a pass from Hondahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_XBWjCiHGoThen twelve minutes from time, THIS goal, a STUNNER:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3zHF3pCowICopy and paste the links if they don’t work as clickable – it’s worth it!

Beautiful Game Studios today announces that Championship ManagerTM and IMScouting have signed a strategic partnership that will enable Championship Manager to further enhance the quality and breadth of their player data.

J2 results, August 5th:Consadole Sapporo 3-0

All the possession AGAIN, yet Nagoya 2-1 Gamba!