Vissel take all three points on opening day!

Gamba hand the points to Nagoya … no killer instinct, too much confidence in their ability to clear the ball quickly, instead of being clever! Endo the villain again!

The story so far before the final game of the day – Gamba v. Grampus at 7 pm …. March 6th …. … Hiroshima held at home by S-Pulse with an equalizer from Omae for Shimizu in the 94th minute! Genki desu ne! (It’s Omae’s first name, sorry!!)Vegalta Sendai start their campaign with an away win at Iwata.Bellmare and Yamagata ends 1-1.FC Tokyo take out Yokohama F Marinos with an injury time 1-0 win from Hirayama.Frontale 2-1 winners at home to Albirex ….Antlers clean up with a 2-0 clean sheet against Reds.Gamba 1-2 Nagoya (see report)…Tomorrow it’s Vissel at home to Sanga and Omiya entertaining Cerezo.

2010 J.League kicks off in a matter of hours – be there with us!

The season opener had its usual controversial moment … and, as usually was not dwelled upon by the TV commentators!

CSKA Moscow were involved in a 1-1 draw 1st Leg, but Sevilla are probably confident after getting the away gaol and coming out with a draw … about Honda, the BBC said … “CSKA, playing their first game in the Champions League knock-out stages, included

Gamba gain an away point, Sanfrecce fall at home 0-1, Kawasaki fail away 0-2, and Antlers get the 1-0 win on a Koji Nakata header! Not an excellent start for Jan’s teams in the ACL, but a long way to go yet!

This was on the NHK local news yesterday, but has since made it to theNikkanSports. (Article attached at end of this message.)Gamba’s negotiations with Suita City have stalled over the City’sinsistence on receiving al of thel 13 billion yen pledged towards thebuilding of a new stadium, and that the city wants said stadium to bea ‘city facility’. As a result, Gamba are said to considering otheroptions, including a site in Takatsuki, near Ibaragi station. (Iwonder if this is the same site that is a temptingly vacant lotbetween Ibaragi and Nunobe, which would offer TWO rail options forgetting to the stadium.)Interestingly, the Suita resident I work with at Minpaku (her son is akeen footy fan and her husband works at Panasonic) says that Gamba hasalways had a close connection with Takatsuki since it has a strongerfootballing history, and a Takatsuki base would likely improveattendances. I suspect, that this ‘news’ is probably just anegotiating tactic, but it will be interesting to see what happens.Mark Grampalogue II

The East Asian Championship (formerly the Dynasty Cup) kicked off with a disappointing 0-0 draw with China, in front of a disappointing 25,000 crowd at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo.

Schedule for the tournament featuring South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Japan. A useful tune-up for the national team and a great chance for Okada to try a few more line-ups out!Saturday 6 FebruaryJapan v ChinaSunday 7 FebruarySouth Korea v Hong KongWednesday 10 FebruaryChina v South KoreaThursday 11 FebruaryJapan v Hong KongSunday 14 FebruaryHong Kong v ChinaJapan v South KoreaAll games to be held in Tokyo.