Here’s one I made earlier …. for the Gamba web site….

Gamba took the wind out of Frontale’s sails and stayed in the hunt for the title.

With Antlers continuing their slump AND expected to not pull two goals back against Frontale, when they continue their rained-off match at 3-1 with 15 or so minutes to go, it’s getting interestingly tight at the top of J1…. let’s preume Frontale WILL beat Antlers 3-1… it would look like this… Antlers 50 points (goal difference +10), S-Pulse 49 (+14), Frontale 49 (+13), Gamba 46 (+12), Sanfrecce 44 (+11) and let’s throw in Albirex for good measure…. on 43 points (+12)…. if it carries on like this it could go down to the wire – although it could never be as close as three seasons back, when Konno scored for FC Tokyo on 90 minutes to take Cerezo from top to 5th in one shot….. and Gamba taking the Championship…. or could it?!!At the bottom Oita are as good as down, and most are expecting (hoping?) JEF will join them. But it’s three down this year (and no play-offs) so Reysol and Yamagata are in trouble and Vissel, Ardija, Jubilo and Sanga are still not safe…. it’s going to be a wild ride!

A quick look at the top of J1 for the “restart”!

A come-from-behind win that, in the end was well-deserved… an excellent possession-filled, chances-wasted first 30 minutes or so was spoiled with a stupid PK, a handball/elbow up in the face of a Ghana attacker at the far post. Then a long ball produced a 2nd goal as Nakazawa was caught out. Kengo Nakamura pulled one back before another long pass saw Tulio completely flat-footed and Tsuzuki in goal not knowing whether to come or not – stranded in no-man’s land because of indecision he conceded the 3rd. Then Japan pulled it all around with more excellent passing, closing down and, FINALLY, some decent finishing. Tamada scored the 2nd after Nagatomo persevered and closed a defender down, slipping a pass to Tamada for him to rifle across the keeper. Kudos to Inamoto for a pinpoint cross for Okazaki for the 3rd, and then a perfect, calm finish from 20 yards while shrugging off Essien to make it 4-3. Lots to learn from this, but confidence will be gained!

As I saw it “live”…. unedited, and ready to discard! I thought I’d post anyway, even though the disappointment is still there…..

Mark gives us the rundown on J2…. check out his Grampalog, also!After a few weeks with only a point or two separating the top four in J2, last night’s results see Cerezo and Vegalta open up a slight gap. This should ensure that both of them lose in the next round of games.Results:Consadole Sapporo 1-1 Mito Holly HockYokyo Verdy 0-2 Vegalta SendaiShonan Bellmare 1-1 Tochigi SCVentforet Kofu 1-1 Ehime FCKataller Toyama 0-1 Cerezo OsakaFagiano Okayama 2-2 Avispa FukuokaTokushima Vortis 1-1 TheSpa KusatsuSagan Tosu 2-1 Yokohama FCRoasso Kumamoto 2-5 FC GifuTop Six1 Cerezo Osaka 74 +312 Vegalta Sendai 73 +313 Shonan Bellmare 71 +254 Ventforet Kofu 71 +255 Mito Holly Hock 66 +126 Sagan Tosu 61 +11Have included Sagan on the grounds that they have been on a roll sincesigning Marinos reject Mike Havenaar. It would be nice to see them getclose enough to mount a serious challenge for a promotion place.Grampalogue IINews and views about Nagoya Grampus and football in Japan.

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