Gamba Osaka went into this game looking for the win that would kickstart a grim season so far, and must have expected a chance to put this game away, with Frontale being such low scorers up to this point. But Gamba were 1-0 down within 20 seconds of the start as, perhaps the defence were still admiring Conan the Detective, or the flowers that Nakazawa and Sasaki had received moments before to commemorate their particular milestones of J.League appearances!
The home team then began to look as if they had indeed turned up for the game and had plenty of the ball, plenty of chances but always looked in danger of being caught on the break or from a so-called set piece. And so it was indeed from a corner that Gamba went two goals down, Kobayashi left totally open and unmarked, free to nod home the second goal on the half hour mark.
Still Gamba kept their heads up and Rafinha registered goal attempts, even rounding the keeper once and going down heavily but, in fairness to the player – and the keeper, and despite the fans’ hopes, there was no appeal from the Brazilian and little or no contact from the keeper.
Gamba continued to see plenty of the ball, especially down the left and it was from that wing that the goal finally came, although it was Konno sending in the cross, after a corner was initially cleared, that fellow centre back Nakazawa headed home just before the break to make it 1-2 at half time.
Gamba started the 2nd half well but struggled to make the possession count as Frontale packed the defence as the blue and black wall of pressure advanced. Rafinha again registered goal attempts after good combination play from the likes of Terada, Kurata and Fujiharu but there was still no equaliser as the hour mark approached and the defence were almost caught out with a long ball that was tipped just around the post as Fujigaya advanced to intercept.
Gamba continued to press for goals and Futagawa replaced Terada and Abe replaced Rafinha in quick succession. Plenty of interplay and passing, especially, again, down the left finally led to a low, hard cross from the Fujiharu finding Sato, and the forward made no mistake.
Jungya Kim then came on for Kurata as the final card was played by coach Matsunami, with Endo being pushed forward to supply more creativity, Kim taking over a defensive midfield role. And the changes soon took effect as Abe scored his first league goal for the club as Gamba Osaka took the 3-2 lead with six minutes on the clock. Kaji advance inside from the right wing and sent a low cross back at an angle and Abe opened his body up and side-footed the ball home with ease for what turned out to be the winning goal!
The noise levels rose around the ground as Gamba tried to hold on to a lead for the first time this season – yes, it was the first time in J1 2012 that Gamba had been in front – but it was, finally, Gamba’s day, or night, actually, and the 4 minutes of added time were long and nerve-wracking but the score remained Gamba Osaka 3-2 Kawasaki Frontale.
With Sato and Abe on the scoresheet, and Takei, Kurata, Fujihara and Terada playing a large part in the result, it was encouraging for the future of this young team that they could finally get a win. Confidence will grow!

Gamba Osaka: Fujigaya, Kaji, Nakazawa, Konno, Fujiharu, Takei, Endo, Kurata (Kim, 77), Terada (Futagawa, 59), Sato, Rafinha (Abe, 67).

This dire game, played in very wet conditions, rarely came to life: Nakamura hit the bar from a first half free kick but not a lot else happened in that half, it was down to a piece of magic from Yuji Ono to open the scoring with a super curling strike into the far corner from the angle of the penalty area in the 53rd minute. Hasegawa got the 1-1 goal in the 83rd minute after coming on as sub. Both teams looked likely relegation candidates on this display! Marinos look set to follow Gamba Osaka and Kawasaki Frontale and make an early change in coach soon!?

The home team were ahead as early as 3 minutes as Fujimoto threaded a pass through the defence for Kanazaki to slot past the keeper. Grampus were 2-0 up on 15 minutes when an Abe cross was turned in by a defender for an own goal. Tamada added the 3rd goal with 14 minutes to go, after good quick passing from Nagai and Kanazaki found him space to put it past the keeper from close range.
Sapporo got a lucky consolation goal in the final minute of regulation time when Furuta’s 20 yard effort took a wicked deflection to leave Narazaki helpless in the Grampus goal.

Vissel started this game – in very wet conditions – knowing that they has taken maximum points away at Reds in the last two seasons, and were hoping for more of the same to kickstart their season after three losses in a row had derailed the good start of opening the season with two wins.
The opening stages were dominated by Vissel and Okubo saw a superb mid-range shot rocket off the bar after a counter-attack in the 9th minute, but the teams remained scoreless at the break. Yuki Abe broke the deadlock shortly after the restart with a left footed half volley after the ball fell to him from a Kashiwagi corner in the 53rd minute.
Reds almost went further ahead in the 63rd minute as Marcio Richardes hit the post from ten yards out, the rebound falling for Kashiwagi who was denied by Tokushige in the Vissel goal.
But it was indeed Marcio Richardes who made it 2-0 in the 77th minute after Takagi had mis-timed a tackle and given away an inviting free kick that the Reds’ Brazilian obligingly curled into Tokushige’s right hand top corner as the keeper did his best to get across his goal.
And so Vissel made it five losses in a row, including a Nabisco Cup defeat in Kashima, but there are good signs in the team and things are coming together, even if results are not, yet, going the way of the team in crimson.

The away team took the lead on a bullet header at the back post as Cho piled into a Komano corner kick in the 12th minute. That seemed to be the only chance Jubilo had all half, but they took it! It seemed as if it would be the only goal before the break but Takagi had other ideas and latched onto a long Kawai cross from the right, eluding the defenders and heading home from 12 yards out to make it 1-1 at half time. Three minutes into the 2nd half Takagi turned supplier as he curled in a cross that Genki Omae managed to get on the end of, his diving header giving the keeper no chance! And it was Omae again with just a few minutes on the clock who made the game safe after a mazy run ended with him poking the ball home as he fell.
Kosuke Yamamoto pulled one back for Jubilo in the 94th minute but it was too late to do any good and S-Pulse remained unbeaten in a home Shizuoka Derby for the 9th year!

The 3rd placed team took on the cellar-dwelling Antlers looking to put another nail in the coffin of the Kashima giants, but it was not to be today! FC Tokyo lost keeper Gonda around the 30 minute mark as he collected a through ball aimed at Koroki, the Kashima forward sliding in and colliding with the young keeper. He was replaced by Shiota, and Tokyo fans, as well as Japan Olympic fans will be hoping the injury is nothing serious. Shiota soon made his mark, denying that same forward five minutes later and the game remained scoreless at the break.
Kashima finally took the lead in the 66th minute as Endo intercepted some lazy passing on the Tokyo left wing and broke fast. He found Osaka on the right side of the area and he in turn slid the ball across to a free Koroki who dinked the ball over the Tokyo keeper for the lead.
FC Tokyo found the equaliser in the 85th minute when, for the second time in the game – and for the second time he was wrong – the referee decided that a keeper had picked up a back pass. Tanabe blasted the ball home at the third attempt as the ball ricocheted around the six yard box after the free kick was taken.
Kashima got their first win of the season in injury time when a Juninho shot was parried by the keeper but only into the path of Endo, who controlled the ball and blasted it into the empty net.

The top team visiting the reigning champions was always going to be a game to see, and so it turned out. An early advantage went the away team’s way when Kondo scored with a bullet header from a corner in the opening minutes. They could have been 2-0 ahead just before the half hour mark as Wilson advanced in from the right wing but his cross was just behind the unmarked Akamine and the score remained 1-0 to Sendai at the break.
Reysol finally equalized in the 55th minute as Leandro Domingues sent home a free kick with the keeper still preparing himself, the balding Brazilian taking advantage of a lack of concentration from the Sendai defence. But Vegalta were ahead again within a minute after good work from Wilson found Sekiguchi unmarked in the penalty area and he managed to slot the ball home despite the close attention of the keeper.
But, once again the leaders of J1 failed to hold onto the lead, this time the follically-failing Leandro Domingues turning back a deep cross that the defence had left to go out, the ball finding its way through keeper Hayashi’s legs at the post to make it 2-2 in the 66th minute. But Sendai managed to grab the lead for the third time in the 78th minute, Akamine turning in a right wing cross from close range and the points were Vegalta’s!
Leandro Domingues got two yellow cards in the game but TV highlights completely ignored the fact so you’ll have to take my word for it! NHK, PLEASE give us a little more detail!

Sure, it’s only after 2 games, but ….

The top 4 in J1:
1     Vegalta Sendai     6pts     +3
2     Vissel Kobe     6pts     +2
3     F.C.Tokyo     6pts     +2
4     Kawasaki Frontale    6pts     +2

The bottom 4 in J1:
15     Yokohama F.Marinos     1 pt.     -2
16     Gamba Osaka     0 pts    -2
17     Albirex Niigata     0 pts      -2
18     Kashima Antlers     0 pts  -2

<a href=”https://www.facebook.com/JSoccerMagazine”>Discuss on Facebook</a> and Twitter – @JSoccerMagazine …. will it stay that way? Are Vegalta, Vissel, Tokyo, Frontale that good this season? Are Antlers, Gamba, Marinos, Albirex that bad?

It’s going to be a great season, join in!

Kashima Antlers 0-1 Kawasaki Frontale / 鹿島 0 – 1 川崎Ｆ
Urawa Reds 1-0 Kashima Antlers / 浦和 1 – 0 柏
Yokohama F.Marinos 0-2 Vegalta Sendai / 横浜FM 0 – 2 仙台
Albirex Niigata 1-2 Omiya Ardija / 新潟 1 – 2 大宮
Cerezo Osaka 2-1 Gamba Osaka / Ｃ大阪 2 – 1 Ｇ大阪
Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 Sanfrecce Hiroshima / 清水 2 – 1 広島
Jubilo Iwata 2-1 Sagan Tosu / 磐田 2 – 1 鳥栖
Vissel Kobe 2-1 Consadole Sapporo / 神戸 2 – 1 札幌
FC Tokyo 3-2 Nagoya Grampus / Ｆ東京 3 – 2 名古屋

Vegalta Sendai 1-0 Kashima Antlers
Sendai rode the wave of emotion one year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 to a one goal home win over a hapless Kashima. Osako tested Sendai keeper Hayashi from an Ogasawara free kick but it was 0-0 at half time, Sendai taking their lead from a deep corner headed back across goal, by Akamine, for Uemoto to score on his Sendai debut, heading home the returned corner to give the home team the points.
Antlers almost got back into it when a super glancing header by Juninho was kept out by the outstretched leg of Hayashi but it was Sendai’s day.

Consadole Sapporo 0-0 Jubilo Iwata
It took until the 2nd half for this game to wake up when Jubilo, and in particular, Komano caused problems for the home team defense, but spurned the few chances they had. Injury time saw a PK turned down for Consadole and a Komano cross to Maeda headed straight at the keeper – there was never going to be a goal in this game!!

Gamba Osaka 2-3 Vissel Kobe
Could Vissel be this year’s Gamba Osaka? Scoring plenty of goals but conceding them in shedloads? Vissel scored three, and coud have had more, while Gamba scored two goals on snapshots from Paulinho and Rafinha, while looking dire for the rest of the game. Vissel opened the scoring in the 17th minute when a Soma cross from the left fell to Nozawa at the far post. He miscontrolled, almost fell over, and finally managed to get in a weak shot which found the net via Okubo’s shin. Right place right time!
Gamba equalized in the 34th minuteout of nothing when Paulinho s given a little space 25 yards out and hit a blistering left foot drive into the far corner.
On the hour mark, a Nozawa corner was headed on by Kitamoto and Ashimoto bundled it home for a goal against his old club. With 14 minutes to go Vissel sealed it with the 3rd goal, a Nozawa free kick was headed goalward, Fujigaya making the point blank save, but the ball went straight to the head of right place, right time Okubo and h the keeper could do nothing about the follow-up header and Okubo went t the top of the scoring charts on the first day of the season.
Rafinha pulled a goal back in injur time and Gamba suddenly woke up and piled on pressure for a final minute as the crowd noise level rose in hope, but Vissel held on for the points.
“We scored two goals from set plays last season”, said Vissel coach Wada, “we equalled that already this season.”
With Nozawa in charge, there will be more!

Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-0 Urawa Reds
Hisato Sato broke the deadlock with the only goal of this game in the 49th minute. Reds entered the game with a 3-2-2-2-1 formation, utilizing Abe as the central lynchpin of a back three. Kashiwagi and Suzuki were employed as defensive midfielders., Reds coach Petrovic using a similar system with Sanfrecce in the preceding seasons. Petrovic and Makino were returning “home” today, but they did not find the welcome they would have liked!
The deciding goal came after Reds keeper Kato had kept the Sanfrecce striker out earlier and denied Ishihara from a Mikic cross this time, too, but the ball fell for Sato to strike home from yards out and Sanfrecce took the points, despite Makino almost stealing an equalizer with an injury time header.

Omiya Ardija 0-1 FC Tokyo
Omiya were all over the game, with Cho Yeong Cheol, in paricular, creating time and space often, but Omiya spurned chances, or, rather, Gonda in the FC Tokyo goal denied the home team – regularly! Nozawa should have done better with FC Tokyo’s only real chance of the half but the game went in 0-0 at the break. Rafael was denied again by Gonda early in the 2nd half before Lucas scored his classic just after the hour. The goal was a perfect execution of a set-up with the first touch and a controlled shot with the 2nd. If Thierry Henry or Dennis Bergkamp had scored this goal it would be all over YouTube and world TV within hours! A classic goal, from a classy player that deserved the three points all on it’s own.

Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 Albirex Niigata
Two teams tipped to struggle this season fought out an early relegation battle! Renato’s 10th minute inswinging free kick beat almost everyone, flying into the far corner of the net from the top of Saneto’s head for Frontale to take the lead. Renato came close with another free kick saved low and to the right of the keeper in the 2nd half and Komatsu hit the bar before Niigata almost got back in the game with a late goalmouth scramble, but the home team held on for their first win of what will be a long campaign.

Sagan Tosu 0-0 Cerezo Osaka
Sagan gained their first point, if not their first goal in the top flight of Japanese football, holding off Cerezo Osaka for the home draw. Kiyotake had the ball in the net off a super control and finish in the 22nd minute, but was called offside. Tosu’s Ikeda forced a near post save from the Cerezo keeper in the 65th minute, while Kim hit the crossbar from a free kick for the away team. Cerezo almost took the points in added time but Akahoshi in the Sagan goal pulled off a super save to ensure that first J1 point for again Tosu.

Nagoya Grampus 1-0 Shimizu S-Pulse
Goalkeepers Narazaki (Nagoya) and Hayashi (S-Pulse) frustrated strikers on the few chances that this game threw up, the only goal coming from a debatable penalty kick dispatched by Josh Kennedy – no change there!

Kashiwa Reysol v. Yokohama F. Marinos, Sunday March 10th.