Let me take you back to the final game of the 2005 J1 (single stage, thankfully) season … with less than a minute to go in normal time at Nagai Stadium, Cerezo were top of the league and cruising towards a J1 title, leading FC Tokyo 2-1.

The table looked like this as we went into the final 90 minutes:

1 Cerezo Osaka 58 pts GD +8
2 Gamba Osaka 57 pts GD +22
3 Urawa Reds 56 pts GD +24
4 Kashima Antlers 56 pts GD +18
5 JEF United 56 pts GD +13

Going into the final day both Cerezo and Gamba in Osaka, Urawa Reds, JEF United AND Kashima Antlers ALL still had a chance to win the league!

I personally watched a guy in a suit put on his white gloves and take out the (a) J1 trophy from a box, place it on a display pedestal and begin decorating it with pink ribbons. Holding a press pass I was able to be pitch-side as the game approached its conclusion. 1988 was the year I first watched Matsushita Denki, “chosen” as they were the closest team to my new home in Kobe at the time – I VERY much believe in supporting your local team. So, as a long-term Gamba Osaka watcher it was with mixed feelings that I was also watching as a long-term J.League writer – someone who SHOULD be neutral – and seeing Cerezo Osaka about to pick up the trophy. On the field were some friends – some of whom I am still in touch with on a regular basis, including Hiroaki Morishima – still at Cerezo as a team Ambassador.

There were 43,927 packed into the stadium on a bright, sunny day of 12 degrees C. The referee was Toru Kamikawa, and he had signaled that the game was going into additional time.

I looked at the clock, I looked at the trophy and … well, let’s go back a little!

Gamba Osaka had gone ahead 3-2 at Kawasaki Frontale through a Yashito Endo penalty kick with 11 minutes to go. Meanwhile Kashima Antlers were cruising against Kashiwa Reysol, but were not going to become champions unless both Osaka teams lost.

Cerezo had gone ahead through Akinori Nishizawa, before conceding an equaliser to Norio Suzuki and it was level at the break.

Nishizawa scored his second and put Cerezo on top of J1 in the 48th minute … and so back to what I was looking at with seconds to go in the season.

… an FC Tokyo corner in the 90th minute came across. The shot was well-saved by Motohiro Yoshida in the Cerezo goal. The “second ball” fell to Konno who hit it on the bounce, his left foot shot finding its way through a forest of legs to make the score 2-2 and, with one swing of a leg Cerezo dropped from 1st to 5th and Gamba – who eventually won 4-2 at Frontale – were champions.

I looked at the stadium clock as the ball went in – 89 minutes 57 seconds – and then I looked at the man in the suit who had put his white gloves back on and put the trophy back in the box!

Later that night the party arrived at Banpaku…

Beer was sprayed, my shirt was signed, and I still have the “parka” 8and the signed shirt) from that night!

I’ll be in Tokushima tomorrow, looking forward to another waste of beer! But there’ll be no enumeration of as yet unborn poultry … a win and the J1 Championship is Gamba’s. Period. But a draw or a loss, and that man in the suit, wearing the white gloves may yet be cursing his luck again!

How it ended:

1 Gamba Osaka 60 pts GD +24
2 Urawa Reds 59 pts GD +28
3 Kashima Antlers 59 pts GD +22
4 JEF United 59 pts GD +14
5 Cerezo Osaka 59 pts GD +8