Gamba Osaka are ready to debunk the myth of goal-shy Japanese soccer after a 3-0 defeat of Adelaide United at home put them on the verge of winning their first Asian club championship.
“I wish we emerge the winners by having them say, ‘Oh, Japanese soccer is skillful,’” said Gamba midfielder Yasuhito Endo, who scored a goal and set up another in the AFC Champions League final first leg in Osaka on Wednesday.
It was “tight defense” which helped fellow J-League side Urawa Red Diamonds to last year’s title, he recalled, adding that Gamba had vowed “to pass the ball around and play a fun kind of soccer from the beginning of this year.”
PHOTO: AFP
“The 3-0 result is satisfactory, but we never know what will happen in soccer,” said Endo, who shares place kicks with Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura for a Japanese national side dogged by a perennial lack of finishing skills.
“I want to see the next match go on like the first leg,” Endo said.
Brazilian striker Lucas drew first blood in the 37th minute before setting up the second goal for Endo six minutes later.
Michihiro Yasuda added a third for the home team after 68 minutes on corner from Endo, whose freekick in the dying minutes was disallowed as striker Roni was adjudged offside. Gamba overwhelmed the bigger Australians 17-3 on goal attempts.
Gamba coach Akira Nishino warned he would insist on “our brand of attacking soccer” against Adelaide in the decisive return leg Down Under next Wednesday.
“We have won through the series by playing aggressively, hoping to show a difference from last year’s champions,” said Nishino, whose side finished off Urawa 4-2 on aggregate in the ACL semi-finals. “We will play still better with a comfortable lead.”
Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar admitted that their bid for Australia’s first Asian club title faced a “very big mountain to climb, Mount Fuji probably.”
The Reds’ task is even more difficult given the fact that Gamba has not been beaten, home or away, throughout this year’s AFC Champions League campaign.
“It’s a 3-0 deficit and it will be difficult, but stranger things have happened,” he said. “We’ll go out there and do everything we can. That’s all we can really ask for.
“They were really quick and the interchange and passing between their players was extremely good and as for us, we were a bit little timid in that first half,” Vidmar said. “Obviously they created holes in our defense with their passes and that proved very costly for us.”
Gamba’s scoring spree has crushed the defensive game of Adelaide who had given up only four goals in their previous 10 matches in the Champions League.
“We want to prepare ourselves well enough to show our style further in the away game which I am sure will be fought in tough conditions,” Nishino said.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two