Emperor's Cup win leads to another Osaka Derby!

Gamba squeezed through past Ossie Ardiles' Machida Zelvia who were rooted to the bottom of J2 for most of the season and find themselves in the JFL (Japan Football League) next season. Shame for Ossie, I was hoping to catch a game to see the Spurs legend but it looks like the Ardiles experiment has backfired for Machida. We knocked four past Shimizu to progress. Special mention goes to “one for the future” (ie. expect him to leave for Germany if he fulfils his potential) 17 year old Takumi Minamino with a great finish for our first and his first senior goal. In the second half Hotaru Yamaguchi made it two connecting with a nice cross from Sakemoto. Kenyu Sugimoto settled the nerves further in an open game with a good finish in off the post. Speed demon Kurata finished things off calmly when he found himself through with only the keeper to beat. The score flattered to deceive but let's see if we can knock out Gamba Suita in the next round. Exciting stuff awaits this Sunday in Nagai Stadium!

Worth watching to see a 17 year old kid's first senior goal.
The Cerezo youth system continues to produce gifted players.

Cerezo Osaka 1 - 2 Omiya Ardija

The squirrels showed more urgency in their fight to stay in J1 and deservedly came away with 3 points. Jin-Hyeon's positioning invited the first goal from a free kick as our players seemed happy enough to know that although mathematically we could still go down it's pretty unlikely. The good thing is the result leaves Gamba in the relegation zone. Today we are away to league leaders Hiroshima Sanfrecce so I'm not expecting us to come back with anything from the game but it's the J-League and Cerezo so anything is possible.

Novakovic takes advatage of Jin-Hyeon's positioning

Our recent form has earned Levir Culpi  a contract extension for next season, who will look after his Japanese restaurant in Brazil?

It wasn't raining

Victory in the Osaka Derby!

Our first home gome this season in Nagai Stadium brought our rivals from Suita into Osaka. Until Saturday we hadn't recorded a victory against them in the league for a good number of years. Although the winner came in the 94th minute we never looked like losing which was an unusual feeling! Branquinho scored the opener slotting home past the keeper after a clever sidestep past the last defender. Gamba's equaliser was fortunate as it came from a free kick that was dubious to say the least. Jin Hyeon positioned himself for an effort from Endo but Paulinho exploited the space by delivering a well placed left-footed drive to the keeper's left. Throughout the game we had the better of the chances. Ogihara in particular knocking a golden chance over the bar from a few yards out. Kempes headed home in injury time from Sakemoto's cross. Until his winner Kempes was spectacularly poor but he got the MOTM interview because of his winner. Kim Bo-Kyung was the real star performer for us this weekend always looking dangerous on the attack and dedicated when defending. Our Olympic bound defensive midfield duo tired somewhat in the 2nd half but stil put in another good shift. Kiyotake sporting his newly inherited No.8 (following Morishima and Kagawa) will be looking to do much better in the next game although he did little wrong. The new Gamba manager had to answer questions about his job security after the game as Gamba prepare for what could be one of their toughest campaigns. Cerezo fans on the other hand look to have another season of unpredictable ups and downs ahead. Vive le difference.

This flag had another huge one underneath
and two smaller ones underneath that
as a beer girl dutifully pours in the
foreground.

Gamba fans reminding us of a day back in 2005
 I can't recall exactly what happened...

Celebrating the last minute winner

A victorious post-match bow from the derby winners

Osaka derby

They had all the possession. Bo-Kyung scored a sweet goal off the inside of his left boot (don't go to Stoke!). Jin-Hyeon made a number of fine saves followed by a disappearing act for their equaliser from Sota Nakazawa within the space of a few minutes after we scored. Some of our fans were booing at the end, why? Fair enough it's a derby but the team from Suita are a level above us this season, challenging for the title for example, so I was well pleased with a draw, could've won it in fact, some of the extra thousands that turned up didn't quite get it, even though they got the uniforms and scarves etc. Anyway we're not going down. Fabio Lopes made his debut but couldn't really do much, and, I almost forgot, Gamba had a penalty shout (it was really blatant but the ref was behind the action) denied, oh well. Next stop Kashima Antlers away, three points above us, Wednesday.

The Suita team brought a big kit to a big stadium

Why don't you come to more games? And don't boo afterwards.... unless we actually deserve it.

ACL Osaka Derby did it really happen? Here's the evidence!!! Woohoo!!!

Gamba Suita 0-1 Cerezo Osaka. It was our first win for years against Gamba and perhaps (I was told) ever at Bampaku. Glorious, absolutely glorious. One of the happiest 90+ minutes I've ever had. Please enjoy the pictures from 24/5, an amazing day for everyone involved. We're in the draw for the quarter finals! Actually we're the only team from Japan left. Credit goes to Culpi for this win, his tactics and substitutions were spot on. For one day only the usually inconspicuos Daisuke Takahashi became a pink and navy god and the over confident Gamba players, fans, mascot etc. were so distraught after the defender's 90th minute strike it was truly as special as football gets if you support the only team from Osaka City. Woohoo!!!

We came, we saw, we won. 

   Winners                                               Losers    

Unforgettable!

Cerezo 3-3 Kawasaki Frontale in J1....ACL Osaka Derby next game

At Kincho Stadium (7pm on a Friday meant an attendance of less than 8000?)

We were down 0-2 at half time and up until that point were poor, our keeper let a soft goal in for the first but to be fair to Jin-Hyeon he made up for that with a couple of good saves later.

Frontale go in front, kit made by Puma so they looked a bit like Spurs, confusing (for me).

Cerezo got a fortunate, in my (even as a fan) opinion, goal from a corner. This was followed by a very good finish from our main goalscoring hope this season, Pimpao. Then Frontale, who played well, got in front again.

Cerezo 2-3 Frontale but we didn't give up

At this point we started to string together some attacks and had a few decent chances culminating in our injury time equaliser. We just about deserved the point, still worried that we can't pick up three points at home, or even be winning at home at some point during 90 minutes. Still that's football and the feel good factor of rescuing something from a game we looked like losing makes up for another Jekyll and Hyde performance. Yet another bigger worry is our next game, Osaka derby, away, to Gamba. This round of the ACL will be just one game, it's winner takes all. The winning team go through to the two-legged quarter finals.

Cerezo 4-0 Shandong Luneng followed by 1-1 away to Urawa Reds

They beat us in China but we were great in Osaka. We could have scored more, but again for some reason Shandong didn't turn up at all in Osaka. A great night for us, Shandong went down to 10 men, deservedly, they were as physical as the rules of the game would allow. We had so many chances and a good spread of goalscorers. Most importantly we got through to face...Gamba in the next round.

I4 in the rain

Shandong (or random Chinese?) supporters

A little wet and very happy

This game was followed by a trip to Urawa Reds where we drew but had 14 shots on goal and looked better in J1 than we have so far, still no three points though. Both goals were good, Kiyotake with a great finish after a one-two with Pimpao. In one of the better supported and therefore intimidating atmospheres in the J-League it was a good result for us despite the missed chances.

Asian and UEFA Champions Leagues

Cerezo 1-0 Jeonbuk. Inui played better than he has in a long time, he looked dangerous and was rewarded with the winning goal. Pimpao missed from just outside the six yard box in the second half. Jin-Hyeon made a great save one on one with Jeonbuk's most dangerous player on the night. We are looking good to progress. An unexpected bonus on the night was Gamba losing in their ACL game.

Away support, it's not like Europe.

Home support, it's like Europe

Indeed they are "mad green"

Inui and co. celebrate

I4 celebrates

The team celebrate with our mascot

Spurs on the other hand, Crouch's red card means we have little chance in the next leg, Lennon pulling out at the last minute, literally. It was painful to watch, Real had a stupid amount of shots on goal and we ran out of steam with 10 men. Di Maria with a fantastic goal (while Bale was getting treatment on the sidelines). But it has been great so far, the Real fans were chanting (in Spanish of course) "stupid" when Crouch got his marching orders and it's tough to argue with that. Our fans were superb throughout. Japan are considering, or re-considering, their decision to withdraw from the Copa America. Man U did well against Chelsea, Schalke did brilliantly against Inter after this amazing goal from Dejan Stankovic.

Osaka Derby result : Gamba 2 - 1 Cerezo

Our fans in flag waving mode

Wouldn't you know it? Adriano opened the scoring for Gamba. Uemoto gave away a penalty which Endo proceeded to miss thanks to Kim's save. Kurata, on loan from Gamba, got a fortunate deflection to level the score. Endo, who was superb apart from the penalty, ensured Gamba got the three points with a really good finish. It was closer than I expected but depsite Cerezo bringing a very large number of away supporters to Bampaku it was not to be for us.   

Gamba fans were in good voice for the derby

Endo about to have his penalty saved by Kim

A match made in Osaka

Something old...

Before we became Cerezo Osaka we were Yanmar Diesel and this was our kit

 Something new...

The J-League kicks off today!

Something borrowed...

Most of our new players this season are on loan. I was going to do a preview but instead here's a link to Ryuji Bando's thoughts on the new season from www.goal.com in English, great interview. Also 'borrowed' from the same site, here is an interesting atricle by Cesare Polenghi about the transer system in Japanese football and why it's bad for Japanese clubs. Will anything change in the near future? Finally some comments from Levir Culpi in the Japan Times following our ACL debut.

Something blue...

The Gamba kit, Endo really needs a haircut

Cerezo 2 - 1 Arema - Pimpao bags a brace on his debut!

Pimpao celebrates his second 

The I4 section of Nagai Stadium

Special guest appearance

We didn't play well. Inui set up Pimpao's header for the first goal and Pimpao also finished well from a fortunate free kick. We conceded a penalty for handball but Arema didn't play well either. Bo-Kyung Kim showed some nice touches and hit the crossbar. Perhaps I've been watching too much Premier League recently but I think we'll struggle against Gamba this Saturday if we don't improve our performance. I'm a little scared to be honest. Inui did little to remind people why he is capped at full international level despite his assist. At least Pimpao couldn't have done more, he only had two good chances and he finished them. Limping ex-Cerezo star Kagawa Shinji, now of Borussia Dortmund, gave an interview at half-time which was a nice distraction from a pretty poor game attended by just over 10000 people which was a disappointing number for our first game of the season.

Arema fans adding to the numbers while the stewards make sure there's no trouble

Two huge games - Arema is our first ACL game and the Osaka derby is our opening game in the J-League!

The tickets sold out fast for the Osaka derby (as they always do) on the opening day of the J-League season and the game before that will be the visit of Arema FC from Indonesia next month. The away game in Indonesia is during Golden Week which should see a decent number of our supporters making the trip despite the price hikes during that period. So here is some information from, wikipedia of course, about Arema and the only recent news I could find in English about them here which looks impressive. Finally please note this is the emblem of our Asian rivals. Anyone that can help with more information and/or links would be helpful!

Welcome to the jungle

Furthermore in case there are any fans coming over from Indonesia that can't read one of the three Japanese alphabets perhaps this could be useful:

This is where to find us

Waiting for the season to kick off!

Our first game will be against Gamba away with Adriano lining up for the home team. Gamba have also signed Seung-Yong Kim from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the team we face in the ACL, so perhaps they may have done us a favour? Our fixtures for the season have recently been added to the Cerezo site. We have signed a young centre-back from North Korea, Song-Gi Kim and Amaral has left the club. We also have Shu Kurata on loan from Gamba. In the last few seasons Cerezo have followed an odd pattern of being very good, then getting relegated so I'm not sure what to hope for this season. If Inui can up his game once more and remind people why he has been capped at full international level and Bo-Kyung Kim, who has returned from loan in J2 with Oita, (8 goals in 27 matches for the attacking midfielder) contributes and Pimpao scores some of those goals you can see elsewhere on this site, and Mr.Nagai steps up  we need not worry. But we are Cerezo and after the highs come the lows. Too much thinking too little football...

Lost in translation or Judas? What will our squad look like when the season starts?

Adriano has signed for Gamba. What happened there? There were rumours about this a few months ago but it seemed that he wasn't willing to make the switch back then. But... check this out. It's not Sol going to Arsenal... but it's pretty bad. Our top goalscorer last year, he got four in the last game of the season helping us get to the Asian Champions League. Although he did manage to get sent off when we were playing Gamba. Also it looks like Inui wants to follow Kagawa and Ienaga (who was on loan from Gamba) to Europe and has been linked with FC Cologne.