Cerezo Osaka 2 - 2 Gamba Suita

Expectations were really high for this game which is one reason for the booing at the end from our fans but you have to give credit to Gamba and wonder why some fans thought this would be easy. This didn't help! Popovic lost patience with Jin-Hyeon's erratic keeping in this game and he was subbed after an hour. I don't think I've ever seen a keeper subbed because of their performance before but Takeda,signed as a backup this year, pulled off a great save towards the end of the match to keep things level. Wednesday's game against Pohang is a must win and it looks like Jin-Hyeon won't be starting. A crowd of 42723 (our third highest attendance ever) saw a brace each from Abe and Forlan. I have no complaints about the result, and it was a good game to watch, but we could do with more support during the game, Gamba fans were great throughout, and no booing after the game, did the players really deserve that today?

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Amazing 3 - 3 draw at the renamed Noevir Stadium in Kobe

Kobe play in J2 this year which means no away trip with Cerezo to their lovely stadium and my usual pre-match trip to the Hobgoblin pub, Chinatown and the German beer and currywurst shop. As J2 games are held on Sunday (when an English breakfast is 999yen) I went down and saw a marvellous comeback from Fagiano Okayama as they scored 3 in the space of 10 minutes with the last coming in injury time to leave Kobe still leading J2 but their fans slightly miffed (there were boos at the final whistle). Fagiano is the Italian for pheasant in case you were wondering about Okayama's name. Noevir is a make-up company as the stadium has it's third sponsorship change in as many years. This is one that builds on the great women's team INAC Kobe Lionessa which features many of the national team players. Fans that made the trip were given a free sample of face cream. Kobe will welcome Gamba Suita at the Noevir for their Golden Week Kansai Derby.

The flag waving didn't put off the penalty taker although finally the Okayama fans went home happy