Nagoya Grampus 3 - 0 FC Gifu (ht 1-0)
Unfortunately for Gifu they couldn't reap the financial rewards by toppling rivals Nagoya Grampus over the weekend, but the loss brought to the end a proud season by the boys in mouldy green.
About 2000 Gifu supporters came to watch the game on a cold Nagoya afternoon, but they were soon humbled when Nagoya utterly dominated the opening 20 minutes of the game. Gifu gradually began to find their feet and the game evened up over the following 20 minutes with both teams having their chances. Gifu came close but it was Grampus who struck first when Kennedy headed into the goal just a minute before half time.
That goal was crucial for the outcome of the game. The general feeling around was that if Gifu could sneak in the first goal, then they could probably hold out for a tight victory. If it was Nagoya who struck first though, the floodgates would probably open.
And sure enough they did, with Kennedy knocking in another two to take a hat-trick out of the game.
Gifu had a few chances, and one disallowed goal, but this one was Nagoya's. They deserved this victory. There passing interplay, ball retention, and defense was superior.
So Gifu have to wait til next years Kisogawa Derby for their chance for revenge, and if nothing else, a goal would be nice!
Gifu can hold their heads high though. A Best 8 finish in the Emperor's Cup, with victorys over Tochigi SC, Matsumoto Yamaga FC and JEF Chiba, is a proud accomplishment for the club, especially considering the experience of the players and the financial problems of the club.
End of season review to come in 2010!
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3 comments:
お疲れ様でした！！！
めっちゃ長いシーズンなんので、Richy本当にありがとうございました。
また今度MeadowでFC岐阜を応援しましょう。その前いつか飲みに行こうね。
良いお年を
Steve
Hey Richy
As ever, top blog sir. It was a disappointing, if not predictable loss at Mizuho last week. Still it shouldn't detract from what has been a good season at Nagaragawa.
With the inclusion of New Wave Kitakyushu, it is going to be home and away 38 game season next year. With Gifu moving to the small Nagara Meadow, how do you think the fall in gate receipts etc will affect us? I'm not particularly optimistic about that side of things.
Also, I may have missed it, but who will be coaching the greens next season? And (last question, I promise!) Do you think that Koichi Sato will still be at Gifu next year? He had a pretty good year this year, 16 league goals is a pretty good return, and I'm wondering if any other teams might be sniffing around him. Other examples are Ken Tokura from Kusatsu moving to Vissel next year, and Ehime's Uchimura moving north to Consadole.
Once again, great blog mate
Righto guys,
Im off to NZ for a few weeks of summer.. have a good new years eh!
I just read that Kazumasa Takagi has been loaned out to Tochigi SC for 2010... hmmm... we need a replacement for him next year...
Steve:
Cheers. Was good to get to an away game with you this year mate, home games too. It will be cool if youre still around next year too so that we can hit a few games again!
But yeah, we gotta head out for a drink before the season starts and sort things out!!
ありがとうね、一緒に戦って、いい一年だった！
こちらこそ、お疲れ様でした！
Stuart: Were you at the Emperors Cup game against Grampus??
Yeah, so next year will be 38 games with Gilavantz (spell?) Kyuushuu joining for 2010. Don't know why they changed their name but...
Yeah its gonna be tough for Gifu. Smaller venue meaning less spectators and less games. I heard that the prices will be going up for next year. The season ticket went from 21000yen for members last year, to 32500yen this year! Quite a jump, but I guess it has to be done for next year really. They need to make money somewhere. I guess thats why theyre also loaning out Takagi.
Hopefully if we can get that all important jersey sponsor for next year (the current one is only for two months) then that will even things up a bit.
With good mangement we could come out even, but I dont know how we're going to pay off our 50 million yen loan, or our other 36 million yen debt.
Even with contributions like the "youMe" donations which were over 12 million yen this year, the future looks grim.
Koichi Sato, I better knock on some wood, but I think he'll be around for one more season, if he has another successful year though he'll probably be off to greener pastures.. and its hard to blame him with his wage at the moment.
The new manager is Yasuharu Kurata who was in the Japan National Team in 1986 and has been the head coach for Avispa Fukuoka and last year Vissel Kobe. Hes got pretty good rapps from Fukuoka supporters but hasn't been a manager at this level before so it will interesting to see how it all goes.
Anyway, gotta cruise. Peace out guys. See ya all in 2010!!
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