Gamba Osaka (J1) 5-2 (1st 3-2, 2nd 2-0) Shimizu S-Pulse (J1)

The 94th Emperor’s Cup entered its semi-finals phase on 26 November: Gamba Osaka (J1) beat Shimizu S-Pulse (J1) 5-2 at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo, and Jef United Chiba (J2) edged Montedio Yamagata (J2) 3-2 at Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Osaka. The winners advanced to the final to be held on 13 December at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama.

In their first final match appearance since the 92nd Cup in 2012, Gamba Osaka eye for the fourth crown in their club history including the former Matsushita Denki era. Yamagata, on the other hand, made the first-ever Emperor’s Cup berth since the team were established.

Gamba Osaka, winning the J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup and stalking leaders Urawa Reds by two points for the league title, got off to a good start with two goals in the first 14 minutes. In the 9th minute, after forward Patric laid off a pass up front, Usami Takashi blasted a right-footed shot for his first goal since 9 October to open the score. Four minutes later, Patric headed in a left corner kick from midfielder Endo Yasuhiro to double the lead.

Shimizu started their come-back attempt with debutant forward Kagami Sho’s goal in the 20th minute. In the 24th, midfielder Takagi Yoshiaki scored an equaliser after he received a pass from midfielder Murata Kazuya. After the two goals, Shimizu kept the pitch wide and started to attack with crisp passing, yet in the 37th, Gamba went in front again with Patric’s header to make it 3-2.

After Gamba sent in forward Lins from the start of the second half, they took back their attacking rhythm as Usami and midfielder Konno Yasuyuki threatened the opponents’ goal. In the 72nd minute, Usami skilfully chipped Patric pass over opposing goalkeeper to give his side a 4-2 lead.

Shimizu’s Takagi struck a shot on a counter-attack in the 77th minute but denied by a post.
In the 85th minute, when Gamba’s substitute forward Sato Akihiro intercepted an opposing pass and attacked forward, Lins put it from middle distance into the net for their fifth goal of the match.

See the match detail here

Comments

HASEGAWA Kenta, Head Coach (Gamba Osaka)
I selected 18-man squad who can fight out to get through to the final. I’m glad we won the game in 90 minutes. We lost two goals after we scored two goals. In that tough match, we were able to take a lead and enter the second half. We kept concentration in the second half and eventually won the game with go-ahead goals in 90 minutes even though we had some spell to defend against Shimizu’s attack. That proves how tough our players are. I was feeling that we needed to be a strong team in a different way, so it’s great that we won the semi-final. Usami got goals after a long goal drought. I hope he starts taking it easy again and going with the flow. For the upcoming league game, we may get physically tired, but with the victory I think we can ease mental fatigue. It’s going to be the final game at home, so we all will work together to come with a good result until the end.

Patric (Gamba Osaka)
Gamba have a history and always need to win. As one of their members, I wanted to contribute to the win, so I’m happy to do so. (Why I’ve got a good result is that) I think I work on regular training with great concentration, absorb what my coach says and actually play that way even during training. Talking about the two assists to Usami, it’s good if he can get confident through the goals. And that can prove our up front combination is good. We will keep it up to get the title. Getting three crowns is not easy, but I have it in mind and I’m confident.

USAMI Takashi (Gamba Osaka)
I was able to get relaxed and play my game because of the first goal. The second goal came out with that ball touch also because I got the first goal. I wanted a goal in any way. It’s just one number added, but that made me relieved. I haven’t looked at the three crowns yet. Urawa are still above us in the league table. I’ll focus on it if we win next.

OENOKI Katsumi, Head Coach (Shimizu S-Pulse)
The early goals affected the game flow until the end. After the two goals, we came back in the way we were trying to get and players worked hard then. But we gave up three goals because of our mistakes. That’s what we need to take a look at. Mistakes are part of football, but we cannot win unless we lessen mistakes. If we let down our guard against opponents who have lots of players knowing how to play football just like Gamba, that results in conceding a goal. I played young players to focus on putting pressure on the ball, and when we were successful in doing that, we had our pace. But when we weren’t, we allowed opponents to attack and lost to their high header on set pieces. Because we were aiming at the final, the game was very disappointing. Anyway, we need to refresh our mind to get prepared for the league match.

TAKAGI Yoshiaki（Shimizu S-Pulse）
This is nothing but disappointing result for losing the game. Some players were the ones who rarely play in regular season but we had a good combination on the pitch. Personally I could show good performance and demonstrated what individual player can do. But I wish I could play help the team for creating more scoring chances.

Final

The 94th Emperor's Cup

Saturday  5 July to Saturday 13 December 2014
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