Match Reports

01/03/2014 – J1: Match Day 1 – Gamba Osaka 0-1 Urawa Reds
With over 18,000 people turning up for the opening game of the season, our return to J1 ended in a disappointing 1-0 defeat that saw hated rivals walk away with all 3 points, and unfortunately deservedly so on the balance of things

08/03/2014 – J1: Match Day 2 – Albirex Niigata 0-2 Gamba Osaka
Our first away trip of the season yielded our first win of the season as Gamba took down Albirex Niigata 2-0 at the Big Swan in front of a crowd of 22,931 people. This meant that we earned our first victory in J1 since a 3-1 victory over Shimizu S-Pulse back on the 17th November 2012. This also ended Albirex’s run of 9 home victories in a row in the league. Character.

15/03/2014 – J1: Match Day 3 – Vegalta Sendai 0-0 Gamba Osaka
Another away trip yielded another clean sheet and an invaluable point as we struggled to a 0-0 draw at the Yurtec Stadium in Sendai, in front of 13,380 fans. The game will be remembered for us having a solitary shot throughout the 90 minutes.

19/03/2014 – Nabisco Cup: Match Day 1 – Gamba Osaka 2-0 Vissel Kobe
Despite not being able to watch the game, Gamba did not disappoint today as we apparently eased to a 2-0 win over Kansai rivals Vissel Kobe in front of 8,378 fans who had braved the cold for this midweek match.

23/03/2014 – J1: Match Day 4 – Gamba Osaka 1-1 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
In front of a strong crowd of 18,301, Gamba did not disappoint  and were rather marvellous as we attained a draw against current J1 champions Sanfrecce  Hiroshima at Banpaku. To say we will feel deflated by some diving and poor refereeing that cost us a deserved win is an understatement as we were superb. But we will get onto that later.

29/03/2014 – J1: Match Day 5 – Sagan Tosu 2-0 Gamba Osaka
Tosu was a wet and horrible place on Saturday night as Gamba slumped to our second defeat of the season, going down 2-0 to hosts Sagan Tosu. It was probably a result that we did not fully deserve but defensive lapses and a bit of impotence up front cut us short of taking at least a point back to Osaka. The majority of the 12,115 rain-drenched fans went home happy.

02/04/2014 – Nabisco Cup: Match Day 2 – Shimizu S-Pulse 1-0 Gamba Osaka
A superb second half performance and an all-round comfortable showing did not prevent us from falling to our first defeat of the Nabisco Cup campaign at the hands of Shimizu S-Pulse in front of 8,033 people at Nihondaira.

06/04/2014 – J1: Match Day 6 – Gamba Osaka 0-2 Kashima Antlers
Another disappointing day in the league as we succumbed to our second 2-0 defeat in a row at early pace-setters Kashima Antlers at Banpaku in front of 12,899 spectators. Our lack of a finishing touch up front and a lack of solid leadership at centre-back was the difference between the two sides on this day.

12/04/2014 – J1: Match Day 7 – Cerezo Osaka 2-2 Gamba Osaka
A thrilling derby saw both sides take a point each after each took and squandered the lead in front of a packed Nagai Stadium holding 42,723 spectators and even though we were the away side, you would have been forgiven to think that The Pigs have no real fans and we were at home. Both teams will claim that they should have won and a draw was probably the right result.

16/04/2014 – Nabisco Cup: Match Day 3 – Sagan Tosu 0-2 Gamba Osaka
Our 3rd win of the season in all competitions came in Tosu as we downed hosts Sagan Tosu 2-0 to make it 2 wins from 3 games in the Nabisco Cup to put our qualifying campaign back on track. 4,972 people turned up for the midweek game which saw us take our first victory from Tosu in the professional football era.

19/04/2014 – J1: Match Day 8 – Gamba Osaka 2-1 Omiya Ardija
We finally won at Banpaku in J1 for the first time since our 7-2 defeat of Consadole Sapporo on 25th August 2012. The game was a rather dull one until the final 10 minutes suddenly produced the goods, with us Gamba fans going through elation, tears and elation once more within the space of 5 minutes in front of a crowd of 11,059 people.

26/04/2014 – J1: Match Day 9 – Kawasaki Frontale 2-1 Gamba Osaka
A late goal by the hosts saw us crash to our 4th league defeat of the season after a decent display against a tough Kawasaki Frontale team at Todoroki in front of 19,164 spectators. The defeat was perhaps overshadowed by a shocking injury and big return for our travelling team.

29/04/2014 – J1: Match Day 10 – Gamba Osaka 1-2 Kashiwa Reysol
The scoreline does not say it all as Kashiwa Reysol easily attained all 3 points from us in front of a bumper holiday crowd of 16,845 people who saw a lacklustre, heartless and mistake-filled 90 minute performance from Gamba that saw the atmosphere change to that of 2012 for the first time since we were promoted to J1.

03/05/2014 – J1: Match Day 11 – Yokohama F.Marinos 2-0 Gamba Osaka
We slumped to our third league defeat in a row as poor finishing and slack defending allowed hosts Yokohama F.Marinos take a vital 2-0 win in front of a bumper crowd of 35,550 people which saw the hosts edge further away from the relegation battle whilst putting us right in the thick of it.

06/05/2014 – J1: Match Day 12 – Gamba Osaka 3-0 Tokushima Vortis
We ended our 3 match losing streak by somewhat comfortably beating bottom-placed Tokushima Vortis at Banpaku in front of 12,654 paying fans that saw Gamba’s first home clean sheet in J1 since November 2011 in a win over Vegalta Sendai. The win moved us out of the bottom three and saw two players net their first goals of the season.

10/05/2014 – J1: Match Day 13 – Nagoya Grampus 1-2 Gamba Osaka
Two wins in a row for the first time this season in the league welcomed us after what appeared to be an excellent victory over Nagoya Grampus at the Toyota Stadium in front of 20,781 fans. Nothing like the 5-0 win last time out there but superb nonetheless – just a real shame there was not a single stream to watch the game, but a long highlights video on YouTube is the saviour!

17/05/2014 – J1: Match Day 14 – FC Tokyo 3-0 Gamba Osaka
Our biggest and by far worst defeat of the season thus far happen in front of a 26,485 strong crowd at Ajinomoto Stadium as FC Tokyo’s blistering start was too much for us to handle as we slumped back into the relegation zone as we reached the World Cup break for the league campaign.

21/05/2014 to 28/05/214 – Nabisco Cup: Match Days 4-6
Gamba secured top spot in Group A in the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup to end the first half of the season in higher spirits after taking 2 wins and 1 defeat in the final three group matches. We were joined by Kansai rivals Vissel Kobe in the quarter-final draw as both teams finished on 12 points.

12/07/2014 – Emperor’s Cup: Round 2 – Gamba Osaka 5-1 Zweigen Kanazawa
We eased into the 3rd round of the Emperor’s Cup after the mid-season break as we knocked-out J3 opponents Zweigen Kanazawa, beating them by a 5-1 scoreline with one man taking the spotlight.

19/07/2014 – J1: Match Day 15 – Gamba Osaka 2-0 Ventforet Kofu
A thoroughly professional performance saw us take all 3 points in the 6-pointer against visitors Ventforet Kofu at Banpaku in front of a 11, 373 strong crowd. Two super goals and a solid defensive display ensured that we moved out of the relegation zone and into the lower mid-table.

23/07/2014 – J1: Match Day 16 – Gamba Osaka 4-0 Shimizu S-Pulse
After Kenta Hasegawa said we needed to improve on the quality of our play despite the 2-0 win against Ventforet Kofu on Saturday, we turned on the style against lacklustre Shimizu S-Pulse in front of 10,898 fans in this must-win weekday tie. Going into the game we were level on points with the visitors but showed them our superior quality in an exceptional performance.

27/07/2014 – J1: Match Day 17 – Vissel Kobe 1-5 Gamba Osaka
We made another massive statement concerning our revival during mid-season as we battered Hanshin rivals Vissel Kobe at the Noevir Stadium in front of a strong crowd of 18,012. A double of doubles and a golazo, not to mention an inspired goalkeeping performance, stole away the massively deserved 3 points.

02/08/2014 – J1: Match Day 18 – Gamba Osaka 2-0 Yokohama F.Marinos
We continued our excellent form as we eventually took down a stubborn Yokohama F.Marinos side 2-0 at Banpaku to rise up to 6th in the table following 6 wins in 7 league games in front of an impressive crowd of 15,263 people despite the driving rain to begin with and a humidity level of almost 98%!

09/08/2014 – J1: Match Day 19 – Omiya Ardija 0-2 Gamba Osaka
For the first time in 8 years we managed 5 back-to-back victories in J1 as we took down relegation-threatened Omiya Ardija 2-0 in front of a rain-drenched crowd of 10,541 although the game did avoid the typhoon that threatened the footballing weekend.

16/08/2014 – J1: Match Day 20 – Gamba Osaka 0-1 Nagoya Grampus
Our five game win streak game to an end in the league at the hands of former manager Akira Nishino as visitors Grampus won 1-0 in front of 15,383 fans. The referee was dire, Grampus’ foul tactics were annoying, our attacking was slow and our effort rewarded nothing.

23/08/2014 – J1: Match Day 21 – Ventforet Kofu 3-3 Gamba Osaka
A crazy last 10 minutes or so (including stoppage time) saw us go from 2-1 up to 3-2 down to 3-3 as we drew with hosts Ventforet Kofu at the Chuo Bank Stadium in front of a crowd of over 12,000.

30/08/2014 – J1: Match Day 22 – Gamba Osaka 5-0 Albirex Niigata
We finally got back to winning ways in the league in front of 12,696 fans at Banpaku as visitors Albirex Niigata suffered from our clinical attack and their lacklustre forward line. 3 goals in the space of 15 minutes made the difference after a solid start for Albirex.