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An element of the unknown exists around the first leg of the Asian Champions League final between Gamba Osaka and Adelaide United on Wednesday. It is a common factor throughout the ACL.
Even some of the most avid football supporters in Australia would struggle to pronounce the likes of Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and Beijing Guoan, let alone name the sides’ star players.
Gamba may enjoy more of a status than the aforementioned, but it is still hardly a household name Down Under.
Like United, the Japanese club is regarded as one of the mainstays of its own domestic league. But while silverware has eluded Adelaide in the short time since the A-League’s inception in 2005, Gamba has tasted recent success.
The Japanese club won the league in 2005, the J-League Cup in 2007, and the 2008 Pan-Pacific Championships. Success in the ACL, it seems, is the final piece of the puzzle for Gamba.
But the Champions League is hardly a competition which pampers to the favourites.
J-League clubs have found it hard to live up to star billing in the continental competition. When Urawa Reds defeated Iranian club Sepahan FC 3-1 on aggregate this time last year, it was the first time a Japanese club had lifted the trophy since the ACL’s remodeling in 2002.
The Greater Tokyo-based Reds are the powerhouse of the J-League, and rode a wave of national support into the 2007 final.
But if Gamba expected the same treatment for its ACL campaign, it would have been left disappointed.
Japan Times journalist Andrew McKirdy believes Gamba will garner some support from the everyday Japanese football fan, but hardly to the level seen last season for Urawa.
“It was more of a big deal last year, because the Reds got in the final for the first time,” McKirdy explained. “Gamba has got a bit of money and a fair few fans, but not as much as teams in the Tokyo area. It seems that in that part of Japan the football is not as big as it is in Tokyo.”
Melbourne Victory shared Group G with Gamba earlier in the competition, but the make-up of the side has changed since their return leg in April this year.
Target-man Baré played a big part in the J-League club’s first-placed finish in the group, but he departed in July to UAE club Al-Ahli.
The price for the Brazilian striker – reportedly six million Euro (currently more than AUS$11 million) – is the sort of transfer fee any A-League club would struggle to comprehend.
The Japanese have seen just as little of United.
McKirdy said while he had followed Adelaide’s progress into the latter rounds of the ACL, it was only the two legs of the Reds’ 2-1 aggregate quarter-final victory against J-League club Kashima Antlers that were televised in Japan.
“I saw Adelaide against Kashima in Kashima. They were pretty defensive, and that can help Gamba, who pass the ball well,” McKirdy said.
“If they can pick their way through the defense, they will have a chance.”
Adelaide’s lack of exposure in Japan is a fact not lost on Gamba manager Akira Nishino. It was reported in Japan’s Sankei Sports that Nishino brought his squad together on Friday to study Adelaide’s playing style from game recordings.
Nishino said, after identifying United’s strengths and weaknesses, that the A-League club would have trouble stifling his team’s swift interplay.
Adelaide counterpart Aurelio Vidmar would have no doubt done his own homework, and will be aware that the team has been built around Japanese midfield anchor Yasuhito Endo for some seasons now.
Brazilian strikers Roni and Lucas Severino – once a twenty-one million Euro buy for French club Rennes – have attempted to shoulder the scoring load since Baré left.
But just knowing about the opposition’s star players won’t win you an ACL final. It only highlights the importance of a manager’s research in a competition in which teams often go into fixtures blind.
Come Wednesday, that homework may mean the difference between success and failure on Asian club football’s greatest stage.
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