I went to see Gamba Osaka play against Shanghai in the Asian Champions League.

This seemed like quite a big match and I arrived early so I could get a ticket and most of the Osaka fans were already there singing away. They have a version of, what I know as, Scouser Tommy and Linda, Linda, Linda by the Blue Hearts (more on that later). The warm up for both teams consisted of the players standing around and taking pot shots at goal not unlike a bunch of school kids. More worryingly not many of these shots were going in. The fans clapped every time somebody managed to score. I’m not sure they should have been encouraging the players in this way.

As the players came out of the tunnel all of the lights went out and both sets of fans started waving wristbands with LED lights. It was rather reminiscent of a rock concert. Perhaps they should have changed the Asian Champions League anthem to Winds of Change by The Scorpions.

Once the game got underway it became apparent that the poor shooting in the warm up had been a sign of things to come as both teams struggled to get their shots on target. Shanghai were the better team and ran out 2-0 winners. This was largely due to the Gamba Osaka midfield being very static. As soon as the Chinese teams midfielders got the ball, rather than attempt to close them down (even a little pressure could have been applied at little expense), they were given the freedom of the stadium and moved forward. I suspect that the tactic of dropping deep works better in the J-League where teams like to pass the ball around with little concern for creating chances.

Here is the final scene from Linda Linda Linda (the film with the same name as the song mentioned above) featuring the wonderful Doona Bae: