Trebor Mahtal came within one penalty kick of ticking G off his Alphabet Challenge, only to see his Gamba Osaka painfully lose the J.League Cup in a penalty shootout. He took a bit of time away from football and spent the winter break refocusing on how to continue improving his exciting young squad ahead of his third full season in Japan.
Mahtal locked down his best young players by handing a new contract to Wandile Fortuin and triggering a three-year contract extension for strike partner Tetsuya Wada, who then got angry about being refused a derogatory £2m move to Saudi. Mahtal moved on a few backup players but didn’t see a huge need to strengthen the squad given the ongoing improvement of his young squad.
Mahtal stuck with his 3-5-2 approach but tweaked the defensive roles to have Hiroshi Nagai and Takafumi Ishizaki ball-playing either side of the covering Dai Sueyoshi.
AFC Champions League Knockouts
The 2066 campaign began with the second round of the Champions League as Group I winners Gamba took on Thailand’s Bangkok United. Their lack of football was apparent as Wada scored the only goal late on in Thailand, but were much improved at home as Tsunoda’s brace led to a 4-1 win. That took Gamba beyond the second round for the first time and teed up a tougher quarter-final against Adelaide United. Mahtal rested the entire first 11 for the home leg, which paid off as Wada scored after 17 minutes, centre back Masataka Ikeda doubled the lead after half time and midfielders Ales Vorel and Marcin Borowski strikes sealed a dominant 4-0 victory. And they eased through despite a 2-0 defeat in Australia.
Gamba’s reward was an all-Japanese semi-final against Kashima Antlers, who finished 14th in the J1 last season and were only 11th this season. The first leg was at home again and, despite going behind to Kashima’s first shot, they scored four again. Mahtal laid into the team at halftime and got the desired response as Okanishi scored 70 seconds into the second half, before Fortuin’s powerful 20-yarder, Vorel’s header and Keigo Kikuchi’s late strike wrapped up a big win. And Wada’s late goal at Kashima eased Gamba into their first Champions League Final!
Solid Start to Third J1 Campaign
The bookies boosted Gamba’s chances, predicting them to finish 9th with title odds slashed to 25/1. Champions Yokohama F Marinos remain 13/8 favourites along with Kawasaki Frontale (13/2), Vissel Kobe (15/2), Kashima Antlers (11/1) and Cerezo Osaka (11/1).
Gamba again entertained Kawasaki on the opening day and hit the ground running as Fortuin and Tsunoda braces inspired a 5-1 hammering. However, juggling league and continental football saw them have a bit of a sticky start, including losing their first three away games. But young midfielder Koji Osada created both goals in a Champions League semi dress rehearsal at Kashima, which kickstarted their campaign before a little blip around the continental semis and final. But the Gamba board handed Mahtal a new contract, which saw him sign a fourth deal at a club for the first time in his career. And they went into the second half of the season sitting third, 5 points off the leaders with 2 games in hand.
AFC Champions League Final
A historic moment in Gamba Osaka history saw them take on Saudi giants Al-Ittihad in the Champions League Final. The Asian version of the tournament is, ludicrously, played over two legs, and has been won by Saudi sides for 7 of the last 8 years and 13 of the last 15. In fact, only YFM have prevented Saudi domination since 2050. Gamba took on Al-Ittihad, who only have 11 real players, 2 of whom can’t be registered, including Mahtal’s former Valencia winger Cihan Engin, now 35, and the world’s most expensive player Fattah Mansouri, who joined Juve for £238m back in 2054. Five of their players are over 33 and four are teenagers.
The first leg was at Osaka Stadium on 8 May, and Mahtal rested the first 11 for the preceding league game. It started slowly with both sides struggling to create, but Gamba struck first as Wada sent Fortuin in to coolly smash home one-on-one. Al-Ittihad annoyingly scored their first shot, only for it to be narrowly cancelled out for offside. Gamba should have doubled their tally on 80 minutes as Fortuin’s shot was well saved, but it didn’t take long to come as two subs combined with Shuto Nakumura’s brilliant run teeing up left wingback Shinji Harada’s first goal for the club! They prevented Al-Ittihad getting a shot on target and secured an excellent 2-0 win.
A week later, the day after Mahtal’s 82nd birthday, a fully rested side headed to the 62,000-capacity King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah. The second leg also started slowly but the hosts forced two big saves out of Yoshishiro Michiue after half an hour. Five minutes later, Gamba won a penalty that Wada inexplicably chipped straight at the keeper. But, just before halftime, they had one hand on the cup through an unlikely source as Borowski found himself free on the edge of the box and guided the ball calmly into the bottom corner. Al-Ittihad upped the pressure after the break and got one back with 26 minutes remaining, prompting Mahtal to bring on an additional holding midfielder for Wada. And that sub worked as Duarte picked out Fortuin, who brilliantly beat his man and slammed home from a narrow angle. That killed the game off and Gamba eased to a 4-1 aggregate victory with the excellent Michiue claiming MOTM.
Gamba Osaka won the AFC Champions League!
Going Out On A High At Gamba
Mahtal was delighted to lead this exciting Gamba side to the Asian Champions League. His young players had progressed superbly to take on Asia’s best and the manager was really loving life at the club. That left him in two minds about whether to stick with Gamba for the remainder of the season or resign and go in search of the next opportunity. And the mass of clubs showing an interest in his best players led him toward the latter.
Indeed, the likes of Ajax were in for Wada, who led the club with 12 goals in 21 games, and Chelsea and Man United were leading the race for the excellent Michiue. Saudi clubs were also chasing the likes of Fortuin, who’d scored 10 with 7 assists, and Borowski. But the level of potential in this squad was absolutely off the charts, and it was about to get completely decimated.
And it’s worth taking a quick look at how good a pick of Gamba’s youngsters have become, as there’s no doubt they’ll be getting picked up by major European sides shortly.
Mahtal departs Gamba after 1,090 days and 150 matches, of which he won 83, drew 33 and lost 34, scoring 286 and conceding 160. His 55% win ratio is the sixth lowest of his career stints.
Where would Mahtal end up as he went in search of club 23 and looked to tick off six more letters on his Alphabet Challenge? Join us on Friday to find out!
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