Wonderkid Factory | Part 5 | Cruel Penalty Pain

Just six minutes separated Thespa Gunma from a surprise promotion to the Japanese top tier. However, the J2 League’s silly rule that the home side gets promoted if a playoff final is drawn meant they missed out, which, in hindsight, was probably for the best given they’d just recorded the club’s record high finish.

The off-season began with Rasamu selling off some of his Brazilian failures, including midfielder Cezinha joining Imabari for a club record £850k plus 50% of the next sale. Rasamu saw off big bids (£2m+) for attackers Masaya Nishi, Matheus and Shota Asada, and loaned most (21) of his sizeable B Team, which only plays friendlies, for first team experience. He didn’t see a need to strengthen, instead putting faith in developing his starting 11, and brought in a few loan deals to bolster the squad, including promising left back Yuga Kobayashi from Yokohama FM and centre back Naoki Ota from Hiroshima. The manager’s plans looked to have been dealt a blow when new chairperson Takanori Yamazaki deemed a poorly structured £1.6m bid for star academy midfielder Ryotaro Kodama “too good to refuse” – but the legend rejected Iwata within 30 minutes!

And, of course, Rasamu stuck with the 4-4-2 approach, with Matheus dropping into a deeper position out of possession and left back Moku Arai filling in at left centre half.

Loftier Ambitions for Second J2 Campaign

The bookies had boosted their expectations, predicting a 10th-place finish with odds of 25/1, compared to last season’s 50/1. However, Rasamu’s new board had ideas above their station, expecting the club to finish in the playoffs again! Relegated Yokohama FM are 1/91 favourites, followed by Nagoya (9/2), who finished 16th last season, Shonan (7/1), Niigata (9/1), Omiya (10/1) and Sendai (11/1).

Gunma began the season well with Nishi scoring the only goal at Nita before he earned a 1-1 at Kofu then got sidelined with strained knee ligaments. The first game at Maebashi Stadium this season was equally tight, with a late own goal handing Gunma another 1-0. Matheus and another own goal at Sanuki sent Gunma top of J2 for the first time, before crushing Sendai 5-0 with five different scorers and a 0-0 at home to Nagoya.

That flying start didn’t last, but Matheus got the only goal at relegated Sapporo and the opener in a 4-0 domination of Fujieda, before Nishi scored twice in another 4-0 at struggling Kagoshima. But Rasamu was most impressed with Nishi’s goal coming within 2 minutes of earning a win over title favourites Yokohama FM, who nicked a late equaliser. Three defeats on the spin followed, only to bounce back by beating Oita, Kofu and Tokushima, which lifted Gunma to 2nd in early December.

Can Gunma Go One Better Than The Playoffs?

Gunma sat 2nd heading into March, but a run of poor form saw them drop to 3rd and lose touch with the top two. And they went into the final eight games of the season with a 6-point gap back to Niigata in 7th. The promotion dreams were reignited with Nishi’s brace ending his ridiculous 18-match goal drought and earning a 3-1 win over Sapporo. They struggled to a 0-0 at Fujieda and a 1-1 at home to Iwata, a 3-2 defeat at Niigata and lost Nishi and Matheus for a big game at home to Kagoshima, but managed to nick a 1-0 through young winger Yoshiaki Ishikawa.

A huge improvement at Yokohama F-M saw Gunma cruise to a 3-0 win through Brazilian centre back Diogo Soares Cruz, Matheus and Asada. And all of a sudden, they only trailed 2nd-place Kumamoto by 1 point and were 7 clear of Shonan in 7th going into the final three games.

Matchday 36: Gunma started the run-in well at home to Fukushima as Soares Cruz doubled his tally for the season, heading in from close range from two free kicks either side of halftime. Leaders Sendai drew -1 with Imabari, Kumamoto drew 1-1 at Tokushima, Nagoya drew a wild game 4-4 at Kofu and Niigata lost 2-0 at Shonan. So Gunma moved up to 2nd and only 1 point off the top of the league with two games remaining.

Elsewhere, Sendai lost 2-1 at Oita, Kumamoto beat Sanuki 1-0, Niigata and Shonan lost 3-0 at home to Akita and Kagoshima and Nagoya lost 3-0 at Fujieda. Those results meant Gunma locked down a playoff place and dropped out of the top 2 at the expense of Kumamoto, who went from 3rd to 1st. And they went into a final-day battle with the top 4 all chasing automatic promotion.

Matchday 38: A thrilling final day showdown saw Gunma host leaders Kumamoto, while Sendai hosted relegated Kofu and Imabari travelled to 11th-place Omiya. Gunma were without the suspended Asada and Rasamu decided to risk a half-fit Tomoyuki Koyama in goal. Both sides started nervously, but Nishi missed another huge chance as, put clean through on goal by Matheus, the striker somehow forgot to shoot. Despite bossing the game with 9 shots to 4, they went in at 0-0, while Sendai and Imabari were also level. Rasamu looked to up the tempo and they wernt close as Ishikawa’s curling effort hit the post. Despite going for it, they couldn’t make the breakthrough… and were done by the referee awarding a nonsense penalty from a corner.

That penalty handed Kumamoto the title and Sendai were promoted, while Gunma dropped to 4th below Imabari. So the best season in Gunma history felt like it ended in disappointment, ahead of another playoff campaign. Gunma finished 4th on 64 points after 18 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats, scoring just 52 (again the fewest in the top half) with the league’s best defence only conceding 30.

Gunma headed into another playoff semi-final at home to Akita. And they put their poor finishing to one side as Nishi and Takahashi scored inside 15 minutes, before Nishi’s tidy finish from 10 yards sealed the win after an hour. In the other semi, Imabari beat Shonan 3-2 to earn home advantage for the final.

Gunma lost Kodama to a calf strain and were up against their former Brazilian mistake Cezinha. But it was a corner that was their undoing, as Imabari scored a backpost header after 16 minutes, and more awful defending gifted the hosts a second just before halftime. Rasamu laid into the team but the lax finishing seemed to have returned as Matheus and Nishi both hit the post in the first few minutes of the second half. And, despite throwing everything at it, Rasamu didn’t get a response until Ishikawa’s 93rd-minute consolation. But it was too little, too late, so Gunma were condemned to a third season in J2.

Gunma Youngsters Suffer More Playoff Pain

Rasamu was understandably left feeling disappointed but proud for a second successive season. Gunma had again recorded the best finish in club history, only to fall short at the final hurdle. Nishi again led the club’s goalscoring charts with just 14 in 32, followed by Matheus (13), Tatsuhiro Takahashi (6) and Asada (5). Takahashi topped the assists with 12, followed by Matheus (10) and Asada (7). But it was pretty clear to Rasamu that they were lacking in goals across the squad.

Here’s how Gunma’s homegrown players fared this season, with 18 players combining for 51 goals and 41 assists in 200 matches. The pick of the players, according to Rasamu’s Attribute ID system, is very much Matheus on 399, along with Luc Andre Siakam (362), Kodama (352), Soares Cruz (347), Nishi (341) and Takahashi (331).

And here’s a look at how a handful of youth players performed in the youth sides this season. That included the latest batch of youngsters coming through the most recent intake, led by centre back Yuto Kamagai and aforementioned goalkeeper Takahashi, plus a handful of 4-star potential players.

Rasamu was happy with the progress that his young Gunma side was making, but knew he may need to tweak their approach to make the side more dangerous.

Could they get over the playoff final hump and go one better next season? Join us next Wednesday to find out!