Wonderkid Factory | Part 8 | Surprise J1 League Title Bid

Thespakusatsu Gunma upset all the odds to not only avoid relegation but finish 7th in their first-ever season in the Japanese top tier. Robaato Rasamu was excited about the potential at the club as his promising youngsters continued to deliver.

Gunma came into the new season with £10m in the bank for the first time. That was boosted as Rasamu began restructuring the team, selling underperforming midfielder Luc Andre Siakam to Damac for £1.2m, centre back Naoki Higashi to Saudi for £850k and, potentially controversially, captain Ryotaro Kodama, who hadn’t played well for two years, was too small to be a defender and couldn’t pass, to Saudi for a new club record £2m. He also allowed 10 players to leave at the end of their contracts, giving him a transfer budget of £8.3m with £42k spare in a £95k weekly wage budget.

Siakam was replaced with a massive upgrade as 19-year-old North Macedonian midfielder Endrit Jusufi arrived for £300k from AP Brera. And Rasamu splashed out a new club record £850k on left back Takaya Kawasahima from Sanuki. He also promoted striker Atsushi Shimizu, midfielders Yutaka Tsuboi, Takanori Tanaka and Hiroya Yoshinaga, defenders Shimpei Omori. And he took the opportunity to strengthen his staff, including better coaches, scouts and a much better head of youth development.

Rasamu slightly tweaked his approach to a more recognisable 3-5-2. Kawashima moves forward to wingback with Jusufi stepping into an advanced playmaker role alongside Shota Asada and Masahiro Umetsu moving across to centre back. Rasamu continued to put his faith in youth, led by the little and large strikeforce of Masaya Nishi and 17-year-old Yusuke Ishii, who’s a full foot taller than his striker partner, playing in front of Liberia international Peter Tweh retraining as an attacking midfielder.

Second Season in J1

The bookies still didn’t rate Gunma’s chances, predicting them to finish 18th with title odds of 450/1. Kawasaki Frontale are 9/3 favourites, along with holders Kashima Antlers and Kashiwa Reysol (9/2), FC Tokyo (11/2), Sanfrecce Hiroshima (15/2) and Gamba Osaka (16/1). However, these odds are clearly nonsense, considering Machida Zelvia were predicted 5th and got relegated last season.

Gunma began the season with Nishi missing two months with shin splints. They kicked off at newly promoted YF Marinos, and Ishii and right back Tenshiro Myogan’s stunner earned a 2-1 win. Tsuboi’s first senior goal and Tweh secured a 2-2 at home to Urawa Reds before Ishii and a first senior goal for wingback Akira Shiroyama inspired a 3-2 win at home to Hiroshima. They lost at home to Kashiwa, but Jusufi’s first goal earned a 2-0 win at Sagan Tosu. Nishi scored 2 minutes into his return in a 2-2 at home to Shimizu, which saw Gunma go top of J1 for the first time after eight matches, and bagged his 100th goal for Gunma two weeks later.

Rasamu reached 300 games at Gunma with Tweh nicking the only goal at Gamba Osaka in late October. Gunma’s form dropped off a little, but so did the teams around them, and they headed into 2033 sitting top of J1, leading Kyoto Sanga by 2 points and Gamba by 6 points. However, holders Kashima were 9 points behind with three games in hand.

Gunma’s Cup Run

Before this season, Gunma had zero joy in either of the Japanese cup competitions. In the J.League Cup, they beat Nagasaki and Chiba, only for rotated sides to exit 5-4 on aggregate to J3 side Verspah. Bt in the Emperor’s Cup, they defeated, Niigata, Sapporo and YF Marinos to reach the quarters, where Asada’s late volley edged out Hiroshima 4-3. They took on Urawa Reds in the semis and, after drawing 2-2, they suffered a cruel penalty shootout defeat to miss out on the club’s first-ever cup final.

J1 Title Challenge?

The new year began with three consecutive away games, and Gunma lost at Hiroshima and Kashiwa before Tweh’s strike nicked three points at Urawa Reds. The form dipped a little again, but the wonderful Asada inspired a 3-2 win at home to Tokyo Verdy, which took Gunma back to the top of the table by a point in early March. However, their form fell off a cliff in April, losing three games on the bounce, before an Ishii brace led a 4-2 win over Gamba to leave them 3 points off top spot with five games remaining.

Tweh earned a point at Cerezo before a dominant 4-1 victory at home to Chiba, and Kyoto drew 0-0 with Shimizu and Kobe to move Gunma just 1 point back. But they struggled to a 1-0 defeat at FC Tokyo while Kyoto drew their fourth straight match and Kashima won their game in hand. That saw Kashima leapfrog Gunma into 2nd, and the top three were separated by just 2 points with two games remaining. Gunma’s title hopes died with another disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Ehime, but they finished the campaign well with Jusufi and Ishii scoring in a 3-0 win at Omiya.

That final day win lifted Gunma into a superb 2nd place in J1 League, the club’s record high for the fifth successive season, which should mean qualification for the Asian Champions League! They finished on 70 points (10 more than last season) after 21 wins, 7 draws and 10 defeats, scoring 64 and conceding 52 (7 and 6 more than last season). Kudos also has to go to Kyoto Sanga, who lifted the club’s maiden Japanese title – after finishing 16th last season!

Asada led the league with 14 assists followed by Kawashima on 11. Kawashima also created the most chances (31) and had the highest expected assists (11.91). Tweh was the 8th top scorer with 15 and Ishii, aged just 18, was 12th top scorer with 12. While signs of promise saw Tweh have the highest xG overperformance (8.46) and Ishii have the most shots (124) but also the worst xG underperformance (-5.3). Gunma also impressed defensively, as Diogo Soares Cruz blocked the most shots (36), Myogan attempted and completed the most pressures (458 and 116) and won the 3rd most tackles (101), and Jusufi made the most interceptions (129). While Tomoyuki Koyama again made the most saves in the league (176).

Massive Improvement at Gunma

Gunma’s youngsters had stepped up massively this season, delivering pretty unbelievable overperformance. That said, Gunma’s starting 11 were all now considered J1 talents and still had plenty of potential to deliver. So Rasamu was really excited about how far this group of players could go.

For the first time in many years, Nishi wasn’t Gunma’s top scorer. Tweh led the way with 18 goals, followed by Nishi (16), Ishii (13), Myogan (9), Asada (6) and Jusufi (5). But while Tweh had been excellent, Asada was arguably the main man this season, topping the assists chart with a new club record 15, followed by Kawashima (13), Tweh (11), Ishii (9), Shiroyama (8) and Nishi and Myogan (7).

This season marked the first time the Gunma squad is fully homegrown at the club. And those homegrown talents combined for 393 league games, 63 goals and 60 assists, along with 83 games, 35 goals and 20 assists in the cup. Rasamu’s attribute ID system identifies Jusufi as the best player at the club (392), followed by Twesh (381) and, surprisingly, Umetsu (369). Check out all the stats and details from the squad by clicking the chart below.

There were also a few standout performances in the youth sides, including striker Shusaku Uchiyama combining for 42 goals and wingback Keita Hatano delivering 16 assists. Check out the youth players’ progress by clicking the chart below.

Gunma’s potential was boosted by another strong youth intake led by elite prospects striker Yuto Korimoto, right back Shinsuke Atsumi and goalkeeper Shoi Yamamoto, along with strikers Haneto Maeda and Shunichi Sakamoto, right back Masafumi Kojima and midfielders Shogo Hosokawa and Yasuo Koyama.

Rasamu was excited about this team was heading and the mass of potential across the club. But could Gunma again overperform at the top of J1? Join us next Wednesday to find out!