Supporters of Thespakusatsu Gunma were becoming all too accustomed to the feeling of being second best. They saw their side finish 2nd in J1 League for the fifth time in nine seasons in 2041, which, in fairness, they probably couldn’t have dreamed of before manager Robaato Rasamu arrived at the club 16 years ago.
The latest near miss led Rasamu to have a bit of a clearout ahead of what was likely to be the final season at Maebashi Stadium. The summer began with some big sales as captain Nobuhiro Yoshida went to Saudi for £5m, wantaway midfielder Kei Fujihara, who never played a league game for the club, moved to Gamba for £4.9m and African disappointments, Sudanese winger Ahmed Elgaili and Nigerian striker Sunday Yakubu, joined Porto for £1.8m and £1.7m. Rasamu continued the clearout as midfielder Jun Tagashira joined Urawa for £1m, centre back Mitsuki Yamada went to Gamba for £750k, left back Hiroharu Yoshida joined Hiroshima for £725k and long-serving centre back Kenta Iwanaga went to Saudi for £400k after 315 games for the club.
That activity saw the bank balance boosted to £49m with a £47m transfer budget. However, Rasamu didn’t feel too much need to splash the cash, instead opting to promote centre back Satoshi Asahi, midfielders Hiro Tamada and Kazuki Hamano and strikers Andrzej Szpucha and Fumiya Wada. And the first team still had 15 players with at least 4.5-star potential, rising to 28 across the whole club.
Rasamu also committed to a change of approach for the first time in several seasons. He retained his wingback preference, with Mitsuhiro Kato dropping back as a deep-lying playmaker, Atsushi Shimizu and Naoya Miura, whose position was liable to change, given freedom to roam in behind dual strikers Rintaro Okamoto and Lucio Lucero. Wingback Yoshiki Tanaka took over as captain with centre back Yuya Sugiyama the new vice captain.
Shaky Start Triggers Formation Shift
The media bolstered their expectations, predicting Gunma to finish 4th in J1 League with title odds of 10/1. Holders Kashiwa are 10/11 favourites, followed by Kashima Antlers and Gamba Osaka (17/2), as well as Urawa Red Diamonds and Sanfrecce Hiroshima (14/1). And Yoshimitsu Mito, Kato and Lucero are now in the media dream 11.
The new tactic got started with the toughest challenge, away to champions Kashiwa, and they fell to a 3-1 defeat. Shimizu ensured they put that right with both goals in a 2-0 win at home to Cerezo, before losing at Shimizu S-Pulse and drawing 3-3 with Gamba. Rasamu slightly tweaked the approach, dropping Okamoto in alongside Shimizu, which worked nicely as Lucero scored twice in a 3-1 win at Nagoya then bagged a hat trick in a 4-0 thumping of Kyoto.
The tactical switch continued to pay dividends, including right back Kazuyori Hyodo scoring an unlikely brace in a 4-2 win over Niigata and Shimizu’s back-to-back hat tricks inspiring a 5-2 hammering of JEF United and a 4-2 win over Sapporo. That good form sent Gunma into the winter break in 3rd place, 4 points behind Gamba with two games in hand and the top 4 split by just 4 points. But the big surprise has been a terrible start for Kashiwa, who are lingering in 10th, 17 points off the top of the table.
Rare Gunma Cup Run
Gunma exited the J League Cup in the first round with a fully rotated team. However, they impressed in the Emperor’s Cup, cruising to wins over Akita, Toyama, Yokohama and JEF United to reach the final against Shimizu S-Pulse. Sugiyama netted the opener after 10 minutes with a brilliant header from a corner, and Shimizu almost scored a sensational solo effort just before the break. Nothing happened after the break and Gunma won a poor game 1-0.
Thespakusatsu Gunma won their first-ever cup competition by winning the Emperor’s Cup!
A Surprise Outcome in AFC Champions League
Gunma made a good start in the Champions League as Sugiyama and Miura earned a 2-1 victory at Sydney FC. Okamoto scored both in a 2-0 win over Shanghai and Lucero bagged four in a 5-2 win at Vietnamese side Viettel. Szpucha scored his first goal for the club as a rotated side saw off Pathum United 2-0, Wada followed suit in a 3-1 win at Melbourne City and Hamano scored his first 2 goals in a 2-0 win over Western Sydney. A completely unfit team returned with a 2-1 defeat at Suwon but cruised through to the knockout stages in 3rd place.
Moving into the knockouts, Gunma took on the only team to have beaten them, Suwon. But they made no mistake as Shimizu’s first-half brace led a 3-1 win in South Korea, before Tamada’s first three goals for the club inspired a 4-0 home domination. Shckingly, Gunma didn’t face Al-Nassr in the quarter finals, instead taking on UAE side Baniyas. And a very different story followed as they strolled to a 6-0 win led by a Miura brace to reach the semis for just the second time.
The inevitable Al-Nassr tie followed in the semis, after the Saudis beat holders Kashiwa on penalties. While Urawa faced Al-Hilal in the other semi. Gunma started the game superbly, having 10 shots in the first quarter of an hour. And they landed the first blow as a brilliant move ended with Kato playing Okamoto in to calmly finish on 19 minutes. The domination continued and Okamoto turned provider, playing a low ball in for Lucero to convert from close range just before halftime. Gunma stayed on top after the break and, after racking up 31 shots and 65% possession, deservedly booked their first-ever Champions League Final.
The biggest match in Gunma history was an all-Japanese clash as 2017 and 2023 winners Urawa Reds, who also lost finals in 2027 and 2038, defeated Al-Hilal on penalties. That meant a tasty clash with Gunma’s academy product striker Yusuke Ishii, who’d gone on to rack up 112 league goals at Urawa. A few days on from the semis, on 4 May 2042, 80,000 fans descended on the Japan National Stadium for a huge game. Gunma lost Saito to suspension (2 yellow cards leading to a suspension feels ludicrous), so Rasamu lined up:
Honda; Tanaka, Sugiyama, Miyauchi, Mito; Badwan, Kato; Miura; Shimizu, Okamoto; Lucero
Subs: Szpucha, Mizuno, Tashiro, Hasegawa, Hamano, Tamada, Hyodo, Hayami, Wada, H Harada, K Harada, Takada
Both sides missed decent early chances, with Gunma getting none of their 7 shots on target, and they went into the break at 0-0. Rasamu fired the boys up at halftime and got his reward after 5 minutes, as Shimizu slid Lucero through to smartly smash in at the near post. Miura had a long range effort well saved and former striker Ishii sent a dominant header inches wide. And they should have sealed it in the last minute as Lucero hit the post clean through on goal. But that didn’t matter, as they held on for a 1-0 win.
Thespakusatsu Gunma won the AFC Champions League to become Champions of Asia!
Advantage Gunma in J1 Title Race?
Gunma took advantage of the holders’ poor form as they kicked off 2042 by ending a 13-match, five-year hoodoo against Kashiwa with Sugiyama and Hamano edging a 2-1 win. They backed that up with a huge 1-0 win at home to Shimizu before a terrible game at Gamba seemed to be heading for a 0-0… only for a piece of brilliance from Shimizu in the 6th of 4 minutes of injury time to send his side top of the league for the first time.
But that only lasted for one week, and a tricky spell saw Gunma go into the final two months of the season trailing Shimizu by 4 points but with two games in hand. A 4-1 win at home to Kyoto sent Gunma back to the top of the pile with 10 games remaining, only to waste a mass of chances en route to a draw at Sapporo before Okamoto nicked a 1-0 at home to Hiroshima. The Champions League run saw the fixtures pile up and, with 7 games remaining, Gunma were level on points with Shimizu and 5 clear of Gamba with three games in hand.
There was very little time for celebrations as, just three days on winning the Champions League, Gunma were back in action. Furthermore, their next four games were played over the course of a week and their final seven league games took place over 24 days.
Game 32 – Hiroshima (7th, away): Rasamu gave the first team two days off training, which worked out as they travelled to Hiroshima and Lucero’s penalty and a Miura finish earned a 2-1 victory to move 3 points clear.
Game 33 – Urawa Reds (5th, away): Another three days later, on the Saturday afternoon, a repeat of the Champions League Final took them to Urawa, who had an additional game in hand. Heavily rotated sides played out a poor game and Szpucha’s strike earned an impressive point. However, Shimizu won 3-1 at Hiroshima to reduce the gap to 1 point with Gunma still having two games spare.
Game 34 – Tokyo Verdy (13th, away): The away run ended on Monday night in Tokyo. The first choice players returned fresh and started superbly, with Lucero heading in the opener and Jhohann Badwan firing in from 20 yards after 17 minutes. Miura bagged a brace after the break to cruise to a comfortable 4-1 win. That moved Gunma 4 points clear with a game in hand and just four games from a famous treble.
Game 35 – Kofu (16th, home): Another two-day gap followed as they entertained Kofu on Wednesday night. Rasamu was forced to heavily rotate, and they slipped to a 2-0 defeat. So Gunma stayed 4 points clear with 3 games remaining.
Game 36 – Fukuoka (20th, home): The luxury of 3 days between games followed, before a trip to struggling Avispa. Shimizu played on the Saturday, but only drew 1-1 at home to Sapporo. And Gunma took advantage, dominating Fukuoka by 18 shots to 5 and winning 2-0 through Okamoto’s neat finish from 20 yards and a late Hasegawa strike. That moved Gunma 6 points clear with two games remaining and 6 better goal difference.
Gunma just needed 1 point or Shimizu not to win their final two games to secure their second Japanese title. The matches were catching up as Sugiyama missed the rest of the season with a hernia injury. But that was irrelevant as, on the Friday night, Shimizu lost 4-1 at Kofu to hand the title to Gunma.
Thespakusatsu Gunma won J1 League for the second time and wrapped up a treble!
Gunma went on to secure the title by a comfortable 7 points from Shimizu. They finished on a new club-record 84 points after 25 wins, 9 draws and just 4 defeats, scoring a league-high 80 (12 more than anyone else) and conceding 44. Lucero was the 5th top scorer with 17 in 37, followed by Shimizu in 9th with 15 in 36 and, surprisingly, Hasegawa 14th with 12 in 35. Shimizu was also the 4th top assister with 12, followed by Mito on 11, and, interestingly, Lucero had the most key passes (114) and was offside more than any player. Hamano became the first Gunma player to win J1 Best Young Player since Ishii back in 2032, Rasamu won Manager of the Year for the second time, and Mito, Tanaka, Kato and Shimizu were named in the J1 Best Eleven.
Celebrating A Historic Season
A summer refresh, an influx of promising homegrown youngsters and a tactical shift one month into the season worked wonders as Gunma secured their second Japanese title, a first domestic cup and became Champions of Asia in a truly historic season.
Lucero led the way with 27 goals and 10 assists in 52 games, but Shimizu was once again their key man with a ridiculous 21 goals, a new club record 20 assists and a 7.26 rating in 51 games. Hasegawa has improved hugely with 14 goals and 7 assists, as has Miura with 12 goals and 4 assists, and Okamoto benefited from dropping deeper with 11 goals and 9 assists.
Gunma’s homegrown prowess was given another boost as Miura, Saito and centre back Masayuki Hasegawa, who’s on loan in J2, made their Japan debuts in a 3-0 friendly defeat to Hungary in November and Miura scored his first international goal in March. They joined teammates Honda, Mito, Kato, Shimizu and Okamoto in the Japan squad, before defender Kazusa Fujii, who’s also on loan in J2, made his debut in March. Shimizu leads the way with 22 caps, in which he’s scored 4 goals, while Kato has 17 caps and Honda has 16 caps.
The treble-winning first team is fully homegrown, with only a few foreign signings not technically homegrown by the club. There’s also a couple of players in the youth sides pushing for first-team football next season. But here’s how they’ve got on this season, just click the charts below.
Gunma had a fairly mediocre youth intake, which contained a potential star in midfielder Shinichi Nishimura, while attacker Tsuyoshi Shimoda also has decent potential. However, a new head of youth was appointed last summer, so hopefully that will aid more progression in coming seasons.
We’ll have a special article dedicated to Gunma’s treble-winning heroes on Wednesday, and we’ll return to see if they can defend their league and continental titles next Friday!
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