Image via urawa-reds.co.jp

After dominating possession all evening long, Urawa finally got their goal through Zlatan Ljubijankič in the 85th minute as the hosts won in front of their supporters at the Saitama Stadium. This result also saw the Red Diamonds extend their lead at the top of the table with FC Tokyo overtaking Gamba for the second spot.

Formation and squad selection

Because of injuries, Gamba’s head coach, Kenta Hasegawa, had to use a different lineup than usual. Shohei Ogura started at right back for the defending J-League champs — he normally comes off the bench and plays higher up the pitch.

These injuries also forced 16 year old Ritsu Doan and Yosuke Ideguchi, who is just 18 years old, to go on the bench. The teenagers did not come off the bench, but that was not the point. It was the fact that Gamba did not have their normal depth on the bench and that might have been the reason for their defensive style of play.

Mihailo Petrović threw out his normal 3–4–2–1 with the big Zlatan Ljubijankič leading the line and some other subtle tweaks. Tsukasa Umesaki replaced Toshiyuki Takagi in one of the attacking midfielder roles with Tomoya Ugajin filling in as the left wingback.

Gamba Press as Red Diamonds use flanks

Early on in this one, you could tell what the two sides wanted to try to do. The visitors tried to do everything they could in the first fifteen minutes to win the ball as each level of defense was trying to press the opposition as quickly as possible.

This pressing forced Urawa to try to play quick passes through the middle of the pitch but that was not always working as the hosts could only string a couple of passes together. After about ten minutes, the Reds switched their style up a little and utilized the wings a lot more.

The center backs were pumping long balls to the two wingers but their timing was just a bit off.

Urawa score late

As the fans inside Saitama Stadium were growing anxious knowing that a draw could be a possibility despite bossing the match, Urawa struck.

It came from the right initially but after a couple of quick passes the attack was down the left hand side. Muto had the ball at the top of the eighteen yard box and saw Ugajin making a little diagonal run into the area and laid the ball off perfectly into his path. Ugajin crossed the ball first time and even though Abe missed the ball, Ljubijankič was there in the right spot poking the ball into an empty net.

Conclusion

This was a fantastic result of Urawa. The way the controlled the ball and how stout their defense was; it was a complete 90 minutes.

Unfortunately for Gamba, their injuries were a big factor. Although no one in their camp will tell you that that was the reason for their loss, it certainly looked like they were missing quite a few pieces.

Lineups

Urawa starting XI (3–4–2–1): Nishikawa; Moriwaki, Nasu, Makino; Hirakawa (Sekine, min. 66), Kashiwaga, Abe Ugajin, Muto (Aoki, min. 90), Umesaki (Lee, min. 70); Ljubijankič

Gamba Osaka starting XI: (4–4–2): Higashiguchi; Ogura (Lins, min 87), Niwa, Kim, Fujiharu; Konno, Endo; Omori (Abe, min. 73), Kurata; Patric (Akamine, min. 71), Usami