We won!! Finally, after almost three months of waiting. Here is the story of an exciting day in Gifu, by Stuart Smith.

 

We were honoured to welcome Yoichi Takahashi, author of Captain Tsubasa, to the club as part of our “Gifu is All Green” promotion campaign. Takahashi was joined on stage by the voice artist Takuya Sato - the voice of Kojiro Hyuga in the animation - and by Gifu’s very own Shiro Shiratori, author behind Ryuo no Shigoto (The Ryuo’s work) and Nourin Koko (Nourin High School). They talked about the popularity of Captain Tsubasa around the world, the future of the manga genre, and about the story behind FC Gifu’s new “dream player” Shingo Aoi. Takahashi drew/designed the character especially for Gifu. “I hope, even if it is just a little bit, to contribute towards helping FC Gifu” the author told the crowd.

 

On the pitch inside the stadium, former J.Leaguer Akihiro Nagashima held a clinic for local youngsters which was well received, while ex-FC Gifu manager (and Ja-pan international!) Tetsuya Totsuka brought his ramen noodles to the food court and he reminisced about his time in Gifu.

 

As usual, pre-match entertainment was provided by TripleG, Gifu’s cheerleading unit, and the ever popular mascot Giffy as they both performed on the CCN stage outside the stadium.

 

Before the game, Gifu’s “centre circle support message” was delivered by Takahashi, and the managing director of Noda Crane - the company that has helped in the building of the Captain Tsubasa stadium in the Gifu town of Tarui - Chie Noda.

 

The crowd were also treated to special introduction of Gifu’s starting eleven as regullar announcer Ryosuke Kuze passed the duty on to Takuya Sato - a famous voice artist from the Captain Tsubasa series - and he did the announcement in his own, unmistakable style.

 

All that was left before kick off was to present the ball to the referee, and this duty was given to guest of honour Yoichi Takahashi. Flanked by the Mayors from Tarui-town, Mr. Mitsuya Nakagawa and Yaotsu-town, Mr. Masanori Kaneko plus representatives from Noda Crane co.ltd, Takahashi duly did his job, and we were all set to start the game.

 

The first half was difficult for Gifu, and it was Okayama that had most of the play. Gifu’s goalkeeper Victor made two good saves, and Okayama missed some chances, although Gifu’s central defenders Henry & Tadashi Takeda made the chances difficult. Gifu’s only shot in the first half came from Yuya Yamagishi, but it was saved by Junki Kanayama and Ryan De Vries’ follow up was also saved.

 

In the second half, things took a bad turn for Gifu. A through ball put Kazuki Saito through on goal, and despite Tsubasa Aoki’s attempt to tackle him, the Okayama forward managed to slide the ball under Victor and into the net.

 

At this point, it is fair to say that Gifu supporters in the stadium had a sense of deja vu, a sinking feeling of an oncoming home defeat. But after the goal, Gifu seemed to find an extra couple of gears and they piled forward in search of goals. Hiroaki Namba came on and immediately set about energizing the players and crowd, and they were rewarded with an equalizing goal in the 78th minute. Shohei Mishima, who was outstanding after Gifu went behind, put a superb low cross into the area which Junichi Paulo Tanaka at the far post, and he poked the ball past Kanayama in the Okayama goal.

 

It would have been easy to sit back and defend the point, but Gifu went all out for the elusive win. Forward Daichi Ishikawa was brought on, and it was he who was to have the decisive say in the result in the 86th minute. Masanori Abe’s excellent cross from the right was knocked down by Kota Miyamoto into Ishikawa’s path, and the young forward drilled the ball past Kanayama for his first professional goal. He and the rest of the players ran to the supporters behind the goal to share in the jubilation, and the sense that Gifu would get their first win since July was at the maximum.

 

There were still some scary moments left; Okayama were awarded a free kick right on the edge of Gifu’s area that was blocked, and with the final kick of the game Okayama’s Kohei Kiyama smashed a shot which went just wide, but when the final whistle went the stadium heaved a huge sigh of relief, before the joy set in. The first home win since early June was one to be savoured.

After the game, coach Takeshi Oki said: “Despite us being in the middle of winless run, the supporters still came out to get behind us. For that, I’m very grateful to them. Even with this win, not much has changed in regards to our position so we have get up again, and prepare for next week’s game (at Matsumoto). We defended very ag-gressively today and that helped us get this victory. After the game I said ‘congratu-lations’ to them, but also reminded them that the situation hasn’t changed a lot.”

 

Goalkeeper Victor said “Last week (against Yamaguchi) was difficult, but this week in training we were really focused on what Okayama do well. We knew that they would be strong and physical, and that they would put long balls and crosses in-toour area. We practiced for it, and I think we handled it well.”

 

Goalscorer Daichi Ishikawa told reporters: “Honestly, even though I scored the win-ning goal, I’m happier about the team winning. The supporters stood by us through this long, difficult run and I felt they deserved this moment. As I was waiting to go on to the pitch, the coach just said ‘go on and get a goal for us’. I was ready to play and I was happy to contribute to a win.”

 

FC Gifu’s next game is next Sunday, when we travel to the Alwin Stadium to face table-topping Matsumoto Yamaga.