2 Oct 2009(Fri)

A hard-fought 3-1 victory in the second leg of their all-Japanese quarter-final with Kawasaki Frontale on Wednesday allowed Nagoya Grampus to overturn a one-goal deficit from the previous week’s meeting and secure a place in the last four of the AFC Champions League (ACL) at the very first attempt. In the end, Frontale’s quadruple assault was probably their own undoing – following an energy-sapping defeat at Gamba Osaka last weekend while Grampus, without the pressure of a title challenge, were able to rest players away to leaders Kashima Antlers and still win 4-1 – but no credit should be taken from the victors, whose performance on the night and clinical opportunism in front of goal were worthy both of the result and of the country’s congratulations.

 

Grampus’s run to the last four bears eerie similarities to the ultimately glorious Gamba side of twelve months ago. Victory over a domestic rival mirrors Gamba’s deposal of reigning champions Urawa Reds in last year’s semi-final. Like Gamba, strong away form has been key to Nagoya’s progression, with wins at Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i and Newcastle United Jets in the group stage, before Joshua Kennedy’s away goal in Kawasaki kept their chances alive ahead of the second leg this week. Finally, their continental form comes in spite of a mid-table struggle back home, made all the more difficult by the departure of their star Brazilian striker.

 

Ironically, the final of this year’s ACL could even present an immediate opportunity to show Davi if his mid-season move to Umm-Salal of Qatar was indeed a good idea or not. The absence of any ‘cup-tied’ restraints allowed the former Consadole Sapporo forward to appear in both legs of the quarter-final for his new club against FC Seoul, despite having featured for Grampus as recently as their last 16 victory over Suwon Bluewings. Davi’s new striking partner, incidentally, is Magno Alves, who may have sparked something of a trend by quitting Gamba at the end of 2007 to initially join Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia – Nagoya’s opponents in the semi-final.

 

The outflux of Brazilian stars to rival leagues in the Middle East is a subject of concern for J. League followers at present, but I always wonder why the implications of living so far from the homes they grew up in are routinely ignored when it comes to overseas footballers. A sportsman’s salary may cushion the blow, but living abroad is inherently challenging, and either way, the absence of truly natural, deep-rooted attachment to their new locales makes it only normal to seek moves back home or elsewhere once all curiosity has been sated.

 

That said, it is a huge shame when players are clearly attracted more by money than by emotions or professional ambition. Gamba have perhaps been hit worst of all by the recent trends, but it was one thing for Araújo to push for greater recognition back in Brazil with Cruzeiro after winning the J1 title in 2005, and another entirely for Leandro to up sticks in the middle of this season to Al-Sadd of Qatar, who didn’t even qualify for this year’s ACL. Bare had been the subject of a €3 million bid from Paris Saint-Germain twelve months before he left the Osaka club high and dry in July last year, suggesting he must have had better offers professionally than the contract he did sign with Al-Ahli of Dubai (one draw and five defeats in the ACL group stage this spring).

 

It now falls to Dragan Stojković to lead Nagoya Grampus to what would be a third consecutive ACL crown and place in the FIFA Club World Cup for a Japanese side. In contrast to the more obvious dominance the English clubs have enjoyed in Europe, it is a shame that the draw pitted Japan’s representatives together so early on – Kashima Antlers are still the only Japanese team to have been eliminated by a foreign rival in the last two years – but the nation should surely now unite behind Nagoya as they bid to underline the J. League’s continental superiority. With Kennedy (seven goals from 11 matches so far) clearly a far better replacement for Davi than Roni (three goals in 12) was for Bare last year, the signs still look pretty promising.