The Eye of Patrick / 2005 / May

Gamba Osaka

14-May-05

Today was a special day for me, it was one of those days that I wanted to happen since i came to Japan. That was to see a soccer (football) game in Japan. When i was trying to decide on coming to Japan i went and researched places i wanted to visit and see. You know the historical stuff and so on. But seeing Osaka Gamba play was also part of that list. Since i have lived in Brazil i have gained a never ending love for the game of soccer. So as my time at Kansai Gaidai was ending and I had yet to see a full soccer game, i was starting to worry I would not get that chance. Then for some reason unknown to me i was reading a magazine called Kansai Scene, it is a magazine about what is happening in the Kansai area and one of the stories they had was on J-Leguge and specifically Osaka vs Osaka. Osaka has two teams, Osaka Gamba and Osaka Cruezuro, and atleast a few times a year they meet up and have the Osaka derby. So I thought to myself as I read that article, may be i should go to this game, so then i went around and asked people if they wanted to go. At first many people were excited about it and wanted to go, but as the days reached nearer and people realized how much they had slacked off during the semester they begun to hesitate about going to the game.

So the day of the game, today, people were dropping like flys and at first i was blue and thought may be i wont go. But then i realized that seeing this soccer game was one of the major things i wanted to do while i was in Japan, so i would be a chicken if i did not go. So i packed my bags and waved off to my suitemates and friends who had decided to stay back and “study” and headed out on my journy. It was a long train ride to go from Hirakatashi to Nagai Satidum. I left at 2 and on the way to the stadium i saw many people covered in either blue and black jerseys (Osaka Gamba) or pink and blue. The good thing about Japan atleast is that i felt totally safe going to a game in my jersey at another teams stadium. I do not know If i would have done the same had i been in Brazil, where violence is alot more common. But people were friendly, when they saw me wearing Gamba Osaka jersey they smiled at me and were so friendly that it made me feel happy.

My next problem when i got to the stadium was that i did not have a ticket hehe, and i had no idea where to buy a ticket hehe, so at first i walked around aimlessly, until I thought it was may be a wiser idea to go and ask someone where to buy a ticket. I went up to one of the booth selling stuff for the game and in my shy japanese I asked where i could buy the tickets. She told me to go to the right and it would be on my right hehe and when i went in that direction it turned out to be correct. So i went up to the gate and asked to buy a ticket, i wanted one of the cheap tickets, but she told me they were all soldout for the Gamba Osaka side and i could sit with the home team, which i did not want to do. So i decided to upgrade from a 20 dollar ticket to a 35 dollar ticket so i could sit with my team. I think that was a good choice as i had a blast sitting with them.

I went to my section and sat down, and the people next to me started talking to me, he was a friendly guy and we talked about where i was from and how long I was in japan. I told him my history and such. But my Japanese was very limited and his english was even more limited. So we were only able to make a short chat before we stopped talking. But it was perfect timing really as the game just started as we ran out of topics to say.

The game was fun to watch as each time had 3 non japanese players playing on each time and from the research that i did before the game, they were all Brazilian. When you watched them play and saw how more talented they were compared to the Japanese you realize how powerful Brazil is as a soccer nation, as if these people were unable to play in the Brazilian leguge or in Europe and still be skillful enough to play in Japan and still be good.

This was the first soccer game i had seen in person in a long time. So it was great to be back in the sound of things. I was sitting in the Osaka side of the field and as a result the Ultra’s (the crazy fans) were near me and they were making noises, like singing songs and waving flags. This was very colorful as they were all wearing their jersey and waving. It was funny as we were all put together the Gamba fans so it looked like a sea of blue.

The game was filled with quick passing and some nice shots. The soccer ended up being 4-2, my team won they scored at the very last minute. I was so happy at the end of the game, i felt touched by soccer again. After the game i felt a desire to come back to Osaka so i can buy season tickets hehe.

Hopefully next time, i will speak better japanese and i will have season tickets so i can watch them.

Here is the pictures

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Gamba Osaka

14-May-05