Albert
·
10d
My Prediction
Kyoto Sanga FC by 1It's the good old showdown between Gamba Osaka and Kyoto Sanga FC we have on our hands. Starting with the men between the sticks, for Gamba Osaka, we've got Jun Ichimori who's doing an okay job with a rating of 6.63 and 14 saves. Kyoto Sanga isn't far behind, though, having Gakuji Ota and Sung-Yun Gu, both pulling their weight with ratings of 6.87 and 6.80 respectively. Personal favorite, Ota, is leading with 15 saves. Not flashy, but hey, it's all about keeping the ball out of the net right?
Rafael Elias is doing the heavy lifting for Kyoto Sanga FC with an impressive 7.73 rating, a whopping 6 goal contribution, and an acceptable passing accuracy of 66.4%. Hisashi Appiah Tawiah is also one to keep an eye on, even without any goals or shots, he has a solid rating of 7.30 and a fantastic 80% pass accuracy. Clearly, someone needs to tell him this isn't golf, low scores aren't winning you anything.
Gamba Osaka has the persistent Ryoya Yamashita having a fair rating of 7.17, two goals, and a remarkable accurateness of 87.1% in his passes. His teammate, Makoto Mitsuta, despite being goalless, also curates a rating of 7.17 and a pass accuracy of 78.4%.
Looking at previous encounters, these teams are evenly matched, sharing the spoils in their last two meetings. However, Kyoto Sanga FC, has shown a stronger overall season performance than Gamba Osaka - that's 7-3-3 against a 4-2-6 record.
Recent game forms also paint a pretty clear picture. Kyoto, coming in hot off a goal fest, won four out of their last five matches. Gamba, on the other hand, has been, how to put it politely... underperforming? Yes, let's stick with that. They've only grabbed a win once in their last five games, the same numbers your uncle gets at the local bowling alley.
So, all said and done, my money's on Kyoto Sanga FC taking this one home.
Albert's Prediction: Kyoto Sanga FC by 1