2015 Suruga Bank Championship

The 2015 Suruga Bank Championship (Japanese: スルガ銀行チャンピオンシップ2015; Spanish: Copa Suruga Bank 2015) was a football match between Gamba Osaka of Japan and River Plate of Argentina on 11 August 2015 at the Osaka Expo '70 Stadium, contested between the winners of the Japanese league cup, the J.League Cup and the Copa Sudamericana as the annual J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship.

The teams had qualified for the tournament by winning their two seasonal competitions. Gamba Osaka won the 2014 J.League Cup by beating Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3–2 in the final, while River Plate were the 2014 Copa Sudamericana champions after winning the two-legged match against Atlético Nacional of Colombia.

Watched by a crowd of 12,722, River Plate took an early lead in the first half when Carlos Sánchez scored after they were awarded a penalty. Their lead was extended after Gabriel Mercado also found the net in the 31st minute. The scoreline was stretched out again when Gonzalo Martínez made it 3–0. No further goals were scored with almost a half hour to end, consequently crowning River Plate as winners of the 2015 edition.

The J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship was established in 2008 by the Japan Football Association and CONMEBOL, both the governing bodies of football in Japan and South America respectively.^[2] The idea for the cup was pitched as a sporting agreement with the aim of strengthening relations between the two associations through an annual competition. It had been held since 2008, hosted annually at the J.League Cup champion's home stadium.^[3]

Gamba Osaka qualified for the Suruga Bank Championship as the reigning J.League Cup champions. They had won the 2014 J.League Cup beating Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3–2 in the final.^[4] It was to be their second appearance, after the loss suffered against Arsenal de Sarandí in the 2008 edition.^[5]

River Plate had qualified for the match as winners of the 2014 Copa Sudamericana. They had beaten Colombian team Atlético Nacional 3–1 on aggregate to win their first Copa Sudamericana. Therefore, they were to make their first appearance in the competition as the fourth Argentinian team to play in the tournament.^[6]

Both teams were midway through their respective domestic campaigns at the time of the matches. Gamba Osaka's last game before the match was against Albirex Niigata on a 2–2 draw played on 29 July 2015.^[7] River Plate played on 5 August 2015 the second leg of the 2015 Copa Libertadores final against Tigres UANL. They won 3–0, winning their third Copa Libertadores.^[8] Neverminding the importance of their previous match, River Plate would take part in the Suruga Bank with mostly the same squad that had lined up for the continental meeting.^[9]

River Plate opened the scoring to the match in the eighth minute when a foul committed by Yosuke Ideguchi on Nicolás Bertolo inside the area was sanctioned. Carlos Sánchez took care of the penalty with a strong, high shot to the middle of the goal for the lead. River Plate was calmly setting the pace of the match, but experienced a scare in the 20th minute when Marcelo Barovero misjudged the bounce of the ball, which went over his head. Gamba Osaka's striker Patric took too long to take control of it, and Barovero's retreat was a successful one, sending the ball out of the pitch. At the 30-minute mark, Sánchez found Gabriel Mercado from a cross taken off a corner kick, who headed the ball over goalkeeper Yosuke Fujigaya to make it 2–0.^[10] River Plate continued to have chances as Sebastián Driussi missed an opportunity handed out to him by Leonel Vangioni after a cross by Sánchez, who sent a volley into the crossbar just before injury time.^[11]

Shortly after the start of the second half, Gamba Osaka came close with a brilliant run from Lins, whose shot went wide. River Plate's manager Marcelo Gallardo subbed in three players after just seven minutes of the second half, two of them being Gonzalo Martínez and Leonardo Pisculichi. In the 61st minute, the latter midfielder initiated a play, linking up with Mercado who filtered a pass to Martínez on his right. As he entered the penalty area after controlling the ball, he curled a left-footed shot into the far corner of the net, beyond the goalkeeper's reach. Seven minutes later, Ramiro Funes Mori had to exert himself to divert the ball from Patric's boots when he was about to score.^[10] From the resulting corner kick, the Brazilian striker missed a header at close range. Barovero later made three crucial saves, denying chances from Shingo Akamine and Shu Kurata. River Plate were being outplayed on both flanks and leaving gaps for the home team to take advantage of, as fatigue and physical exhaustion were taking their toll. Kurata had another chance at the 85-minute mark, but his shot went wide.^[11] As neither team managed to score any further goals, the match ended 3–0 in favour of River Plate.

River Plate's squad had travelled to San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico on 29 July for the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final, then back to Buenos Aires for the following week's rematch, and eventually boarded their flight to Osaka for the eighth edition of the Suruga Bank Championship just 24 hours later.^[12] Coach Marcelo Gallardo addressed the packed schedule after the match, highlighting: "We're happy to win another title [...] There was a risk because we were not in prime condition after traveling so far, and this match was a very important challenge. We responded once again." Regarding of the importance of the match, he stated: "only two South American teams have had the opportunity to win this cup in eight editions."^[13]

Kenta Hasegawa was disappointed about the defeat. He argued: "We played some football like Gamba play and had some chances but we just came up short [...] If we'd score a goal when the opponents began lost their movements in the second half because of the heat, we could have added a few more goals easily. We didn't know if the opponents would come aggressively against us or come defensively early on, but even if you are pressured by your opponents that much, you still have to play in your way, otherwise you won't be the real deal."^[14]

• 2015 J.League Cup
• 2015 Copa Sudamericana
• 2015 Gamba Osaka season
• 2015 Club Atlético River Plate season

• スルガ銀行チャンピオンシップ2015, Japan Football Association (in Japanese)
• スルガ銀行チャンピオンシップ2015OSAKA, J. League (in Japanese)
• Copa Suruga Bank, CONMEBOL.com (in Spanish)