The disappointment felt on the pitch at the Japan National Stadium on November 23 last year has not been forgotten by the coach, players, or any of the supporters. Gamba narrowly lost the EMPEROR'S CUP final, which they reached for the first time in four years, and was unable to reach the title, but now they are returning to that stage once again, and the battle to win the title begins.
"The EMPEROR'S CUP is a special and truly beautiful tournament. Whether it's at home or away, you never know what's going to happen, and it's a match that will demand a lot. I want to approach each match as if it were the final,"Head Coach Poyatos.

Although Gamba's first match after the league restart against Shimizu ended in a scoreless draw, thanks to the perseverance of Ichimori and others they managed to keep a clean sheet. However, the 2nd Leg of the EMPEROR'S CUP , which comes 2nd year of junior high school the restart, will be a battle in which the team must fight with all their might.
Last season, Gamba put up a passionate fight, uniting the entire team from the 2nd Leg onwards. "We grew mentally by winning last year's EMPEROR'S CUP. This year we are starting from scratch, but this will be a tournament where we will be competing against different players than last year," said Head Coach Poyatos.
Both the coach and the players know that a one-off match against a lower-category opponent will be difficult, but in a cup match, the only thing that is required is results. Nakano, who has been improving both offensively and defensively this season, is also full of energy, saying, "I want to focus on winning while aiming for assists and goals."

Learning from the difficult battles that went into extra time in the J.LEAGUE YBC Levain CUP, Gamba must take the initiative and discourage their opponents from fighting. Head Coach Poyatos is wary of Viatin Mie, saying "they are a team that relies on set pieces and counter attacks to score goals," but Gamba has created many scoring opportunities in many games this season, so they should be able to take the lead and turn those opportunities into goals.
Meanwhile, Viatin Mie, like Gamba, will be heading to Panasonic Stadium Suita with 2nd year of junior high school days between their JFL matches. With the motto of "Bringing the J.League to Mie Prefecture," Viatin Mie is currently in 7th place in the JFL and is aiming to be promoted to J3. Although they lost 0-1 to Yokogawa Musashino FC on the 15th, they narrowly lost 2-3 to Nagoya in the 2nd Leg of the EMPEROR'S CUP two years ago, and won 1-0 against Imabari in the 1st Leg last year. They will be highly motivated to take on Gamba.

The focus is on Head Coach Mase, who previously worked as an interpreter for Mr. Osim and also has experience as the Head Coach of the Mongolian national team, and has been leading the team since last season.
In the EMPEROR'S CUP , they have managed to get through all three matches so far - the Mie Prefectural Soccer Championship, which determines the Mie Prefectural representative, and the 1st Leg of the EMPEROR'S CUP - without conceding a goal, and have even scored goals from long throws, but Nakano said, "I've heard that the opposing CBs are tall, so we want to be strong in set pieces."
"This title is important for the club," said Head Coach Poyatos. With the young players hungry for the match and the veterans full of experience, all they need to do is overcome the first hurdle in the EMPEROR'S CUP.