In the 1st Round 1st Leg of the Levain Cup, where the team's overall strength is put to the test, they won 2-1 against Kochi. "It was good that we were able to win a game where the result was so important," said MITO, as Usami scored his long-awaited first goal of the season, and Toyama, who was sent onto the pitch in place of Yamashita due to injury, scored a valuable additional point. With goals from the two academy players, they beat the tenacious Kochi.

Gamba's next stage will be a league match where they aim to chase down the top teams, with their determination to win every match remaining unchanged.
After the previous round, Gamba is 4 points behind the leader Kashima, but only 3 points behind Urawa, who is in 17th place. In a close-fought league match, Gamba will play an away game against Niigata.
Against Niigata, who place importance on ball possession, Poyatos Gamba has three wins and one draw in the past. Their compatibility is no coincidence, and they have embodied a style of soccer with a goal on both offense and defense, but the key to this match will be their decisiveness.
"The key is whether we can score the opening goal. If we can't score even if we have chances, like in the previous match, things will turn out like that," said Nakatani, speaking of lessons learned from the loss to Yokohama F･Marinos despite taking 20 shots.

Niigata, under new Head Coach Kimori, is yet to win since the start of the season, with three draws and three losses, and is currently in 19th place. For that reason, they will likely play aggressively at home, but Head Coach Poyatos is wary, saying, "They play with high intensity, they press well, and they switch quickly. They move the ball quickly."
Niigata won their first official match of the season in the Levain Cup with an all-Japanese lineup, including substitutes, but they must not fall behind when it comes to ball control or switching. On the other hand, an effective press can be effective against Niigata, who want to move the ball, but Suzuki, who maintains a balance between offense and defense, said, "The opponent is a team that excels at possessing the ball. However, if we press too hard in an attempt to eliminate the opponent's strengths, that strength may come out instead," and he intends to flexibly control the position of the ball to be seized.

In all three of Niigata's losses this season, they have conceded the opening goal, and in two of those games they have conceded multiple goals. Gamba believes, "We have created scoring opportunities, so we must first convert them and put an end to the opponent's efforts" (Kurokawa).
More than half of the 10 goals Niigata has conceded have come from crosses, including set pieces, but expectations are high for Kurokawa, who has a good personal record against Niigata in past matches, to join the attack.

Niigata's Japanese two-man front line, Hasegawa and Yamura, have each scored two goals and need to be watched out for, but Komi, who may match up with Kurokawa, also scored his first goal of the season in the Levain Cup match against Hachinohe. There is also a possibility that Ono, who used to play for Gamba, will be included in the squad. "We have to get three points from the Niigata match, and we want to get on a roll to move up the rankings, so we want to win," said Nakatani. Gamba will gain momentum with a win ahead of the three-match series starting with the Niigata match.