Newcastle Jets vs Gamba Osaka 1-3

Gamba Osaka came from behind to beat Newcastle Jets 3-1 at McDonald Jones Stadium, with the turning point after the break and the visitors scoring twice from 70 minutes onwards.

Newcastle took the lead in the 32nd minute when Nikos Vergos finished from Xavier Bertoncello, only for Gamba to level eight minutes later through Yusei Toshida, set up by Eli Adams. It was 1-1 at half-time.

The game swung after Gamba made two changes on 70 minutes, sending on Deniz Hümmet and Welton. VAR then confirmed a penalty for Hümmet on 71 minutes, and the substitute made it 2-1 on 73 minutes from another Eli Adams assist. Welton, who had come on in the 70th minute, sealed it in the 86th minute with Shuto Abe supplying the pass. Newcastle also changed through the second half, with Joe Lolley, Ethan Debono, Patrick Wood and Julian Recchia among the replacements, but they did not recover the deficit.

The numbers backed Gamba’s win. They had 62% of the ball, 570 passes to Newcastle’s 345, and 23 shots to 8, with 7 on target to 3. Their expected goals were 2.06 against 0.63, and they also edged corners 6-5. Newcastle had 4 saves to Gamba’s 0, while both sides finished with 2 yellow cards.

Tokuma Suzuki was booked for Gamba in the 66th minute, then Patrick Wood in the 86th minute, Ethan Debono in the 88th minute and Takeru Kishimoto in stoppage time.