The 2025 J.LEAGUE YBC Levain CUP 2nd Round saw another pair of MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE teams knocked out on Wednesday, as Jubilo Iwata came from behind to beat Shizuoka rivals Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 and Renofa Yamaguchi FC stunned Kashima Antlers 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw.
Iwata found themselves a goal down after just 21 seconds after Ahmed Ahmedov put Shimizu ahead with a cute header, but Ikki Kawasaki drew the MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE side level in the 53rd minute and Brazilian centre back Ricardo Graca completed the turnaround with a slick finish from Rikiya Uehara’s free kick with 10 minutes to go.
Yamaguchi, also of the second division, went ahead through Ryota Ozawa in the 64th minute against the MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE’s most successful club Kashima, but Shu Morooka made it 1-1 with nine minutes of regular time remaining to force the game into extra time.
There were no further goals in the subsequent 30 minutes, and with all five of Yamaguchi’s penalty takers finding the target in the shoot-out Gaku Shibasaki’s miss for Kashima proved decisive.
Shonan Bellmare were also taken to extra time by MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE opposition, although ultimately managed to emerge as 2-1 victors against V-Varen Nagasaki.
Luiz Phellype gave Shonan the lead in the 34th minute, and while Aoto Nanamure equalised for Nagasaki midway through the second half Akito Suzuki ensured there wouldn’t be another upset in the first period of additional time when he slid in to convert at the back post for Shonan in the 103rd minute.
A trio of other MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE sides also navigated tricky ties against lower league opposition, as Kyoto Sanga F.C. and FC Machida Zelvia claimed 1-0 wins over Montedio Yamagata and Ventforet Kofu of the MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE - Kodai Nagata and Keiya Sento with the goals - and Albirex Niigata defeated MEIJI YASUDA J3 LEAGUE side Matsumoto Yamaga F.C. 2-0 thanks to strikes from Keisuke Kasai and Jin Okumura.
Wednesday’s only other game was the 1st Round fixture between FC Imabari and Tokushima Vortis, which had originally been postponed on account of wildfires in Imabari City.
Imabari emerged as 2-1 victors from the re-arranged contest thanks to goals from Tomoki Hino and Kosuke Fujioka in the 54th and 64th minutes, and although Kiyoshiro Tsuboi pulled one back for Tokushima with 18 minutes to play it wasn’t enough to deny Imabari a clash against top-flight Cerezo Osaka in the 2nd Round next Wednesday.
