Three Things to Watch: Matchweek 33

Three Things to Watch: Matchweek 33

A title race down to the wire

As the Meiji Yasuda J1 League enters its penultimate week, the title race is down to two teams: Yokohama F·Marinos and Kawasaki Frontale.

And in this week, we could see Marinos crowned the champions or Frontale take over first place, making for an enthralling run to the finish.

The Tricolor sit two points clear of Frontale with two matches to play apiece, meaning if they manage a win over Urawa Reds and Frontale fail to beat Vissel Kobe, Marinos will be champions.

However, if Marinos lose and Frontale take full points, it will be the men from Kawasaki who enter the final weekend with a third straight title in their grasp.

Will Marinos be crowned champions? Will Frontale leapfrog them? Or will the two hold serve and take this standing into the final week? We’ll find out on Saturday afternoon.

Endo returns to Gamba in a relegation fight

Yasuhito Endo is a Gamba Osaka icon. He starred for the club for 19 years, winning J1 twice, six domestic cups and an AFC Champions League with the nerazzurri, all while becoming the most capped Samurai Blue player in history.

The legendary midfielder left Gamba in 2020 for Júbilo Iwata and, on Saturday, he will make his return to Panasonic Stadium Suita for the first time. It will be a moving occasion and the Nerazzurri faithful will celebrate the man who means so much to them, but the spotlight will not be solely on Endo.

The match is a massive relegation tilt, with Endo’s Júbilo side bottom of the table and in need of at least a point to keep any chance of avoiding the drop alive. Gamba are not much better off, sitting only one place higher and in dire need of points of their own.

Come for the emotional Endo return, stay for the battle for J1 survival.

Seven teams in the mix for three drop spots

Júbilo and Gamba are not the only teams fighting to avoid the drop. Shimizu S-Pulse, are in the dreaded promotion-relegation play-off place, while Avispa Fukuoka, Kyoto Sanga, Shonan Bellmare and Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo could all fall into the bottom three.

The clash in Osaka is the only one that features two of the seven relegation-threatened teams, but that’s not exactly cause for relief. Many of the teams are facing the best the league has to offer, like Consa visiting third-place Sanfrecce Hiroshima who are coming off a 2022 J.League YBC Levain Cup title.

At this point, it’s not about how well a team can play or whether the match-up is favorable. It is time for desperation, where the only thing that matters is scraping together enough points to spend another season in the top flight. Who’s going to manage that, and who will be playing in the Meiji Yasuda J2 League next season?

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