Kashima Antlers continue to lead the way in the 2025 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE, maintaining their grasp on first place on Saturday with a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to FC Machida Zelvia.
Kashima’s victory - their fourth in a row - came courtesy of Kyosuke Tagawa’s 39th-minute strike, a cool finish with his left foot after Koki Anzai’s drilled ball into the area.
Urawa Reds and Vissel Kobe aren’t letting Kashima out of their sights though, and both maintained their own winning runs in Match Week 14.
Urawa claimed all three points for the fifth game in a row, defeating Tokyo Verdy 2-0 at Saitama Stadium 2002.
Both goals there came in the first half, as Yusuke Matsuo put Urawa ahead in just the sixth minute with a fine individual effort before Ryoma Watanabe doubled their advantage 14 minutes before half-time.
Two-time defending champions Kobe climbed up into fifth place, meanwhile, thanks to their fourth consecutive victory, 2-0 over Fagiano Okayama.
Taisei Miyashiro opened the scoring for Kobe in the 51st minute, with Yosuke Ideguchi wrapping up the points when steering home from outside the area 22 minutes later to leave Kobe seven points behind Kashima with two games in hand.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima were in the unfamiliar position of having lost four games in a row coming into Match Week 14, but they got back to winning ways with a dramatic 2-1 win against Avispa Fukuoka.
Mutsuki Kato struck first for Hiroshima in the 67th minute, but it looked like they would have to make do with a draw after Tomoya Miki equalised for Fukuoka with four minutes remaining. Ryo Germain secured the points by slamming home a penalty in the 98th minute though, sparking jubilant scenes at EDION PEACE WING HIROSHIMA.
There were goals galore elsewhere, too.
Gamba Osaka beat Shonan Bellmare 4-0 thanks to a Takeru Kishimoto brace and strikes from Deniz Hummet and Shinnosuke Nakatani; Sho Inagaki, Ryuji Izumi, and Keiya Shiihashi were all on target as Nagoya Grampus overcame Shimizu S-Pulse 3-0; and FC TOKYO edged a five-goal thriller against Albirex Niigata - Keisuke Kasai and Danilo Gomes’ replies for Niigata not enough to outweigh a pair of goals from Marcelo Ryan and Kei Koizumi’s slick finish for FC TOKYO.
In the day’s final game, Cerezo Osaka stunned Kyoto Sanga F.C. by coming from two goals down to win 3-2.
Taichi Hara and Temma Matsuda had put Kyoto 2-0 up inside the first 14 minutes, but Lucas Fernandes and Kengo Furuyama struck back to send the teams in level at the break before Motohiko Nakajima completed C-Osaka’s sensational comeback with a bullet header in the 65th minute.
Kashima Antlers vs. FC Machida Zelvia - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 14
Urawa Reds vs. Tokyo Verdy - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 14
Vissel Kobe vs. Fagiano Okayama - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 14
Sanfrecce Hiroshima vs. Avispa Fukuoka - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 14
Gamba Osaka vs. Shonan Bellmare - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 14
Shimizu S-Pulse vs. Nagoya Grampus - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 14
Albirex Niigata vs. FC TOKYO - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 14
Kyoto Sanga F.C. vs. Cerezo Osaka - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 14
