Vissel Kobe sealed glory in the MEIJI YASUDA J1 100 YEAR VISION LEAGUE on Saturday, making sure of first place overall despite falling to a 2-0 defeat away to Kashima Antlers in their Play-Off Round 2nd Leg.
A thumping 5-0 victory in last week’s first leg ensured a 5-2 aggregate victory for Kobe, with Haruki Hayashi and Kei Chinen’s goals two minutes apart midway through the second half salvaging some pride for Kashima.
The other final placements were also settled, with Cerezo Osaka making sure of third place courtesy of a 3-1 win against FC TOKYO at MUFG Stadium (National Stadium).
A clipped finish from Shion Homma in the 10th minute was followed by strikes from Solomon Sakuragawa 10 and two minutes before half-time, and although Ryunosuke Sato pulled one back for FC TOKYO in the 62nd minute, it wasn’t enough to prevent his side going down 5-3 on aggregate.
FC Machida Zelvia needed extra time to secure fifth place ahead of Nagoya Grampus, winning 2-1 after the initial 90 minutes had finished scoreless.
Kensuke Nagai prodded Nagoya in front in the 93rd minute, but Yuta Nakayama equalised with a header seven minutes later and Hokuto Shimoda fired in from distance three minutes after that to wrap up a 4-3 aggregate triumph for FC Machida.
Sota Nakamura’s solitary strike one minute before half time earned Sanfrecce Hiroshima a 1-0 win on the night and 3-1 aggregate triumph over Kawasaki Frontale to book seventh spot, while there was a 4-2 goal-fest between Tokyo Verdy and Gamba Osaka in the battle for ninth.
Gaku Nawata and Shinya Nakano twice gave visitors G-Osaka the lead at Ajinomoto Stadium, but Tokyo-V pulled level on each occasion after own goals from Takeru Kishimoto and Ginjiro Ikegaya.
Nawata then struck again in the 89th minute to swing the contest back in G-Osaka’s favour, before Shoji Toyama added the gloss in the sixth minute of injury time to wrap up a 5-3 aggregate win.
Elsewhere, goals from Hiroshi Omori and Kota Kawano saw Fagiano Okayama pip Urawa Reds 2-0 (3-1), A Jun Amano brace and Taisei Inoue thunderbolt delivered a 3-0 victory for Yokohama F･Marinos against Shimizu S-Pulse (4-1), and Joao Pedro’s 57th-minute screamer was enough for Kyoto Sanga F.C. to beat Kashiwa Reysol 1-0 on the day - although they still fell 6-3 on aggregate.
In the day’s other games, Harumu Nabeshima registered his first J.League goal as V-Varen Nagasaki defeated Mito Hollyhock 1-0 (2-0), and despite Hiroto Goya opening the scoring for JEF United Chiba, they went down 2-1 (4-3) to Avispa Fukuoka after Yu Hashimoto and Yota Maejima both netted for Fukuoka.
Kashima Antlers vs Vissel Kobe - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
FC TOKYO vs Cerezo Osaka - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
FC Machida Zelvia vs Nagoya Grampus - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
Kawasaki Frontale vs Sanfrecce Hiroshima - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
Tokyo Verdy vs Gamba Osaka - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
Urawa Reds vs Fagiano Okayama - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
Yokohama F•Marinos vs Shimizu S-Pulse - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
Kashiwa Reysol vs Kyoto Sanga F.C. - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
Mito Hollyhock vs V-Varen Nagasaki - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
JEF United Chiba vs Avispa Fukuoka - Game Highlights | PLAY-OFF ROUND 2ⁿᵈLEG
