The East and West standings in the MEIJI YASUDA J1 100 YEAR VISION LEAGUE are starting to take shape, with Kashima Antlers, FC Machida Zelvia, Vissel Kobe, and Sanfrecce Hiroshima establishing themselves in the top two of their respective groups with wins in REGIONAL ROUND Match Week 6 on Saturday.
Kashima extended their winning run to five games to keep hold of first place in the East, defeating Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 thanks to Leo Ceara’s 79th-minute strike.
FC Machida sit second, four points behind Kashima on 12 points, after a 1-0 victory of their own against Kashiwa Reysol - collected after Tete Yengi smoothly converted in the 29th minute.
Meanwhile, Kobe climbed to the summit in the West courtesy of a 3-0 win away at Nagoya Grampus.
Ren Komatsu opened the scoring at Toyota Stadium with a header in the 12th minute, before Yosuke Ideguchi made it 2-0 13 minutes into the second half and Katsuya Nagato wrapped up the win when he volleyed home with two minutes remaining.
Hiroshima joined Kobe on 11 points and are only second on goal difference, after they triumphed 2-0 over Gamba Osaka - who dropped to third as a result but also have 11 points.
Naoto Arai rifled in a pile-driver four minutes before half-time to put Hiroshima in control of proceedings, and Sota Nakamura made the result safe with a crisp finish in the 68th minute.
Elsewhere, Tokyo Verdy, Cerezo Osaka, and Yokohama F･Marinos were also celebrating all three points from their fixtures.
Tokyo-V edged a tight contest against Urawa Reds 1-0 - Itsuki Someno with the only goal of the game in the 14th minute - second-half strikes from Reiya Sakata and Shunta Tanaka, the latter in the 96th minute, saw C-Osaka win 2-1 against Kyoto Sanga F.C. after Marco Tulio had given Kyoto the lead in the 48th minute, while second-half efforts from Daiya Tono and Kaina Tanimura were enough to seal Yokohama F･M a 2-0 victory over JEF United Chiba.
The day’s other games both finished all square after 90 minutes, with FC TOKYO and Shimizu S-Pulse subsequently earning two points apiece from penalty shoot-out wins over Mito Hollyhock and Fagiano Okayama, respectively.
Sei Muroya had given FC TOKYO the lead after 60 minutes at K's Denki Stadium Mito, only for Arata Watanabe to equalise one minute later. The visitors then went on to triumph 6-5 on spot-kicks.
It also ended 1-1 between Shimizu and Okayama, as Werik Popo’s close-range finish with 10 minutes remaining cancelled out Oh Se Hun’s 58th-minute opener. Okayama’s third and fourth penalty takers then both missed, with Shimizu perfect from 12 yards and wrapping up a 4-2 win.
Kashima Antlers vs Kawasaki Frontale - Game Highlights | MW6
Kashiwa Reysol vs FC Machida Zelvia - Game Highlights | MW6
Nagoya Grampus vs Vissel Kobe - Game Highlights | MW6
Sanfrecce Hiroshima vs Gamba Osaka - Game Highlights | MW6
Tokyo Verdy vs Urawa Reds - Game Highlights | MW6
Kyoto Sanga F.C. vs Cerezo Osaka - Game Highlights | MW6
Yokohama F•Marinos vs JEF United Chiba - Game Highlights | MW6
Mito Hollyhock vs FC TOKYO - Game Highlights | MW6
Shimizu S-Pulse vs Fagiano Okayama - Game Highlights | MW6
