Vissel continue to hold off Nagoya, Kashima, Urawa for final AFC Champions League place

Vissel continue to hold off Nagoya, Kashima, Urawa for final AFC Champions League place

The battle for third place and the final guaranteed AFC Champions League place continues to be one of the most heated in all of the 2021 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE, but while Nagoya Grampus, Kashima Antlers and Urawa Reds all rack up results, they’ve been unable to make their way into coveted third position. That continued on Wednesday, as Vissel Kobe won yet again to keep third place and pole position in the fight for a berth into next season’s Asian club championship.

Yoshinori Mutu continued his terrific form with a picture-perfect header that found the side netting for a Vissel lead after three minutes, but Vegalta Sendai answered right back through Takumi Mase. Douglas scored one of the goals of the season when he popped the ball up before hitting a blistering shot on the volley to give Vissel the lead back. A red card to Hisashi Appiah Tawiah seemed to doom Vegalta, but they still managed to equalize after that despite being down a man. Vissel proved too much, though, scoring twice in the final half hour to win, 4-2.

With Vissel winning, their pursuers could only hope to keep pace. Nagoya did that thanks to Jakub Świerczok and Shinnosuke Nakatani, who both scored in a 2-0 victory over Kashiwa Reysol. Kashima rode a brace by Arthur Caiki to a 4-1 win over Sanfrecce Hiroshima, while a late equalizer by Hiroki Sakai was enough to earn Urawa a 1-1 draw against newly-crowned champions Kawasaki Frontale.

Vissel enter the last four matches of the season with a three-point lead on Nagoya, and a five-point advantage over Kashima and Urawa, but there may be another way into the Champions League for those chasing Vissel.

The winner of the Emperor’s Cup also gets a spot in the competition, and Urawa are into the semifinals there. If Frontale, who already qualified for the Champions League through their league finish, win the Emperor’s Cup then fourth place will go onto the AFC Champions League so while the fight for third will remain hot, there is potentially plenty more to play for.

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