Football Japan Minutecast

A first hat-trick in six years for Japan forward Keiji Tamada helped Nagoya Grampus restore their seven-point lead at the top of J1 with a crushing 5-1 win away to fellow title hopefuls Shimizu S-Pulse on Saturday afternoon.

After a goalless first half, the home side opened the scoring just two minutes after the restart when Takuma Edamura got an outstretched foot to Shinji Okazaki�fs low cross, but the advantage was quickly overturned when Tamada�fs immediate equaliser was followed by a well-taken header by Australia striker Joshua Kennedy just before the hour mark.

Tamada then fired home a left-footed shot from a tight angle to double the Grampus lead, before any hopes that S-Pulse had of staging a comeback were undone by a straight red card for central defender Keisuke Iwashita a day after his 24th birthday. The league leaders took full advantage as Tamada completed his hat-trick with a delicate free-kick, while Kennedy netted his 13th goal of the season late on to seal a convincing margin of victory and move top of the J1 scorers�f charts.

A perfect afternoon for Dragan Stojković�fs side was then completed with news that their two closest challengers had both dropped points away from home. Second-placed Kashima Antlers needed a Robert Green-esque blunder from Shusaku Nishikawa in the 92nd minute to rescue a 1-1 draw at Sanfrecce Hiroshima, while Cerezo Osaka missed the firepower of suspended striker Adriano in a frustrating 0-0 stalemate at struggling Kansai rivals Vissel Kobe.

The latter result later allowed Gamba Osaka to leapfrog their neighbours into third, eight points off the pace, as a 25-yard strike from Lucas sealed a notable 2-1 victory away to sixth-placed Kawasaki Frontale.

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Kiyoshi Okuma�fs first game back in charge of FC Tokyo ended in a dismal 1-0 defeat at home to Omiya Ardija thanks to a first ever J. League goal for rookie midfielder Jun Kanakubo. The result takes the Squirrels six points clear of the relegation zone in 14th position, but the capital side are now a clear two points adrift of safety and without a win in their last 12 competitive matches.

Bottom club Shonan Bellmare drew 1-1 at Montedio Yamagata to move back level with Kyoto Sanga - who lost 1-0 at home to Jubilo Iwata - but both clubs are still eight points behind 15th-placed Kobe with vastly inferior goal differences.

Elsewhere, Urawa Reds climbed back into the top half with a 2-0 win over Albirex Niigata, whose flirtation with a title challenge appears over after just one point from their last four matches.


J1 results (matchday 24)
FC Tokyo 0-1 Omiya Ardija
Shimizu S-Pulse 1-5 Nagoya Grampus
Vissel Kobe 0-0 Cerezo Osaka
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-1 Kashima Antlers
Montedio Yamagata 1-1 Shonan Bellmare
Urawa Reds 2-0 Albirex Niigata
Kyoto Sanga 0-1 Jubilo Iwata
Kawasaki Frontale 1-2 Gamba Osaka
Yokohama F Marinos 0-1 Vegalta Sendai

Gamba Osaka reasserted their authority over Japan�fs second city with a 3-2 win over Cerezo Osaka in an incident-filled derby at Banpaku on Saturday evening.

Hosting their local rivals for the first time in four years, Gamba went into the game with a point to prove after Cerezo�fs spectacular return to the top flight had left them trailing three points behind in the league standings. 18-year-old wonderkid Takashi Usami duly put the home side ahead in only the second minute, and their lead was doubled just ten minutes later when Sota Nakazawa headed home a free kick from Yasuhito Endo.

The match saw a major flashpoint in first half stoppage time when Gamba defender Kazumichi Takagi was penalised for a foul in the 18-yard area immediately before a Cerezo corner. Incensed at referee Masaaki Iemoto�fs insistence that the corner should be retaken rather than a penalty awarded, Brazilian forward Adriano then compounded the situation for the visitors by shoving Nakazawa and earning a red card for his troubles.

Incredibly, the ten men of Cerezo rallied to draw level within ten minutes of the restart. Takashi Inui managed to place a speculative 25-yard effort inside Yosuke Fujigaya�fs left-hand post, before Amaral pounced on a mistake by the goalkeeper to level the scores and send the pink fans behind the goal into raptures.

Gamba quickly recovered their poise, however, and after hitting the woodwork three times, eventually secured a deserved three points when left-back Michihiro Yasuda scored from a narrow angle to register his first J. League goal in 101 appearances.

The result sees Gamba join third-placed Cerezo on 40 points, eight points behind leaders Nagoya Grampus after Mu Kanazaki�fs second half strike gave them a share of the spoils at home to Yokohama F Marinos. Kashima Antlers closed to within five points of the top as a first ever J. League hat-trick for Marquinhos gave the reigning champions a 3-0 win over Omiya Ardija, while Shimizu S-Pulse drew 1-1 at Urawa Reds to pull level with the two Osaka clubs.

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FC Tokyo boss Hiroshi Jofuku became the second J1 manager to lose his job within a week after a 2-1 loss at Jubilo Iwata saw the Nabisco Cup holders slip into the bottom three - ironically, to the benefit of Vissel Kobe, who drew 1-1 at Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Masahiro Wada�fs first game in charge. Jofuku will be replaced in the capital by Kiyoshi Okuma, who originally took FC Tokyo out of the Japan Football League and up into J1 in a previous spell between 1994 and 2001.

Elsewhere, Kyoto Sanga continued their slow revival with a 1-1 draw at Albirex Niigata, Vegalta Sendai gained valuable breathing space by beating Montedio Yamagata 2-0 in the Michinoku derby, while Shonan Bellmare remain rooted to the bottom after a dismal 6-1 home defeat to Kanagawa rivals Kawasaki Frontale.


J1 results (matchday 24)
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-1 Vissel Kobe
Jubilo Iwata 2-1 FC Tokyo
Nagoya Grampus 1-1 Yokohama F Marinos
Kashima Antlers 3-0 Omiya Ardija
Urawa Reds 1-1 Shimizu S-Pulse
Shonan Bellmare 1-6 Kawasaki Frontale
Gamba Osaka 3-2 Cerezo Osaka
Vegalta Sendai 2-0 Montedio Yamagata
Albirex Niigata 1-1 Kyoto Sanga

A 3-0 victory over fellow relegation battlers Vissel Kobe on Saturday moved Kyoto Sanga off the foot of the J1 table and gave Yutaka Akita�fs side their first three points in 18 league matches dating back to 27 March.

Despite a nervous opening to the match, Dutra�fs goal on 35 minutes gave Kyoto a precious 1-0 lead at the interval before two red cards in the second half cut short their visitors�f determined attempts at finding an equaliser. Defender Hiroyuki Komoto was then left to mind the Kobe net for the final ten minutes after goalkeeper Tatsuya Enomoto followed midfielder Ryosuke Matsuoka back to the dressing room - both for two bookable offences - with all three substitutions having already been made.

Diego then sealed the long-awaited victory with the home side�fs second, before Daigo Watanabe took advantage of Komoto�fs ambitious venture back out of goal to slide the ball into an empty net in the seventh minute of stoppage time and add further gloss to the scoreline.

The result also marked the first win of Akita�fs reign after taking over from Hisashi Kato in July, and proved enough to take Sanga off the bottom on goal difference after a brace from Ryoichi Maeda condemned Shonan Bellmare to a 3-2 defeat at Jubilo Iwata. Five games without a win, however, led Vissel to announce on Sunday that manager Toshiya Miura had been dismissed and replaced with former first team coach Masahiro Wada.

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Omiya Ardija created waves at both ends of the table with a shock 3-0 win over title challengers Shimizu S-Pulse. Goals from Rafael, Mato Neretljak, and recent arrival Lee Chun-Soo helped the Squirrels up three places to 13th, with Kashima Antlers replacing S-Pulse in third after beating Vegalta Sendai 1-0 - the reigning champions�f first league win in six attempts.

With second-placed Cerezo Osaka held to a 1-1 draw at home by Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Nagoya Grampus were able to take advantage and extend their lead at the top to seven points with a 1-0 win at Montedio Yamagata on Sunday evening. Gamba Osaka moved up to fifth thanks to a last-minute winner against Albirex Niigata from Dodo – the third goal the Brazilian youngster has scored in as many competitions in the space of the last week.

Yokohama F Marinos won 3-1 at Kawasaki Frontale to leapfrog their opponents into sixth, while FC Tokyo remain separated from the relegation zone on goal difference alone after their dismal form continued with a 1-0 home loss to Urawa Reds.


J1 results (matchday 22)
Omiya Ardija 3-0 Shimizu S-Pulse
Cerezo Osaka 1-1 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Jubilo Iwata 3-2 Shonan Bellmare
Kawasaki Frontale 1-3 Yokohama F Marinos
Kyoto Sanga 3-0 Vissel Kobe
Kashima Antlers 1-0 Vegalta Sendai
Albirex Niigata 1-2 Gamba Osaka
Montedio Yamagata 0-1 Nagoya Grampus
FC Tokyo 0-1 Urawa Reds


Nabisco Cup quarter-final second leg results
Vegalta Sendai 0-0 Jubilo Iwata (Jubilo win 2-1 on aggregate)
Kawasaki Frontale 3-1 Kashima Antlers (Kawasaki win 4-3 on aggregate)
Shimizu S-Pulse 0-0 FC Tokyo (1-1 on aggregate; Shimizu win on away goals)
Gamba Osaka 1-2 Sanfrecce Hiroshima (2-2 on aggregate; Sanfrecce win on away goals)


International friendly result
Japan 2-1 Guatemala