Football Japan Minutecast

Five days after their defeat to FC Tokyo in the Nabisco Cup final, a Renatinho hat-trick helped Kawasaki Frontale stay on top of J1 and on course to finally pick up their first ever piece of silverware, but they were pushed to the very last by a JEF United Chiba side fighting for their own survival.

Needing to win all four of their remaining games to stand a hope of staying up, JEF United took a shock lead ten minutes before half time through Kohei Kudo. Two goals after the restart from Renatinho looked to have restored normal service for Kawasaki, but the expectant crowd at Todoroki were stunned when, with a minute of normal time remaining, Takumi Wada scrambled the ball home to level the scores at 2-2. As the Chiba players piled forward in search of an unlikely winner, however, Renatinho found space at the other end to clinch all three points for the home side in stoppage time.

The late drama denied Kashima Antlers the chance to return to the top after they had strolled to a 2-0 win at home to Montedio Yamagata, thanks to goals from Shinzo Koroki and Marquinhos. With three games left to play, the gap between the top two remains at just one point, with Gamba Osaka a further three points back in third following a 4-1 romp over Kansai rivals Kyoto Sanga.

Defeat in Kawasaki means JEF United Chiba are relegated to J2 for the first time in their history, but neighbours Kashiwa Reysol kept their survival hopes alive with a stunning 5-0 win over fourth-placed Shimizu S-Pulse. A brace from Brazilian forward França helped cut the gap with Omiya Ardija in 15th place to six points, after the latter lost 1-0 at home to Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Three other teams are not quite out of danger yet, with Kyoto just two points above Omiya on 38, and Yamagata and Vissel Kobe on 37, following the latter�fs defeat at Nagoya Grampus.

Three defeats in a row have taken S-Pulse eight points behind the leaders, and four behind Gamba in the final qualifying spot for the AFC Champions League. One point further back are Albirex Niigata - who won 2-0 at Jubilo Iwata - as well as FC Tokyo and Urawa Reds, whose meeting in the capital ended in a 1-0 win for the visitors.

Elsewhere, already-relegated Oita Trinita made it seven league games unbeaten with a 2-1 win at Yokohama F Marinos, while Korean side Pohang Steelers beat Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia by a similar scoreline to be crowned champions of Asia at the National Stadium in Tokyo.


J1 results (matchday 31)
Nagoya Grampus 1-0 Vissel Kobe
Kashima Antlers 2-0 Montedio Yamagata
FC Tokyo 0-1 Urawa Reds
Kawasaki Frontale 3-2 JEF United Chiba
Jubilo Iwata 0-2 Albirex Niigata
Omiya Ardija 0-1 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Kashiwa Reysol 5-0 Shimizu S-Pulse
Yokohama F Marinos 1-2 Oita Trinita
Gamba Osaka 4-1 Kyoto Sanga


AFC Champions League final result
Al-Ittihad (KSA) 1-2 Pohang Steelers (KOR)


Yamazaki Nabisco Cup final result
FC Tokyo 2-0 Kawasaki Frontale