Tokyo remained top – with 11 points from their five games – three points behind are Albirex Niigata, Shonan Bellmare and Sagan Tosu. Tosu, however have completed their six matches, while Albirex and Bellmare have a match to play in the final group game day on June 3rd.

Last night, Albirex took out Bellmare to move level with them, and leave it all for the last match! Tosu drew 0-0 at Ventforet Kofu, leaving the latter team rooted to the bottom of the group. Sanfrecce are on six points and play their final match against Ventforet but would only progress through a very unlikely sequence of results.

Over in Group B, Vissel Kobe remained in second place three points behind Nagoya Grampus – who had no match on Wednesday – after losing 2-1 at home to already-out Shimizu S-Pulse. Montedio Yamagata took an away three points off Vegalta Sendai in a 2-1 win and moved level with Vissel. Kawasaki Frontale joined the pack on eight points chasing Grampus to leave four teams in the hunt for qualification on the final matchday.

Each team plays six matches in a round robin format, Sagan Tosu and Shimizu S-Pulse have completed their round, while the final matchday is June 3rd.

Tables from the official J.League web site.

Elsewhere in Group A, Matsumoto Yamaga took maximum points in a 3-1 away win at Ventforet Kofu. After Takuma Abe had opened the scoring for the home side, Tatsuya Sakai scored his first-ever goal in Japanese football for Yamaga. And then he scored again! Naoki Maeda scored the away team’s other goal.

In the final match in the group – FC Tokyo had the night off in the seven team initial stage – Albirex Niigata triumphed over Sagan Tosu on the only goal of the game from Ryohei Yamazaki.

In Group B, Nagoya Grampus took the lead three times over Montedio Yamagata – on goals from Akira Takeuchi, Asahi Yada and Milivoje Novakovic – but each time the home team pulled level. The final goal in this six-goal thriller came from Hiroki Bandai’s header in the 92nd minute. Grampus stay top of the group, three points clear of Vissel Kobe who have a game in hand on the leaders. Vissel were held to a 0-0 draw at Vegalta Sendai.

Group B’s other match produced a 2-0 away win for Kawasaki Frontale over Shimizu S-Pulse. Goals from Kentaro Moriya and Elsinho gave Frontale their first points of the Nabisco campaign.

The next Nabisco Cup matches take place on April 22nd.

Second leg 12th October 2014
Kashiwa Reysol v Sanfrecce Hiroshima at Hitachi
Kawasaki Frontale v Gamba Osaka at Todoroki

The “Nabisco Cup” Final will be played on 8th November at Saitama Stadium 2002

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Cerezo Osaka 1-3 Kawasaki Frontale
Vissel Kobe 1-1 Gamba Osaka
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 0-0 Urawa Reds
Yokohama F•Marinos 1-2 Kashiwa Reysol

2nd Leg: Sunday Sept.7

18.00 Urawa Reds v Sanfrecce Hiroshima at Saitama
18.00 Gamba Osaka v Kobe at Banpaku
19.00 Kashiwa Reysol v Yokohama F•Marinos at Kashiwa
19.00 Kawasaki Frontale v Cerezo Osaka at Todoroki

1st Leg: Wednesday Sept.3

19.00 Cerezo Osaka v Kawasaki Frontale at Yanmar Nagai
19.00 Vissel Kobe v Gamba Osaka at Universiade
19.00 Sanfrecce Hiroshima v Urawa Reds at Edion
19.30 Yokohama F•Marinos v Kashiwa Reysol at Mitsuzawa

2nd Leg: Sunday Sept.7

18.00 Urawa Reds v Sanfrecce Hiroshima at Saitama
18.00 Gamba Osaka v Kobe at Banpaku
19.00 Kashiwa Reysol v Yokohama F•Marinos at Kashiwa
19.00 Kawasaki Frontale v Cerezo Osaka at Todoroki

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