Consadole Sapporo 2-4 Vissel Kobe at Atsubetsu (attendance 8,117)
Vissel looked confident, albeit against the bottom team, and goals from Tashiro and Tokura, and a brace from Nozawa saw them continue to rack up the points! Full report at http://www.jsoccer.com/blog/?p=2306
F.C.Tokyo 0-1 Omiya Ardija at Ajinomoto 18,342
FC Tokyo succumbed to an average Omiya Ardija – the goal coming from a cool turn and shot dispatched by Novakovic on the sandpit that is Ajinomoto Stadium.
Vegalta Sendai 0-0 Kashiwa Reysol at Yurtec 17,715
A hard-fought scoreless draw by the rising Reysol and the faltering Vegalta. This probably helped Reysol more than it did Vegalta as Sanfrecce pull away at the top of J1.
Albirex Niigata 0-2 Sanfrecce Hiroshima at Tohoku Den 32,014
Niigata outclassed by Hiroshima as they opened a gap of four points at the top on goals from Sato and Ishihara.
Nagoya Grampus 0-5 Gamba Osaka at Toyota 30,354
Rampant Gamba destroyed Nagoya Grampus, who played the complete 2nd half with ten men, it should be noted. But Nagoya looked a shadow of the team that won the league two seasons back, while Gamba look to have turned the corner. Leandro, Sato, Konno, Paulinho and and Endo PK were that stats that matter. Full report at http://www.jsoccer.com/blog/?p=2310
Jubilo Iwata 4-3 Cerezo Osaka at Yamaha 10,939
Cerezo went one down, but then came back to take the lead on goals from their Olympic midfield duo of Yamaguchi and Ogihara. Goals came thick and fast after that and a late double from Maeda gave the points to Jubilo.
Sagan Tosu 0-1 Shimizu S-Pulse at Best Amenity 11,933
Shimizu S-Pulse continued their recent winning ways – and their rise up the table – by taking out Sagan, who have been very impressive at home this season. The single goal from Olympic defender Muramatsu enough to win it. See the winning goal at
Urawa Reds 2-1 Kashima Antlers at Saitama 44,131
Reds held off a late resurgent Antlers to get the win here, with goals from Ugajin and Haraguchi doing the trick. Iwamasa got the goal for Antlers that meant a large percentage of the 44,000+ crowd were treated to a nervous final half hour!
Yokohama F.Marinos 2-2 Kawasaki Frontale at Nissan 33,584
Marinos pulled out into a two goal lead on strikes from Marquinos in the 11th and 34th, before two from ex-Marinos Yusuke Tanaka meant that the Kanagawa Derby saw shared points.