As Gamba Osaka followed Kashiwa Reysol into the Quarter Finals of the Asian Champions League, elsewhere in Japan, Group A leaders FC Tokyo snatched a very VERY late point in a 1-1 at Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the Nabisco Cup on Wednesday night, May 27th. Yohei Hayashi scored the equaliser in the 91st minute, after Kohei Shimizu’s far-side-of-the-area finish in the 79th minute for Sanfrecce.

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.