Monday, November 16, 2009

Quarterfinals Draw

December 12

Kashima Antlers vs Gamba Osaka (Ibaraki)
Vegalta Sendai vs Kawasaki Frontale (Miyagi)
Shimizu S-Pulse vs Albirix Niigata (Shizuoka)

December 13

Nagoya Grampus vs FC Gifu (Aichi)


Sendai has been given home ground advantage over Kawasaki and therefore this should give them a decent chance against Frontale. Gamba and Albirix will be up against it playing to Kashima and Shimizu respectively. Gifu travel the short distance to Mizuho to play against Nagoya, where they will try to get theirselves out of financial difficulty by beating Grampus and making it into the best four.

Round 4 Results

On saturday the J1 teams showed their power, Shimizu, Gamba and Kashima all over-whelming their opponents, although Kashima did leave it late against fellow J1 rivals Vissel Kobe.
On sunday though the story was different as JEF succumbed to FC Gifu, while FC Tokyo were totally outplayed by Vegalta Sendai.
In the other two games Meiji tried valiantly against Niigata but were outclassed, and Kawasaki and Yokohama looked like they were heading into extra time only for kawasaki to score with just minutes remaining.

November 14

Shimizu S-Pulse 3 - 0 Ventforet Kofu
Gamba Osaka 3 - 1 Sagan Tosu
Kashima Antlers 2 - 1 Vissel Kobe

November 15

Yokohama F Marinos 1 - 2 Kawasaki Frontale
FC Gifu 1 - 0 JEF United Chiba
FC Tokyo 0 - 3 Vegalta Sendai
Albirix Niigata 3 - 1 Meiji University
Nagoya Grampus 3 - 1 Jubilo Iwata

Monday, November 2, 2009

Round 4 Draw

November 14

Kashima Antlers (J1) vs Vissel Kobe (J1) Ibaraki
Sagan Tosu (J2) vs Gamba Osaka (J1) Hiroshima
Shimizu S-Pulse (J1) vs Ventforet Kofu (J2) Tottori

November 15

Yokohama F Marinos (J1) vs Kawasaki Frontale (J1) Yokohama
FC Tokyo (J1) vs Vegalta Sendai (J2) Kagawa
FC Gifu (J2) vs JEF United Chiba (J1) Saitama
Nagoya Grampus (J1) vs Jubilo Iwata (J1) Aichi
Meiji University (Tokyo) vs Albirix Niigata (J1) Yamagata

Bold indicates prefecture of stadium.

There will be four J2 teams, and one prefectural team, battling it out with the J1 clubs, all looking for a place in the top eight this weekend.
There is the possibility that the top eight may be made up of all J1 teams after this weekends results but nothings certain yet.
Sagan Tosu, Vegalta Sendai and Ventforet Kofu are all in the top five of the J2 at the business end of the season and will be out to prove a point. Although Kofu might be tempted to rest a few players as they have a huge match against Shonan for J1 promotion the next weekend.
FC Gifu are mid-table but playing a JEF team that just got confirmed as being relegated to the J2 in 2010. SHould be an interesting match-up.
And Meiji-University, well, they're going to have to do something special to knock off Niigata, but you never know.

Round 3 Results

October 31

Kashima Antlers 3 - 0 Avispa Fukuoka
Vissel Kobe 1 - 0 Kashiwa Reysol
Sanfreece Hiroshima 2 - 3 Sagan Tosu
Gamba Osaka 6 - 1 Fukuoka University
Omiya Ardijya 1 Ext 2 Vegalta Sendai
Matsumoto Yamaga FC 1- 4 FC Gifu
Jubilo Iwata 3 Ext 1 Kagaya Taiiku University
Montedio Yamagata 0 - 3 Meiji University
Albirix Niigata 3 - 1 Yokohama FC
Shimizu S-Pulse 2 - 0 Consadole Sapporo
Kyoto Sanga 1 Ext 2 Ventforet Kofu

November 1

Yokohama F Marinos 4 - 1 Fukushima United
Nagoya Grampus 2 - 0 Honda Lock
Oita trinita 2 - 3 JEF Chiba

November 11

Kawasaki Frontale 3 - 1 Kataller Toyama
FC Tokyo 3 - 2 Thespa Kusatsu