Several J.League 1 teams suffered elimination from the 2024 Emperor's Cup at the hands of J.League 2 sides in Wednesday's third round matches.
2022 cup champions Ventforet Kofu, Oita Trinita, V-Varen Nagasaki, JEF United Chiba, and Ehime FC were arguably the standout performers of the third round as they managed to claim J1 scalps, while the likes of Mito HollyHock, Fujieda MYFC, and the students of the University of Tsukuba giving their more illustrious opponents almighty scares before eventually bowing out of the cup with their heads held up high.
The shock of the round was arguably V-Varen's emphatic 6-1 win over Albirex Niigata at the Transcosmos Stadium in Isahaya, Nagasaki Prefecture. Albirex might be stuttering at 14th place in the current J1 table, but they were expected to overcome a V-Varen side leading the way in the J2.
Instead, even before Danilo Gomes' 39th minute red card, Albirex were second best at the Transcosmos, with V-Varen racing to a 3-0 lead before half-time through a Takeshi Sawada brace and a strike from Juanma.
Takumi Nagura added more misery for Albirex in the 52nd minute with V-Varen's fourth goal, before Juanma completed his brace in the 76th minute and Masaru Kato sealed V-Varen's progression into the fourth round in the second minute of injury time, leaving Aozora Ishiyama's goal in the third minute of injury time as meaningless consolation for Albirex.
Avispa Fukuoka might be flying high at 6th in the J1 table, but they were stunned by an Ehime side sitting mid-table in the J2 at the Ningineer Stadium in Matsuyama, with goals from Shuma Mihara in the 52nd minute and Yuta Fujihara in the 75th minute dumping the Wasps out of the cup.
Oita Trinita, who are currently struggling in the lower-to-middle reaches of the J2 table, gave stern resistance to a Kawasaki Frontale side who were the defending champions of the Emperor's Cup at the Resonac Dome in Oita, initially holding the men from Kanagawa Prefecture to a goalless draw in the first 45 minutes before stunning them 3-1 at full-time. Asahi Sasaki's 62nd minute own goal opened the gates to Kawasaki's downfall, before Kenshin Yasuda's 64th minute goal and Shun Ayukawa's 79th minute penalty practically sealed progression for Oita. Erison's 90th minute goal provided scant consolation as Kawasaki's tenure as defending Emperor's Cup champions came to a shocking and screeching halt.
Both Ventforet and JEF United were made to work hard for their shock wins, however, with Cerezo Osaka and FC Tokyo forcing the two into extra-time in their respective third round matches.
Veteran striker Peter Utaka gave Ventforet the lead in the 46th minute at the JIT Recycle Ink Stadium in Kofu, before Cerezo's Ryo Watanabe fired home the equalizer in the 54th minute. Ventforet's winner came in the 112nd minute through Yoshiki Torikai, sending the 2022 Emperor's Cup champions into the fourth round.
At the Fukuda Denshi Arena in Chiba, Kuryu Matsuki gave FC Tokyo the lead in the 49th minute, however prefectural neighbors JEF United struck back in the 79th minute through Masamichi Hayashi. Incredibly, just 52 seconds after the start of extra-time, Hiroto Goya landed home the winning goal for JEF United, capping off a sub-par performance from FC Tokyo.
Harry Kewell's tenure as Yokohama F. Marinos head coach was quite a tumultuous one, with the 5-time J1 champions currently toiling at 13th place in the league, however the Australian had Asahi Uenaka to thank as the midfielder fired home with six minutes remaining to draw 2-2 away at Mito.
J2 strugglers Mito had raced to a shock 2-0 lead thanks to quickfire goals from Ryusei Nose (12th minute) and Yuki Kusano (15th minute) however Yokohama were handed a lifeline in the 36th minute courtesy of Kenta Inoue's 36th minute strike. Kewell's men then struggled to break down Mito and were on the verge of an embarrassing exit, only for Uenaka's equalizer to spare their blushes. Yokohama then made Mito pay the penalty as they won out 5-4 in the ensuing shootout.
Taking on Kashima Antlers at the Fujieda Soccer Stadium, Fujieda managed to stun the powerhouses from Ibaraki Prefecture after Anderson Chaves had scored a 24th minute penalty, only for Kashima to turn things around late into the second half. Aleksandar Cavric scored Kashima's equalizer in the 79th minute, before Hayato Nakama struck the winner in the 90th minute.
Having eliminated current J1 leaders Machida Zelvia in the previous round, the boys of the University of Tsukuba were confident that they could do the same against Kashiwa Reysol at the Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium. However, Kousuke Kinoshita gave Kashiwa the lead in the 16th minute and it seemed that the University of Tsukuba students were on the verge of exiting the competition. An 80th minute own goal gave the University of Tsukuba some hope as the students managed to force extra time, however Mao Hosoya had other ideas as his 100th minute goal clinch progression to the next round for Kashiwa.
Other than the aforementioned shocks and close calls, Thursday's other cup matches were pretty much straightforward.
J1's Sagan Tosu managed to overcome J2 side Yokohama FC 3-1, while Tegavajaro Miyazaki, the sole remaining J.League 3 side left in the competition, were edged out 2-1 by J1 high-flyers Gamba Osaka. Defending J1 champions Vissel Kobe saw-off the challenge of J2 side Tokushima Vortis in a routine 2-0 win, as another J2 side in Iwaki FC were crushed 4-0 by J1 powerhouses Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Meanwhile, J1 basement dwellers Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo experienced a thrilling match as they beat J2 side Montedio Yamagata 6-3, J1 strugglers Kyoto Sanga put out an emphatic second half to beat J2 high-flyers Shimizu S-Pulse 3-1, and last but not least, in the only all-J1 tie of the round, Shonan Bellmare managed to edge out Tokyo Verdy 1-0.
There was still one more match left in the third round to be played - between the students of Japan Soccer College and J2 side Renofa Yamaguchi - however, the match was postponed due to bad weather affecting the pitch of the Ishin Me-Life Stadium in Yamaguchi.
Continue reading J1 Sides Tumble in Emperor’s Cup Third Round at Football Tribe Asia.
