Japan Soccer
J. League Saturday 25 August / Sunday 26 August
Urawa Reds increased their lead at the top of the J-League to four points over arch-rivals Gamba Osaka. Gamba were on the receiving end of a 4-1 draw hiding away to Kawasaki Frontale while Urawa beat FC Tokyo in front of 46,951 fans at Saitama Stadium.
Kashima Antlers stay third after a 2-1 home win over bottom club Yokohama FC.
Ardija, still without a win after the sacking of Dutch coach Robert Verbeek at the mid-season break went down 5-0 in Nagoya where veteran midfielder and former Japan international Toshiya Fujita scored his 100th J-League goal for Grampus.
The second largest crowd of the weekend, 39,912, saw Albirex Niigata slump 2-0 to Shimizu S-Pulse who leapfrog the hosts in the table going into 4th on goal difference.
In J2, Kyoto Sanga came back from a 3-1 half-time deficit to beat their nearest challengers for the second automatic promotion place, Avispa 4-3 and stay nine points adrift of runaway leaders Sapporo Consadole.
J1
Urawa Reds 3 FC Tokyo 2
Kawasaki Frontale 4 Gamba Osaka 1
Kashima Antlers 2 Yokohama FC 1
Oita Trinita 2 Vissel Kobe 0
Kashiwa Reysol 1 JEF United 0
Jubilo Iwata 2 Ventforet Kofu 1
Albirex Niigata 0 Shimizu S-Pulse 2
Yokohama F Marinos 2 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2
Nagoya Gampus Eight 5 Omiya Ardija 0
Leading Positions
Reds P22 Pts 49
Gamba P22 Pts 45
Antlers P22 Pts 42
S-Pulse P22 Pts 38
Albirex P22 Pts 38
Marinos P22 Pts 36
J2
Consadole P33 Pts 71
Kyoto Sanga P33 Pts 62
Avispa P33 Pts 56
Vegalta P34 Pts 56
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