NEWS

Nagoya Grampus held off Shimizu S-Pulse 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra time in the semifinals of the Emperor’s Cup in Shizuoka on Tuesday, setting up a showdown in the final against defending champions Gamba Osaka.

Gamba beat J1-bound Vegalta Sendai 2-1 in Tokyo with two goals from Brazilian forward Lucas.
The final of the season-ending tournament will be held on January 1 at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
After Nagoya’s Joshua Kennedy – the first kicker in the shootout at Shizuoka Ecopa Stadium – converted his spot kick, Shimizu’s Daisuke Ichikawa hit the bar. Penalties were then converted in succession and Nagoya’s Keita Sugimoto was left with the task of converting his penalty to send his team into the final, which he did.
Nagoya used the flanks to create chances for Kennedy and Maya Yoshida, but Shimizu went ahead in the 17th minute through Shinji Okazaki.
Nagoya cancelled that out when Keiji Tamada converted a penalty in the 57th minute after Kennedy was brought down in the box by Shimizu defender Arata Kodama.
Tamada hit the woodwork in extra time, while an attempt by Okazaki was saved by Nagoya goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki, leaving the scores at 1-1 after 120 minutes.
It will be Nagoya’s first appearance in the final since winning the tournament in 1999.
At the National Stadium in Tokyo, Gamba took the lead in the fourth minute when Lucas latched on to a clearance by Sendai goalkeeper Takuto Hayashi and fired in a spectacular bicycle shot.
But the defending champions faced tough resistance from the second-division side, who reached the semifinals for the first time after upsetting two first division sides: FC Tokyo in the fourth round and Kawasaki Frontale in the quarterfinals.
Sendai used counterattacks and had decent efforts on goal from midfielders Ryang Yong Gi and Kunimitsu Sekiguchi, as well as forward Yuki Nakashima.
With Gamba’s third-choice goalkeeper Atsushi Kimura playing in his first official game in place of the flu-ridden Yosuke Fujigaya and the injured Naoki Matsuyo, the Osaka players fought hard to make Kimura’s job easier.
But Sendai equalized in the 59th minute when Takayuki Nakahara slotted home a Kunimitsu Sekiguchi cross.
Gamba responded well and broke the tie seven minutes later when Lucas moved up to receive a Hideo Hashimoto pass and fired home from the edge of the box.
“We let our opponents into the game at times, but we played with cool heads overall,” said Gamba manager Akira Nishino. “Kimura had to make his debut in a big game like this, but he had prepared well and had a good game.”
Gamba lost twice to Nagoya in the league, but Nishino is happy to face them in the final.
“I was hoping to play Nagoya in the final,” he stated. “In our previous matches, we took the initiative of the game, but Nagoya turned it around on both occasions. We want to put on a good performance and pay back those debts.”
“Our early goal helped us relax,” Gamba midfielder Yasuhito Endo said. “As we played a hard game today, it will help us prepare for our next game.”
The Japan international added, “We shouldn’t think about the past [record against Nagoya] too much as this is another match. I want to win to wrap up our season on a positive note.”
The final on January 1 will kick off at 2 p.m.