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Japan plan on ending winless streak

Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic says he is confident that his side will beat Cambodia in their 2018 World Cup qualifying match at Saitama Stadium 2002 on Thursday.

Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic says he is confident that his side will beat Cambodia in their 2018 World Cup qualifying match at Saitama Stadium 2002 on Thursday.

The Japanese side have struggled lately having not won in their last four international matches.

They kicked off their qualifying campaign with a goalless draw at home against Singapore in June. They lost 2-1 to North Korea in the East Asian Cup in China and drew 1-1 with both South Korea and hosts China during the four-team tournament.

In a chat with reporters ahead of this week's match, Halilhodzic feels that his side has what it takes to beat Cambodia, who have lost both their opening qualifying games.

"The Cambodia match is the last one of the year to be played in Japan. We hope to finish the year beautifully," Halilhodzic said.

"We will win it and boost ourselves up for the away contest.

"To live up to your expectation and put up a good result, the team and the players all get together to play an effective game to boost ourselves up for the next away match and to put up another good result.

"I expect the match is going to be similar to the Singapore match, but we don't want to repeat that same outcome. We prepare detailed, various options against Cambodia and other teams," he added.

In the East Asia Cup, Halilhodzic used a second-string side but against Cambodia he will field a much stronger side which will include Shinji Kagawa, Makoto Hasebe, Keisuke Honda, Yuto Nagatomo and Shinji Okazaki.

Defender Tomoaki Makino has been ruled out due to a groin injury and has been replaced by Yuichi Maruyama.

Cambodia coach Lee Tae-hoon says that despite losing 4-0 and 1-0 to Singapore and Afghanistan respectively in June, they will try and come away with a positive result against Japan.

"I want my players to make the best of this great opportunity to play a world class team like Japan," said Lee.

"We have done well to come this far in reaching the second round. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain," he added.

Antlers notch three second-half goals to bury Frontale

Kashima Antlers stayed on top of the J. League second-stage table after a 3-1 away win to Kawasaki Frontale on Saturday.

Second-half goals from Caio, Mu Kanazaki and Shuhei Akasaki pushed Kashima on to 22 points from nine games as Antlers remained perfect under manager Masatada Ishii through six games.

Elsinho scored for Kawasaki, which lost its third in a row and has faded badly out of the title race since losing Renato in a summer transfer, falling 11 points off the pace.

Ishii’s men are one point ahead of second-place Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who hammered Nagoya Grampus 5-2 at home behind Douglas’ hat trick. Hisato Sato netted the second for Hiroshima with his 156th career goal, moving him within one of the record held by former Japan international Masashi Nakayama.

Vissel Kobe and Yokohama F. Marinos were also big winners on the evening, routing Sagan Tosu 7-1 and first-stage champion Urawa Reds 4-0, respectively. Vissel’s seven goals were a team record.

Shimizu S-Pulse drew 1-1 at home to FC Tokyo, while Albirex Niigata won 1-0 at Vegalta Sendai.

Rout in the Emperor’s Cup

Top-flight Montedio Yamagata thrashed Yamagata University’s Faculty of Medicine 7-1 in the first round of the Emperor’s Cup on Saturday.

Matsumoto Yamaga, the only other J. League first-division team to appear in the opening round as the Japanese F.A. Cup got underway, won 3-0 over regional leaguers Saurcos Fukui.

The Emperor’s Cup final will go back to being held on New Year’s Day after it was staged in December last season because of the Asian Cup in January.

Kashima Antlers remain top of J.League table

KAWASAKI —

Brazilian forward Caio shone as Kashima Antlers picked up their sixth straight win to remain top of the J.League second stage table, beating Kawasaki Frontale 3-1 Saturday.

The 21-year-old Caio - who went to a Japanese high school and was voted J.League Young Player of the Year in 2014 - struck a crisp opener from just outside the penalty area in the 51st minute. Mu Kanazaki added a second for the visitors seven minutes later.

Elsinho pulled one back for Kawasaki in the 84th but it wasn’t enough to prevent Masatada Ishii’s side improving to 22 points, with Shuhei Akasaki adding a third in the 93rd.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima remains one point behind Kashima after beating Nagoya Grampus 5-2. Douglas scored a hat trick for the 2012 and 2013 champion, while Hisato Sato also struck to move to within one goal of Masashi Nakayama’s J.League all-time record of 157.

Vissel Kobe was the biggest winner of the day, hammering Sagan Tosu 7-1. Tosu opened through Yohei Toyoda in the 26th minute, but braces for Kazuma Watanabe and Leandro, plus goals for Takuya Iwanami, Daisuke Ishizu, and Ryota Morioka, sealed Kobe’s triumph.

Meanwhile, first stage champion Urawa Reds were roundly defeated 4-0 by Yokohama F Marinos, with former Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura striking the pick of the bunch with a trademark free kick from 25 yards.

Elsewhere, Albirex Niigata beat Vegalta Sendai 1-0 thanks to a 94th-minute winner from Kosuke Yamamoto, while Shimizu S-Pulse drew with FC Tokyo 1-1.

Makino sidelined by groin injury

Maruyama gets call-up for World Cup qualifiers

TOMOAKI MAKINO, YUICHI MARUYAMA – Urawa Reds defender Tomoaki Makino has pulled out of Japan’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Cambodia and Afghanistan due to a right groin injury, the Japan Football Association announced on Monday.

Makino has been replaced by FC Tokyo’s Yuichi Maruyama, who received his first call-up to the national side.

Japan, which launched its qualifying campaign in June with a forgettable 0-0 home draw to Singapore, hosts Cambodia on Thursday before facing Afghanistan away on Sept. 8.

Reysol squander lead to draw with Ventforet

A tough own goal by Kashiwa goalkeeper Takanori Sugeno gifted Ventforet Kofu a point as Reysol were held to a 2-2 draw in the J. League on Sunday.

Tatsuma Yoshida’s men missed an excellent opportunity to cook up the pressure on second-stage leaders Kashima Antlers after Sugeno, trying to catch a Junya Ito header off the post, fumbled the ball over his own line in the 70th minute to make it 2-2.

Third-place Reysol saw their three-game win streak come to an end, inching within three points of Antlers going into the international break.

Cristiano had opened the scoring for the hosts after 27 minutes with Masato Kudo doubling Kashiwa’s lead three minutes before halftime. Takuma Abe pulled Kofu within one in the 48th minute.

Yoshida tried to put a positive spin on the result, saying his team is in position to overtake Kashima on any given weekend.

“It’s disappointing because we were ahead by two,” the manager said. “The players were talking about taking more control during halftime.

“We still won a point, a point that will allow us to go top provided that we do our jobs.”

Reysol have a challenging September ahead of them, starting with Vissel Kobe in the Nabisco Cup quarterfinals, then first-stage winners Urawa Reds in the J. League before traveling to China for the second leg of the Asian Champions League quarterfinals against Guangzhou Evergrande on Sept. 15.

Kashiwa dropped the first leg 3-1 at home on Tuesday.

“We’ve got Kobe, then Urawa, then Guangzhou so these next few games are going to be tough,” Yoshida said. “We need to try to stay fresh, especially mentally.”

In one other J1 game, Gamba Osaka climbed to fifth, six points off the pace with a 1-0 home win over Shonan Bellmare thanks to Shu Kurata’s ninth-minute strike.