A trophy cabinet can never have too much silverware and both Kashima Antlers and Avispa Fukuoka know what's at stake in this second leg of the J-League Cup Play-offs clash.
Avispa Fukuoka have a very long trip to this away game, as there's more than 1100 kilometers in distance to cover. This could prove a challenge, at least for the supporters.
Both teams should be fairly well rested for this game, as they have had some quiet days to prepare. Hopefully this will translate into lots of action on the pitch.
Kashima Antlers form and stats
Kashima Antlers have reached this J-League Cup stage through battling and winning against Oita Trinita, Cerezo Osaka and Gamba Osaka. Kashima was eliminated in the quarter-finals last season in the J-League Cup. Nagoya Grampus was too strong.The story so far in the J-League for Kashima Antlers at their home stadium (Kashima Soccer Stadium) is 5 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats.
The club members hope that Kashima Antlers will fight back in this game, putting things right after the 0-1 away defeat in the J-League Cup fixture against Avispa Fukuoka.
The hosts are favourites to win this game, with an estimated chance of about 55-60% of that outcome. Earlier Kashima matches with similar probabilities have ended with 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat (from 8 games).
A decent goal production from Kashima Antlers in their home games so far, with 16 goals from 9 league matches. Kashima Antlers's goalkeeper has had to pick the ball out of their own net 13 times. For more goal stats, check the Statistics tab above.
Avispa Fukuoka form and stats
The traveling awayteam has defeated Shonan Bellmare, Tokyo and Jubilo Iwata in order to reach play-offs of J-League Cup. Avispa Fukuoka's mission in J-League Cup last season failed in the group stage.The hunting on away grounds haven’t been very fruitful for Avispa Fukuoka so far with only 7 points returning home. The records show 2-1-4 (win-draw-lose).
The attacking players of Fukuoka have been feeble for some time now, the team not scoring a league goal in the last 212 minutes.
The supporters enjoyed Avispa Fukuoka's previous match versus Kashima Antlers, a J-League Cup win (1-0) played at home.
As mentioned above, the odds for this match puts the home team as favourites. Perhaps this eases the pressure on the away team, who are capable of producing an upset here on a good day. Looking at earlier matches with similar odds and Avispa Fukuoka playing away, we found 6 games. Results were 0 away wins, 3 draws and 3 home wins.
The visitors have scored 4 goals from 7 away games in the league, an average of less than one per game.
Head 2 Head
The duelists have played earlier this season: Avispa Fukuoka - Kashima 1-0. Stats for the previous ten meetings between these two participants are: six wins for Kashima Antlers, one draw and three wins for Avispa Fukuoka. Over 2,5 goals: five times; under 2,5 goals: five games.Top Goalscorers
  A. Ueda 10 goals |  Y. Suzuki 6 goals |  A. do Nascimento Cruz 4 goals |
Kashima Antlers missing players
Avispa Fukuoka missing players
| Kashima Antlers | Avispa Fukuoka | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 13 | Played | P | 11 | 25 | ||
| 15 | 8 | Won | W | 2 | 9 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Drew | D | 3 | 9 | ||
| 6 | 3 | Lost | L | 6 | 7 | ||
| 46 | 25 | Scored | S | 5 | 21 | ||
| 30 | 16 | Conceded | C | 11 | 16 | ||
| 96% | 92% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 73% | 68% | ||
| 76% | 77% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 27% | 32% | ||
| 64% | 69% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 18% | 24% | ||
| 36% | 31% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 18% | 12% | ||
| 16% | 23% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 9% | 8% | ||
| 52% | 54% | BTTS | BTTS | 18% | 24% | ||
| 28% | 23% | Clean Sheets | C S | 36% | 52% | ||
| 24% | 31% | Failed to Score | F T | 73% | 56% | ||
| 5 | 5.7 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.7 | 3.9 | ||
| 4.4 | 4 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.5 | 3.9 | ||
| 1.4 | 1.1 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 0.9 | 1.1 | ||
| 1 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | ||
| 12.8 | 12.2 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 7 | 8 | ||
| 5.3 | 5.1 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 2.5 | 3.2 | ||
| 35% | 38% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 18% | 27% | ||
| 8.5 | 7.8 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 6.5 | 7.5 | ||
| 3.4 | 3 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 2.1 | 2.7 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 16 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 30 | 17 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 31 |
| 2 | Kashima Antlers | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 21 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 30 |
| 3 | Kawasaki Frontale | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 17 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 30 |
| 4 | Kashiwa Reysol | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 22 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 27 |
| 5 | Cerezo Osaka | 16 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 23 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 26 |
| 6 | Tokyo | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 18 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 25 |
| 7 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 15 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 19 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 24 |
| 8 | Sagan Tosu | 16 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 21 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 24 |
| 9 | Kyoto Sanga | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 10 | -2 | 20 |
| 10 | Nagoya Grampus | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 10 | -2 | 20 |
| 11 | Consadole Sapporo | 16 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 15 | 26 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 17 | -11 | 20 |
| 12 | Avispa Fukuoka | 16 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 19 |
| 13 | Gamba Osaka | 15 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 17 | 20 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 17 |
| 14 | Urawa Reds | 16 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 15 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 7 | -1 | 15 |
| 15 | Jubilo Iwata | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 13 | -7 | 15 |
| 16 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 16 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 15 | 24 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 10 | -9 | 13 |
| 17 | Shonan Bellmare | 16 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 23 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 8 | -10 | 13 |
| 18 | Vissel Kobe | 16 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 22 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 14 | -8 | 11 |
