National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Tokyo or Cerezo Osaka that keep their silverware dream alive.
There’s little time for restitution or working hard at the training pitch these days, with both teams having played their last game less than four days ago.
Tokyo form and stats
Last season their J-League Cup adventure ended in the group stage.Tokyo are steadily winning J-League games and points here at Ajinomoto Stadium. 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat is the summary from 6 games.
Tokyo drew their last game, 1-1 away at Kashima Antlers. Oliveira, who usually plays near the opponent's goal, was the declared top player for the side in that game, earning a rating of 7.54 (out of 10). Oliveira scored one goal and dribled past the opponent 2 of 2 times.
Previous to that game, a J-League home match hosting Kawasaki Frontale in a game that was won 2-1.This is expected to be a close game, with Tokyo perhaps considered small favourites due to their home advantage. Looking back at earlier matches similar to this one (expected to be close with Tokyo as a small favourite), we find 14 games. Tokyo has won 7 of these, drawn 3 and lost 4.
Tokyo are traveling soon after this match as the J-League match at Vissel Kobe awaits in three days.
Tokyo's goalkeeper has had to pick the ball out of their own net 7 times. For more goal stats, check the Statistics tab above.
Cerezo Osaka form and stats
Cerezo Osaka was sent out of J-League Cup in the final last season.Playing away, Cerezo Osaka have won 4 games, drawn 1 and suffered 2 defeats in the J-League this season.
203 minutes! That's how long the Cerezo goalkeeper Jin-Hyeon Kim and his defense have shut out their league opponents.
Cerezo Osaka play their second away game in a row, but can be confident going into this one after the 2-0 victory visiting Shonan Bellmare. The attacker Ceará got a match rating of 8.01 in that game. Ceará scored one goal, hit two key passes and had 21 successful passes (of 26 total).
Ahead of that match was the victory versus Kyoto Sanga at their stadium, the result 1-0.So, this is expected to be a close game, an even contest. Looking at earlier matches with Cerezo Osaka playing away and similar expectations, we found 14 relevant matches. Results were 5 Cerezo Osaka wins, 3 draws and 6 defeats.
The visitors are returning home after this fixture, hosting Yokohama in just four days.
Cerezo Osaka are scoring more than one goal per away game on average, having accumulated 9 away goals from 7 games (in the league). It's not easy to score on Cerezo as they have only conceded 6 goals from these away games.
Head 2 Head
The dueling parties have met previously this season: Cerezo Osaka - Tokyo 1-0. Head-2-head stats last ten meetings: five - three - two (Tokyo wins - draws - Cerezo Osaka wins). As for goals, five matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), five had two or less.
Top Goalscorers
  L. de Sousa Pereira 5 goals |   D. Queiroz de Oliveira 4 goals | T. Nakagawa 4 goals |
Tokyo missing players
Cerezo Osaka missing players
| Tokyo | Cerezo Osaka | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 12 | Played | P | 13 | 25 | ||
| 10 | 8 | Won | W | 5 | 9 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Drew | D | 4 | 6 | ||
| 11 | 3 | Lost | L | 4 | 10 | ||
| 34 | 26 | Scored | S | 14 | 26 | ||
| 32 | 12 | Conceded | C | 15 | 30 | ||
| 96% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 77% | 88% | ||
| 76% | 92% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 69% | 64% | ||
| 52% | 67% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 54% | 48% | ||
| 24% | 42% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 23% | 20% | ||
| 12% | 17% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 4% | ||
| 48% | 50% | BTTS | BTTS | 38% | 44% | ||
| 28% | 42% | Clean Sheets | C S | 46% | 32% | ||
| 28% | 8% | Failed to Score | F T | 38% | 36% | ||
| 4.2 | 4.3 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.8 | 4.4 | ||
| 4.5 | 4.8 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 4.9 | 5.2 | ||
| 1.6 | 1.2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 0.9 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 3 | ||
| 10.4 | 11.7 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 10.6 | 10.3 | ||
| 3.7 | 4.8 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.7 | 3.4 | ||
| 37% | 46% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 23% | 27% | ||
| 11.4 | 10.2 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 12.2 | 11.7 | ||
| 4.2 | 3.7 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 3.5 | 3.8 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Gamba Osaka | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 2 | Tokyo | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | Kyoto Sanga | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | -1 | 6 |
| 4 | Cerezo Osaka | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | -5 | 4 |
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Vissel Kobe | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 29 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 20 | 30 |
| 2 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 28 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 27 |
| 3 | Nagoya Grampus | 14 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 26 |
| 4 | Kashima Antlers | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 23 |
| 5 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 23 |
| 6 | Cerezo Osaka | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 18 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 23 |
| 7 | Consadole Sapporo | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 31 | 25 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 13 | 6 | 22 |
| 8 | Urawa Reds | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 21 |
| 9 | Avispa Fukuoka | 14 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | -1 | 20 |
| 10 | Tokyo | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 17 | 19 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -2 | 19 |
| 11 | Kawasaki Frontale | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 12 | -1 | 18 |
| 12 | Sagan Tosu | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 7 | -3 | 18 |
| 13 | Albirex Niigata | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 | -5 | 16 |
| 14 | Kyoto Sanga | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 16 | 22 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 11 | -6 | 13 |
| 15 | Kashiwa Reysol | 14 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | -8 | 12 |
| 16 | Yokohama | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 31 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 14 | -19 | 12 |
| 17 | Shonan Bellmare | 13 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 24 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 10 | -3 | 11 |
| 18 | Gamba Osaka | 14 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 20 | -17 | 7 |
