National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Nagoya Grampus or Sanfrecce Hiroshima 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.
Nagoya Grampus form and stats
When playing at home in the J-League, Nagoya Grampus have managed 2 wins, 2 draws and suffered 1 defeat from 5 games.
The Nagoya Grampus crowd went home unhappy last time out, seeing their beloved players lose 0-2 to Consadole Sapporo here. Midfield player Mateus got a match rating of 7.32 in that game, the max score being 10. Mateus hit four key passes and dribled past the opponent 1 of 2 times.
Previous to that game, a J-League home match hosting Shonan Bellmare in a game that was won 2-1.This is expected to be a close game, with Grampus perhaps considered small favourites due to their home advantage. Looking back at earlier matches similar to this one (expected to be close with Nagoya Grampus as a small favourite), we find 18 games. Nagoya Grampus has won ten of these, drawn four and lost four.
There will be little rest for Nagoya Grampus after this match as they are travelling to Kashima Antlers for a J-League game in only four days.
Nagoya Grampus has scored 6 league goals at home this season, in 5 matches.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima form and stats
Last season their Ybc Levain Cup adventure ended in the group stage.Things could have gone better for Sanfrecce Hiroshima in their J-League away matches, but 4 points from 3 games is all right.
The Sanfrecce Hiroshima goalkeeper Keisuke Osako is collecting clean sheets like a laundry worker. It's been 272 league minutes without conceding a goal, and counting.
Sanfrecce had fun at their own home last time out, beating Avispa Fukuoka 1-0. Shibasaki scored. Shibasaki came off the bench to score the winning goal in the match against Avispa Fukuoka last time out, making the manager Skibbe feel like a tactical genius. Midfield player Higashi was the top player of the team with a match rating of 7.72/10. Higashi served one assist, hit two key passes and had 29 successful passes (of 34 total).
That result followed a home victory 2-0 versus Yokohama F. Marinos in the J-League.So, this is expected to be a close game, an even contest. Looking at earlier matches with Sanfrecce Hiroshima playing away and similar expectations, we found 14 relevant matches. Results were four Sanfrecce Hiroshima wins, three draws and seven defeats.
There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Sanfrecce Hiroshima manager Skibbe as the team has another away game coming up in only four days, this time against Júbilo Iwata.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima have the goal stats of 3-3 (for/against) from 3 business trips in the league at this early stage of the season.
Head 2 Head
The previous head-to-head meeting ended Sanfrecce Hiroshima - Grampus 2-0, played this season. Head to head totals (for the former ten meetings): Nagoya Grampus won four games, two matches ended in a draw and Sanfrecce Hiroshima got four wins. Over 2,5 goals / under 2,5 goals: two / eightTop Goalscorers
  T. Morishima 3 goals |   H. Abe 1 goals | S. Inagaki 1 goals |
Nagoya Grampus missing players
Sanfrecce Hiroshima missing players
| Nagoya Grampus | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 15 | Played | P | 11 | 25 | ||
| 9 | 8 | Won | W | 5 | 10 | ||
| 7 | 5 | Drew | D | 2 | 5 | ||
| 9 | 2 | Lost | L | 4 | 10 | ||
| 28 | 20 | Scored | S | 15 | 31 | ||
| 29 | 12 | Conceded | C | 9 | 26 | ||
| 92% | 87% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 91% | 92% | ||
| 80% | 80% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 64% | 68% | ||
| 40% | 33% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 36% | 36% | ||
| 16% | 13% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 9% | 16% | ||
| 0% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 9% | 12% | ||
| 48% | 40% | BTTS | BTTS | 27% | 40% | ||
| 28% | 47% | Clean Sheets | C S | 45% | 40% | ||
| 32% | 27% | Failed to Score | F T | 36% | 28% | ||
| 4.4 | 4.2 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.7 | 3.8 | ||
| 5.4 | 5.9 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.5 | 4.3 | ||
| 0.9 | 1.2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 2 | ||
| 9.4 | 10.6 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 10.1 | 10.2 | ||
| 4.3 | 5.1 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.5 | 3.8 | ||
| 25% | 25% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 38% | 33% | ||
| 10 | 9.5 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 11.9 | 9.6 | ||
| 4.7 | 4.6 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.5 | 3.6 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 2 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | Nagoya Grampus | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | Tokushima Vortis | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -5 | 1 |
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Kawasaki Frontale | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 20 |
| 2 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 18 |
| 3 | Kashima Antlers | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 18 |
| 4 | Kashiwa Reysol | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 16 |
| 5 | Tokyo | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| 6 | Cerezo Osaka | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 7 | Kyoto Sanga | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 8 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 9 | Sagan Tosu | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| 10 | Urawa Reds | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| 11 | Gamba Osaka | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
| 12 | Consadole Sapporo | 8 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 9 |
| 13 | Nagoya Grampus | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -2 | 8 |
| 14 | Avispa Fukuoka | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -2 | 7 |
| 15 | Júbilo Iwata | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -3 | 7 |
| 16 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -4 | 7 |
| 17 | Vissel Kobe | 10 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | -11 | 4 |
| 18 | Shonan Bellmare | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | -7 | 3 |
