Pixie Magic Extends to Nabisco Cup

Nagoya continued their winning streak, downing Vissel Kobe 2-0 at Mizuho Stadium to go top of Group A after three games. In a game in which Grampus dominated possession, Keita Sugimoto and Toshiya Fujita scored in the second half to give the home team a comfortable win after a tough opening 45 minutes.

Grampus fielded a team that was only slightly "weaker" than the lineup that has started most of the league games this year; Yoshida, Nakamura, Yoshimura, and Johnsen all being rested. However, their replacements were not unexperienced rookies but the likes of Masukawa, Fujita, Yamaguchi and Maki. In particular, it is good to see Maya Yoshida given a day off. Although clearly good enough to keep his place in the team, the youngster needs the occasional chance to relax and digest some of the things he is learning. This chance to get away from the constant pressure of playing in the top team was not afforded Keisuke Honda, who spent most of last season looking somewhat jaded after three years of almost constant appearances for Grampus and the Japan U-23s.

Nagoya:
Koji Nishimura
Shohei Abe, Milos Bajalica, Takahiro Masukawa, Jun Aoyama (Takashi Miki HT)
Magnum (Maaaki Fukai 69), Toshiya Fujita, Kei Yamaguchi (Atsushi Yoneyama 62), Yoshizumi Ogawa
Yuki Maki, Keita Sugimoto

Vissel Kobe:
Tatsuya Enamoto
Teruaki Kobayashi, Toshihiko Uchiyama (Hiroki Kishida 84), Gakuto Kondo (Masatoshi Mihara 62), Masaki Yanagawa
Takayuki Yoshida (Shota Matsuhashi 75), Hideo Tanaka, Norio Suzuki, Ryosuke Matsuoka
Daisuke Sudo, Kenji Baba

Other Nabiso Cup Results
Group A
Urawa Reds 1-1 Kyoto Sanga

Group B
Shimizu S-Pulse 5-0 Tokyo Verdy
FC Tokyo 1-1 Jubilo Iwata

Group C
JEF Chiba 0-0 Consadole Sapporo
Kawasaki Frontale 3-0 Kashiwa Reysol

Group D
Yokohama Marinos 4-0 Omiya Ardija
Albirex Niigata 1-1 Oita Trinita