r/JLeague

A couple of big swings late this weekend. Kashima Antlers guaranteed first place and a chance at the one-off trophy with a solid win over JEF United Chiba, while FC Tokyo were held at bay, but won on penalites to effectively wrap up second place (given the goal difference advantage over Machida Zelvia).

Mayhem in the West took place on Sunday, with three fantastic saves in the shootout by Goto to give V-Varen Nagasaki a massive win over Kobe, before two maulings took place to send the fight for first to the final day. And even now, with only one match to play, the biggest gap in the West is three points. It's been a frankly staggering season, given the competitiveness and the rarity of consistent results. The biggest win streak of any side in the West was Vissel Kobe's four across late March and early April.

In the lower leagues, while they've likely left it too late, Consadole Sapporo have now won seven straight matches (with a cumulative score of 18-6). They'd need to win against Jubilo Iwata next week while Ventforet Kofu lose to last place Nagano Parceiro (who have the lowest points total of any side in the second/third division) to snag first place in East-B - very unlikely, but still technically possible. An extra note on East-B, neither of those two have the best goal difference in their subset - that'd be seventh placed Matsumoto Yamaga.

Moriyasu will announce the squad on Friday, who do you think is going and who would you like to see go to the World cup?

My prediction:

Zion Suzuki, Keisuke Osako, Tomoki Hayakawa

Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ayumu Seko, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Shogo Taniguchi, Ko Itakura, Hiroki Ito, Junnosuke Suzuki

Ritsu Doan, Yukinari Sugawara, Kaishu Sano, Joel Chima Fujita, Wataru Endo, Daichi Kamada, Ao Tanaka, Kaoru Mitoma, Junya Ito

Takefusa Kubo, Yuito Suzuki, Keito Nakamura, Kodai Sano

Ayase Ueda, Koki Ogawa, Daizen Maeda

I reckon most of the players are already settled. The injury issues means that there is uncertainty. Despite Mitoma's injury he's so important to Japan that I think he'll get selected with the hope that he recovers for the knockout stage. So what do you think?

Another hectic matchday comes to a close. Reysol snapped a six game losing streak, and all of the top three combatants in the east stretched their advantage over the rest. In the west, Kobe's advantage has now been completely eroded.

In the second/third tier, Vegalta Sendai have guaranteed themselves a place in the top four finals, winning on penalties against Vanraure Hachinohe while Shonan Bellmare lost to Yokohama FC. Ditto for Kataller Toyama, who have a 7 point lead over Kochi United. Tegevajaro Miyazaki locked their spot in a while ago at this point, such is the enormity of their lead. East-B is the only undecided group, with Ventforet Kofu needing 3 points in the last two matches to secure their place in the overall top four.

As always, keen to hear from those of you who watched any matches.