🏏 Sun, 17 May 2026 15:00 JST
Cerezo Osaka
vs
Nagoya Grampus
4-2-3-1 vs 3-4-2-1
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- Currently 12th, Cerezo Osaka (20 points from 15 games) host 3rd-placed Nagoya Grampus (28 points from 15 games). Cerezo have struggled to close out games with one win, three draws and one loss in their last five, while Nagoya have stayed in form with four wins and a draw. The eight-point gap between them makes this a pivotal test for Cerezo's push up the table, and a must-not-lose game for Nagoya, who trail leaders Kashima (31 points) by three points.
- In the season's first meeting in Matchday 9, Nagoya kept a clean sheet to win 3-0 at home. Nagoya have the league's third-best attack on a goal difference of +10 and are expected to pile pressure on Cerezo's defence again. Cerezo have been solid with 16 goals scored and 15 conceded in 15 games, but three straight draws have exposed a lack of cutting edge.
- Cerezo deploy Brazilian winger Thiago Andrade (born 2000, with experience at MLS side New York City FC and in the Chinese league) as a lone striker, with former Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United man Shinji Kagawa (born 1989) waiting on the bench. Attacking midfielder Yuki Yokoyama (who helped FC Imabari win promotion from J3 to J2) starts, with explosive pace and technique, and a performance that underlines the generational shift from Kagawa is anticipated.
- In Nagoya's 3-4-2-1, Tomoki Takamine (born 1997, a CDM) threatens goal with his ferocious left-footed long-range shooting. Having scored 10 goals in J2 in 2025 to earn a Best XI place, he contributes with thunderbolt shots and direct free kicks. Against him, Cerezo's defensive midfielders, the 183cm Shunta Tanaka (a Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo product) and the 185cm Nelson Ishiwatari (born 2005, with a Nigerian father and a Japanese mother), will look to use their height defensively.
- Facing their former clubs are Cerezo's Kosuke Nakamura (a GK formerly of Avispa Fukuoka and Kashiwa Reysol) and Nagoya's Ryosuke Yamanaka (an LB formerly of Cerezo Osaka). Yamanaka in particular blossomed as an attacking full-back under Postecoglou at Yokohama F. Marinos and went on to earn a Japan call-up. His high-speed crosses and powerful long-range shots from his left foot are his greatest weapons and a threat to Cerezo's right side.
- Nagoya's Kensuke Nagai (one of Japan's fastest sprinters, who scored in the knockout rounds at the 2012 London Olympics) is on the bench even in his late 30s. By contrast, Cerezo have former Japan international Shinji Kagawa and the internationally capped Shinnosuke Hatanaka (who played the full duration when Yokohama F. Marinos won the 2019 league title) in reserve. Both teams have richly experienced veterans waiting to change the flow of the game.