🏏 Fri, 7 Aug 2026 19:25 JST
Yokohama F. Marinos
vs
Kashima
4-2-3-1 vs 4-4-2
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- The opening round of a J1 season that has moved to an autumn-spring calendar. Yokohama F. Marinos line up 4-2-3-1, Kashima Antlers 4-4-2. The first question is who picks up the front two of Yuma Suzuki and Leo Ceara — the back four or the double pivot. Yokohama field 2+3 in midfield against Kashima's 2+2, and that numerical difference will show on the flanks.
- Kei Chinen faces his former club immediately. He moved from Kashima to Yokohama F. Marinos this summer and meets them in round one. Converted from forward to holding midfielder, he won J1's duel crown on the strength of his work in contact, and at 31 he still covers enormous ground. His job is to absorb Kashima's two strikers from behind.
- The connection runs much thicker the other way. Three of Kashima's starting eleven — Leo Ceara, Yan Matheus and Rikuto Hirose — have played for Yokohama F. Marinos, and goalkeeper Tomoki Hayakawa came through the Yokohama junior youth setup. Four players in all with Yokohama ties, which makes this an opener between sides who know each other well.
- Leo Ceara finished 2025 as the league's leading scorer and was central to Kashima's title. He has reached double figures in five consecutive J.League seasons, and he can finish from distance or with his head. Nobody knows the Yokohama defence better, and he starts alongside Yuma Suzuki.
- In the Kashima goal, Tomoki Hayakawa was the 2025 J.League MVP. The 27-year-old combines reflex saves at point-blank range with the technique to build from the back — and he was raised in Yokohama F. Marinos' academy. Ninety minutes facing the attack of the club that developed him.
- Yokohama's attack is designed by 35-year-old Jun Amano. A playmaker whose accurate left-footed free kicks and through balls once earned him comparisons with Shunsuke Nakamura, he came through this academy, spent time in the K League and Belgium, and returned to the club. From the number ten position he supplies 28-year-old Kaina Tanimura up front.
- Kashima's centre-back pairing is Naomichi Ueda and Ikuma Sekigawa. Ueda, 31, is a Japan international with raw physicality and genuine pace — 6.1 seconds over 50 metres — plus spells in Belgium and France. Sekigawa, 25, is the more combative of the two, strong in the air and in duels. How they handle Tanimura's runs in behind is a key thread.
- Yokohama's back line is young. Kosei Suwama, 23, is 186cm and 85kg and came through the club's junior youth ranks; Taisei Inoue, also 23, played all 38 J2 matches in his first professional season at Sagan Tosu. Alongside them is 187cm Colombian Jeisson Quiñones, giving Yokohama height against Kashima's two forwards.
- Kashima have the deeper midfield in experience. Kento Misao, 30, plays both holding midfield and centre-back at a high level, with time in Portugal and Belgium and a captain's presence. Matheus Bueno, the Brazilian signed from Shimizu S-Pulse, keeps his composure under pressure and mixes short and long passing. How much Chinen and Rio Nita can take from them will shape the game.