🏏 Sun, 23 Aug 2026 19:30 JST
Machida Zelvia
vs
Urawa
3-4-2-1 vs 4-1-4-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Few Matchday 3 fixtures offer a sharper contrast. Machida Zelvia are fourth with two wins from two, nine goals scored and one conceded for a goal difference of +8, keeping leaders Kashiwa Reysol (nine points from three games) within range. Urawa Reds sit 19th on zero points with a goal difference of -4 after losing both of their opening matches.
- Machida have done all their damage on the road, winning 5-1 at FC Tokyo and 4-0 at JEF United Chiba. Urawa, by contrast, lost 4-3 away at Gamba Osaka before being beaten 1-4 at home by Sanfrecce Hiroshima, shipping eight goals in two matches. Fixing the defence is the visitors' priority against a side that has conceded only once all season.
- Machida's 3-4-2-1 against Urawa's 4-1-4-1 turns the centre of the pitch into the decisive zone. Machida pair 29-year-old Neta Lavi, a former Maccabi Haifa captain who won three consecutive Israeli titles and spent two and a half years at Gamba Osaka, with 31-year-old Hiroyuki Mae, captain at Avispa Fukuoka for five seasons. Urawa rely on a single holding midfielder in Hayate Ueki, a former captain at Nihon University known for his left-footed range of passing.
- Machida will attack the air. Tete Yengi, the 197cm Australian centre-forward who helped Livingston win promotion in Scotland and whose brother Kusini plays for Australia, leads the line, with 35-year-old fellow Australian Mitchell Duke (187cm) alongside in the front three. Urawa's aerial anchor is 184cm Brazilian centre-back Danilo Boza, schooled at Vasco da Gama and Santos, but both of their full-backs, Yuta Miyamoto and Kotaro Hayashi, stand just 170cm.
- Kotaro Hayashi returns to a former club. The 25-year-old left-back came through Meiji University and Machida before joining Urawa, and his signature weapon is an exceptionally long throw-in that generates set-piece-level danger, backed by the stamina to run for 90 minutes. Urawa's bench also includes 30-year-old goalkeeper Koki Fukui, who experienced Machida's climb from J3 to J1.
- The reunion runs both ways. Takahiro Akimoto, 28, starts in Machida's midfield having previously played for Urawa before spells at Tochigi SC and OH Leuven in Belgium. Waiting on the bench is Yusuke Matsuo, a 29-year-old left winger and Urawa academy graduate who, at 170cm, relies on acceleration and sharp dribbling down the left and has European experience with Westerlo.
- Urawa's threat runs through number 10 Matheus Savio, the 29-year-old Brazilian attacking midfielder developed at Flamengo, and Takuro Kaneko, 29, whose left-footed cut-ins made his name before spells at Dinamo Zagreb and Kortrijk preceded a move to his home prefecture club. Up front, Hiiro Komori, 26, arrived having swept the J2 scoring, MVP and best-eleven awards. Prising open a Machida back three featuring 2018 World Cup defender Gen Shoji, 33, and the 183cm, 85kg Daihachi Okamura is another matter.
- There are 15 years between the goalkeepers. Urawa trust 40-year-old Shusaku Nishikawa, who has passed 600 J1 appearances and builds play with an accurate left-footed distribution. Machida field 25-year-old Kosei Tani, 190cm, who played every minute of Japan's Tokyo Olympic campaign and uses his reach for shot-stopping and claiming crosses. With so many long balls likely, both keepers' handling will matter.
- The benches could decide the closing stages. Machida hold back Takuma Nishimura, 29, who scored 10 goals in 27 league games for Yokohama F. Marinos, the technical Ryohei Shirasaki, 33, with 176 J1 appearances and 21 goals, and 192cm full-back Henry Mochizuki, whose throw-ins travel close to 50 metres. Urawa can call on 20-year-old Junpei Hayakawa, at 163cm the youngest ever winner of the League Cup's New Hero award, and 30-year-old Ado Onaiu, who scored in each of his first three games for Japan.