🏏 Wed, 2 Sep 2026 19:00 JST
Sanfrecce Hiroshima
vs
Nagoya Grampus
3-4-2-1 vs 3-4-2-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Hiroshima are unbeaten in fourth place on eight points from two wins and two draws, and just two goals conceded in four games tells you where their strength lies. Their goal difference of +6 matches that of leaders Kashiwa Reysol, who have 12 points. Nagoya sit eighth on six points from two wins and two defeats, only two points back, so the winner here climbs straight into the argument at the top.
- Hiroshima began emphatically, beating JEF United Chiba 3-0 at home and thrashing Urawa 4-1 away in round two. Their last two outings have been tighter, a 1-1 home draw with Kawasaki Frontale followed by a 0-0 at Gamba Osaka. Eight goals scored and two conceded captures the double story: a watertight defence and an attack that has cooled.
- Nagoya opened with two defeats, 1-0 at home to Shimizu S-Pulse and 2-1 away at Kashima, before turning things around with a 3-1 home win over Gamba Osaka and a 2-1 home win against Fagiano Okayama. Both victories came at their own ground, which makes this trip to a side that has conceded twice in four matches a genuine test of that revival.
- It is 3-4-2-1 against 3-4-2-1, so the four-man midfield bands will decide who controls the game. Hiroshima pair Shun Kawabe, the 30-year-old who has played in four European countries including spells at Standard Liege and Wolverhampton, with Taishi Matsumoto, a 2019 Copa America squad member who returned to his former club after a year at Urawa. Nagoya counter with 34-year-old Sho Inagaki, who routinely covers more than 11km a match, and the left-footed Tomoki Takamine.
- Three men in Nagoya's starting eleven know Hiroshima from the inside. Inagaki came up through Sanfrecce before spells at Ventforet Kofu and Nagoya, and made his Japan debut at 29. Left-footed attacker Yuya Asano also has Hiroshima on his CV alongside Consadole Sapporo and Mito Hollyhock, while the 35-year-old centre-back Yuki Nogami established himself as a Sanfrecce regular earlier in his career.
- Hiroshima's thrust from midfield into the box comes from shadow striker Takumu Kawamura, an academy graduate who returned after a loan at Ehime FC and a move to Red Bull Salzburg; at 183cm he times his runs into the area well. Ahead of him is 23-year-old striker Akito Suzuki, signed from Shonan Bellmare and a former national high school championship top scorer, whose runs in behind and pressing will stretch Nagoya's back three.
- Nagoya bring their own blend of size and movement. Lone striker Yuya Yamagishi, 33 and built at 183cm and 80kg, holds the ball up and presses from the front, and he won the Levain Cup during his Avispa Fukuoka days. Alongside him in the shadow role is the 184cm Yudai Kimura, who wore number 10 and reached double figures at Tokyo Verdy. They meet Hiroshima's 36-year-old captain Sho Sasaki, a 2024 J1 Best XI selection, and the 186cm Hayato Araki.
- The wing-back battle should be lively. Hiroshima give width to the left-footed Toshiki Higashi, who also takes their free kicks and corners, and Naoto Arai, who scored a hat-trick in his first season at the club. Nagoya deploy the explosive 30-year-old Katsuhiro Nakayama, almost impossible to catch once he turns upfield, and the left-footed Yuya Asano, whose pace stands comparison with his brother Takuma's.
- The substitutes' benches are not evenly matched for pedigree. Hiroshima can introduce Sebastien Haller, the 190cm former Ivory Coast international who played for West Ham, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund and scored in seven consecutive Champions League games during his Ajax spell. Nagoya's ace off the bench is 37-year-old Kensuke Nagai, still a genuine sprinter and a scorer in the knockout rounds of the 2012 London Olympics.
- The goalkeeping selections make an interesting contrast. Hiroshima leave 2024 J1 Best XI pick Keisuke Osako on the bench and start the 25-year-old Issei Ouchi, born in Italy and previously first choice at Matsumoto Yamaga. Nagoya field the 195cm, 20-year-old Alex Pisano, a Japan U-17 World Cup call-up who came through their own academy, with 39-year-old club stalwart Yohei Takeda of more than a decade's service behind him.