🏏 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 18:30 JST
Urawa
vs
Fagiano Okayama
4-3-3 vs 3-4-2-1
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- Only one point separates these teams: Urawa are 12th on nine points from six games (3-0-3, 12 scored, 15 conceded, -3), while Fagiano Okayama sit ninth on 10 points from six (3-1-2, eight scored, seven conceded, +1). Remarkably, Urawa have yet to draw a match this season, winning or losing every time out. Leaders Machida Zelvia are already on 17 points from seven.
- Urawa arrive on a three-game winning run. They beat Yokohama F. Marinos 3-2 at home in round four, won 3-2 away at Avispa Fukuoka in round five and then kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 victory at Kashima in round six. Their form line of L-L-W-W-W reflects a sharp turnaround after heavy early defeats, 1-4 at home to Sanfrecce Hiroshima and 1-3 away at Machida Zelvia.
- Okayama's last five read W-D-L-W-W. At home they saw off V-varen Nagasaki 1-0, drew 0-0 with Tokyo Verdy and then beat Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3-2 in round six. On the road they lost 2-1 at Nagoya Grampus but took all three points from JEF United Chiba with a 2-1 win. Eight goals scored and seven conceded in six matches point to a side built on control rather than chaos.
- Tsukasa Esaka faces his former club. The 34-year-old, who starts as one of Okayama's two shadow strikers, played for Urawa after spells at Omiya and Kashiwa, where he was named in the J.League Best XI, and returned to Japan from Ulsan in the K League. A former Japan international comfortable with both feet, his passing and shooting from the edge of the box is exactly what Urawa must smother.
- Urawa have two players with Okayama connections on the bench. Centre-back Kota Kudo, 23, spent developmental loan spells at Fujieda MYFC, Giravanz Kitakyushu and Okayama before returning to Urawa in June 2026 after three and a half years away. Shunpei Hayakawa, 20, also sharpened his game in Okayama; standing 163cm, he became the youngest ever winner of the Levain Cup New Hero award at 17.
- The tactical puzzle is Urawa's 4-3-3 against Okayama's 3-4-2-1. Ryuki Sese, 28, who has played for Stoke City and Kawasaki Frontale, anchors the Urawa midfield and sets the tempo with his distribution. Okayama respond with a double pivot of Eiji Miyamoto, 28, who worked his way up through Iwaki FC and Albirex Niigata, and 35-year-old Ibuki Fujita, a Keio University graduate whose reading of the game produces regular interceptions.
- Urawa's front three offers variety. Mateus Savio, the 29-year-old Brazilian who came through Flamengo and became a key man at Kashiwa Reysol, supplies the through balls, with Ado Onaiwu leading the line. The 30-year-old striker scored in each of his first three Japan appearances and has European experience with Toulouse and Magdeburg. On the right, veteran Kota Mizunuma, born in 1990, delivers the crosses.
- Okayama's back three is built on height. Yugo Tatsuta, 28, stands 191cm and made his senior Japan debut in 2019, while 188cm Hiroshi Omori, 24, a Tokushima academy product, operates alongside him. Behind them is 196cm left-footed German goalkeeper Renato Moser, 26, who came through Union Berlin's academy. Their aerial duel with Onaiwu could decide the game.
- The wide areas of Okayama's midfield four are worth watching. Kosuke Shirai, 32 and just 166cm, has been a regular for Consadole Sapporo, Kyoto Sanga and FC Tokyo and attacks the right flank with real speed. On the other side is Haruka Motoyama, 27, a natural centre-back from Vissel Kobe's academy who scored in both the semi-final and the final of the 2024 promotion play-offs to take Okayama into J1 for the first time.
- Both benches carry weight. Urawa can introduce Miki Yamane, 32, a back-to-back J1 champion with Kawasaki Frontale, striker Hiiro Komori, 26, who swept the J2 golden boot, MVP and Best XI awards, and Kaito Yasui, who has reached 100 J1 appearances. Okayama counter with Na Sang-ho, the 30-year-old winger with 30 South Korea caps and a 2018 Asian Games gold medal, plus technical attacking midfielder Yuta Kamiya, 29.