🏏 Sat, 17 Oct 2026 19:00 JST
Kashiwa Reysol
vs
Nagoya Grampus
3-4-2-1 vs 3-4-2-1
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- Kashiwa Reysol sit third with 21 points from nine matches, a record of seven wins, no draws and two defeats. Leaders Sanfrecce Hiroshima and FC Tokyo are both on 23 points from ten games, so Reysol are only two behind with a match in hand. The complete absence of draws tells you everything about a side that plays for the win every week.
- Nagoya Grampus arrive 14th on nine points from nine games (3-0-6). V-Varen Nagasaki (15th, nine points, -7 goal difference) and Kyoto Sanga (16th, eight) are right behind them, so one result swings the table. Encouragingly, Grampus ended a four-match losing streak that began with a 0-3 defeat at Hiroshima in round five by winning 2-1 away at Kawasaki Frontale.
- Reysol come in on a three-game winning run, all of them shoot-outs: 3-2 at Kyoto Sanga in round seven, 4-2 at Machida Zelvia in round eight and 4-2 at home to Vissel Kobe in round nine. With 21 goals scored and 14 conceded in nine matches, Kashiwa have scored at least three in each of those games while shipping two every time.
- This is a 3-4-2-1 mirror match. Kashiwa deploy Yoshio Koizumi (30) and Hinata Yamauchi (25) as the two shadows; Koizumi is a two-footed playmaker who won the AFC Champions League with Urawa and was named man of the match in his Club World Cup opener. Nagoya counter with a midfield four of Tomoki Takamine, Tsukasa Morishima, Sho Inagaki and Takuya Uchida, with the 34-year-old Inagaki covering more than 11km a game to choke those central pockets.
- Kashiwa's midfield band is just as interesting. Keita Endo (28) brings a J1 title and a Levain Cup New Hero award from his Yokohama F. Marinos days plus a spell in Germany with Union Berlin. Alongside him, 24-year-old Atsuaki Nakagawa has been dubbed a 'Japanese De Bruyne' for his two-footed long-range shooting and was the 2024 Denso Cup MVP, while Yudai Konishi supplies the left-footed range of passing he learned in the Gamba Osaka academy.
- Tojiro Kubo faces his old club. The 27-year-old right-sided midfielder spent time at Nagoya before rebuilding his career lower down, posting 10 goals and six assists at Fujieda MYFC. At 167cm he is small but relentless, and his driving runs as a right wing-back will be the first test of the Grampus back three.
- There is a reunion on the other side too: Takamine played for Kashiwa before moving to Nagoya, and returns to Hitachidai as their left-footed holding midfielder. He scored 10 goals in J2 in 2025 and made the division's Best XI, combining ferocious duelling with venomous shooting from distance. He also shares a KV Kortrijk past with centre-back Yoya Fujii.
- The centre-forward contrast is stark. Kashiwa lead the line with 25-year-old Shota Fujio, a 184cm target man whose aerial work and hold-up play helped Machida to the J2 title and promotion. Nagoya start 37-year-old Kensuke Nagai, one of Japan's quickest forwards and a scorer in the knockout rounds of the 2012 London Olympics, with 184cm Yuta Kimura - a double-figure scorer wearing No. 10 at Tokyo Verdy - just behind him.
- In goal, Nagoya have 197cm Daniel Schmidt (34), whose four-plus seasons in Belgium with KAA Gent and Sint-Truiden built a command of crosses that should matter against a Kashiwa side that attacks the flanks. In front of him are Yuki Nogami (35), Japan international Yoya Fujii (185cm) and the versatile Teruki Hara. Kashiwa answer with 26-year-old Tomoya Wakahara behind a back three built around academy graduate Taiyo Koga, their main build-up outlet.
- Both benches carry game-changers. Kashiwa can call on Mao Hosoya, the 25-year-old Japan international who covers 50 metres in six seconds, and 33-year-old Riki Harakawa with his free kicks from 30 metres. Nagoya hold back Mateus Castro, the 32-year-old Brazilian known for his 'devil's left foot', a mainstay since 2020 who returned in 2025 after a spell with Al-Taawoun in Saudi Arabia.