Kashima Antlers Vs Shimizu S-Pulse At Emperor's Cup Final

After winning their semifinals, Shimizu S-Pulse and Kashima Antlers will clash on New Year’s Day for the 90th final of the Emperor’s Cup.

Shimizu S-Pulse 3-0 Gamba Osaka

It could have been the last game for S-Pulse manager Kenta Hasegawa after a life in orange for him, first as a player, then as a manager. It was instead Gamba Osaka players Lucas (returning to Brazil) and Michihiro Yasuda (transferring to Holland) who goodbye to their fans after a humiliating defeat.

S-Pulse largely dominated the game played in front of more than 14,000 at the Ecopa Stadium in Shizuoka. A tired, uninspired and Yasuhito Endo-less Gamba Osaka had no answer for the home side’s wonder trio of Jungo Fujimoto, Shinji Okazaki and Shinji Ono.

The three toyed with Gamba’s defenders, repeatedly creating opportunities over the 90 minutes. Three times such chances were turned into goals by Norwegian striker Frode Johnsen (who bagged a brace) and captain Akihiro Hyodo.

The dynamism of the Shimizu players meant they often had numerical superiority, and it was only thanks to a great game by Gamba’s goalkeeper Yosuke Fujigaya that the final result did not resemble that of a set of tennis.

Gamba Osaka's players probably paid for the effort they had to put into the previous game only four days prior, when they needed 120 minutes to beat the Urawa Red Diamonds. They will however be playing Asian Champions League football next season after finishing second in the league.

Kashima Antlers 2-1 FC Tokyo

It was a totally different affair in Tokyo where, at the National Stadium, more than 25,000 spectators witnessed a thriller.

FC Tokyo manager Kiyoshi Okuma decided to leave many of his big guns on the bench, including Masashi Oguro and Naohiro Ishikawa (the latter not completely fit) but his starting eleven tamed the Antlers and took a deserved lead as Sota Hirayama slammed home a spectacular bicycle kick in the 39th minute.

In the second half as well, the freshly relegated Tokyoites were in control, while the Antlers seemed short of ideas, until Takuya Nozawa invented a brilliant heel-pass that brought a cross by Tomohiko Miyazaki. The ball that took a slight deflection and was met by Yuya Osako, whose header gave Antlers an equalizer half-way through the second half.

The game dragged into extra time and FC Tokyo’s Takuji Yonemoto was shown a second yellow card in the 95th minute. Kashima tried to break down their opponents for the following 25 minutes, but without Brazilian Marquinhos, they could do little.

At the other end, there was an almost moving effort by FC Tokyo players to survive until the penalties, frustrated only by a last-gasp goal by Shinzo Koroki, quick to latch onto a flick by Osako and tap the ball into the goal.

The defeat is the last nail in the coffin for FC Tokyo, as the club lived through a nightmarish December. During they were relegated, lost the final of he J.League Youth Cup 4-3 and today saw their dreams of a prestigious final and Champions League football vanish a few seconds before the final whistle.

FC Tokyo will retain most of their stars and are favourites to gain promotion next season but surely will hope for a bit more luck than they had in 2010.