The 94th Emperor’s Cup resumes with quarter final matches on Saturday 11 and Wednesday 15 October.

Ahead of other fixtures, Nagoya Grampus and Shimizu S-pulse square off Saturday at Nagoya Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium. Nagoya have kept clean sheets since they beat Toyota Shukyudan 12-0 at the second round, followed by a 4-0 win over Kyoto Sanga F.C. and a 1-0 win over Thespakusatsu Gunma. They keep their form in the J.League with four wins in the last five matches. Although Taguchi is away for SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) duties, their key players still lead the team, including Nagai Kensuke scoring four goals in the last five matches, Narazaki Seigo having experience in winning this championship and captain Tanaka Marcus Tulio. On the other hand, while Shimizu advanced to the final eight beating Consadole Sapporo at the third round and FC Tokyo at the fourth round, they have slumped to the 16th place in the relegation zone, failing to add up winning points. In the second half of September, they were forced to have tough matches, losing four straight matches with 12 lost goals, yet they have gotten slightly back in the swing as defeating Cerezo Osaka 3-0 in the Week 27. With keeping the momentum, Shimizu aim to escape from the delegation zone and to claim the semi-finals spot for the first time in four years.

The remaining three matches are to be held on Wednesday 15th, including Gamba Osaka facing Omiya Ardija at their home. After eliminating defending champion Sanfrecce Hiroshima at the fourth round, Gamba settle for the second place in the J1 table with their ongoing six-match winning skid. Gamba advanced to semi-finals at the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup as well and they are contending for the first three crowns since Kashima Antlers claimed in 2000. Meanwhile, despite falling into the 15th place in the league table, Omiya still keep their tenacity that comes from their ample experiences in J1 relegation battles, as they beat title contender Kashima in the Week 23. As well as the past two matches in this tournament, where Omiya showed a great comeback victory from a goal down against Shonan Bellmare at the third and Ehime FC at the fourth round, they try to clutch another win at the quarter final match against Gamba, who have been in good form.

Cerezo Osaka meet Jef United Chiba at their home Kincho Stadium, as struggling in the league as is the case with Shimizu and Omiya. Cerezo notched a victory over Urawa Reds in the Week 26, yet they lost to Shimizu, battling to stay in the first division in the following match. While they are failing to catch their momentum, they try to seize an opportunity to move up by getting through to the final four for the first time in three years. Chiba kept their momentum after winning the Chiba Derby over Kashiwa Reysol at the third round and defeated V-Varen Nagasaki to advance to the final eight. It is going to be interesting to see which team surpasses, Cerezo Osaka trying to come back in the final stage of the season or Chiba intending to further enhance their momentum for the first J.Leauge promotion in six years.

“Giant killing” is also one of the most attractive portions of the Emperor’s Cup. J2’s Montedio Yamagata snatched an extra-time win over Sagan Tosu, who have created a big impact in the J1. J2 Giravanz Kitakyushu defeated the defending champion Yokohama F. Marinos at the third round and another J1 team Ventforet Kofu at the fourth round. The contest between the giant killers takes place at the former’s home ND Soft Stadium Yamagata. Let’s see which team is named for the first ever final four in their club history.

Quarterfinal matchups

Special Cooperation

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The 94th Emperor’s Cup

2014/7/5（Sat）〜2014/12/13（Sat）
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