Oita Trinita (J1) showed their superiority against Jubilo Iwata (J2) to advance to the Emperor's Cup semi-finals for the first time in the club's history. Veteran striker Shun Nagasawa, who scored and assisted a goal in this match, said, “I'm happy, but we haven’t accomplished anything yet. We will continue to strive for the top prize.”

Despite possessing the ball, Oita struggled to create opportunities, as they finished the first half with zero shots. It wasn’t until FUJIMOTO Kazuki was brought into the match that their offence started to get active.

Gradually picking up their rhythm, Oita scored the opening goal in the 65th minute, when Nagasawa connected with a corner kick delivered by NOMURA Naoki to flick a header into the Iwata goal. The J2 side rallied after conceding the goal, but led by goalkeeper TAKAGI Shun, Oita showed great composure to keep the Iwata offence at bay. With time running out, Nagasawa delivered a superb through ball to set up the goal of Fujimoto during additional time, sealing the win for the J1 side.

With the team hovering the relegation zone, Oita desperately needed to gain momentum from this match, as coach KATANOSAKA Tomohiro mentioned, “While the team is competing to survive the relegation battle, we really wanted to win this match. I am glad that we were able to advance through to the semi-finals.”

Oita will now face the defending champions Kawasaki Frontale (J1), who is on the verge of defending their league title as well. Coach Katanosaka shared his aspiration ahead of the semi-finals, “Once reaching this point, all opponents are going to be strong. We need to aim high as the challenger.”

Coaches and Players' Comments

KATANOSAKA Tomohiro, Coach (Oita Trinita)
The match was a bit stagnant in the first half because neither side took any risks. I told my players that our transition between offence and defence will be the key in the second half. We knew it was going to be a difficult game overall, but the fact that we were able to score the opening goal from a set piece allowed us to win the match. The players played with great focus to advance to the semi-finals, so we hope to carry this momentum into our league matches.

NAGASAWA Shun (Oita Trinita)
We were playing too passively in the first half, so it was great to see our side play more aggressively in the second half. I am extremely relieved with this result. I have been struggling to score goals in our league matches but scoring a goal in an important match like this gives me confidence. I hope I can continue to score goals that would help the team win more matches.

HATTORI Toshihiro, Acting Coach (Jubilo Iwata)
We were able to defend the way we wanted to some extent, but we needed to do a better job defending against set pieces. In offence, we wanted to attack the flanks more. However, the players played extremely hard. We were able to see what we were able to do and what we were not able to do as a team and as individuals, so we hope to make the most of this experience to improve our performance in our league matches.

KONNO Yasuyuki (Jubilo Iwata)
We were able to execute our game plan in the early minutes of the match, but we were rushing our plays after winning the ball, so it would have been better if we were able to possess the ball longer to change the rhythm of our attacks. Although we had limited time to build this team, we were able to fight tenaciously and strive for victory. We hope to use this bitter experience as motivation to do better in our league matches.

Emperor's Cup JFA 101st Japan Football Championship

【1st Round】Sat. 22, Sun. 23 May [Backup date: Mon. 24 May]
【2nd Round】Wed. 9, Wed. 16 June
【3rd Round】Wed. 7 July [Backup date: Wed. 14 July]
【Round of 16】Wed. 18 August [Backup date: Wed. 13 October]
【Quarterfinals】Wed. 27 October［Backup date: Wed. 17 November］
【Semi-Finals】Sun. 12 December
【Final】Sun. 19 December

Tournament Information