The second round of the 95th Emperor’s Cup All Japan Football Championship will be held on 5th, 6th and 9th September. From this round, all J1 teams will play except for the 4 seeded teams. A local prefecture “Derby match” will be one of the highlights from this round.

Toin University of Yokohama (Kanagawa), which won their first match 4-1, faces Shonan Bellmare (J1). Toin University’s Coach YASHIRO Shu used to play for Toin Gakuen High School which values “enjoy football”, and he contributed to pushing the team to be one of the top 8 teams of the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament.As the coach, he maximises his playing experience to lead the team.

Shonan Bellmare on the other hand, has worked hard and stayed in 7th place of the 2nd stage of Meiji Yasuda J1 League at the end of 9 Sec. They keep their hunger to get the victory through speedy play that switches defence and offence quickly.

In Shizuoka which is recognised as “Football Kingdom”, Shimizu S-Pulse (J1) plays against Fujieda MYFC (Shizuoka) to compete for the 3rd round. Shimizu has struggled and they were in 17th place of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League. Even though the team restarted with the new coach TASAKA Kazuaki from this 2nd Stage of the J1 League, they haven’t won since 6th Sec.

However, the team has strengthened defence by getting KAKUDA Makoto and they haven’t conceded many goals in their recent 3 matches. FUJIEDA MYFC has also struggled and stayed in 9th out of 13 teams in the Meiji Yasuda J3 League. Meanwhile, OISHI Tsugutoshi, who scored 17 goals in the previous season, has been getting better and got 3 goals which energises the team.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima FC (J1), the current top team of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League, faces Hiroshima University of Economics (Hiroshima). Sanfrecce lost the previous matches of 6th and 7th Sec., but then the team got 2 consecutive victories. The team’s offence player Douglas scored 8 goals in the previous 9 matches of the 2nd stage, and SATO Hisato has also been in a good form with 4 goals.

How much can Hiroshima University of Economics compete with this top J1 team? The team’s coach is former Sanfrecce player TAKAHASHI Shinichiro. The key for Hiroshima University of Economics will be if they can defend their goal for the first 10 minutes.

Sendai University (Miyagi) defeated Vanraure Hachinohe, who is the top team of the 1st season of JFL 2015, 1-0. For the 2nd round, they will face Vegalta Sendai (J1). The team has improved its tactics which keeps ball possession thoughtfully, but they showed their high level of defence in the first match.They didn’t give the opponents any chance and kept a clean sheet.

On the other hand, Vegalta Sendai does not want to repeat the same mistake that they were defeated by NARA Club last year. They are not in a good condition after losing 3 consecutive matches in the J1 League, but they want to show their level of play as a professional team.

There are more exciting matches planned such as between Matsumoto Yamaga F.C. and Zweigen Kanazawa (J2) in Hokushinetsu, and in Kyusyu, there will be Oita Trinita (J2) and V. Varen Nagasaki (J2). Please visit match venues to watch live exciting games.