Three J1 Sides Suffer Upsets; Yokohama FC Come from Behind to Beat Gifu [Summary: Levain Cup First Round – Round 2]

Sixteen Round 2 matches in the J.LEAGUE YAMAZAKI BISCUITS Levain CUP were played on 29 September, with three J1 sides — Nagasaki, Chiba and Tokyo V — knocked out by lower-division opposition.

Tottori produced one of the biggest upsets of the night with a 2-0 home victory over Nagasaki. Daiki Shinoda opened the scoring in the 53rd minute before Sota Yamamoto added a second in the 86th. Having already knocked Nagoya out of the Emperor's Cup, Tottori claimed another notable victory over top-flight opposition.

Jubilo Iwata also eliminated a J1 side, beating Chiba 4-2. Shunsuke Nishikubo gave Iwata an early lead in the sixth minute, and Matheus Peixoto doubled their advantage in the 23rd. Chiba fought back to level, but Peixoto struck again in the 66th minute to restore Iwata's lead. Chiba were reduced to 10 men a minute later, before Naoya Koike added a fourth in the 85th minute to seal the win.

Tosu completed the trio of upsets with a 2-1 extra-time victory over Tokyo V. With the sides locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes, Ryo Shiohama scored his second goal of the night in the 107th minute to send Tosu through.

Elsewhere, Okayama edged Sapporo 2-1 thanks to Yoshitake Suzuki's dramatic winner in the third minute of stoppage time, while goals from Rio Nitta and Kosuke Matsumura gave Yokohama F. Marinos a 2-1 victory over Yamagata.

Defending champions Hiroshima beat Tochigi City 2-0 through goals from Shun Ayukawa and Mutsuki Kato. Urawa Reds came from behind to edge Toyama 3-2, with Renji Hidano scoring the winner in the 83rd minute, while Cerezo Osaka saw off Fujieda 2-1 thanks to goals from Pablo Sabbag and Lucas Fernandes.

Mito recorded the biggest win of the round, thrashing Fukushima 7-0 with Chihiro Kato scoring twice. Shimizu S-Pulse won 2-0 away at Kanazawa through goals from Kai Matsuzaki and Koya Kitagawa. Avispa Fukuoka, meanwhile, needed extra time to beat FC Osaka 2-1, with Takumi Kamijima scoring the winner in the 105+1st minute.

FC Tokyo beat Ehime 2-0 through goals from Kein Sato and Motoki Nagakura, while Nagoya Grampus defeated Kitakyushu 3-1. Kawasaki Frontale edged Kumamoto 1-0, with Filip Uremovic's 58th-minute goal proving decisive.

Among the J2 sides, Yokohama FC came from behind to beat Gifu 2-1 thanks to goals from Koshiro Uda and Joao Paulo. Niigata, meanwhile, were unable to recover after conceding in the 20th minute and suffered a 1-0 defeat to Matsumoto Yamaga F.C.

Levain Cup Bracket