Football: Kashima Antlers Wins Nabisco Cup
J. league Nabisco cup final game has taken place in Saitama stadium on Saturday. It is one of the three Japanese largest titles of the year and Kashima Antlers has won the title by beating Gamba Osaka with the scoreline of 3 - 0. It is 6th time for Kashima Antlers to win this title after three years. Almost 60 thousand spectators fulfilled the stadium on this day and Kashima Antlers has won the game fairly easy.
Young talented striker, Shuhei Akasaki was chosen for the new hero award of the whole competition. The well-experienced ex-Japanese national team player and the captain of the winning side Mitsu Ogasawara was awarded the most valuable player award.
Gamba Osaka is the winner of this cup competition last year and achieved winning all three available titles in Japan last season. Gamba Osaka is performing well in the league games and the other cup game called Emperor's cup.
Therefore, they had a great opportunity of winning all three titles this season too and players, club, as well as fans, were excited. It could have been the record as no club has achieved winning all available titles for two years in a row since the beginning of the J-League in 1994. However, this disappointing loss stopped their wish of winning titles and creating a record.
Kashima Antlers kept pressuring the defense line of Gamba Osaka from the beginning of the game and created many opportunities, but Gamba kept the clean sheet. In the second half, Antlers were controlling the game and broke the deadlock in the 60th minute from a corner kick. South Korean defender, Hwang Seok-Ho scored with his head beautifully. Mu Kanazaki scored the second goal which was also from a corner kick in the 84th minute. Then two minutes later, Caio added another goal to conclude the final with the great 3-0 victory.
The MVP of the competition, Ogasawara has spoken to reporters "Everyone including team staff and supporters put a lot of effort to win the title. I am happy to achieve winning it. This win gives us to be more confident. There is a possibility of winning league title too so we want to believe in ourselves and win the last two games of the league too."
