2011 J.League Cup

The 2011 J. League Cup, also known as the 2011 J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup for sponsoring purposes, was the 36th edition of the most prestigious Japanese soccer league cup tournament and the 19th edition under the current J. League Cup format. It was scheduled to begin on 16 March 2011 with the first matches of the group stage;^[1] however, the competition was postponed due to the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.^[2] Later the beginning of the tournament is set to 5 June, with reducing the number of matches.^[3]

2011 J. League Cup

Yamazaki Nabisco Cup
Tournament details
Country	Japan
Teams	18
Final positions
Champions	Kashima Antlers (4th title)
Runners-up	Urawa Red Diamonds
Semifinalists	Nagoya Grampus Cerezo Osaka
Tournament statistics
Matches played	27
← 2010 2012 →

The winner qualified for the 2012 Suruga Bank Championship.

Format

All 18 teams from the 2011 J. League Division 1 will take part in the tournament. Nagoya Grampus, Gamba Osaka, Cerezo Osaka and Kashima Antlers are given a bye to the quarter-final due to the qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage. The remaining 4 teams for quarter-finals are selected from other 14 teams by knockout tournaments of home and away (with away goals rule, except for goals in extra times). Quarter-finals and semifinals will be played as one match at either team's home stadium. The final will also be played as one match, but at neutral venue (National Stadium).^[3]

First, the exact date of the Final has yet to be determined and is subject to possible participation in the 2011 AFC Champions League Final of at least one of the involved clubs. Later the date is set to 29 October.^[4]

Original Format

The original competition format, which is same as the previous tournament and was abandoned due to 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, is:^[3]

• The preliminary round for the 14 teams would be played as 2 groups of single round-robin tournaments by 7 teams, where each team would play 3 home and 3 away games. The top 2 teams in each group would advance to quarter-finals.
• Quarter-finals and semi-finals would be played home and away.

The draw result of the preliminary round is:

Group A

Albirex Niigata, Omiya Ardija, Yokohama F. Marinos, Kawasaki Frontale, Montedio Yamagata, Kashiwa Reysol, Ventforet Kofu

Group B

Avispa Fukuoka, Júbilo Iwata, Urawa Red Diamonds, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Shimizu S-Pulse, Vegalta Sendai, Vissel Kobe

Schedule

First round

The first leg is scheduled on 5 June and the second leg on 27 July.

Albirex Niigata and Omiya Ardija received bye for the second round as a result of tournament draws.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Urawa Red Diamonds	4–1	Montedio Yamagata	2–0	2 – 1
Kashiwa Reysol	1–3	Vegalta Sendai	0–1	1 – 2
Júbilo Iwata	5–0	Avispa Fukuoka	2–0	3 – 0
Ventforet Kofu	1–2	Shimizu S-Pulse	1–0	0 – 2
Yokohama F. Marinos	3–2	Vissel Kobe	1–1	2 – 1
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	3–5	Kawasaki Frontale	2–2	1 – 3

Second round

The first leg is scheduled on 14 September and the second leg on 28 September.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Urawa Red Diamonds	4–1	Omiya Ardija	2–0	2 – 1
Vegalta Sendai	0–3	Júbilo Iwata	0–0	0 – 3
Shimizu S-Pulse	3–4	Albirex Niigata	2–1	1 – 3
Yokohama F. Marinos	6–3	Kawasaki Frontale	4–0	2 – 3

Quarterfinals

5 October 2011

19:00

Kashima Antlers	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Yokohama F. Marinos
Koroki 49' Osako 73' Tashiro 111'		Nakata 1' (o.g.) Watanabe 11'

Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima

Attendance: 4,804

Referee: Masaaki Iemoto

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5 October 2011

19:00

Nagoya Grampus	5–3 (a.e.t.)	Albirex Niigata
Kanazaki 15' Nagai 90+1', 105+2' Hashimoto 114' Tulio 120+1'		Bruno Lopes 63' Kawamata 90+3' Kikuchi 98'

Mizuho Athletic Stadium, Nagoya

Attendance: 4,108

Referee: Ryuji Sato

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5 October 2011

19:03

Gamba Osaka	3–1	Júbilo Iwata
Sasaki 43' Rafinha 67' 76' (o.g.)		Nasu 7'

Expo'70 Stadium, Suita, Osaka

Attendance: 4,112

Referee: Nobutsugu Murakami

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5 October 2011

19:04

Cerezo Osaka	1–2	Urawa Red Diamonds
Fabio Lopes 73'		9' (o.g.) Despotović 83'

Nagai Stadium, Osaka

Attendance: 6,736

Referee: Toshimitsu Yoshida

Semifinals

9 October 2011

13:00

Nagoya Grampus	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Kashima Antlers
Tulio 80'		Osako 10' Shibasaki 107'

Mizuho Athletic Stadium, Nagoya

Attendance: 8,562

Referee: Kenji Ogiya

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9 October 2011

17:00

Urawa Red Diamonds	2–1	Gamba Osaka
Umesaki 21' Escudero 38'		Otsuka 90+3'

Saitama Stadium, Saitama

Attendance: 23,879

Referee: Hajime Matsuo

Final

Main article: 2011 J.League Cup Final

29 October 2011

13:10

Urawa Red Diamonds	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Kashima Antlers
	Report (in Japanese)	Osako 105'

Tokyo National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 46,599

Referee: Minoru Tojo

Top goalscorers

Goalscorers	Goals	Team
Ranko Despotović	4	Urawa Red Diamonds
Yuya Osako	3	Kashima Antlers
Masashi Oguro	3	Yokohama F. Marinos

External links

• J.League Official Site