Nagoya Grampus vs Urawa Reds

Toyota Stadium is the venue as Nagoya Grampus and Urawa Reds go head-to-head in the Emperor’s Cup round of 16.

Nagoya Grampus survived a penalty shoot-out drama to oust Vegalta Sendai in the previous Emperor’s Cup round following a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes. Kicking Urawa out of the competition would be a giant step toward lifting their maiden Emperor’s Cup title. But an underwhelming run of one win in their last five competitive matches (D2, L2 – 90mins only) cannot inspire much confidence. Additionally, Nagoya’s lackluster starts saw them fail to score before halftime in three of those five games. That’s a massive problem for head coach Kenta Hasegawa, considering his men have drawn a blank in their last two meetings with Urawa in all competitions (D1, L1).

In the meantime, Urawa Reds eked out a slim 1-0 win over lower-league Montedio Yamagata in the last Emperor’s Cup tie, keeping their hopes of winning their second cup title in three years alive. Unfortunately, Maciej Skorza’s side couldn’t build on that triumph as they slumped to a 2-0 J1 League loss at Cerezo Osaka last time out, relinquishing a jaw-dropping 14-game unbeaten streak across all competitions (W8, D6). Scoring problems threaten to derail Urawa’s bid to halt a seven-game winless run in away H2Hs against Nagoya (D3, L4). Indeed, the visitors have failed to score on two of their last three competitive travels.