Ryo Germain is on top of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League Top Scorer chart for the third week in a row after the Júbilo Iwata man found the back of the net again to put him on five goals through four matches.
Germain scored at the hour mark of Júbilo’s 2-1 loss to Gamba Osaka when he came rushing in to meet a cross with a strong header that found the back of the net.
While Germain is top of the league with five goals, he has a challenger hot on his heels as Ryotaro Araki scored his fourth goal of the season with a smart finish in FC Tokyo’s 3-1 win over Avispa Fukuoka.
Araki not only has four goals this season, but he’s scored in three of his club’s four matches. The 22-year-old looks very much past the injuries that marred his last two years and is a week in, week out threat to score.
Gamba Osaka’s Takashi Usami scored for a third straight week to join a group of five players tied for third place with three goals. Yokohama F·Marinos’ Anderson Lopes and Shonan Bellmare’s young star Akito Suzuki each found the net twice over the weekend, moving both into that group on three goals this season too.