Six players net doubles as Levain Cup opens

Six players net doubles as Levain Cup opens

The 2018 J.League YBC Levain Cup opened on Wednesday night with the start of the round-robin group stage featuring 14 J1 and two J2 League clubs.

In Group A, Tatsuya Tanaka scored in stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw for Albirex Niigata at Vegalta Sendai. At Mitsuzawa Stadium, Yokohama F. Marinos protected Ippei Shinozuka’s early goal for a 1-0 win over FC Tokyo.

In Group B, Ventforet Kofu overwhelmed Consadole Sapporo in a 3-0 win, with Junior Barros scoring twice following Kota Mori’s opener. Further west, Shimizu S-Pulse defeated Jubilo Iwata 1-0 in a Shizuoka Derby match, with Chong Tese scoring the lone goal of the match.

Group C welcomed a pair of lopsided results: Urawa Reds defeated Nagoya Grampus 4-1 on doubles by Shinzo Koroki and Takuya Ogiwara, with Hisato Sato scoring a consolation for the hosts. 

Meanwhile, Masato Kudo and Kosei Shibasaki both netted twice in Sanfrecce Hiroshima’s 4-0 win at Gamba Osaka.

In Group D, Kaoru Takayama’s goal gave Shonan Bellmare a 1-0 win over Sagan Tosu, while Lukas Podolski’s two goals salvaged a 2-2 draw for Vissel Kobe against visiting V-Varen Nagasaki.

The second round of the group stage will take place next week on March 14.

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