Vissel Kobe won the J.League title for the first time in the club’s history on Saturday as two goals in three first half minutes earned Takayuki Yoshida’s side a 2-1 victory over Nagoya Grampus.
With one game remaining in the season the win at Kobe Stadium moves Vissel four points clear of last year’s champions Yokohama F Marinos, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Albirex Niigata on Friday.
Haruya Ide and Yoshinori Muto struck in the 12th and 14th minutes, respectively, to give Kobe a two-goal lead before Kasper Junker pulled one back for Nagoya just after the half hour mark.
Kobe knew victory would earn the club their first title in the J.League’s 30-year history and Ide put his side in front when he clipped Yuya Osako’s through ball past Mitch Langerak via the inside of the Australian goalkeeper’s left post.
Muto doubled the lead two minutes later when Osako again opened up the visiting defence, this time crossing from the left to the former Newcastle United forward, who scored when he side-footed home from six yards out.
Kobe should have added a third but Daiju Sasaki fired wide before Junker reduced Nagoya’s deficit when he latched on to Haruya Fujii’s headed ball forward to flick his shot past Daiya Maekawa.
The hosts had to endure several nervous moments as Nagoya, who needed to win to keep alive their hopes of a top three finish and a place in next year’s Asian Champions League, pushed for an equaliser.
Naoki Maeda went closest to levelling the scores when he hit the crossbar from close range with 14 minutes remaining but Kobe held on to seal the title win.
