After their heroics in the semi-final second leg of the League Cup in Japan you’d probably be forgiven for thinking that Kashiwa Reysol’s name might well be on the trophy this year.

After losing the semi-final first leg 3-1 against Kawasaki Frontale, it seemed like it was a tough hurdle to overcome, especially when 4-1 down on aggregate early in the return leg at Hitachi-dai Stadium five days later. With 73 minutes on the clock, it was 4-2 on aggregate but two quick goals gave Reysol hope and then two minutes into additional time striker Mao Hosoya gave the home side a hugely unexpected victory.

Three weeks on and it was time for the Levain Cup final (Levain is a biscuit manufacturer, hence the weak pun in the title of this post!) against Sanfrecce Hiroshima at Japan National Stadium in Shinjuku-ku. This was a record sixth match on the road for me with Reysol this season which is down to a mixture of good fortune regarding the scheduling of Kanto-based matches and the inability to get tickets for Kashiwa’s home games due to their increased popularity based on their success.

After losing their last two cup finals at this stadium, would it be third time lucky for my team? They had won the tournament a couple of times in my non-supporting years with the last one in 2013 at the former national stadium. As for Sanfrecce, they were winners as recently as 2022 just a week after the disappointment of losing the Emperor’s Cup final on penalties to J2 side Ventforet Kofu.

At the Emperor’s Cup final in December 2023, I was part of the supporter’s group so was actually in the stadium four hours before kick-off meaning that I missed out on the pre-match razzmatazz in terms of food trucks, merchandise stands and just seeing the supporters of both teams hanging around and savouring the pre-match flavour.

This time I wanted to sample the atmosphere outside around the stadium so still arrived two hours ahead of kick-off having cycled down from the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre in Itabashi-ku. A sunny Autumn day made for a colourful spectacle with so many yellow and purple shirts all around.

I hadn’t really looked at my ticket until I entered the stadium and was just expecting to be behind the goal somewhere. I soon realised no seat number was given like usual, so I messaged the friend who got me the ticket. He said it was free-seating and that there was some space in the corner (near Gate 5) to the left. I wandered over that way and took a seat and as the count-down to kick-off continued it all filled up around me give or take a few seats here and there.

The atmosphere was pretty good but I felt a little out of it as I wasn’t in the main ultras section. Probably a good thing in some ways as I had woken that morning with a sore throat and the signs of an oncoming cold.

My vantage point also meant I got a good view of the choreography as the start approached.

Opponents Sanfrecce had their own display which was also visible as the teams entered the field and stood for the national anthem sung by a girl vocal group I’d never heard of called Little Glee Monster!

With the pre-match pomp and ceremony out of the way it was finally time to sit back, relax and enjoy the final between two evenly matched sides that had drawn both league matches this season.

The opening minutes were quite lively, and it was apparent early on that Reysol were struggling to deal with the long throw-ins from Sanfrecce which were being launched into the six-yard box. Sure enough one of those long throws led to the opening goal being headed home on 25 minutes although I still think the keeper was blocked at some point.

It was a bad start for Reysol but it was about to get even worse for me! Just seconds before kick-off, a man and his young son entered our row and I just thought they were going to take the empty seat next to me together. However, he showed me a ticket for the seat I was in, so I apologised and climbed over to the empty seat one row in front but was a bit nervous for the first 5-10 minutes when other late comers entered that block.

Who arrives 35 minutes late for a cup final or any match for that matter? The mother of the young guy to my right, that’s who!! This was when I realised that I had gone into the wrong block on the wrong side of Gate 5! It was an honest mistake, and the staff had even allowed me through a couple of times after checking my ticket!

Embarrassingly I had to exit my row of seats pushing past the seven or eight people to my left and I then ran up the steps to escape as quickly as possible and watch from the top whilst I considered my options. I was in a bad frame of mind and things got worse moments later when Sanfrecce went 2-0 up from a very good direct free-kick.

The moment Sanfrecce went 2-0 up!

If only the occupiers of the two seats I’d randomly sat in had arrived in good time before the match began, then the whole scenario would’ve been avoided without too much attention being brought to it but what chance that both of them didn’t arrive in good time ahead of the 1:05 pm kick off?!! Things couldn’t get much worse I thought as I made my way round behind the goal for the final moments of the half.

Wrong again! Another long throw resulted in a goal and with it 3-0 at half-time it was pretty much game over. Again, I think Sanfrecce had maybe mastered the dark arts by impeding the goalkeeper in some way or maybe I’m just desperately looking for reasons why two of the goals could’ve been disallowed!

Being a football fan though is all about hope and if Reysol could’ve got a relatively early goal in the second half then it might have been game on. They came out of the traps following a triple substitution with a point to prove and were all over Sanfrecce but they just could not find a way past their keeper until the 81st minute. Time was really running out, and a second goal was agonisingly close just a few minutes later. Had that gone in we really would have had a thrilling finale but it just wasn’t to be.

The post-match ceremonies often take an eternity to get going but thankfully they were quite quick to begin such proceedings. The beaten finalists really should just be allowed to collect their medals and get out of there but on this occasion they still had to pose for a team photo.

Moments later it was time for the victorious team to lift the trophy

Final Score: Kashiwa Reysol 1-3 Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Usually when any football club loses in a cup match they say it’s time to concentrate on the league but Reysol really do have to remain focused as with just three games to go they are still very much in with a chance of winning the J1 title. They do need favours elsewhere but must put this League Cup final defeat behind them quickly if they are to still be in it on the final day.

Click here to read ‘Kashiwa Reysol Pay The Penalty At The 103rd Emperor’s Cup Final’

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