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The Urawa Reds will host Nagoya Grampus at the Saitama Stadium on Wednesday in the second leg of their J League Cup playoff.
The hosts have had mixed results of late, picking up one win, draw and loss in their last three competitive outings. They were held to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the cup tie. Yusuke Matsuo's first-half opener was cancelled out in the second half as the Reds failed to capitalise on their possessional dominance.
The Red Devils will now look to pick up a win on home turf as they target their third J League Cup title. Nagoya Grampus have also had their struggles of late, with the first leg draw marking a fourth straight winless outing across competitions. They, however, returned to winning ways with a 3-0 league win over their Urawa and will hope to replicate that on Wednesday.
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The Grampus are the defending champions of the cup competition and now need a result away from home to continue their charge for back-to-back titles.
Urawa Reds vs Nagoya Grampus Head-to-Head
There have been 40 meetings between the Reds and Nagoya. The hosts have won 18 of those matchups, while Nagoya have won 14. There have been eight draws between the two teams, including their most recent meeting.
Urawa Reds Form Guide (All Competitions): L-D-W-L-W.
Nagoya Grampus Form Guide (All Competitions): W-D-D-L-L.
Urawa Reds vs Nagoya Grampus Team News
Urawa Reds
Yuichi Hirano and Kai Shibato came off injured last time out and are doubts for this one, alongside former Olympique Marseille man Hiroki Sakai. Kasper Junker, Tomoya Inukai and Bryan Linssen are also injured and will not play here.
Injured: Kasper Junker, Tomoya Inukai, Bryan Linssen.
Doubtful: Hiroki Sakai, Yuichi Hirano, Kai Shibato.
Suspended: None.
Unavailable: None.
Nagoya Grampus
Kazuki Nagasawa, Noriyoshi Sakai and Hidemasa Koda are all injured and will not play here, while Jakub Swierczok remains out with a suspension.
Injured: Kazuki Nagasawa, Noriyoshi Sakai, Hidemasa Koda.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: Jakub Swierczok.
Unavailable: None.
Urawa Reds vs Nagoya Grampus Predicted XIs
Urawa Reds (4-2-3-1): Shushaku Nishikawa (GK); Ayumu Ohata, Alexander Scholz, Takuya Iwanami, Kazuaki Mawatari; Atsuki Ito, Ken Iwao; David Moberg Karlsson, Yoshio Koizumi, Takahiro Sekine; Ataru Esaka.
Nagoya Grampus (3-4-2-1): Mitchell Langerak (GK); Yuichi Maruyama, Haruya Fujii, Shinnosuke Nakatani; Yuki Soma, Leo Silva, Sho Inagaki, Ryoya Morishita; Keiya Sento, Mateus; Kensuke Nagai.
Urawa Reds vs Nagoya Grampus Prediction
The Reds are on a run of back-to-back winless outings but have lost just one of their last eight competitive games. Nagoya, meanwhile, are undefeated in their last three games but have picked up just one win from their last five outings. The Reds should win this one.
Prediction: Urawa Reds 2-1 Nagoya Grampus.
