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Yamazaki Nabisco Cup, 2006
The Yamazaki Nabisco Cup is the annual J.League cup tournament. The tournament takes place over the course of the regular J.League season, with most matches scheduled on holidays that come in the middle of a week, or on weekends when no league matches are scheduled. Although it is not quite as prestigeous as the Emperor's Cup (which, like the FA Cup in Britain, includes teams from all divisions and even university and high school champion teams), the Nabisco Cup has nevertheless become an important part of the annual J.League schedule.
The format for the Nabisco Cup has changed several times, but the use of pool groups to determine the final eight teams seemed to be a very successful format, and it was retained in 2006. With 18 teams in the J1 division, however, the structure of pool groups was awkward, particularly since Gamba Osaka was awarded a bye to the quarterfinal round in order to allow them to take part in the Asian Champions League. This not only makes the pools for the group round unequal (three pools of four teams and one pool of five teams); it also makes it more difficult to select the quarterfinalists, since seven teams need to be selected from four UNEQUAL pools.
Regardless of what formula they selected to deal with this nightmarish scheduling dilemma, there were bound to be complaints. Considering the situation, we think the League did a fairly good job of trying to make it as equitable as possible. In addition to Gamba and the four pool winners, the League decided to award the final three berths to the three second place teams with the highest point total (goal difference being used in the case of a tie on points). At first you might wonder how it is possible to compare the points of teams from the four-team pools with teams from the five-team pool. This is where it got tricky.
The teams in Pool D played the same number of matches as every other pool, to ensure that the final point totals were comparable. But since there were five teams in Pool D, it was necessary to reduce the number of matches they played. Each team in the pool played two other teams home and away. It played at home (only) against a third team, and away (only) against the fourth. In other words, for example, Ventforet did not play at home against Ardija, and they did not play away against Cerezo. While this was a rather bizarre situation, hopefully it will never occur again since theoretically, TWO teams should take part in the ACL, and get byes to the second round (in 2006 this was not the case because Tokyo Verdy -- a J2 club -- held one of the ACL spots).
Below is the full schedule and match results for the 2006 Nabisco Cup. CLICK HERE for information on past Nabisco Cup champions
2004 Yamazaki Nabisco Cup Pool Round Matches
Pool A | | Date | Home | . | Away |
|---|
| 29 Mar | Urawa Reds | 2-0 | FC Tokyo |
| 29 Mar | Yokohama Marinos | 1-0 | Avispa Fukuoka |
| 12 Apr | Urawa Reds | 3-1 | Avispa Fukuoka |
| 12 Apr | Yokohama Marinos | 2-0 | FC Tokyo |
| 26 Apr | FC Tokyo | 1-2 | Yokohama Marinos |
| 26 Apr | Avispa Fukuoka | 1-3 | Urawa Reds |
| 14 May | FC Tokyo | 0-1 | Avispa Fukuoka |
| 14 May | Yokohama Marinos | 1-2 | Urawa Reds |
| 17 May | FC Tokyo | 0-0 | Urawa Reds |
| 17 May | Avispa Fukuoka | 1-1 | Yokohama Marinos |
| 21 May | Urawa Reds | 4-2 | Yokohama Marinos |
| 21 May | Avispa Fukuoka | 0-0 | FC Tokyo |
|
| Team | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | Dif. |
|---|
| Urawa Reds | 16 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 5 | +9 |
| Yokohama Marinos | 10 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | +1 |
| Avispa Fukuoka | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8 | -4 |
| FC Tokyo | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | -6 |
|
|
Pool B | | Date | Home | . | Away |
|---|
| 29 Mar | Kashima Antlers | 4-1 | Oita Trinita |
| 29 Mar | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 3-4 | Kawasaki Frontale |
| 12 Apr | Kashima Antlers | 3-1 | Kawasaki Frontale |
| 12 Apr | Oita Trinita | 2-1 | Kyoto Sanga |
| 26 Apr | Kawasaki Frontale | 4-1 | Kyoto Sanga |
| 26 Apr | Oita Trinita | 1-0 | Kashima Antlers | |
| 14 May | Kashima Antlers | 3-2 | Kyoto Sanga |
| 14 May | Oita Trinita | 0-2 | Kawasaki Frontale |
| 17 May | Kawasaki Frontale | 1-0 | Oita Trinita |
| 17 May | Kyoto Sanga | 2-1 | Kashima Antlers |
| 21 May | Kawasaki Frontale | 2-1 | Kashima Antlers |
| 21 May | Kyoto Sanga | 1-2 | Oita Trinita |
|
| Team | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | Dif. |
|---|
| Kawasaki Frontale | 15 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 |
| Kashima Antlers | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 9 | +3 |
| Oita Trinita | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -3 |
| Kyoto Purple Sanga | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 16 | -6 |
|
|
Pool C | | Date | Home | . | Away |
|---|
| 29 Mar | JEF United | 2-1 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima |
| 29 Mar | Albirex Niigata | 3-3 | Shimizu S-Pulse |
| 12 Apr | JEF United | 3-2 | Albirex Niigata |
| 12 Apr | Shimizu S-Pulse | 2-2 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima |
| 26 Apr | Shimizu S-Pulse | 1-2 | Albirex Niigata |
| 26 Apr | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 3-4 | JEF United |
| 14 May | Shimizu S-Pulse | 1-0 | JEF United |
| 14 May | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 0-0 | Albirex Niigata |
| 17 May | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 0-1 | Shimizu S-Pulse |
| 18 May | Albirex Niigata | 0-0 | JEF United |
| 21 May | JEF United | 1-0 | Shimizu S-Pulse |
| 21 May | Albirex Niigata | 0-1 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima |
|
| Team | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | Dif. |
|---|
| JEF United | 13 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 8 | +0 |
| Albirex Niigata | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 8 | -1 |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | -2 |
|
|
Pool D | | Date | Home | . | Away |
|---|
| 29 Mar | Nagoya Grampus | 1-3 | Ventforet Kofu |
| 29 Mar | Cerezo Osaka | 1-0 | Jubilo Iwata |
| 5 Apr | Jubilo Iwata | 2-1 | Omiya Ardija |
| 12 Apr | Ventforet Kofu | 2-2 | Jubilo Iwata |
| 12 Apr | Cerezo Osaka | 1-1 | Nagoya Grampus |
| 26 Apr | Omiya Ardija | 2-3 | Jubilo Iwata |
| 26 Apr | Ventforet Kofu | 1-1 | Nagoya Grampus |
| 10 May | Ventforet Kofu | 0-1 | Cerezo Osaka |
| 10 May | Nagoya Grampus | 1-2 | Omiya Ardija |
| 14 May | Omiya Ardija | 1-0 | Ventforet Kofu |
| 14 May | Nagoya Grampus | 1-1 | Cerezo Osaka |
| 17 May | Omiya Ardija | 1-1 | Cerezo Osaka |
| 18 May | Jubilo Iwata | 1-2 | Ventforet Kofu |
| 21 May | Jubilo Iwata | 2-1 | Nagoya Grampus |
| 21 May | Cerezo Osaka | 3-2 | Omiya Ardija |
|
| Team | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | Dif. |
|---|
| Cerezo Osaka | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 5 | +3 |
| Jubilo Iwata | 10 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 0 | +1 |
| Ventforet Kofu | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 |
| Omiya Ardija | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 10 | -1 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | -4 |
|
|
Quarterfinal Round
| Date | Home | . | Away |
| Jun 3 | Urawa Reds | 4-3 | Kawasaki Frontale |
| Jun 3 | Cerezo Osaka | 2-4 | JEF United |
| Jun 4 | Kashima Antlers | 0-0 | Gamba Osaka |
| Jun 4 | Yokohama Marinos | 2-1 | Jubilo Iwata |
|
| Jun 7 | Kawasaki Frontale | 2-1 | Urawa Reds |
| Jun 7 | Gamba Osaka | 0-2 | Kashima Antlers |
| Jun 8 | JEF United | 3-2 | Cerezo Osaka |
| Jun 8 | Jubilo Iwata | 0-2 | Yokohama Marinos |
|
Semifinals
| Date | Home | . | Away |
| Oct 4 | Kashima Antlers | 1-0 | Yokohama Marinos |
| Oct 4 | Kawasaki Frontale | 2-2 | JEF United Chiba |
|
| Oct 7 | Yokohama Marinos | 2-1 | Kashima Antlers |
| Oct 7 | JEF United Chiba | 3-2 (ET) | Kawasaki Frontale |
Finals
| Date | Home | . | Away |
| Nov 11 | Kashima Antlers | 0-2 | JEF United |
|
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