Defending champions Kashima Antlers battled back from the verge of elimination to secure a place in the quarterfinals after a 4-0 second-leg win at home to Kashiwa Reysol in their J. League Nabisco Cup second-round tie Wednesday. A 40th-minute own goal and second-half strikes from Tomoyuki Hirase, Takayuki Suzuki and Atsushi Yanagisawa gave Kashima a 5-3 victory on aggregate and a meeting with fellow-First Division side Urawa Reds in the final eight.
J-1 returnee Urawa added a 3-2 home win to its 3-1 first-leg win against Gamba Osaka, which came back from two goals down before conceding an 80th-minute winner to Japan midfielder Shinji Ono.
Jubilo Iwata scraped by Second Division side Oita Trinita, thanks to a 67th-minute equalizer from Masashi Nakayama, which put the J. League leader through after a 1-1 home draw following last week's 1-0 away victory.
JEF United dashed Shimizu S-Pulse's hopes for a quarterfinal date with Shizuoka neighbor Iwata with a 5-4 win on penalties, despite losing 2-1. At Todoroki Stadium, Brazilian striker Emerson and Takumi Watanabe scored as Kawasaki Frontale beat Yokohama FC 2-1 at home and 3-1 on aggregate.