KOBE -- Vissel Kobe and Kashiwa Reysol managed to escape relegation, but Sanfrecce Hiroshima joined Consadole Sapporo on the trip to Division Two on Saturday, the final day of J. League Division One second-stage and regular-season action.
Masayuki Okano of Vissel scores in the 83rd minute of Saturday's J. League match against Shimizu S-Pulse at Kobe Universiade Stadium.
Trailing Kobe by two points and Kashiwa by three in the season standings, Hiroshima needed a win in regulation and had to rely on the results of its rivals on the brink of relegation.
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