Urawa Reds' hopes of successfully defending their Nabisco Cup title suffered an early setback after a surprise 3-2 defeat at home to Oita Trinita in the first round of group-stage matches on Saturday.
Daisuke Sakata (left) of the Yokohama F. Marinos and Sanfrecce Hiroshima's Kota Hattori
chase the ball during their Nabisco Cup first-round game on Saturday at Hiroshima Stadium. The match
ended in a scoreless draw.
Oita, which narrowly escaped relegation last season, raced into a two-goal lead after 16 minutes through Magno Alves and Takayuki Yoshida before a penalty from in-form striker Emerson and a 68th-minute goal from Makoto Hasebe drew Urawa level.