Mario Haas scored a hat-trick to lead holder JEF United Chiba to a 5-2 win away to Cerezo Osaka, while Gamba Osaka held Kashima Antlers to a scoreless draw in their first-leg matches in the J. League Nabisco Cup quarterfinals on Sunday.
JEF United Chiba's Satoru Yamagishi celebrates with teammate Mario Haas after
scoring against Cerezo Osaka during their Nabisco Cup quarterfinal match on
Sunday.
Haas headed home a 25th-minute goal to cancel out an early strike from Cerezo striker Pingo and netted his second equalizer of the encounter in the 74th minute before completing his hat trick in the dying minutes at Osaka's Nagai Stadium.
The Austrian striker also set up two second-half goals from Satoru Yamagishi, who scored what turned out to be the winner in the 80th minute and added his second two minutes later. At Kashima Stadium, Gamba, which received a bye into the quarterfinals because of its involvement in the Asian Champions League, began its League Cup campaign with an away draw.
On Saturday, Urawa Reds edged J. League leader Kawasaki Frontale 4-3 and Yokohama F. Marinos beat Jubilo Iwata 2-1, both at home, to take first-leg leads. Urawa and Kawasaki will play their second leg on Wednesday, while the other three games are scheduled for Thursday.
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