SAITAMA -- Washington kept the Urawa Reds firmly in the hunt for the J. League title with the only goal in their 1-0 win over Shimizu S-Pulse in front of 48,378 fans at Saitama Stadium on Saturday.
The Brazilian scored on 17 minutes when a lofted cross from Alex Santos from the left of the area evaded the head of Choe Jae Jin and the striker deceived Takuma Edamura with close control before drilling the ball between Yohei Nishibe's legs for his 17th league goal in as many games.
Urawa is in second position with 52 points from 24 games behind leader Gamba Osaka, with Kawasaki Frontale third on 47 points and Shimizu fourth on 44.