NAGOYA (Kyodo) Nagoya Grampus' hopes of winning their first J. League championship took a hit Tuesday as Marcus Tulio Tanaka and Mu Kanazaki were both diagnosed with torn hamstrings.
Grampus, who have an eight-point lead over Kashima Antlers and Gamba Osaka with seven games left in the season, announced Tulio will be out for two weeks and Kanazaki for three after both went down in Saturday's 2-1 win over Vissel at Kobe.
Kanazaki is expected to miss the highly anticipated match on Nov. 7 against three-time defending champions Antlers at Kashima, while Tulio remains doubtful.
Both players are in their first season with Nagoya, which hosts Cerezo Osaka at Toyota Stadium on Saturday.