Nagoya Grampus glimpsed the mountaintop nine times before.
On Saturday they finally stood atop it, filling a longstanding void in the team’s trophy case with a 2-0 win over Cerezo Osaka in the J. League YBC Levain Cup final.
Goals by Naoki Maeda and Sho Inagaki were the difference-makers at Saitama Stadium, which hosted a crowd of 17,933 — among the largest seen in the J. League this season due to coronavirus-related attendance restrictions.