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Cerezo Osaka and Urawa Reds will square off at Kincho Stadium in the first leg of the J League Cup semifinals on Wednesday.
Cerezo Osaka finished as runners-up last season, falling to a 2-0 defeat against Nagoya Grampus in the final and will be hoping to go all the way this time around. They played out a 3-3 draw on aggregate in the quarter-finals against Kawasaki Frontale but progressed into the last four on away goals.
The Urawa Reds eliminated reigning champions Nagoya Grampus with a comprehensive 4-1 win on aggregate in the previous round of fixtures.
The home team are undefeated in their last three league games and played out a 2-2 draw against Jubilo Iwata on Sunday. However, Urawa played out a goalless draw against Shonan Bellmare on Saturday.
Cerezo Osaka vs Urawa Reds Head-to-Head
The two teams have locked horns 114 times across all competitions. The two teams have been closely matched in these games, with the Urawa Reds having a narrow 45-40 lead in wins while 29 games have ended in draws.
This will be the third meeting of the year between the two teams. Cerezo have picked up wins in the previous two meetings, including their league meeting last Wednesday, which ended in a 1-0 away win for Cerezo.
Cerezo Osaka form guide (all competitions): D-W-W-L-L
Urawa Reds form guide (all competitions): D-L-W-D-W
Cerezo Osaka vs Urawa Reds Team News
Cerezo Osaka
Yusuke Maruhashi is sidelined with a knee injury. Riki Harakawa and Chaowat Veerachat have also not featured in recent games for the hosts and are likely to sit this one out as well.
Injured: Yusuke Maruhashi, Riki Harakawa, Chaowat Veerachat
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Urawa Reds
Tomoya Inukai is out with an injury while Bryan Linssen has not played a game since joining the Reds. The two players are the only confirmed absentees for this first leg. Yuichi Hirano missed the previous league game with an undisclosed injury and his involvement is doubtful.
Injured: Tomoya Inukai, Bryan Linssen.
Doubtful: Yuichi Hirano
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Cerezo Osaka vs Urawa Reds Predicted XIs
Cerezo Osaka (4-4-2): Keisuke Shimizu; Ryuya Nishio, Matej Jonjic, Ryosuke Shindo, Riku Matsuda; Hinata Kida, Hiroshi Kiyotake, Seiya Maikuma, Hiroaki Okuno; Hirotaka Tameda, Adam Taggart
Urawa Reds (4-2-3-1): Shushaku Nishikawa; Ayumu Ohata, Alexander Scholz, Takuya Iwanami, Kazuaki Mawatari; Atsuki Ito, Ken Iwao; David Moberg Karlsson, Yoshio Koizumi, Takahiro Sekine; Kasper Junker
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Cerezo Osaka vs Urawa Reds Prediction
Sakura have enjoyed a better run in the league campaign this season and have outscored the visitors 45-42 in the J1 League. Urawa have the upper hand defensively, conceding 28 goals compared to the 34 goals conceded by Cerezo Osaka.
The hosts have picked up wins in two meetings against the Urawa Reds this season and, given their home advantage, should be able to record a win here as well.
Prediction: Cerezo Osaka 2-1 Urawa Reds
