Kashima welcomes Gamba Osaka in the Round of 16 of the Japan Cup. The home team is in good shape and this season they are playing very well together with Yokohama and Kawasaki they are the favourites to win the title in the J1 Japanese league. They have been playing good football for several seasons, especially in their stadium where they rarely lose games and mostly the teams that come spoil the stadium without points. One of the best players in Japan at the moment, the Brazilian Everaldo is certainly the most deserving of it, he plays fantastic games and in the last round, he scored a goal that may be included in the "Puskas" award for the best goal in the world. I was waiting for the starting lineups to see if he will be in the first line-up, and the players today, so the defence of Gamba Osaka is not very good. Gamba plays well at home, but away from home they play disastrously and are one of the worst teams away from their stadium. In the last game, they lost 4-0 against Kawasaki, it could have been much more, but the players of Frontale missed out. Now they face another tough match and I think Kashima will win because they are the better team, they are in good shape and Everaldo is unstoppable.

My prediction;

Outcome: Kashima to win