Runaway J-League champions Kawasaki Frontale concluded their record-breaking season Friday with victory in the Emperor's Cup final, beating Gamba Osaka 1-0 after rising star Kaoru Mitoma struck the winner early in the second half.
First-division runners-up Gamba started brightly, but the champions gradually asserted themselves and were firmly in control by the time Mitoma scored with a clinical finish in the 55th minute at Tokyo's National Stadium.
Having never previously won the all-Japan tournament, Kawasaki sent off retiring club great Kengo Nakamura with the first league and cup double of his career.
"We all really wanted to win this one for Kengo. We can now rest assured after achieving that goal," Kawasaki captain Shogo Taniguchi said.
Gamba had a goal ruled out in the sixth minute, with the referee's assistant raising his flag before Patric headed in from a Takashi Usami free kick.
At the other end, Leandro Damiao sent a close-range shot straight at Gamba goalkeeper Masaaki Higashiguchi.
Mitoma created a chance before halftime when he shook past his man near the edge of the area, but his low strike was easily corralled by Higashiguchi.
Ryota Oshima grazed the crossbar with a deflected shot as Kawasaki made an aggressive start to the second half.
Shortly after being caught in an offside trap, Mitoma timed his run to perfection to score the winner. Darting diagonally across the area, the 23-year-old midfielder gathered a through-ball from Damiao before squeezing a shot in the opposite direction past Higashiguchi.
"It was a great pass from Damiao, he put me through in front of goal," said Mitoma, whose commanding performance was watched by Samurai Blue and men's Olympic team manager Hajime Moriyasu.
"We created chances in the first half that we didn't finish, but we felt there would be more."
Patric and former Bayern Munich winger Usami had late chances for Gamba, who kept up the fight as they tried to avenge a 5-0 defeat that confirmed Kawasaki as J1 title winners on Nov. 25.
Nakamura, who made a brief appearance in Kawasaki's 2-0 semifinal win over third-division Blaublitz Akita, did not come off the bench in the decider.
But the 40-year-old, who played his entire career for Frontale, said he was thrilled to exit the stage after seeing his club win the 100th edition of the Emperor's Cup.
"I think I might be the happiest soccer player in the world," Nakamura said. "It was unfortunate I didn't get to play, but that's part of the game. The most important thing was winning."
Frontale manager Toru Oniki lauded his team for an outstanding season, while singling out their longtime emotional leader Nakamura.
"After playing so well this season in the league, the team still had a great performance left in them," Oniki said.
"Though (Nakamura) didn't play in the game, his influence is felt throughout the team. I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart."
By finishing this year's title race with four rounds to spare, Kawasaki won the league faster than any club since the J1 adopted a 34-game schedule in 2005. Their 83-point total was also a record.
The top two J1 sides entered at the semifinal stage of this year's Emperor's Cup, which was truncated following the roughly four-month interruption to the season caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Japan Football Association suspended general ticket sales for the tournament ahead of the semifinals in response to rising coronavirus infections across Japan. The crowd for the final was limited to 13,318 spectators inside the 60,000 national stadium.
With Kawasaki going into this year's Asian Champions League as Emperor's Cup winners, the fourth-placed J1 side, Cerezo Osaka, will enter the continental tournament from the playoff stage, the JFA announced.
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