After winning their first title on the dramatic final day of the 2017 season and clinching their second with two rounds to spare a year later, Kawasaki Frontale did the impossible on Wednesday night: They made their third title look even easier.
An Akihiro Ienaga hat trick and goal from Leandro Damiao and Manabu Saito were more than enough for Frontale to defeat their last remaining rival Gamba Osaka 5-0 at Kawasaki’s Todoroki Stadium, extending their lead on top of the J. League first-division table to an unassailable 17 points with four rounds left in the season.
Although Gamba’s chances at coming from behind to win the title were already slim — they would have had to run the table and have Frontale lose all of their remaining games — any hopes of achieving their own historic third title were all but extinguished in the 22nd minute when Damiao slipped through the Gamba back line and stretched out his leg to meet Kyohei Noborizato’s cross from behind.