SUITA, Osaka Pref. (Kyodo) Hisato Sato played a starring role as Sanfreece Hiroshima overturned their first-leg deficit to beat 10-man Gamba Osaka 2-1 and advance to the Nabisco Cup semifinals for the first time on away goals Wednesday night.
Sato opened the scoring on 26 minutes before turning provider for Koji Morisaki to hit a priceless second, securing a meeting in the last four with Shimizu S-Pulse after a 2-2 aggregate draw.
S-Pulse knocked out holders FC Tokyo, a 0-0 draw also sending them through on away goals after a 1-1 draw in the capital last week, while last year's beaten finalists Kawasaki Frontale beat Kashima Antlers 3-1 for a 4-3 aggregate victory.
Kawasaki knocked Kashima out at the quarterfinal stage for the second year in a row thanks to goals from Yusuke Tasaka, Japan midfielder Kengo Nakamura and Vitor Junior.