Kashima Antlers came through a tense war of attrition to beat Urawa Reds 1-0 after extra time and win the Nabisco Cup for a record fourth time on Saturday.
Urawa lost playmaker Naoki Yamada to a red card after two bookings in the space of three minutes early in the second half at National Stadium, but Kashima still could not break the deadlock and had Takeshi Aoki dismissed in the 80th minute for his second caution of the game.
But with both sides down to 10 men and the first period of extra time drawing to a close, Yuya Osako pounced on a cross from Shinzo Koroki to score the decisive goal, giving Kashima manager Oswaldo Oliveira the only domestic trophy that had eluded him in his five years in charge of the Ibaraki club.