Yoshihito Fujita struck twice against his old club as JEF United Chiba moved onto the brink of returning to the top flight with a comfortable 4-0 win away to Yokohama FC in the J. League promotion playoff semifinals on Sunday.
Chiba now only needs a draw in Friday's final against Oita Trinita — who beat Kyoto Sanga by the same score with all four goals coming from Yasuhito Morishima in the day's other semi — to secure a place in J1 for the first time since being relegated in 2009.
"It's a complicated playoff system. We knew we had to win but could not go all out for it from the start and risking conceding. The players were calm and carried out the game plan well. It was perfect," said Chiba manager Takashi Kiyama.