The Urawa Reds, coming off a 14th-place finish last year and without some of their big names, opened the J. League season by beating Shonan Bellmare 3-2 on Friday.
Despite missing several big players and with defensive linchpin Tomoaki Makino starting on the bench, the Reds were able to survive a tough fight, thanks to Takahiro Sekine's late winner after Bellmare missed a penalty.
"We didn't play at all well, but we still got off to a good start in the league," Sekine said.