How it happened
Kashima Antlers won 2-0 against V-Varen Nagasaki, and the match was effectively decided before the five-minute mark. Both goals came in the first half, and neither side scored after the interval.
L. Ceará converted a penalty in the second minute. Three minutes later Aleksandar Čavrić made it 2-0 with a regular goal in the fifth minute. Čavrić left the pitch after 72 minutes with a match rating of 8.4, the highest of any player.
Nagasaki spent the remaining time chasing the game without finding a way back. No red cards were shown.
The numbers
The match was far closer than the scoreline suggests. Nagasaki had 16 shots to Kashima's five, and won the corners five to two. Possession was almost even, at 49% for Kashima and 51% for Nagasaki. On shots on target it was four for the visitors and three for the hosts.
The estimated expected-goals figures were level: 1.09 for Kashima and 1.03 for Nagasaki. Kashima turned a modest chance count into two goals, while Nagasaki's volume produced nothing on the scoreboard.
Hayakawa, the Kashima goalkeeper, made three saves and earned a match rating of 7.9. Naomichi Ueda, who played all 90 minutes in defence, had 60 touches and a match rating of 7.6.
What it means
Kashima are fifth in J1 League with 19 points from ten matches, with six wins. Nagasaki are 15th with nine points, ten fewer than their opponents.
The result also extends a head-to-head record that already favoured Kashima. They had won all five of the previous meetings between the clubs, and this makes it six from six. Those five earlier games averaged 3.6 goals, so a 2-0 was a tighter, quieter fixture than usual.
Nagasaki have lost five of their ten league matches. The chances they created here, set against a single two-goal deficit, show a side that is not short of attacking output but is struggling to turn it into points.