SAITAMA —

Marcus Tulio Tanaka inspired Urawa Reds to a 3-0 win over JEF United Chiba on Tuesday to keep the Asian club champions top of the J-League. Bottom club Chiba battled valiantly at Saitama Stadium 2002 but its resistance was finally broken by Tulio on the hour mark before the defender-turned-midfielder set up Takahito Soma for the second 14 minutes from time. Urawa leads the standings after 11 games with 23 points, while Nagoya Grampus stayed in touch a point back after a 1-0 win away to FC Tokyo.

Elsewhere, Juninho struck twice as Kawasaki Frontale preserved its 100% record under new manager Tsutomu Takahata and moved into third spot after a 4-1 win at Jubilo Iwata, while Brazilian trio Leandro, Hulk and Diego were all on target as promoted Tokyo Verdy made it three wins in a row with a 3-1 defeat of Consadole Sapporo. In other games it was: Kashiwa Reysol 3, Vissel Kobe 0; Albirex Niigata 3, Shimizu S-Pulse 0; Yokohama F Marinos 1, Omiya Ardija 1.

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