Relegation Shadows Fade as Yokohama F. Marinos Stun Urawa With Ruthless 4-0 Rout at Nissan Stadium
On a crisp autumn night at Nissan Stadium, Yokohama F. Marinos delivered a performance that will echo far beyond the port city’s boundaries. After a season spent teetering near the drop, the Marinos unleashed their finest attacking display, dispatching Urawa 4-0 and offering their faithful a rare evening to savor. For a club mired in 17th place, adrift in doubt and fighting for every point, the scale and audacity of this win felt like both a statement and a challenge—primarily to themselves.
The early intent was unmistakable. Barely six minutes had gone when Kaina Tanimura, a quiet force in Yokohama’s turbulent campaign, latched onto a low cross and swept it home, puncturing Urawa’s defensive certitude before the match had settled. It was a goal born of urgency and a willingness to attack spaces—a rarity for a side that has so often played with fear this year. For Tanimura, it was his third goal in as many matches, an ascendant run for a player who has often shouldered Yokohama’s attacking ambitions amid adversity.
Urawa, holding eighth in the standings and boasting a defense that had not conceded in three prior league outings, found themselves rocked. They had arrived on the back of a hard-fought 1-0 win over Vissel Kobe and two consecutive scoreless draws—a run characterized by steeliness at the back, if not inspiration up front. But as the match unfolded, it became clear that the Marinos were determined to write a new script, and Urawa seemed ill-prepared for the tempo and verve set by their hosts.
The pressure told again in the 34th minute. Jeisson Quiñónes, whose season has been an uneasy mix of promise and frustration, found himself unmarked at the edge of the area. Collecting a clever pass, the midfielder rifled a low drive past Urawa’s outstretched keeper, doubling Yokohama’s lead and igniting the home crowd. Quiñónes’s goal symbolized a key theme of the night—sharpness and anticipation, qualities that have often deserted the Marinos in 2025.
The turning point, however, arrived in a frenetic first-half stoppage time. After sustained pressure, a desperate challenge in the box gifted Yokohama a penalty. Jordy Croux stepped up with calm assurance, narrowly beating the Urawa keeper to notch his first of the season. The scoreline ballooned moments later when Asahi Uenaka, opportunistic and unmarked, volleyed in from close range. Two goals in a matter of seconds, the sort of sequence that breaks backs and gives life to campaign-weary clubs.
At the half, the scoreboard read 4-0. The sense around Nissan Stadium was disbelief as much as delight. Yokohama, who had struggled to string together consistent results—losing narrowly to Kashiwa Reysol just two weeks prior and suffering a dispiriting 0-3 home loss to Kawasaki Frontale in September—looked suddenly reborn. This was only their third win in six matches, but the scale of their dominance over a rugged Urawa side, one that had lost but twice in their last eleven, was hard to overstate.
For Urawa, the unraveling was total. Down by four, the visitors never truly threatened a comeback. Their frustration surfaced in the dying embers of the match, when Takuro Kaneko’s late challenge earned him a straight red card—a capstone on a night they will quickly wish to forget. The defeat ends Urawa’s three-match unbeaten run and raises uncomfortable questions about their mettle as the season draws to a close.
Tonight’s rout does not liberate the Marinos from the relegation battle. With just 31 points from 33 matches, their position remains precarious, especially with only one match left to secure their top-flight status. But this win, in both style and substance, sends a fresh jolt through the bottom of the table. The Marinos have rediscovered, at least for a night, the high-octane football that has long defined their best moments.
Meanwhile, Urawa remain marooned in eighth, their hopes of a late climb toward the continental places now flickering. Their solidity in defense, which had been their calling card through the autumn, deserted them in the face of Yokohama’s relentless pressing and incisive movement.
Historically, encounters between these two clubs have been closely contested affairs, but rarely with such decisive margins. In the echoing corridors of Nissan Stadium tonight, the Marinos offered up a reminder that form is temporary, resolve less so.
As the season’s final chapters loom, every point and every performance takes on outsized significance. For Yokohama, Saturday’s romp is a lifeline—a show of pride, and perhaps, the spark they need to navigate perilous waters. For Urawa, it is back to the drawing board, their ambitions dented, their vulnerabilities exposed. The curtain has not yet fallen on either team’s season, but on this night, Yokohama’s fighting spirit commanded the stage.