Nagoya through to Cup final

Nagoya Grampus moved a step closer to winning the Emperor's Cup after beating Shimizu S-Pulse 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.

Nagoya will face Gamba Osaka in the final in Tokyo on January 1 after the defending champions downed Vegalta Sendai 2-1 thanks to a double from Brazilian forward Lucas.

After finishing ninth in the J. League last season, winning the Emperor's Cup now represents Nagoya's only route into next year's Champions League.

Should Nagoya lose, Sanfrecce Hiroshima will instead qualify for the Champions League with Gamba already in the competition after finishing third in the J. League.

Nagoya's bid took an early blow as Shimizu opened the scoring after 17 minutes as Shinji Okazaki latched onto a long ball forward and the Japan striker calmly chipped goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki to open the scoring.

Australia striker Josh Kennedy and defender Maya Yoshida came close to equalising for Nagoya before Kennedy hit the woodwork early in the second half.

Nagoya were finally rewarded four minutes before the hour mark when Kennedy was brought down inside the penalty area by Shimizu defender Arata Kodama and Keiji Tamada stepped up to level the scores.

After extra-time failed to separate the sides, Daisuke Ichikawa crucially missed Shimizu's first spot-kick allowing Keita Sugimoto to seal the win for Nagoya.

In Tokyo, Lucas' bicycle kick opened the scoring in the fifth minute after Sendai goalkeeper Takuto Hayashi could only punch Michihiro Yasuda's cross to the edge of the area.

Sendai, who were playing in the semi-finals, fought back with their trademark counterattacks and were rewarded as Takayuki Nakahara slotted home Kunimitsu Sekiguchi's cross just before the hour mark.

But Gamba remained composed and Hideo Hashimoto set up Lucas to fire home with 24 minutes remaining

"We let our opponents find their pace from time to time, but we played with a cool-head overall," said Gamba boss Akira Nishino.