Kirk here. Kumamoto’s Roasso came close to making it into the J1 soccer (football) league:
— start quote— In an evenly matched encounter, Kumamoto drew level from a corner in the 68th minute, with defender Osamu Henry Iyoha’s header at the near post going in off the far upright. Rei Hirakawa then came within inches of sending Kumamoto to J1 in stoppage time, but his powerful effort from inside the box hit the right post after his initial strike was blocked by Kyoto forward Peter Utaka’s face. — end quote —
