Cerezo Osaka vs Tokushima Vortis Prediction and Betting Tips | July 16th 2025

Cerezo Osaka will face Tokushima Vortis at the Yodokou Sakura Stadium on Wednesday in the third round of the 2025 Emperor's Cup. The home side have had mixed results in the Japanese top flight this season but will break from that on Wednesday as they turn their attention to cup action.

They locked horns with Arterivo Wakayama in their tournament opener last month, thrashing the fifth-tier outfit 5-0, featuring goals from five different player,s including former New York City FC winger Thiago Andrade.

Tokushima Vortis, meanwhile, have hit a rough patch in the Japanese second tier of late and will hope they find better luck elsewhere this week. They beat fellow J League 2 side Yamaguchi 2-1 in the previous round of the cup, with Rio Hyon opening the scoring less than 20 minutes after kickoff before Kiyoshiro Tsuboi netted the game-winner in the 92nd minute.

The visitors faced Vissel Kobe at this stage of the competition last season, losing 2-0 and will look to test their mettle against another top-flight side this week.

Cerezo Osaka vs Tokushima Vortis Head-to-Head and Key Numbers

• There have been 18 meetings between Cerezo and Tokushima. The hosts have won 12 of those games while the visitors have won just twice, with their other four contests ending in draws.
• The two teams last faced off in a J1 League clash back in November 2021, which the hosts won 1-0.
• The visitors are without a clean sheet in their last eight games in this fixture, a run dating back to 2014.
• Cerezo are four-time winners of the Emperor's Cup, most recently lifting the cup title in 2017. Vortis, meanwhile, have never won the competition.

Cerezo Osaka vs Tokushima Vortis Prediction

Sakura's latest result ended a three-game unbeaten streak and they will be looking to bounce back here. They have won all but one of their last seven home matches and will head into the midweek clash as overwhelming favorites.

Tokushima are winless in their last three matches, although they have lost just one of their last 10. They have been solid on the road of late, but could lose here due to the sheer gulf in class and quality between the two teams.

Prediction: Cerezo Osaka 2-1 Tokushima Vortis

Cerezo Osaka vs Tokushima Vortis Betting Tips

Tip 1 - Result: Cerezo Osaka to win

Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Over 2.5 goals (Six of the hosts' last seven matches have produced more than 2.5 goals)

Tip 3 - Both teams to score: YES

Edited by Peter P