Football: Kamada helps Palace claim 1st major trophy with FA Cup win
KYODO NEWS - 4 hours ago - 18:52 | Sports, All
Japan midfielder Daichi Kamada helped Crystal Palace win their first major trophy on Saturday as they beat Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final.
Kamada, who won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt under current Palace manager Oliver Glasner in the 2021-2022 season, played a part in Eberechi Eze's 16th-minute winner as the London-based club lifted their first major trophy since they were established in 1861.
Having ridden an early storm from Manchester City, Eze volleyed home Daniel Munoz's right-wing cross after Jean-Philippe Mateta exchanged passes with Kamada in the middle of the park on a counter at Wembley Stadium.
Dean Henderson saved Omar Marmoush's 36th-minute penalty after the Palace keeper was controversially not shown a straight red card earlier for handling the ball outside his area, and the London side held on to the slender lead in front of a crowd of 84,163.
"It turned out to be a really tough game but I'm glad we won. There's a huge difference in winning it and finishing second," said Kamada, the first Japanese player to play in an FA Cup final.
"I think making history is a wonderful thing for my career...It hasn't really sunk in yet but I'm really happy."
Former Lazio man Kamada won the cup in his first season at Crystal Palace, who will play in next season's Europa League. Manchester City ended the season without a trophy for the first time since their first campaign under Pep Guardiola in 2016-2017.
"Our fans will be talking about this for the rest of their lives. I'm really proud to be part of it," said Kamada, who won his place in the starting XI toward the end of the campaign. "The ability to crawl up at the death is where I'm different from others."
In Portugal, Hidemasa Morita helped Sporting CP defend their title as they beat Vitoria 2-0 at home and finished two points above local rivals Benfica, who drew 1-1 at Braga.
In Germany, Ritsu Doan volleyed in a 27th-minute opener for his 10th goal of the season in the German Bundesliga, but Freiburg went down 3-1 at home to Frankfurt to finish fifth, settling for a place in next season's Europa League.
In France, Reims, featuring Junya Ito, Keito Nakamura and Hiroki Sekine, finished 16th in Ligue 1 with a 2-1 defeat at Lille. They will head to the promotion-relegation playoff with Metz, who finished third in the second division.
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