It was the fifth time Tokyo has won the knock-out tournament and the victory earned the side a berth in the AFC Champions League next year.

"It was a tough game, not only this game, but it was really tough to reach the final, said Tokyo's Argentine coach Osvaldo ("Ossie") Ardiles.

"When we had to fight with only 10 men, my players did an excellent job, which brought us the victory,"

"Everyone defended bravely. Our defence deserves this victory.

"We had a lot of problems throughout the season and we ended in a pretty good style today. I'm optimistic about the next season," added Ardiles.

Tokyo Verdy's forward Kazunori Iio opened the scoring in the 35th minute, flicking in the rebound after Kazuki Hiramoto's header hit the left post.

Just before half time, Daigo Kobayashi was dismissed after receiving a second yellow card, forcing his side to play defensively for the remainder of the game.

Iwata encamped in the Verdy half for most of the second half, but Hiramoto took a rare chance to counter-attack in the 53rd minute, breaking a three-men defensive line to make it 2-0.

Iwata struggled to score as they found no space between Verdy defenders but Norihiro Nishi pulled one back in the 76th minute.

"We lost one player in the first half and we had to change our tactics. We wanted to win the title, because we hadn't won any for a long time," said Hiramoto.

Tokyo Verdy previously won the Emporer's Cup in 1984, 1986, 1987 and 1996.