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Brisbane Roar will underestimate FC Tokyo ahead of their ACL clash on Tuesday night at their peril. The Gasmen might have spent last season in J2, but they’ve got enough firepower to give the ACL a real shake, let alone win at Suncorp Stadium.
The capital club were relegated at the end of a disastrous 2010 J. League campaign but predictably pulverised all and sundry in the second division last season.
Now they’re back in the Japanese top flight and participating in the Champions League courtesy of winning the Emperor’s Cup, and they should prove one of Brisbane’s toughest opponents this season.
What could count against new coach Ranko Popovic’s side is the timing of the fixture.
FC Tokyo’s league campaign kicks off next weekend, but the Chofu-based outfit lost 2-1 to Kashiwa Reysol in the Japanese Super Cup on Saturday.
Popovic won’t read too much into that result – there are rumours he might rotate his squad for the ACL anyway – but FC Tokyo will hardly be match-fit compared to Ange Postecoglou’s finely-tuned Roar.
And that could prove a problem for some of FC Tokyo’s key players; namely the injury-prone Naohiro Ishikawa and veteran Lucas Severino.
Ishikawa is one of the most underrated players in Japan and the veteran winger would have gone to the World Cup in 2010 but for a serious knee injury ruling him out.
He’s lost some of the pace which saw him make his Japan debut almost a decade ago, but the 30-year-old remains unerringly accurate from long-range and could prove a constant menace down the right-hand side.
Lionel Richie-lookalike Severino is well known in these parts and the former Gamba Osaka striker was also once one of the most expensive signings in the history of French football.
But even if the 33-year-old is rested, FC Tokyo still have beanpole striker Sota Hirayama and effervescent former Yokohama F. Marinos front man Kazuma Watanabe to call upon.
And Hirayama could prove the X-factor for the visitors, with the gangly striker deceptively skillful on the ground – provided the frustratingly enigmatic target man can be bothered to get himself into the game.
There’s something so alluring about the build-up to a big game and if there’s one coach in Australia attuned to the task, it’s Postecoglou.
Despite the fact they’re the visitors, I have a feeling FC Tokyo will be all over the Roar in the opening twenty minutes, with one-time Oita Trinita coach Popovic likely to have his side pressing high up the park in the hope of forcing an early mistake.
If the Roar can weather the storm, they should have the advantage in terms of match sharpness and that could suit the likes of Besart Berisha and Thomas Broich in attack.
I’ve got a lot of time for FC Tokyo though, and that’s partly because they’ve got some of the best supporters in Japan.
It’s a shame it’s so difficult for Japanese fans to take time off work because I vividly recall the Gasmen bringing over 3,000 supporters to Shizuoka for a midweek League Cup fixture.
They’re some of the loudest and most passionate supporters in the country and though their numbers may be small at Suncorp, they’ll be in fine voice throughout.
That said, I’m eager to see how Australia’s best team matches up against one of Japan’s sleeping giants, because realistically both the Roar and FC Tokyo should prove a tough match for the perennially disinterested Ulsan and a Beijing Guoan side now playing catch-up to Guangzhou domestically.
Indeed, Tuesday’s clash could prove a litmus test for where Australian football currently stands in the Asian pecking order.
And while some fans may underestimate FC Tokyo on account of their second tier-status in Japan last season, I sincerely doubt that’s a mistake a clued-in Postecoglou will make.