FACE FORMIDABLE OPPONENTS
Home fans almost as tough as Kashima side
MAMELODI Sundowns will have to overcome not only the reigning Japanese League champions for a place in the semifinals of the Club World Cup, but also some fervent home support.
Kashima Antlers booked their meeting with Sundowns in a quarterfinal match in Osaka on Sunday when they defeated New Zealand side Auckland City 2-1 in their preliminary encounter yesterday.
Kashima is 600km from Osaka‚ certainly close enough for many fans to travel to the Suita City Stadium‚ though they are sure to get massive support from home fans too, who would love to see a Japanese side in the semifinals.
Antlers are‚ in some ways‚ the Kaizer Chiefs of Japan‚ by far the most successful club in the country by trophies won‚ if not quite support gained.
Since the start of the J-League in 1993‚ Antlers have won eight league titles‚ six J-League Cups and the Emperor’s Cup four times.
They have the pedigree of champions and, having lifted the title again this year, a squad that is used to winning.
The side is coached by Masatada Ishii‚ who is in his second year with the team and leads a largely home-based squad.
They do have the Brazilian duo of striker Fabrício and defender Bueno and South Korean international defender Hwang Seok-ho.
They also boast six Japanese internationals in their squad.
The team has not been in the greatest of form of late, with four wins and four defeats in their last eight games‚ if you include yesterday’s defeat of Auckland City.
The club has long had ties to Brazil – in fact‚ eight of the 11 managers in the club’s history have been from that country.
That includes legend Zico‚ who also played for the team at the end of his career.
The name Antlers comes from the English translation of the Japanese Kashima‚ which means Deer Island.
For Antlers, substitute Mu Kanazaki snatched the late winner.
The tournament curtainraiser in Yokohama kicked off following a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the recent Colombian plane crash which all but wiped out Brazilian team Chapecoense.
The 100th match in Club World Cup history – the “amuse-bouche” before the likes of Real Madrid join the seven-team competition – also featured the very first trial of video assistant referees.
But the technology remained unused in a game that did little to set pulses racing – at least until Korean defender Kim Dae-Wook rose to meet an Emiliano Tade free kick with a bullet header five minutes into the second half.
Another substitute, Shuhei Akasaki, slammed in Kashima’s equaliser in the 67th minute and Japan striker Kanazaki nodded in from close range two minutes from time to complete the comeback.
Ishii said: “They caught us with a set piece but we didn’t panic.
“I believed we could come back and the two substitutes did a great job.
“We only have a couple of days off before we play Sundowns and we haven’t yet had time to analyse them, but we will be ready.
“We know we can’t afford another first-half performance like today.”