Ooft plays down Reds' chances
It was a very close contest at Ajinomoto Stadium on Wednesday night.
No, I am not talking about the Nabisco Cup quarterfinal second leg between FC Tokyo and Urawa Reds.
I am talking about the two sets of supporters, who contributed to a big-match occasion.
Although the official attendance was 17,343, it seemed to be double that because of the amount of noise booming out from both ends.
Urawa, as we all know, won 2-0, thanks to two sublime goals from the Brazilian forward Emerson.
A 2-0 victory away to FC Tokyo, added to a 3-1 demolition of Jubilo Iwata in the first game of the second stage, suggests the Reds are making big progress.
After the game I had a chat with Hans Ooft and asked him if he thought his team could challenge for the second-stage title.
"Not yet," he replied, cautiously.
"We will take it match by match, week by week, and after match eight, nine or 10 we will know exactly what is going on.
"We don't look forward, no daydreaming, nothing."
But Ooft knows that his team, and his squad, is getting stronger.
Players such as Yamada, Tsuboi and Nagai have all had national team experience this year, and Suzuki, Yamase and Tanaka are members of the Olympic under-22 squad.
The Russian World Cup defender Yuri Nikiforov had a fine game against FC Tokyo, and Ooft will have a selection dilemma all managers love when the unlucky Ned Zelic recovers soon from his latest hamstring injury.
"I must compliment my players. They have worked very hard for one and a half years and as a team we have become stronger," he said.
Ooft, naturally, must play down the chances of his team, as he does not want to put the players under pressure so early in the stage.
But I genuinely feel Reds have a chance.
And wouldn't a Yokohama F Marinos-Urawa Reds two-leg playoff be a fantastic spectacle?
Just imagine: 70,000 at International Stadium Yokohama for the first leg, and then 60,000 at Saitama Stadium for the second leg.
A mass of Nissan blue and Mitsubishi red all around the stadium.
Truly it would be a wonderful sight, but there's a long way to go yet.
As Ooft said: "No daydreaming!"
That includes Reds fans, too.
ends
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