7 Sep 2009(Mon)

September 5, 2009: Surely Kawasaki Frontale will win something this year.

They are looking good to reach the Nabisco Cup final after beating Yokohama F Marinos 2-0 in the first leg of the semi-final at Todoroki on Wednesday night.

They are not out of the championship race yet, either, and can reduce the gap on Antlers to four points if they can win at Kashima next Saturday.

Then they have the AFC Champions League quarter-final against Nagoya Grampus, with the first leg at Tokyo’s National Stadium on September 23.

And finally, if anyone still cares about the Emperor’s Cup, with the final taking place four weeks after the league season has finished, then Frontale are still in contention on four fronts.

It was an enjoyable game at Todoroki on Wednesday, especially the last 20 minutes as Marinos piled forward in search of an away goal.

Kenta Kano came on and caused a few problems for the Frontale defence with his clever passes and accurate crossing, and big Kim Kun Hoan joined the action to help out Kazuma Watanabe up front.

With Yuzo Kurihara coming up from the back to win some headers in the Frontale box, and the sniper Koji Yamase looking to fizz one through on goal from the edge of the area, it was a surprise that Marinos could not get one back on the night.

As for Frontale, they scored their goals at crucial times; after 15 minutes through Chong Tese as the match was still settling down, and 12 minutes into the second half with Juninho’s header just to underline their superiority.

Frontale just love it when teams have to come at them and they can hit them on the break, and in Sunday’s second leg Marinos will have to be careful not to concede a goal in the first hour or so, otherwise it could be a long evening for them.

Manager Kokichi Kimura will have to strike a balance between making sure Marinos play as high up the pitch as possible and building some early attacking rhythm, while keeping the back door locked against any lightning raid by Juninho and Co. It’s the cut and thrust of cup football, and what makes it so different from league play.

ends