After drawing against Ulsan Hyundai last week, Sydney FC will now travel to Japan to take on Kawasaki Frontale in a crucial battle that will reveal what Steve Corica’s team is truly made of.

If Sydney lose this match, their prospects of advancing of the group will begin to look precarious with one point from the first two matches. That makes this game, if not a must-win battle, at the very least it is a must-not-lose match.

So what should Corica and his team be prepared for when they meet with Kawasaki tomorrow? Here’s an in-depth look at their 2018 season as well as a tactical breakdown of how their team plays.

2018 Season

Kawasaki retained their league title in 2018, reaffirming themselves as the undoubtedly the best team in Japan with a comfortable 12 point gap between them and their nearest contender.

They were fluent in front of goal, leading the scoring charts with a 7-0 scoreline against Consadole Sapporo a perfect example of just how good the Japanese champions are. Another memorable victory is the miraculous comeback from 3-1 down to 5-3 against Andres Iniesta’s Vissel Kobe.

Asia was a completely different story though as Frontale were humiliated, going winless in their six matches — including a loss to Melbourne Victory — and crashing out of the group stages. After such a disappointing performance, manager Toru Oniki will want to right their wrongs and show the true force of Kawasaki this time around.

Player to watch out for

One of the greatest strengths of Kawasaki is that they are a team that doesn’t rely on the talents on one player, they share the burden and players step up when they need to.

But if you had to pick out one player, it would probably be their captain and talisman Yu Kobayashi, who extended his good form of 2017 into the 2018 season with 16 goals and six assists.

He usually plays as a striker, but the arrival of centre-forward Leandro Damiao from Brazil has meant that he’s been shifted to the right wing instead. However, the captain has been with the team for the past 10 years, so he is likely more than happy to adapt his own game for the good of the team.

Whether he is capable of playing on the right is a difficult question to answer though, but it will be interesting to see how he gets on in his new role as the season progresses.

Tactical overview

The first thing to note is that Kawasaki will likely dominate possession against whoever they play against and almost certainly against Sydney.

In the league last season, the Japanese champions enjoyed an average of 58.5% possession on the ball, while moving the ball around quickly and precisely. They lead the charts when it comes to passing, averaging 600 a game, a staggering 100 more than the next nearest competitor — which is frankly, pretty insane.

It’s not sterile possession either, Kawasaki pass with purpose and look for opportunities to turn their impressive ball retention into clear chances, as evidenced by their 13.71 shots per game, once again the highest in the league.

They like to make quick interchanges between players to drag players out of position and create enough space for a teammate to move into and finish an opportunity

Since it’s inevitable that they will dominate possession, Sydney will need to sit back deep and stay narrow and compact. All 11 players on the field will need to stay focused at all times and ensure they don’t get baited into marking the wrong player for even a moment.

Sticking to the Japanese ethos, the forwards are hardworking and constantly snapping at the feet of any defenders audacious enough to try play the ball from the back in their presence. In the 7-0 mauling of Sapporo last year, four of the goals came from the forwards dispossessing the man with the ball high up the pitch and ruthlessly punishing their individual errors.

This means that the goalkeeper and defenders are forced into hopeful long balls and allows Kawasaki to either win possession from the aimless ball back to their defence or win it from the feet of the defender near the goals and conjure an excellent opportunity.

The Kawasaki defenders are reluctant to press when their opponent are nonthreatening areas, which is one of the few opportunities you have to make something happen. Kobe exploited this in their 5-3 loss against the champions, with all three goals coming from outside the box goals.

It requires a great amount of luck, skill and precision to be able to score those kinds of goals though, but it might be the best chance Sydney has against the back-to-back winners of the J1 League.

Miscellaneous facts

Kawasaki have started their season off in shaky fashion, still winless after their first four competitive games, with three draws in the league and one loss in the ACL last week to Shanghai SIPG.

Leandro Damiao has come into this club as a new signing this season and has started firing, with two goals this past week against Ange Postecoglou’s Yokahama Marinos.

Kawasaki’s Kengo Nakamura is a Japanese veteran; at 38 years old he is still a crucial element for the champions.

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