Simply the best?

I needed the dust to settle. I just didn’t want to celebrate a nice result against a big European club; I wanted instead to make a point. And to proceed with a certain argument, you need time. Ninety minutes might not be enough, so I hope three days will be fine to express this point.

It’s not the first time European clubs have come to Japan for a pre-season friendly. It’s not the first time they have not fielded their best line-up for this kind of game. And it’s not the first time the hosts actually defeat the powerhouse from the Old Continent (just ask Real Madrid about a savage trip to Tokyo in ’05). But this time is different.

Chelsea came to Japan to play against Kawasaki Frontale. It seemed like a care-free challenge, with Japanese media mostly concentrating on the side now run by Frank Lampard, who might regret this jump so soon (and without a transfer market window to help). Still, a lot of excitement – even too
much, honestly – for Chelsea and the defending champions treated like a sparring partner.

Instead, the game – in which Chelsea featured a B-team, but the gap is still huge – told something different. It wasn’t so easy for the Europa League winners to overcome Frontale, a side that just four years ago lost at home 6-0 against Borussia Dortmund. This time, no: Kawasaki hold on until the end to win it at the last gasp, when Leandro Damião headed home a wonderful assist from Kengo Nakamura: 1-0 and the win is granted.

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How did we get here? How Kawasaki Frontale became such a strong force in the Japanese football scenario? It seems not so long ago when they were squandering championships and titles. It’s better to take some time and realise what we’re witnessing.

From zeros to heroes

Examining their history, Kawasaki had maintained this “choker” fame for a long time. It started when they came up from J2 the first time. I’m talking about 2004, a different era, when Makoto Hasebe was still playing in Japan, Masashi Oguro was a bright young fella, and there was still a format with two stages.

Between 2006 and 2009, Kawasaki came short three times in the championship, finishing as runners-up in 2006, 2008, and 2009. Especially the last one among these three titles seems a big wasted chance as today; in 2009, with two matches to play, Kawasaki Frontale lost against an already relegated Oita Trinita, while Kashima won their game. Antlers will conclude the season with the title, the third in a row.

Same happened in the J. League Cup, where Frontale played two finals – in 2007 and ’09 – only to lose them both (the second one against arci-rivals FC Tokyo). Despite these disappointments, the club grew first under manager Takashi Sekizuka and developed important players for the league, like Juninho, Kengo Nakamura and Eiji Kawashima (who then left for Europe after the FIFA 2010 World Cup). Still, they were missing the last steps.

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Even when their fun brand of football faced the “Kazama treatment” – with Frontale often featuring as one of the best attacks in the league –, Kawasaki couldn’t win. The “chokers reputation” was still there. They were amazing to watch, they produced four league top-scorers in the last decade, but still nothing. Yoshito Okubo saw his career refreshed by Kazama; Renatinho was a master and Yu Kobayashi developed really well.

Still, nothing. In 2013, Kawasaki ruined the party for Marinos with a 1-0 win, which actually led Sanfrecce Hiroshima to retain their champion status. In 2016, though, we’ve witnessed the best of Kazama-ball: 72 goals scored in one season, a championship almost dominated… only to miss the finish line.

First, a 3-0 defeat in Kobe to concede first place to Urawa Red Diamonds with three games to go, then the masterpiece in the last match: while Reds drew against Marinos at home, Frontale went 2-0 up against Gamba, only to be caught and lose 3-2. In the Emperor’s Cup, somehow, it went even worse, with Frontale losing the final against Kashima Antlers, the same club which benefited from their fall in the championship.

After this ending, with Tokyo 2020 on the horizon and the chance of being the next U-23 coach, Kazama left. He wasn’t alone, since Yoshito Okubo also said goodbye to move just a few kilometres away, to FC Tokyo. It seemed over for Frontale. Instead, the board found the right person to turn things around and give some balance to a fun team to watch.

Toru, the master

Toru Oniki might have been a Mr. Nobody as a J1 League manager, but he was already a well-known figure for Frontale. He played for Kawasaki in eight seasons only to retire in 2006, the first season when the club came as runners-up in the top tier. He was part of the building process (playing even in JFL for Frontale), but he also had the winning mentality, since he also featured for Kashima Antlers during the ‘90s.

Once retired, Oniki served as a coach for the first team for a decade. He was always part of the club, being an assistant for several managers; among them, there was also Kazama. And it’s not strange to see a club promoting an assistant (it happened at Antlers with Masatada Ishii and Go Oiwa, it happened many times, and it’ll always happen). Still, it was a strong move for Kawasaki, and it wasn’t going to be easy for Oniki.

Instead, somehow he mastered the problem: Frontale remain a fun team to watch, they scored a lot of goals, but now they figure as one of the best defences of the championship. Kazama’s squad conceded from 51 to 39 goals a season during his five years as Frontale’s manager; Oniki dropped drastically that number to 32 in 2017 and 27 last year, while the offensive ratings managed to remain there (71 goals in 2017, 57 in 2018).

This happened not only on the pitch, but also with some moves: they brought in some exciting kids. Today Kei Chinen, Ao Tanaka and Yasuto Wakizaka are worth a shot to be watched in a J. League match. Not to mention Hidemasa Morita, probably even more talented than them (although Wakizaka is really, really interesting to watch). Frontale also made smart moves, like Shimoda, Yamamura and Mawatari, who all expanded the roster.

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Last but not least, Kawasaki bought key players like Hiroyuki Abe (he lost his spot in Osaka), Akihiro Ienaga (MVP of the 2018 season) and Manabu Saito (a theft still not forgotten by Marinos’ fans). All of this, even giving up on promising players, like Yoshihiro Nakano, Ko Itakura and Riki Harakawa. We’ll see what will happen with Koji Miyoshi, developed by Frontale, but on loan for the last two seasons.

These operations brought two champions – both won with a comeback, more dramatic in 2017 than in 2018 –, two Super Cup finals (one won and one lost) and a J. League Cup final. And even there, when in October 2017 Frontale lost that final against Cerezo Osaka, many said: “See? They can’t win. They can’t do it”. Maybe, due to this, their first title was even bigger than how it could have been.

Frontale indeed came back from a four-point gap to win it all: Kashima Antlers bottled it by drawing 0-0 in Shizuoka against Jubilo Iwata, and a 5-0 home win against already-relegated Omiya Ardija was enough to clinch the dream. Oniki won the title in his first season; he did it his way and found a way to balance a spectacular, but winless team: how could he improve that?

He did. The man with an average-points ratio of 1,90 (!) did it. In 2018, they won again, coming back (again) from a 10-point disadvantage to Sanfrecce Hiroshima. You can easily say how Jofuku’s troops helped in this purpose, but it was amazing to witness. All of this came with the help of Yu Kobayashi, who became a master in front of the goal and recently even joined the 100-goals-club in J1 League.

But there’s another profile to celebrate.

The sacred chief

Among those players celebrating on that afternoon of 2017, there was one there crying. He has been with Frontale from the start. He lived through all the disappointments of this club. He has also been strong with the career he had in the national team, since his spot was already taken by one of the greatest in Japanese football (Yasuhito Endo). Kengo Nakamura cried a lot that afternoon. He deserved the right to cry, for once, in joy.

I admire him as a figure. Always a smile on his face, whether he’s joking about the Spanish Clásico or even after a sore defeat. He’s not officially the captain, but he’s Frontale: there are no doubts about this. He’s been a guide for youngsters and he’s still capable of playing wonderfully as today. And that’s encouraging, especially for this J. League era.

2018 was the year of retirements. Seigo Narazaki, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and many others say goodbye. Some of them were already on a crumbling trajectory, and others quit with a final strong note. Still, there’s no one right now like Kengo Nakamura: even Yasuhito Endo – yes, the legend we mentioned before – is not at the same level of 4-5 years ago. Instead, the wine paradox is working for Kengo.

With a new era of Japanese football on the horizon, with many youngsters leaving soon for Europe and J. League growing, it’s nice to know there’s a pillar, a landmark to look up to. He proved it again during this season, where he has been managed by his current manager (and former team-mate, just to round up the numbers), but he has shown a fine quality in his football.

And he also made the assist for the winner against Chelsea with a crafty move.

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Future and beyond

And now? Of course 2019 season is still running and Kawasaki Frontale are really close IMHO to feature a threepeat in the Japanese championship. But there’s a desire to raise the continental profile, since Frontale has failed expectations also in this season, being knocked out of the 2019 AFC Champions League during the group stage.

Still, you can see there’s positivity. Take the management of the biggest star right now in the team: Leandro Damião. The Brazilian striker took a lot of money to move to Japan, despite his profile not being as well-considered as it was when he was a young promise of Brazilian football. You would have expected him as a starter; instead, Oniki micro-managed him, but he seems happy anyway (let’s see if a Chinese offer will change his desire).

Great football, nice mood, good manager: how can they slip? They can, of course, otherwise it wouldn’t be the J. League. But we have to pose ourselves a question here: are we witnessing the best team ever in J. League history? If the answer isn’t yes, I think anyway we’re pretty close. And with these smart moves on the market, who knows what the ceiling of this team under this manager.

I know what you’re thinking, dear J. League followers. In Yokohama, we’ve seen a friendly game against a B-version of a pre-season squad. Yes, indeed. And yes, Kashima Antlers won our hearts in December 2016 by facing the best of the best and almost overcoming it. But still, quality-wise, don’t you feel a great excitement for Kawasaki Frontale’s journey in these three years? We might be entitled to.