Two tense cup finals went all the way to extra time in 2076, and late goals saw 92-year-old Trebor Mahtal Dynamo Dresden to their maiden major trophy in DFB-Pokal. The Zambian stood down a couple of days later, allowing him to go in search of clubs beginning with K and X to try and complete his Alphabet Challenge.
Ticking off two of the trickiest letters would not be easy. K would likely rely on a Japanese side sacking their manager. And X seemed virtually impossible, with the only realistic options being Swiss side Neuchâtel Xamax and Tijuana (Xoloitzcuintles) in Mexico. Unsurprisingly, upon resigning, no applicable jobs were available, so Mahtal enjoyed some time away and accepted a few punditry offers at Euro 2076 in Norway, which England won by beating Poland 3-0 in the final.
He ended up waiting six months for a relevant job to become available and turned down a potential opportunity to head back to Germany yet again with debt-ridden Koln. Another month later, the Japanese season ended and league favourites Kawasaki Frontale sacked their manager after finishing 5th and Kyoto Sanga sacked their manager. Both offered interviews and Mahtal felt the decision was a no-brainer to return to Japan, just over 10 years on from departing Gamba Osaka in 2066.
Who Are Kawasaki Frontale?
Kawasaki Frontale is a professional club based in the city of Kawasaki in the Kanagawa Prefecture, which is located south of Tokyo. The club was founded in 1955 as Fujitsu Soccer Club and was a founding member of the Japan Soccer League before turning professional in 1997 and changing to the current name. Interestingly, the club’s colours of dark and light blue are inspired by Brazil’s Grêmio due to a cooperation between the two sides since 1997.
Kawasaki had to wait 20 years to win its first J1 League title in 2017 and quickly added three more in the next four years. It’s added five more during this save, the most recent coming nine years ago back in 2068, and come runner-up in the AFC Champions League in 2037, 2056 and 2074. Frontale play at the 26,632 capacity Kawasaki Stadium, which was built way back in 1962 and is supported by 20 youth recruitment, 16 training facilities and junior coaching and 15 youth facilities. The club has £60m in the bank aided by some big sales in recent seasons, but is overspending its £250k wage budget by £93k, which Mahtal quickly rectified by selling off a few aging players for around £20m.
However, the new manager walked into a bit of a nightmare with just 12 players in the first team, which was bolstered by prematurely promoting teenagers. The best player at Kawasaki was striker Naotsugu Kobara, along with fellow attacker Hayato Nakamura, left back Hiroto Ogawa, Romanian winger Zoltán Bokros and midfielder Ryo Kato. They also had a few exciting prospects in midfielders Yuki Watanabe, Kodai Ikeda and Akihito Tokisato and defenders Katsuhiro Take and Peruvian José Sanjinez.
Mahtal added to that with a few exciting signings in his fittingly-named former Independiente striker Juma Japan for up to £10m, centre back Tomoya Shimizutani for up to £10.5m from YFM and 6ft 6in goalkeeper Mario Rodríguez for £1.5m from Liverpool FC.
Mahtal went with a different formation to his more recent propensity towards playing three at the back. He went with an asymmetric 4-2-4 with Nakamura playing higher on the right and Japan dropping in as a deeper forward alongside Kobara.
Mahtal Returns To Japan
The Japanese bookies had Kawasaki as fifth favourites for the J League title with odds of 12/1. Mahtal’s former club Gamba Osaka have taken over as the dominant force in Japan, winning four titles in a row between 2069 and 2072 and adding another in 2075. They are 15/8 favourites followed by 2074 champions Yokohama F Marinos (9/2), holders Albirex Niigata (11/2) and 2073 winners FC Tokyo (11/1).
Mahtal returned to Japan with a trip to Avispa Fukuoka, and debutants Japan and Sanjinez earned a 2-1 win. And his home debut was even better as Sanjinez scored again in a 3-0 win over Kyoto Sanga, proving he’d chosen the right K club. A busy start to the season saw Kawasaki drop points at Yokohama and at home to Vissel Kobe before tasting a first defeat at Shimizu. They got back on track with Kobara and Japan scoring in a 3-0 win at Shonan Bellmare, Kobara and Bokros leading a 4-0 thumping of Fagiano Okayama and Japan, Nakamura and Kobara securing a superb 3-1 win at holders Niigata.
The new tactic began to bed in as Kawasaki won eight on the bounce, including Japan scoring twice in a 3-0 success at Machida Zelvia, to jump to the top of the league before losing 1-0 at Ventforet Kofu. But they recovered well, including Ikeda’s first senior goal leading a 2-0 win at home to Avispa to become the youngest ever J1 League goalscorer aged 16 years 112 days. That left them top of the tree, 3 points clear of Gamba, who had a game in hand, after 20 games.
Mixed Fortunes in Cup Competitions
Kawasaki struggled in the Emperor’s Cup, losing 3-0 at Yokohama in the fourth round, and exited the Champions League in the first knockout round against Gamba. But they cruised through the first couple of rounds of the J.League Cup before defeating Vissel and Mito Hollyhock 4-2 and 5-0 on aggregate to reach the semis. And a 3-1 home win eased them past Kashima 4-1 on aggregate to reach a third J.League Cup Final in four seasons.
J League Title Race
Mahtal sold on a few more players in July, including Bokros going back to Romania for £3m and Yokohama, who refused to sign a new contract, going to Gamba for £1m. He bolstered the defence, including a bit of experience in his former Gamba centre back Dai Sueyoshi, now 33, for £600k and wonderkid left back Marcello Riccardi for £7m from Monza, before adding promising attacker Hideki Kamata for £675k from YFM.
The second half of the campaign began with Tokisato’s first senior goal leading a crucial 2-0 win over 3rd-place Yokohama. A late equaliser denied them a win at 4th-place Vissel before getting dismantled 3-0 in Mahtal’s first return to Gamba in mid-June. The loss of the wide men and overload of centre midfielders saw Mahtal move to a narrow 4-1-3-2 approach. That started well as Japan scored twice in a 3-1 win at Fagiano and Kobara repeated the feat to defeat Niigata 2-1. They continued to keep the heat on Gamba, and Japan’s back-to-back braces at Sagan Tosu and at home to Machida took them into the final eight games just 1 point behind Mahtal’s former club.
The run-in began with Kato edging a 2-1 win at Kashima, while Gamba lost their first league game for four months at Niigata to take Kawasaki top. A tired team handed that advantage back at Cerezo Osaka but another Japan double downed Kofu 2-0 the day after Gamba drew at Shonan. That left Kawasaki one point clear of Gamba and seven ahead of YFM going into the final five games, which included back-to-back games against their title rivals.
Game 1 – FC Tokyo (6th, away): A tricky game at Tokyo saw Kawasaki start terribly and go 2-0 down inside half an hour. But they rallied after the break and Japan and Kobara dragged them level to earn a point. The next day, Gamba also drew 2-2 with Sagan and YFM lost 1-0 at home to Machida.
Game 2 – Sanfrecce Hiroshima (16th, home): An easier game followed, and improving 20-year-old midfielder Hidetoyo Kani scored the only shot on target in a terrible match. Gamba won 3-2 at Machida and YFM won 4-0 at Kashima, to keep Kawasaki 1 point clear of Gamba and 8 ahead of YFM.
Game 3 – Yokohama F Marinos (3rd, away): Two huge games followed, starting with a trip to outside title hopefuls YFM. Neither side really got going and a dubious penalty just before half time gifted YFM a 1-0 win. At the same time, Gamba beat Kashima 4-0 to go top by 2 points.
Game 4 – Gamba Osaka (2nd, home): Three days later, a potential title decider saw Gamba make the trip to their former manager. Both teams had good chances inside two minutes with Gamba forcing a good save out of Rodríguez before Kobara hit the bar. Kawasaki did enough to win it but poor finishing cost them and they drew 0-0.
Game 5 – V-Varen Nagasaki (away, 20th): That meant Kawasaki still had a chance going into the final day trip to bottom side Nagasaki. But Gamba held a 2-point lead as they entertained 11th-place Kofu and hadn’t lost all season at home. Kawasaki did their bit as Kani fired them in front on 5 minutes but Gamba also went ahead two minutes later, ironically through Mahtal’s former goalshy Dresden striker Espen Ronning who doubled his tally just after halftime. Kawasaki conceded the first shot they faced and nicked a late winner through Tsuta, but Gamba eased to a 2-0 win.
That saw Kawasaki finish 2nd in J League with 79 points after 23 wins, 10 draws and 5 defeats, scoring 74 and conceding a league-low 32.
J.League Cup Final
Kawasaki reached back-to-back J.League Cup Finals in 2074 and 2075 only to lose to Gamba and YFM, but hadn’t won’t the tournament since 2067. They now faced rivals and holders FC Tokyo in a Tamagawa Classic final at the Japan National Stadium. Frustratingly, Japan sprained his knee ligaments four days before the big game, so Mahtal lined up:
Rodríguez; Ishitani, Shimizutani, Sanjinez, Riccardi; Caballero; Kani, Kato, Ikeda; Kamata, Kobara
Subs: Watanabe, Asato, Sueyoshi, Tokisato, Ogawa, Kakigi, Ueno
Tokyo scored their first shot, but Kawasaki struck back in style as Kato’s lofted pass was expertly volleyed into the bottom corner by Kobara. Some shocking defending gifted Tokyo the lead just before halftime and Mahtal laid into his side, which got an immediate response as Kobara acrobatically volleyed in an equaliser. Nothing else happened until the sixth of seven minutes of injury time as Ogawa swung in a corner and midfielder Luis Caballero rose highest to power home a nearpost header.
Kawasaki Frontale won the J.League Cup!
25 Down, 1 Letter Remaining
Mahtal knew Kawasaki had a strong squad and his signings only bolstered that, so he was pleased they managed to win the Japanese cup in his first season. Japan led the way with 23 goals and 8 assists in 46 games closely followed by Kbara with 23 goals and 7 assists in 49 games. Kani chipped in with an impressive 10 goals and club-high 16 assists with Caballero scoring 8, Tsuta getting 6 goals with 8 assists and Kato delivering 10 assists.
Ticking off the letter K now leaves just the troublesome letter X – given there is no playable club beginning with X – with Mahtal having won a major trophy with clubs beginning with 25 letters of the alphabet. Mahtal departs Kawasaki after 317 days and 54 matches, of which he won 33, drew 13 and lost 8, scoring 116 and conceding 49, with a win ratio of 61% that was the joint-11th best of his career.
Could Mahtal land a job with a club loosely beginning with the letter X? And how long would that search take? Join us on Friday to find out!
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