JLeague FC Tokyo - Omiya Ardija

Omiya Ardija are newly promoted and do not immedately look to have added much by the way of top flight quality and look like a JL2 team in JL1 and we have seen a number of those in recent campaigns. I do not want to immediately write them off, but this is a tough start. FCT have already played two AFC Champions League games having had to qualify, they so they been playing competitively for two weeks and that, at least for now, is a huge advantage in my opinion. They finished fourth last year and the loss of Yoshinori Muto mid season, cost them a lot of goal threat, they were well organised under Massimo Ficcadenti, whom we discussed almost weekly , but he has been replaced( what will we talk about now on Friday afternoon?), paying the price for boring football, with not enough end product, you cannot do both, without paying the price! Returning boss Hiroshi Jofuku will get the benefit of a defensively solid squad and will look to bring a little more flair, he will miss Kosuke Ota who has also left for Europe. They opened with a 9-0 win over Chonburi in their qualifier, which was little more than shooting practice, but good for confidence. FCT lost 2-1 in midweek at Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, but were quite impressive and were tactically solid, pressing high up the field and allowing a good opponent few real chances, they were also denied an equaliser by the woodwork. Jofuku will be very keen to win on his second home J-League debut

FC Tokyo -0.5 ball 2.13 asian line/Sportmarket