July is the month when some of the top European clubs traditionally like to come to Japan for some pre-season money-spinning friendly matches against Japanese opposition. Teams this summer have included Manchester City, PSG, Inter Milan, Celtic, Bayern Munich and don’t forget that Barcelona came to play Vissel Kobe back in early June. Ronaldo’s club Al Nassr from Saudi Arabia were also in the country for a couple of matches too.

There is often great debate about whether these matches are worth attending when the prices are more than double the usual cost, if not more! A J1 or J2 match will definitely provide a better atmosphere as the regular hardcore fans are in attendance. However, there’s generally a different type of fan at these so-called glamour fixtures. One has to hope that seeing such a match will ignite (re-ignite?) a passion inside them for then wanting to see a J-League game a short time afterwards.

The ticketing is often a bit of hassle too as some of these games operate on different websites which require all your personal information. This is never easy on Japanese sites which are often a decade or two out-of-date and were set up when this internet thing began to really take off. The pricing is also not favourable with some frankly ridiculous costs but no doubt there are enough people willing to pay between 30-70,000 yen (if not more!) to get VIP passes for such games.

I had only been to Japan National Stadium in Shinjuku Ward for a JFL match (4th tier football) between Criacao Shinjuku and Suzuka Point Getters last Autumn so thought it’d be nice to see it when busier. Despite the 35 degrees temperature, I still decided to cycle down to Japan National Stadium from the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre which took about 45 minutes.

On my arrival I immediately lined up for about 15 minutes to get into the merchandise tent not that I had any real intention of buying anything.

I was just curious to see what items were on offer, and witnessing the Japanese filling their baskets with such goods is always an interesting spectacle. For the record, the t-shirts cost just over 4000 yen and the half and half scarves (sold out by the time I arrived) were around 3500 yen. Just a simple solitary plastic file was nearly 1000 yen!!

This relatively new stadium (it’s been open for 3.5 years now) was designed by architect Kengo Kuma at a cost of $1.4 billion, and you might even say money was very much at the forefront of this game in the trusted and lucrative Japanese market. I’d love to know how much it actually costs to put on these games and how much they make for the teams involved.

With kick off approaching fast I had to decide if it was worth joining a fairly lengthy line for a photo opportunity with the Bundesliga trophy which Bayern somehow managed to win yet again last season despite Borussia Dortmund being firmly in the driving seat going into that final day of the season. I decided that the Meisterschale (“champions’ bowl”)  photo was actually more important than seeing the countdown-to-kickoff type razzmatazz. As it was, the line moved along quicker than expected and I was done with enough time to spare.

My vantage point was on the third floor of this stadium which also hosted the Bayern and Manchester City game a few days earlier. It was quite the squeeze getting into my seat as leg room was fairly limited and no sooner had I sat down and the teams were entering the field.

Why I chose to go to this one I’m not really sure as I don’t like Bayern and have no affinity or affection for Frontale. Admittedly that is mostly down to their success in recent times, particularly with regard to the German side who have now won the last ten Bundesliga titles. I guess I just got caught up in the excitement of all these famous international clubs coming to Japan. Having paid 7000 yen for my Celtic ticket, I was just about prepared to pay that for the Bayern game too but of course when I got to the convenience store ticket machine I saw the cheapest was 8000 yen ($57/£44). What can you do eh!

After seeing ten goals at the Celtic match in Yokohama 10 days earlier (the same date that Bayern won 27-0 in their friendly) I guess I was optimistic about seeing a few goals here too. Had the finishing been better for both sides then it could well have been a similar scoreline but as it was the final result didn’t quite paint the full picture.

The first quarter in particular was fairly entertaining as Bayern cut the Frontale defence apart with some lovely passing but squandered their chances each time. Missing great opportunities was something of a theme for this game as time and time again both sides failed to put the final finish after some great build up play.

Another negative for these exhibition matches is the endless number of substitutes which can make it difficult to know who exactly is on the field assuming you even knew who was on at the start! Thankfully, Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel made all of their nine changes at the break so the rhythm of the game wasn’t broken up by them. Instead that was done by Frontale who made seven substitutions after the break.

When Josip Stanisic finished off a neat one-two to break the deadlock on 57 minutes, the German word Tor (goal) flashed up on the screen and the Can-can dance music (a.k.a. ‘Galop Infernal‘ by Offenbach) played on the PA system which gave the crowd a taste of German stadium atmosphere. The tally should have been added to after that but yet again more chances went begging and the narrow outcome probably did not reflect the reality of this fairly entertaining friendly match.

Final Score: Kawasaki Frontale 0-1 FC Bayern Munich

Click here to read ‘The Bhoys Are Back In Town! Scottish Champions Celtic Play Their Part In A 10 Goal Thriller In Yokohama!’

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