The summer break in the Japanese football season is a time when some fly-by-nighter European teams like to come into Japan to play some games and try and steal some money off punters in the country. Not my words but those of J-Talk Podcast host Ben Maxwell. I do actually agree with him on the whole, and do make light of such money spinning friendly matches…..but after slagging them off I then inevitably end up going to one or two!

Three English teams are in Japan this summer for a total of five matches against local opposition. Newcastle United and Brighton each face a couple of sides whilst Tottenham Hotspur came to town last Saturday night for a single match against Vissel Kobe before going on to Korea. I have no real soft spots for any of the teams involved but this seemed like the most interesting one of the five. The fact that the lowest priced cheapest tickets for all the matches were this one also helped too as did the location and kick off time which fit in well my working schedule beforehand.

There were one or two people in Spurs shirts on the train journey up to Shinjuku and then more and more appeared as I took the Sobu Line one stop to Sendagaya (the closest station to the stadium) which was full of locals in shirts. Who knew there were that many Spurs fans in Japan?! Japanese people don’t wear football shirts as leisure wear so it’s really hard to get an idea of how many people like which teams!

Or maybe they are just new fans who get on board with the whole European-team-visiting-Japan thing and like to get the shirt as well as all the other merchandise available at these matches.

Before the match I met up with my former colleague Tim who I hadn’t seen for about 16 years since working together on Saturdays.

This was my third time at Japan National Stadium in the last couple of months but the first one for watching football.

My seat has been in the North Stand each time as it’s the closest end to Sendagaya station so better for a slightly quick getaway post match. Unbeknownst to me this time, my seat was at the end of a row but I entered from the other side and had to bypass everyone else in seats where the foot space is really limited. What a plonker!

Tottenham’s manager Ange Postecoglou is no stranger to these shores having managed Yokohama F. Marinos before taking up the post at Celtic which then led to his appointment at Spurs two seasons later. In fact his move to Spurs last summer came just before Celtic were set to play Yokohama F. Marinos so fans of the latter were deprived of the chance to see their former coach in the opposition dugout.

Spurs’ opponents for this friendly were the 2023 J-League champions Vissel Kobe who have made international headlines in recent years due to some big signings like Andres Iniesta, Lukas Podolski and David Villa but they are one of the J1 clubs I’ve seen the least!  My parents and wife have actually seen them as many times as me as they were with me on the one occasion we saw them at their home stadium in Kobe back in May 2016!

Vissel were gifted an early goal in the eighth minute but Spurs hit back quickly just seven minutes later with a lovely move and finish by Pedro Porro.

One man I was interested in seeing in action was former Leicester midfielder James Maddison who I never got to see play for us during his few years at the club. That’s the way of life though for us foxiles, and there are sadly many big names from the last decade I’ve never seen play.

Maddison takes a corner kick!

Maddison made some sublime and wonderful passes as Postecoglou’s side played some lovely football at times. He was replaced at half time along with about ten other players and, as is the way, they were all announced in Japanese and English over the PA system whilst the second half was underway and it took an eternity to get through them all!

Korean superstar Son Heung-min delighted the crowd with a cool finish just a few minutes into the second half to make it 2-1 and he received a rapturous round of applause from the crowd when he was subbed on the hour mark. I believe that he is the greatest Asian player of all time but do wonder if that’s just because I’ve seen his impact in the Premier League whereas I haven’t seen other contenders for the title as much due to not watching other European leagues so much. Anyway, I have to say I was quite surprised by the love given to him by a nation which doesn’t have such good relations with it’s Asian neighbours.

Kobe equalised on 63 minutes thanks to the quick feet of Jean Patric and a few more chances followed in a fairly entertaining game. As the match went into the final few minutes of normal time I thought I’d leave. Moments later Spurs made it 3-2 and that was my moment to make an exit.

Little did I know but had the match been tied there would have been a penalty shoot-out to decide the winner. Many of these modern-day friendlies are played for a trophy so had that happened that I woud have missed it and probably been quite annoyed!

A lot is often made about Spurs not having won a trophy since their League Cup victory in 2008 but I think they did get presented with a J-League World Challenge silver plate at the end of this match. Spurs lifting a trophy is certainly a rare thing but I’ll just have to live with having not witnessed that actual moment!

Bonus: It wasn’t just the Tottenham first team squad that was in Tokyo but also their Under 15’s team who played in an academy match the night before. When I turned up (late!) for this match I thought there would be less than a hundred present so imagine my surprise when I saw nearly 2000 people taking up three sides of this stadium.

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

Click here to read ‘An English Team Playing A Friendly In Japan! It’s Been A While…’

Click here to read ‘Watching Urawa Reds vs Arsenal In The Saitama Challenge Cup Final’