Sydney FC Captai Alex Brosque says his side have “nothing to fear” ahead of their AFC Champions League Group H match away to Kawasaki Frontale.
The Sky Blues arrived in Japan on Sunday ahead of their clash with the J-League Champions on Wednesday night and Brosque said the squad was experienced enough to be able to deal with the Kawasaki’s threats.
“A lot of the boys have played in the ACL in the last couple of years so they know what to expect, especially from Japanese teams, what style of football they play, how quick they are, how sharp they are and technically gifted,” Brosque said.
“We have fared quite well against them in the past so I think we know we definitely have nothing to fear and we’re actually looking forward to it.”
Sydney had to settle for a point on Matchday One as they played out a 0-0 stalemate with Ulsan Hyundai.
It was a match that the Sky Blues were unlucky not to win, crafting a heap of chances and dominating possession at Jubilee Stadium.
Brosque said the performance had given them hope ahead of their first away trip.
“The way we played was excellent,” he said.
“We dominate and created a lot of chances, obviously we were just missing the goal but the way we played was excellent and will definitely have us in a good way.
“It’s obviously a different game when you play away from home in these games but I think we showed last year the fact we didn’t lose an away game that we definitely can mix it with them here.”
Sydney weren’t in action over the weekend as part of the Hyundai A-League’s split round, giving them valuable recovery time as they represent Australia on the continental stage.
The 35-year old striker said the squad would have plenty of time to prepare for the match after a taxing journey.
“In one word: long [of the flight],” Brosque laughed.
“Most of the boys left home at 5 in the morning and it’s now nine o’clock at night. We’ve just arrived and had dinner and off to bed I think. Everybody’s pretty knackered after all the travel today.
“The good thing is we came nice and early, we don’t play until Wednesday so we knew today [Sunday] was going to take a lot out of us but tomorrow we’ll get back out on the pitch a little bit just to get going again and like I said we have plenty of time until gameday so I think tomorrow we will get a good sleep in and just freshen up really.”
