Every football match is theatre in the sense that each game is preceded by certain expectations of the outcome fuelled by a degree of expectation, past experiences and one’s own loyalty towards his or her team.
So what is it about playing big teams that gives the underdog that kick of theatre involved? Is it the sheer insouciance at having a chance to knock back some predictions – put some clairvoyants and seers in their place, or is it the unbridled euphoria of triumphing over a unanimous favourite, basking in the silence of an “against-all-odds” win?
Or perhaps it is the temerity of walking out to a packed stadium full of screaming supporters, each one of whom just want to see the dark horse crash and burn, expecting to snatch something away from the highly-regarded in an attempt to be giant-killers, something they have no logical right to?
Because that is exactly what Bengaluru FC will have to do when they travel to Malaysia to take on defending champions Johor Darul Ta’zim FC in the first leg of a historic AFC Cup semi-final – snatch a clean sheet or an away goal at the Larkin Stadium – anything to keep the tie alive till they reach their safe haven that is the Sree Kanteerava.
But Bengaluru should not succumb to the pressure of the regional Goliaths; they should bask in the opportunity of upsetting the apple cart because you only get to play the very best at such a grand stage – if you are undeniably good yourself.
BFC vs Johor will be a case of the pretender to the throne taking on the reigning kings, the sprightly upstarts going head to head against the expectant incumbents, Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier.
Johor: a fantastic journey to the top
Johor’s is an extraordinary story in itself, which began when Tunku Ismail Idris Ibni Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, the Crown Prince of Johor, was appointed president of the Johor Football Association decided to merge all the struggling Johorean clubs in the area into one single entity, Johor Darul Ta’zim Football Club.
The crown prince not only became the president of the local FA but went about revamping the organisational structures to create a footballing superpower. Euro 2008 winner Daniel Guiza and former Lazio midfielder Simone Del Nero joined in 2013, in what was a major coup for the club followed by former Valencia superstar, Pablo Aimar, capped 52 times for Argentina.
Off-field partnerships, the likes of which Malaysian football had never witnessed, were sealed with Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Valencia. At the time of writing, Johor have won their third straight Malaysian Super League (the top flight of Malaysian league football) title.
A statistical mountain to climb
The Malaysian team’s third league title is arguably the most impressive of the lot – sealed with three games to go. Johor lead FELDA United in second place, by 12 points with the last of the matches to come. In a league with only 22 matchdays, that margin is a sign of sheer dominance, especially when you consider that the club is unbeaten in the league this season.
Argentine coach Mario Gomez, who signed in April 2015, has won five trophies in his short stint at the club – two Malaysian Super Leagues, the 2016 Malaysia FA Cup, the 2016 Malaysia Charity Shield and became the first Southeast Asian club to win a continental title when they won the 2015 AFC Cup.
JDT have won eight of their nine AFC Cup matches in 2016, scoring 31 goals in the process. They have not failed to score in a match since April, and have not lost at home in their last 23 competitive outings at home.
The Argentine duo of Juan Martin Lucero and Jorge Pereyra Diaz are as lethal as they come. While the former scored four goals at the weekend to take his league tally to 16, Diaz the league’s top scorer with 17 has five goals in this season’s AFC Cup. Together, the duo who were at Argentine club Independiente last season have scored more than 50 goals in 2016.
A sliver of hope
The Blues have lost to Johor the three times these sides have met, including twice in this season’s AFC Cup. Their last loss, 3-0 at the Larkin Stadium came in a dead rubber after both teams had qualified from the group stage.
John Johnson, one half of Bengaluru’s centre-back pairing, is aware of the enormity of the task, “Yes, we haven't beaten Johor yet but we've had two very close games and we can take positives from that. We are a stronger team now than when we last played them. We have a new coach, new systems, a few new players and it's all coming together. We go into every game wanting to score and win and tomorrow will be no different.”
Johnson and partner Juan Antonio did really well in ekeing out two clean sheets against the attacking Tampines trio of Billy Mehmet, Jordan Webb and Jermaine Pennant in the previous round and their battle against Lucero and Diaz will decide the fate of this tie. In doing so, Bengaluru FC became only the third Indian side after Dempo (2008) and East Bengal (2013) to make it to this stage.
Bengaluru are expected to go in with an unchanged line-up as Udanta Singh, Lalchhuanmawia and Keegan Pereira are expected to miss out due to injuries. The rest of the squad is expected to feature over both the leagues as the hunt for AFC glory takes precedence over the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL).
The match will be coach Albert Roca's third competitive game since taking charge but he was confident of the way the team has been responding to the change. "We have tried to create a new philosophy and our team is improving. We are inching closer to the way we want to play. We know our limits, but we know we cannot sleep and we have to keep progressing as a team,” Roca said at the pre-match press conference.
While a lack of sufficient match practice is still expected to affect Bengaluru FC, Gomez admitted that the opposite effect – nearing the end of a long season was tiring out his players. “We are at this stage of the season where our minds begin to tire. We have been playing matches every three days,” Gomez had said following his club’s narrow 3-2 win over South China in the quarters.
All these factors will encourage Roca and his men, who must and will, as the coach has insisted in the past, be fearless as they step out on the 30,000-seater Larkin Park on Wednesday. The Steelmen will sniff their chances, and must play with nothing to lose, if they are to make history and become the first Indian side ever to make the finals of the AFC Cup.
Watch Bengaluru FC take on Johor Darul Ta'zim FC on Star Sports 2 SD and HD at 6.05 pm IST.
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