To many, including the legion of Johor DT supporters that are here in Osaka at the moment, tonight’s game against Gamba Osaka is arguably one of the biggest games in Malaysian football history. A local Malaysian team, earning the right to compete against an Asian heavyweight in the form of Gamba Osaka, while being merely one step away from qualifying for the group stages of the Asian Champions League. Nobody would have predicted this, four years ago.
But there’s an aura of impossibility around this tie, as far as JDT are concerned. On paper, Gamba are far better in terms of quality and experience. They are, after all, led by Japan’s most celebrated player – Yasuhito Endo. But even when you put that aside, there’s a bigger factor at play here and it could ultimately hurt JDT’s chances tonight, no matter how hard they work on the pitch – Osaka’s weather.
The JDT boys have been in Osaka since Saturday and they’ve already had several training sessions since then, including last night’s official pre-match session at the Suita City Stadium. But it’s been outrageously challenging, even for the likes of Marcos Antonio, who did play under somewhat similar conditions in Germany prior to his JDT move.
When I landed in Osaka yesterday, the temperature fluctuated between 6-8 degree celcius during the day, but it instantly dropped to 2-3 degree celcius at night. Worse still, the wind speed was reportedly 8m/s, which even made it difficult for regular folks to walk on the streets at night, without three layers of clothes covering themselves. Today, the temperature currently stands at 8 degree celcius, but it’s expected to drop to 2-3 degree celsius, as soon as the sun sets.
This is completely different to the weather in Dushanbe, when JDT won the AFC Cup final back in 2015. The temperature on that night was reportedly 12 degree celsius, while the wind speed was merely 0.8333 m/s, which is significantly lower compared to the current wind speed in Osaka.
It goes without saying that physically, there are multiple ways for a footballer to stay warm on the pitch during the game. Expect the JDT players to don neckwarmers, gloves and even compression outfits, inside their official kit. But the bigger challenge comes from the psychological side of things. It is a new environment. The conditions will be harsh. The weather will be unforgiving. And their opponents will be completely used to playing under such conditions. These are facts that cannot be ignored on any normal day, but tonight, JDT have got to put it all aside.
Like it or not, the Southern Tigers have got two battles ahead of them today. Before they aspire to beat Gamba Osaka, Benjamin Mora’s men have got to beat the freezing weather in Osaka.
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