Kawasaki Frontale vs Bayern Munich
Japan National Stadium is the venue as Kawasaki Frontale and Bayern Munich go head-to-head in their first-ever friendly meeting.
Kawasaki Frontale spurned a comfortable-looking 2-0 halftime lead in a gut-wrenching 2-2 draw at J1 League pacesetters Vissel Kobe last time out, ending a three-game winning streak in all competitions. Three of those four most recent Kawasaki games have seen over 2.5 goals, highlighting the potential for an action-packed contest. Defensively perfect in the early exchanges, Toru Oniki’s side kept a first-half clean sheet in each of those four matches. Equally impressive in the front third, they netted 2+ goals on three occasions. Speaking of Kawasaki’s eye-catching spell of form, they’ve won their last six home outings by an aggregate score of 12-1.
In the meantime, Bayern Munich’s pre-season commenced with an emphatic 27-0 victory over amateur club Rottach-Ergen. However, their Asian tour was off to an underwhelming start as Thomas Tuchel’s men slumped to a 2-1 loss to an all-conquering Manchester City side. That result extended Bayern’s run without a draw to eight matches (W5, L3). Goal galore has been a common theme in that sequence, with seven of those eight fixtures producing 3+ total goals. Worryingly for the ‘Bavarians,’ they’ve only managed one clean sheet in their last six outings, one of which came in the abovementioned friendly win over sub-par opposition.