Kawasaki Frontale vs United City

Kawasaki Frontale are odds-on favourites to cement a top place in AFC Champions League Group I already on Matchday 3 as they take on the Philippines minnows United City at the Lokomotiv Stadium.

Kawasaki have gone from strength to strength at the beginning of their Champions League journey. Following a 3-2 comeback win over Daegu to open their Group I campaign, the reigning Japanese titleholders swept Beijing Guoan aside with an overwhelming 7-0 triumph on Matchday 2. Virtually unstoppable after the restart, Toru Oniki’s men have netted 2+ second-half goals in both of their opening group stage fixtures, tallying a total of six across those outings. Moreover, the abovementioned thumping of Beijing extended Kawasaki’s intimidating unbeaten run in all competitions to 27 matches (W21, D6 – 90 minutes only). Since the turn of the calendar year, the hosts have won all but three of their 17 competitive games (D3), notably scoring 2+ goals on 12 occasions in the process.

In the meantime, United City’s hopes of making it out of the group stage in their debut Champions League campaign are hanging by a thread following a return of one point from their opening two Group I fixtures (D1, L1). Coming into this encounter, the ‘Golden Boys’ succumbed to a devastating 7-0 loss to Daegu, and it was the first time since January 2020 that they failed to get on the scoresheet. Indeed, the visitors enter this round in the midst of a rough patch, having gone from five straight victories to three consecutive games without winning in all competitions (D1, L2). United City’s defensive woes have seen them concede at least once in four successive competitive matches, something they hadn’t experienced in three years beforehand.