🇯🇵 Ange Postecoglou's shadow still looms large at Yokohama F Marinos
The Tottenham Hotspur manager changed the landscape of Japanese football!
Pep Guardiola knew he’d just watched something special.
“So demanding,” he wheezed after Yokohama F Marinos had pushed his Manchester City team all the way in a 2019 pre-season friendly.
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Raheem Sterling described Marinos as “probably one of the best teams I’ve seen playing out from the back.”
The numbers backed up Sterling’s comment. The Japanese team dominated possession. City won 3-1, but were forced to play a counter-attacking game outside their comfort zone.
This was the first meeting between Ange Postecoglou - Yokohama F Marinos manager at the time - and Guardiola with the pair now Premier League adversaries.
Five years on, though, Postecoglou’s legacy continues to looms large in Japanese football. Yokohama F Marinos still play the same way and even have a new Australian manager to continue the lineage.
Ange-ball lives on in Japan.
