To see the fun in the stands...


Not content with forking out an extra $30,000 on top of their allotted accommodation funds at their plush Terrigal hotel over the last few days, the J-League outfit headed down the F3 after last night's game to stay in a swanky Sydney airport hotel.

This extra $10,000 impost for a couple of hours sleep was to ensure that the team bus would not get stuck in traffic and miss the team's 8.30am flight back to Japan on Thursday morning.

It's all part of a no-expense spared attitude the club has to winning the Asian Champions League 2009.

It began when they sent an advance party to organize various details of the trip and upgraded their players to fly in business class.

And when they arrived on the Central Coast on Monday the players and their entourage - a party of 48 came to Australia, 23 more than the Mariners took to China to play Tianjin - were ushered directly to their rooms at their beachside hotel in Terrigal.

Kawasaki's accommodation had been pre-booked for the previous day thus allowing the players the luxury of not having to wait as well as having a room each to themselves.

In contrast, K-League side Pohang Steelers didn't book for the previous day and as such the players were told to stretch their legs for 90 minutes before checking in to the same hotel ahead of their ACL clash in Gosford last month.

"They never, ever want to keep the players waiting for anything," one Kawasaki insider told au.fourfourtwo.com.

As for food and drink, orange juice at their hotel was checked in case the water in it was contaminated while a top Japanese restaurant in Gosford was contracted to bring food to the team hotel each day with strict instructions on how the meals were to be cooked.

Even leaving the hotel for last night's game was executed with secret service-like stealth meaning the players avoided being spotted by waiting media.

After last night's awe-inspiring performance against the Mariners, Kawasaki have shown how the top echelon of Japanese football is on another planet on and off the pitch. It gives the A-League something to aspire to.

To see the fun in the stands...