Japanese football has no mercy, so Ange Postecoglou will be relieved that in his third match at Yokohama F Marinos, he finally has a win.
Perhaps the slight waiver is that it came in the J-League Cup - against 14th placed FC Tokyo - however as the former-Socceroos boss attempts to impress his high-octane style on the Japanese club, momentum will prove key.
Ippei Shinokuza made the difference in the 1-0 win, with Yokohama moving top of Group A thanks for a draw in the other group match.
In the J-League Cup - unusually for a domestic cup competition - J-League sides are separated into groups with six matches per side, with the top two progressing into the knockout rounds.
Postecoglou is employing a 4-3-3 formation at Yokohama, with Milos Degenek playing as a left centreback, casting doubt on his ability to play as a right fullback for Bert van Marwijk at the 2018 World Cup.
Yokohama F.Marinos starting XI vs FC Tokyo
— 横浜F・マリノス【公式】 (@prompt_fmarinos) 7 March 2018
本日の #ルヴァンカップ FC東京戦のスターティングメンバーが発表されました!#fmarinos #Jリーグ #スタメン #startingXI #jleague pic.twitter.com/7g6xyoJyZA
While he had a fairly quiet game, Postecoglou will be relying heavily on the goal-tally of Portugese forward Hugo Vieira, who had a prolific spell at Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade before his move to Japan.
Yokohama currently sit 16th in the league after two matches, a 1-1 draw with Cerezo Osaka and a 2-0 loss to strong J-League oufit Kashiwa Reysol.
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