One of the lesser known historical quirks about Japan is that it’s actually the final resting place of none other than Jesus Christ.
The story goes that it was actually Jesus’ little known brother, Isukiri, that was nailed to the cross and in gratitude Jesus then carried his ashes all the way across northern Europe and Siberia before settling in Japan where he married a Japanese woman and died in the remote north of the country at the age of 106.
Whichever way you spin it was a hell of a journey.
If you were to make a similar trip from central Denmark and end up on the outskirts of Tokyo the last thing you’d expect to find is someone from the same town.
That though is exactly what happened at one of Japan’s most storied football clubs, Urawa Red Diamonds, where Danish striker Kasper Junker and defender Alexander Scholz now play.
Having both grown up in Vejle, a town of just 60,000 people more than 200 kilometres from Copenhagen, it’s remarkable that they never crossed paths before moving to the other side of the world.
Even more so given that both their fathers also turned out for the local side, Vejle Boldklub, where the younger Scholz started his professional career, as he tells The Asian Game.
“It’s fun to meet now and all a bit crazy.
“We know the same people and we’ve been to the same places; we did play against each other in Denmark, we won the game and I scored a goal I think, but it’s crazy that we really meet for the first time in Japan.”
From those humble beginnings a decade ago this pair of Danish footballers will now likely have a major say in just how far Urawa progress in the knockout stages of Asia’s continental showpiece, the AFC Champions League, which gets underway this week in Urawa’s home, Saitama Stadium.
Twenty-nine-year-old Scholz has been an ever-present as part of a Reds back four that’s conceded less than a goal a game in the league this season, but with the team sitting in a disappointing seventh on the domestic standings he knows that the pressure is on to deliver in Asia.
“It’s more than fair enough to say that if we lose the first game of the Champions League it will be a disappointment,” the former Midtjylland and Standard Liège defender said.
“I’m ambitious and I want to win everything and being seventh in the league right now is not good enough for Urawa, so I view this kind of pressure and ambition in a positive way and so I say that if we go out of the Champions League now it will be a massive disappointment for the season, especially with the expectation from the supporters.”
They are sentiments shared by 28-year-old striker Junker, who also feels the weight of expectation at the 2007 and 2017 ACL champions.
“Ever since the first day I came to Japan I remember seeing the banners in the stadium that say ‘Reds Go To Asia’ and I know that the goal for the club and the fans is that we want to go to Asia and show the quality of Urawa,” he said.
“The Champions League is the highest level you can play, the biggest tournament, and it means a lot for the club and the fans so of course the pressure is high because we want to deliver for everybody.”
That expectation should usually sit even heavier on the shoulders of Junker, a dynamic and prolific finisher who scored almost a goal every two games last season as he took the league by storm.
This season however he’s, oddly, struggled for regular starts despite appearing to be clearly the club’s best option up front in their preferred 4-2-3-1 formation and he’s hoping to be able to deliver on the continental stage.
“My season hasn’t been good at all,” he said matter-of-factly. “I had some injuries and when you go into that bad cycle with injuries it’s difficult to get into a rhythm, and as a striker you need to keep playing games.
“I feel good now with my body and want to play and as a striker it’s frustrating when I think I’m good enough to play but that’s not my decision to make.
“Although it hasn’t been the best season I know the type of player I am and I know I can score goals in the J.League so I’m not worried about the situation.”
The first challenge for Urawa in the knockout stages of the ACL is that of Malaysian powerhouse JDT, and whilst the club is approaching that clash with a measured confidence, both Junker and Scholz are also hoping to dispel perceptions back home of the reality of life as a professional footballer in Asia, as the former tells The Asian Game.
“I started my professional career a bit later than most, at 20 or 21, but I always knew that I wanted to come to Asia and get out of my comfort zone,” Junker explained.
“The problem is that everyone in Denmark thinks that you just went for the money and the level is so bad and they ask why didn’t you wait until you were like 36-years-old. It’s just opinion without knowledge.”
It’s a notion that Scholz concurs with.
“It annoys us, they think they can say this without even doing any research and they usually overestimate the money and underestimate the quality.
“The level in Japan, both tactically and technically, is very high and all the J1 teams would push for the top six in Denmark, with the likes of Yokohama able to win the title if we make that kind of comparison.
“But the perception is that we’re just here for the money and that we can buy half of Denmark after a couple of years.”
Half of Denmark maybe not, but they might be offered half of Saitama should they play a leading role in booking Reds a ticket through to next year’s final.
That task has been made much more achievable given the home advantage they hold but they are certainly not underestimating the initial challenge against JDT, as Scholz explains.
“This is a much bigger challenge than maybe people realise and they are a very good team with good energy and various strengths.
“They’ve already made history, they’re an up-and-coming team and if we had played in Malaysia I’d almost say that they would be favourites, but equally we know the pressure is on because of the home advantage.”
That pressure will ramp up even more if things go to penalties with both players having taken spot kicks for Reds since their arrival in Japan with Scholz joking that he feels a little bit ‘guilty’ to take the ball from a striker who may have won the penalty.
Either way, with a key presence at both ends of the pitch, there could well be a heavy Danish presence in determining just how far Reds progress in the ACL and that could help further both the Urawa cause and also quieten some of the misconceptions from back home.
PHOTO: IG/kasperjunker21
Listen to Episode 90 of The Asian Game Podcast as we preview the AFC Champions League and speak with Urawa Reds’ Danish duo Kasper Junker and Alexander Scholz
