There was a small illustration before the first away game, when a club official pulled Corica aside. He asked the coach \u2013 referring to him as \u201cGaffer\u201d \u2013 what personal gear and clothes he would require for the trip. The next day, when Corica arrived at the team hotel \u2013 after a swift journey on the bullet train with the squad \u2013 his bag was already in his room, dispatched earlier.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a reminder of the size of the operation \u2013 and organisation \u2013 at Yokohama, regarded as one of the biggest clubs in the J-League, which is the second-biggest league in Asia, only behind the financially bloated Saudi Arabia competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scale of everything is so different \u2026 just bigger than we are used to,\u201d Corica says. \u201cWhen we went for a pre-season training camp, there were 75 people on the trip. Basically everyone. And the coaching; Danny is my assistant but he has four coaches under him. Everything is really well resourced. You\u2019ve got everything at your disposal to give yourself a good chance.<\/p>\n
Former Auckland FC coach Steve Corica is now at Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan. Photo \/ Yokohama F. Marinos<\/p>\n
Big challenge<\/p>\n
The Herald catches up with Corica and Hay in downtown Yokohama \u2013 close to the harbour and a short stroll from the famed Chinatown area. After the first few weeks in hotels, both are in their own apartments and enjoying life in one of Japan\u2019s biggest cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love it here,\u201d Corica says. \u201cThe food, the lifestyle … the people have been great. We\u2019re under no illusions; there\u2019s a big challenge on our hands and that was part of the reason we\u2019re here. There\u2019s a lot of expectation at this club and they\u2019ve had a few lean years. We\u2019ve come in with our eyes open knowing all of this and it\u2019s how we turn it around. But so far, so good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corica and Hay arrived in late June and quickly realised the magnitude of the club. They headed off to the pre-season camp in Miyazaki \u2013 around 1200km from Tokyo \u2013 staying at a plush resort, with the 75 players, staff and officials in tow, while fans turned up at the training ground most days.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, everyone was there,\u201d Corica recalls. \u201cThere were so many people we had to have two settings for dinner. The main group would come in at a certain time, then when we finished another group would come in, office people, other staff. It was crazy and it took us quite some time to work out who everybody was. And all the players have their own rooms when we go away \u2013 no one has to share here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve Corica was a popular figure at Auckland FC. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Language barrier<\/p>\n
Compared to the A-League, the language barrier is one of the biggest hurdles. From team meetings, individual chats, training and game day, Corica and Hay need to get their message across. They are picking up some Japanese \u2013 \u201cDanny is making more progress than me,\u201d laughs Corica, but communicating via third parties is the reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are three designated translators and at least another couple that can help,\u201d Corica says. \u201cThere\u2019s a few players that understand no English and so if you\u2019re trying to get something across, it\u2019s all hands on deck.<\/p>\n
So you have lots of people buzzing around. We would traditionally keep our changing room in Auckland with limited numbers and then around the bench limited numbers, but here it\u2019s a little bit like organised chaos because you\u2019ve got extra people around all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s particularly noticeable on match days, with staff needed to relay messages from to players on the pitch, or to the upcoming substitutes.<\/p>\n
Steve Corica and Danny Hay need to utilise multiple translators in their coaching roles at Yokohama F. Marinos. Photo \/ Yokohama F. Marinos<\/p>\n
A different level<\/p>\n
Football is booming in Japan. The revolution started with the advent of the J-League in 1993, before the 2002 World Cup<\/a>, co-hosted with South Korea, which was a major spark. From an initial 10-team J-League, there are now three divisions and 60 professional clubs across Japan.<\/p>\n \u201cEach club has maybe 25 or 30 professional players so more than 1500 in total,\u201d Japanese football journalist Wataru Funaki explains. \u201cThis is our foundation to develop the national team and the youth. And so many Japanese go to Europe now. Ten years ago there was maybe 30 or 40 players [there]. Now we have more than 100 players and in the top divisions like Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga. And many players come back; they bring their standard, their quality and experience so young players can understand what it takes to be a top player. It\u2019s a great cycle in the last 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Understandably, it\u2019s a big step up from the A-League.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s on a different level,\u201d Hay says.<\/p>\n The league is generally regarded as the best in Asia, alongside the Saudi Arabia league and the Korean competition, and usually ranked in the top 15 globally. That shows in every measure, from the fan groups to the payroll. There are 34 players in Corica\u2019s squad, not including the youth and academy ones.<\/p>\n \u201cNormally when we play 11 v 11 [at training], we wouldn\u2019t have many players left over and would probably get some from the reserve team,\u201d Corica explains. \u201cHere, we\u2019ve got like six or seven players that miss out and another five injured or in rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n There are also the little details, including travel. They usually meet at a hotel next to the Yokohama Shinkansen station, then are whisked by bullet train to the relevant city, before stepping into another hotel nearby.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so comfortable compared to flying,\u201d Hay says.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the official Marinos team bus has been dispatched a day earlier, to be there in the city to transport them to the match.<\/p>\n \u201cThe organisation is amazing,\u201d Corica agrees.<\/p>\n That extends to the daily lunch at their training site, prepared by a team of chefs. As well as miso soup, a salad bar and fruit there are three mains \u2013 fish, a chicken or beef dish and then pasta or noodles.<\/p>\n \u201cPlayers can have all three,\u201d Hay says. \u201cWe only get two because they look at us and go, \u2018You don\u2019t need any more than two\u2019. But yeah, we are not going hungry here.\u201d<\/p>\n A few hundred fans will often attend training sessions and Corica has 10-15 journalists at midweek media sessions, with at least double that attending matches.<\/p>\n Early splash<\/p>\n Yokohama was a founder member of the J-League in 1992 but its origins can be traced back to 1972, when the team was established as the Nissan Motors Football Club. The organisation, still majority owned by the car-making giant, have been Japanese champions on nine occasions, five times in the J-League era.<\/p>\n Yokohama reached great heights under Ange Postecoglou \u2013 who took them to their first title in 15 years in 2019 \u2013 then a second-place finish in 2021. Fellow Aussie Kevin Muscat continued the success, with another championship in 2022 and a runners-up medal the following year. However, since the start of 2024 there have been five different head coaches, including two Australians \u2013 Harry Kewell and Patrick Kisnorbo \u2013 and tougher times, with league finishes of ninth and 15th in the past two seasons.<\/p>\n \u201c[Yokohama] lost the strong culture made by Ange,\u201d Funaki observes. \u201cAnd then we had players coming from other clubs who maybe didn\u2019t have the quality. Steve Corica has told us he wants to make the culture strong again.\u201d<\/p>\n Corica is aware of the challenges. He inherited a squad \u2013 \u201cwe have some good players\u201d \u2013 and needs to make the best of what he has got. His initial focus, along with Hay, was developing the fitness base and a strong mentality.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously we would have liked more time in pre-season but we\u2019re learning a lot,\u201d Hay says. \u201cWe\u2019re learning about the staff, the players, their mentality, who buys into what, who you can trust.\u201d<\/p>\n Corica made an early splash when he included 16-year-old midfielder Shin Miidera in the first match \u2013 the youngest player to feature in a J-League season-opener. The teenager scored, then got the winner in the third game against Vissel Kobe, who had been champions in two of the previous three seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had a good pre -season,\u201d Corica recalls. \u201cSo l left a couple of foreign players on the bench and gave him a chance. It was like water off a duck\u2019s back. He\u2019s a top little player.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Hay, Corica deserves credit: \u201cPeople have told us if Steve wasn\u2019t here, he [Miidera] might still be in the youth [under-18 team] this season.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Miidera\u2019s efforts, Yokohama lost that opening game 4-3 \u2013 after being up 3-1 in the second half \u2013 in front of 65,000 fans, creating an incredible atmosphere. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were very good for 60 minutes and then the wheels fell off,\u201d Hay says. \u201cIt didn\u2019t help that seven players were affected by cramp.\u201d<\/p>\n They rebounded the following week with an important 1-0 win on the road, then took down Kobe \u2013 thanks to Miidera\u2019s beautiful volley \u2013 in an early statement performance. After eight games, Yokohama are sixth in a congested ladder, five points off top and one place outside an Asian Champions League berth.<\/p>\n Great expectations<\/p>\n So far, life is good, especially being in such a buzzing metropolis but without the full-on intensity of Tokyo.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I can\u2019t get enough of it,\u201d Corica says. \u201cIt\u2019s just so different where we\u2019re living and what we have on our doorstep. And you know, you\u2019re two minutes walking down into a subway and then can be in Shibuya in 45 minutes. So it\u2019s great. The only downside is that family is so far away … you can\u2019t just nip over to Sydney.\u201d<\/p>\n There is pressure from an expectant fanbase, though Corica has made a strong early impression.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen good reaction from the fans,\u201d Funaki says. \u201cHe is the best coach for rebuilding the team, I think. He\u2019s a very realistic person and has great experience. Especially Auckland FC, where they were making the club from nothing<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n There will be a grace period from the club hierarchy, with an understanding that there is considerable work to be done after the relative struggles of the last two years, but that won\u2019t last forever.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have still got expectations,\u201d Corica admits. \u201cThey want to make [Asian] Champions League this year, which is going to be tough. We\u2019re enjoying it so far but obviously it comes down to results and that\u2019s what you get judged on. We are aware of that \u2026 it\u2019s just about getting the team going.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Burgess<\/a> has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America\u2019s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a small illustration before the first away game, when a club official pulled Corica aside. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[140247,95,2731,1975,51,8834,6326,2880,9525,6636,46326,1320,16765,216110,26775,8272,1872,26845,5213,2740,21703,10938,16718,1759,16847,16572,13419,158194,5494,111,139,69,213,5132,102,1965,114000],"class_list":["post-619616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-accompanying","tag-and","tag-assistant","tag-at","tag-auckland","tag-big","tag-biggest","tag-burgess","tag-caught","tag-challenge","tag-clubs","tag-coach","tag-coaches","tag-corica","tag-danny","tag-f","tag-face","tag-fc","tag-football","tag-former","tag-hay","tag-herald","tag-him","tag-japan","tag-japans","tag-joined","tag-june","tag-marinos","tag-michael","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-steve","tag-with","tag-writer","tag-yokohama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Former Auckland FC assistant coach Danny Hay is loving his time in Japan with Yokohama F. Marinos. Photo \/ Yokohama F. Marinos<\/p>\n
Steve Corica and Danny Hay in Yokohama’s Chinatown. Photo \/ Michael Burgess<\/p>\n