As Yokohama F. Marinos lifted their second J1 League title in four years on Saturday, Kevin Muscat completed the rehabilitation of a managerial reputation that took a significant hit during unhappy departures from Melbourne Victory and Sint-Truidense.
Muscat has now won five titles in a touchline career still less than a decade old, and suddenly appears a man with options. Although last month he signed a one-year extension to remain at Yokohama in 2023, he’d be the bookies’ favourite for the Socceroos job should that become available after the World Cup.
Marinos led the league for the entire second half of the season but didn’t clinch the title until the final day, with the 3-1 win over Vissel Kobe holding off the chasing Kawasaki Frontale. While two losses to relegation candidates in the last month dragged the challenge longer than they’d have liked, The Japan Times’ Dan Orlowitz believes internally, it was never in doubt.
‘They did it the hard way with those two losses to Jubilo Iwata and Gamba Osaka, which were tough to watch. There were some grumbling that they weren’t going to get over the line, but I think Muscat believed in his players, and they believed in him and what the club has built over the past five years’, Orlowitz told Box2Box.
‘They got over the line, and deservedly so. I think Muscat is getting plenty of recognition, I think everyone realised just how difficult it is to win this league. Yokohama last did it in 2019 with Ange, and even that came down to the wire.’
Muscat critics have long pointed to the Postecoglou-slipstream he’s operated in, first at Melbourne Victory and now Yokohama (as a hard-bitten ex-Rangers man, that he’d ever walk into Celtic Park is surely impossible). But he’s proven again that his greatest managerial skill is the gentle hand in transition, rather than the wrecking-ball rebuild.
‘When Ange came on in 2018, it was a time where the Marinos were really struggling to find their identity. Ange gave them a symbol to rally around, turned the locked room into a family when they had been fractured over previous seasons.
‘When he left, it was telling that Marinos said ‘we’re not going to bring on an interim, we’ll hold off and find someone what can continue to develop what Ange has built’, and there is no greater testament in the J1 League for a club not to tear everything down and start from scratch.
‘With Muscat they were taking a bit of a risk. Doing what he did in Australia and then struggling in Belgium didn’t necessarily bring a clean vote of confidence in Japan. But he came on, brought the team to a second-place finish last year, and throughout this season he’s been unwavering in his confidence in his squad.’
Despite being a two-time Champion of Australia and now Japan, at 49 Muscat looks like a manager with it all before him. Whether he remains in Asia, heads back to Europe or moves into international football, Orlowitz believes his time in Japan has shaped him well.
Despite being a two-time Champion manager of Australia and now Japan, at 49 Muscat appears a manager with it all before him. Orlowitz believes his time in Japan has shaped him, perhaps matured him, and has made him more savvy within the global football market.
‘I don’t want to say Japan has softened him, because he’s just as passionate now as he was when he came aboard. But I do think when you’re in the J1 League you do have to adapt to the culture, and it will change you as a person in some ways.
‘I think he’s taken those challenges in his stride, he’s learned to work within the system. He’s been great with the media, he’s always got a quote for us post-game. Sometimes he’ll say something critical about officials or video review, which you aren’t necessarily meant to say here, but now in Yokohama, he’s another Australian hero.’