Escaping relegation would be the only thing on the mind of most teams sitting one place above the drop zone with just eight matches left to play, but Omiya Ardija midfielder Keigo Higashi has grander ambitions for his struggling side than mere survival.
Omiya heads into Saturday's game against Yokohama F. Marinos 15th in the J. League first-division table, two points above Gamba Osaka and four ahead of Albirex Niigata in the race to avoid joining relegation near-certainties Consadole Sapporo in J2 next season.
The story is a familiar one for Ardija, having found progress hard to come by since debuting in the top flight in 2005. The team's chances of a first-ever top-half finish this year looked more remote than ever during an August spent mostly in the bottom three, but now after two straight wins in a division so tight that only 12 points separate the Saitama side from fourth-place Jubilo Iwata, Higashi is thinking big.