Urawa Reds manager Gert Engels is confident his resurgent side can maintain its push up the J. League table when unbeaten champions Kashima Antlers visit Saitama Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
After a dreadful start to the season which saw Reds lose their first two league games, leading to the dismissal of manager Holger Osieck, the Saitama club has picked up the pieces under Engels, taking maximum points from its last three games.
Kashima, still riding a winning streak that stretches from September of last year, will test Engels' management skills to the limit, but the German is not allowing himself to get swept up in the hype surrounding the first clash of the season between Japan's two big guns.