Kashima Antlers manager Oswaldo Oliveira is hoping his team can lay down a marker for the rest of the J. League season in Saturday's curtain-raising Fuji Xerox Super Cup clash against Gamba Osaka.
Kashima will be chasing a record third straight league title when the campaign gets under way next weekend, and also have ambitions of adding a first Asian Champions League crown to the trophy cabinet. But Oliveira knows success will not come easy, and welcomes the heavyweight challenge of Emperor's Cup-holder Gamba as a tuneup for the season ahead.
"I think Gamba is a very strong side and a very high level of competition for the first match of the season," he said on Friday.