Spiranovic hoses down title talk

Urawa Reds’ defender Matt Spiranovic says talk the J-League giants can go from relegation battlers last season to title contenders is premature.

The Saitama outfit narrowly avoided relegation last term, but following the off-season arrivals of ex-Sanfrecce Hiroshima boss Mihailo Petrovic, as well as Japan internationals Tomoaki Makino and Yuki Abe, there has been speculation in Japan they could challenge for the title.

Australian Spiranovic, who started for his country at left back in Wednesday’s 4-2 win over Saudi Arabia, said such a turnaround would be difficult.

“The talk in Japan is that Urawa are now going to be title contenders, but we’ll see,” Spiranovic told Goal.com.

“We’re just working hard. It’s a lot to ask, one year you’re fighting relegation and the next you’re going to be champions. That’s a bit too early to say. I think we definitely want to improve.”

Spiranovic insisted the team had to learn lessons from their disastrous 2011 campaign.

“Last season was very disappointing for us. We had high hopes going into it,” he said. “In saying that, I think we learned a lot of lessons. We need to show we learned them.”

“There’s a good feeling in the camp. There’s a lot of experienced boys. We’ve had a few young Japanese international boys coming into the team, it’s given us a lot of confidence as well.”

Spiranovic also reserved praise for new boss Petrovic.

“He’s got a lot of experience, he was with Hiroshima for six years before he came to Urawa so he knows what Japanese football is all about,” he said.

“What he achieved with Hiroshima in terms of what he had to work with was very good. He’s come to a club with plenty of quality players, so it’s very exciting to see what we can produce next season.”

The Australian, who lost his spot in defence at Urawa late last season, said competition for places in the rearguard had ramped up with Makino’s arrival.

“There’s a lot of competition. At the moment (in pre-season) we’re playing three at the back. Plus the two Japanese boys who’ve come in can play anywhere out the back three,” he said.

“It’s early days but in pre-season it’s been rotation, so we’ll have to wait and see who gets that chance, when the team performs well they keep their spot.”