MELBOURNE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - If Japan live up to their billing as Women's Asian Cup favourites and win the continental title for a third time in Australia, they may thank the inside knowledge of former Matildas midfielder Leah Blayney.
Blayney, who won 16 caps for Australia and coached national junior teams, joined Japan last year as an assistant under Nils Nielsen, the first non-Japanese head coach of the 'Nadeshiko'.
Packed with players who compete for teams in the Women's Super League in England, Japan will be expected to breeze through group matches against Vietnam, India and Taiwan in the March 1 to 21 showpiece.
Like all coaches, Blayney says the team are focused on one match at a time, with their first against Taiwan on March 4 in Perth.
However, the 39-year-old cannot help but relish the prospect of a blockbuster clash against the hosts in the knockout phase.
"Look, it'll be an incredible moment," she told reporters.
"Australian fans are world class.
"I hold Australia very close to my heart. However, obviously we have a target and I have a job to do with Japan. So any previous experiences or knowledge, of course we're going to be bringing them to this tournament."
Australia rode a wave of crowd support to make the semi-finals of the 2023 Women's World Cup co-hosted with New Zealand, one better than Japan, who were knocked out of the quarters by Sweden.
Japan remain Asia's top-ranked nation, though, and humbled Australia 4-0 a year ago in Houston, Texas, on the way to winning the invitational SheBelieves Cup.
Blayney was in the dug-out with Dane Nielsen, who took over the 2011 World Cup champions in late-2024, during the Australia thrashing.
Nielsen's appointment was a watershed moment for a team which had only known local coaches and are looking to reverse their gradual decline on the world stage since reaching the 2015 World Cup final in Canada.
Blayney said foreign influence might be the element the technically-gifted Japanese need to regain their former swagger, starting with a third Asian Cup trophy following back-to-back wins in the quadrennial showpiece in 2014-18.
"We feel as though we've added another layer of cohesion to Japan's play, some external foreign influence around a few things in and around the camp environment," she said.
"We think that these factors are going to help us progress further in tournament football.
"We know we have a good core group, but this tournament is about Japan putting that together and being ruthless in key moments and then walking away, hopefully with a trophy as a result."
Blayney said that despite the language barrier, communication with the players was largely excellent and they had a strong commitment to learning English.
"It's extremely important to convey at times just some of your emotion and bring that passion to what you might be trying to deliver," she said of working with translators.
"So it's definitely a combined effort in terms of everyone trying to make the environment as seamless as possible.
"And it's a credit to the playing group, their commitment to improving themselves there as well."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
