In my opinion Kashima has a really good chance to at least avoid a loss in today’s match.

Both teams played against each other at this stadium in March. Machida won 1:0, but that was a very close match. Today I am expecting good revenge.

It's a super important match for guests’ coach Ranko Popovic, he was Machida coach for almost two years from January 2020 till December 2022. He knows a lot of players and their weak sides. He will not allow two consecutive losses against his old team.

Both teams are in very good form at the moment. Machida went unbeaten in the last 5 consecutive matches. Kashima's streak is even longer as they didn’t lose in the last 6 matches in a row. In those circumstances the most important thing is motivation and strength of lineup on the pitch. I believe Kashima will have an advantage in both departments.

Machida is on the first place after almost half of the season in J1 league as a league newcomer. This is an amazing situation to achieve something special and without any shadow of doubt the league is their priority. On the other hand, Kashima has won this competition already 6 times so I believe they have strong motivation to make a deep run like always.

Kashima coach Rank Popovic is well known as a coach who does not make too big a rotation in the squad for midweek matches because he likes to keep rhythm, chemistry and consistency. Maybe we will see some changes, but not so many. On the other hand, Machida in first round match made huge changes in the squad in comparison to their league match and I can imagine a similar situation today.

Double chance on the away side looks like good option to play. Kashima is more motivated and should have stronger lineup here.

在我看来鹿岛队在今天的比赛中至少有很好的机会避免输球。

两支球队三月份在这个体育场进行过比赛。町田以1:0获胜，但那是一场势均力敌的比赛。今天我期待着复仇。

对于客队教练兰科·波波维奇来说，这是一场超级重要的比赛，他从2020年1月到2022年12月担任町田教练将近两年。他了解很多球员和他们的弱点。他不允许连续两次输给他的老东家。

两队目前的状态都很好。町田在最近的5场比赛中保持不败。鹿岛队的连胜时间更长，因为他们在最近的6场比赛中没有输掉比赛。在这种情况下，最重要的是动力和场上阵容的力量。我相信鹿岛在这两个方面都有优势。

町田作为一名联赛新人，在J1联赛度过了近半个赛季后，排名第一。这是一个惊人的情况，可以实现一些特别的东西，毫无疑问，联赛是他们的首要任务。另一方面，鹿岛队已经6次赢得这项赛事，所以我相信他们有强大的动力像往常一样深入奔跑。

众所周知，鹿岛队的主教练波波维奇不会在周中比赛中安排太多轮换，因为他喜欢保持节奏、化学反应和稳定性。也许我们会看到一些变化，但不会太多。另一方面，与联赛相比，町田在第一轮比赛中对阵容做出了巨大的改变，我可以想象今天的情况会是类似的。

客场的双重机会看起来是个不错的选择。鹿岛更有动力，应该有更强的阵容。