Vissel Kobe host Thailand’s Ratchaburi on Tuesday, 3 November, after collecting all nine points available from their first three AFC Champions League Elite matches. AFC’s official preview dated 2 November contrasts that winning sequence with visitors who have taken just one point.
The defensive returns also explain the gap
The East Zone standings before the fourth round show Kobe with five goals scored and only one conceded. Ratchaburi have scored four but conceded seven, drawing once and losing twice. The points difference is therefore accompanied by a particularly large contrast in goals allowed, rather than simply a vast difference in attacking totals.
Kick-off is listed for midday in Jerusalem, or 19:00 in Japan, on the match record. Victory would preserve Kobe’s perfect return, while a Ratchaburi win would be their first of the campaign. Those scenarios remain conditional before play begins. The recorded three-match figures provide context for the meeting and should not be mistaken for statistics from the fixture itself.
Archival cover photograph: Archival photograph: Yuya Osako; not an image of the current event. Photographer/creator: schemen. Image source and metadata; CC BY-SA 2.0. The Wikimedia-supplied file is used without raster edits. Image date as recorded by the source: 2014-08-04 15:56.
