Neill gets on rivals' inside track At a stretch: Socceroos skipper Lucas Neill celebrates qualifying for next year's World Cup after beating Iraq in June. It could be a scene from a spy thriller: Socceroos captain Lucas Neill sits in a bullet train headed full speed towards Tokyo and, after playing in his first two matches for J1 League team Omiya Ardija, he gazes out of the window as he calmly deciphers his "intelligence" about the structures that had made the Japanese Australia's fiercest rival in international football. The mobile phone, frustratingly so, is muted for a few seconds whenever the train, which travels at 320km/h, shoots through a tunnel. The female Japanese voice over the PA to announce, well, goodness knows what, occasionally drowns out parts of his sentences. However, the urgency, and respect in Captain Socceroo's voice when he's quizzed for his initial observations of the typical J League player is unmistakeable. "Everybody in the J League is comfortable on the ball," said Neill. The only way they can get into the first team is if they have confidence with the ball at their feet and they're all very educated in movement. Up in arms: Lucas Neill playing for J-League club Omiya Ardija. Neill, who said his focus was to help the team nicknamed the Squirrels win silverware, added the Japanese, who had national hero Shinji Ono ensconced in the A-League with the Western Sydney Wanderers, would keep tabs on the Australians in the lead-up to next year's World Cup and the 2015 Asian Cup. It had also struck him a strong, mutual respect existed between the two nations, who, in the 19 times they've played one another since 1968, had finished with five draws and seven wins apiece. "It's nice to have a foot in the other camp to learn what they think of us," said Neill. They highly respect Australians, they're always monitoring our progress as we should theirs. I really like the way they play; I'm getting a really good understanding of their weaknesses as well and how to counter their style of play. They all love short, sharp football and there's lots of intricate passing ... there's always ways to counter and combat that. And Neill, whose personal football odyssey had taken him to the English, Turkish and the United Arab Emirates leagues, was thriving in the atmosphere, and unbridled passion, the supporters of the Blue Samurai had generated whenever the two nations met. "It's awesome," he said. Everything you see in the Australia-Japan matches, you get in the J-League domestically; the style of play is very similar - fast, technical, good sharp passing - and the crowds are great. They're all orchestrated, they're drumming and waving the colours and they're bouncing up and down in force. It generates an awesome atmosphere at every game and both teams have this very respectful but very cool, sing-off and dance-off that goes for 90 minutes. As fast as the pace [in Tokyo] is the people are very polite. They take time to slow down and help when it may be needed. It's an exciting place to be. AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 Local Organising Committee chairman Frank Lowy appointed Neill during the week as the tournament's Captain's Ambassador. "It's a great honour but with that comes a lot of responsibility, it's my job to promote Australia and to showcase it to the rest of the world ... show what a great place it is," he said. I'm very confident Australia has the ability to stage such a huge spectacle and it will be a brilliant time to play it in January because it's summer, the beaches are booming, the country is at its happiest because of the weather and the food is at its best - and we get to watch 32 games in 23 days and have the chance to cheer on Australia to, hopefully, becoming the No.1 team in Asia. Neill, contracted to play in the J League until December, wasn't sure where he would play next, but wanted to extend his stay in the Land of the Rising Sun. "My focus is on playing well for Omiya because there's a desire to stay here for another year and that would take me up to the Asia Cup," he said. In my perfect plan, if I was to be playing, and playing regularly, for whatever reason I could go back to the A-League for a 10-month stint or go to Europe on loan. There's a few things that could play out but I think it's important I don't think too far ahead. I want to enjoy football and, hopefully, by enjoying it, I'll play well ... I've learned if I'm playing well football seems to look after itself.