I'm here at the Tokyo National Ground (Kokuritsu Kyogi Jo!) for the Club World Cup first semi-final between Al-Ahly of Egypt and Internacional of Brazil. The atmosphere should be great tonight. Against Auckland, the Ahly fans were in good voice, many had travelled, and many Arabs and Africans living in Japan had united to lend support to the African Champions.

As for Internacional, well their fans have travelled in the thousands from Port-Allegre in Brazil for this game. South American football takes the Club World Cup/Toyota Cup very seriously, because for years and years it has been their only chance to disprove the so-called "superiority" of the European teams. The Brazilian press is out here in full force (making life very difficult for us in terms of getting access to the team), and i've been spotting their fans out and about in Tokyo over the last 3 days or so.

Both teams play in red, so i'm looking forward to the Ahly fans and "Torcedor Colorado" (Inter fan collective) really livening up the stadium tonight.

Stay tuned for our coverage. Sadly, now that all the bigwig media persons have shown up (they didn't bother for the "lesser" games, oh no sirree), I have a feeling we have to sit in rubbish seats, and that we aren't even in the press box anymore. What a load of wank! If anything we should be rewarded for getting out that and being enthusiastic for the first two games that others didn't even care enough to show up for.

Oh well.... the squad lists have been handed out, and Alexandre Pato (the "Duck", Brazil's most exciting young player) will be starting, so i'm excited.

On an off day, our bloggers spent some time wandering around Tokyo and taking in the sights.

But our Brazilian blogger Mauricio visited the Internacional training session, and had some time to get comments from the Internacional players and team members. Click here to read them.

And the Inter fans have made up a great song about Fernandao being better than Ronaldinho, so click here to read about it, and hear the song (in Portuguese).

Looking up from just outside Tokyo National Ground:



Live here from the Tokyo National Ground in... yes, Tokyo.

The second match of the Club World Cup, and Mexican outfit Club America are taking on Jonbuk Motors of Korea.

Arguably, Korea have come through a much tougher, rigorous competition to get here, because the Asian Champions League has some very tricky teams.

But Club America are easily the more talented side. With Argentine Claudio Lopez, a world-class player in his prime at Valencia not so long ago, and Cuahtemoc Blano, the volatile, temperamental, but brilliant and talented entertainer, America's attack is going to be very difficult to handle. Add to that a few Mexican internationals with World Cup experience, and Nelson Cuevas, the Paraguayan winger-striker who is either unbelievably good or unbelievably bad, we should be in for a cracker.

Admittedly, we don't know too much about the Koreans, but they have the legendary Choi Jin Chul at the back, and a reputation for producing good, solid players with decent technical ability.

Alright, i'm off for the kick-off! Hoping to see Lopez's left foot in action, and that bunny hop of Blanco's!

Post-Match:

Well, the game was quite drab. The Auckland players put up a good show, and gave a good account of themselves.

You can read a match report here from Ian.

Jennifer writes her thoughts on the matter here, and Chris has written an Auckland & Al-Ahly inspired piece about talent here.

It was fun getting lost and found in Japan on our way from Tokyo to Toyota City, and we got to ride the Shinkansen (bullet train), and watch Arsenal vs Chelsea in an "authentic" American bar in Nagoya where the burgers had optional fried egg toppings. Super!

Enjoy some pictures:

What might have been! They were testing out the match systems before the game, and the scenario below would have been much more desirable...


An opportunity from a set-piece, one of very few in a dire first half. Predictably, it came to nothing.

Ads for the Club World Cup at Tameike-Sanno station:



The Toyota Stadium:



Chris, Ian, Jennifer and Mauricio, along with myself, are your OleOle blog team for the Club World Cup in Japan.

We're here in Toyota City right now, in the media room of the Toyota Stadium getting ready for the kick-off of the first match.

The Oceania champions, New Zealanders Auckland City FC, will be playing the African champions, Al-Ahly of Egypt. Now clearly, for several reasons, this is an absolute mismatch and Al-Ahly are clear favourites. In fact, Auckland are the worst team in the competition by a country mile. The "Champions of Oceania" tag is hardly worth anything since the Australian League jumped ship and joined the Asian Football Confederation, so the Oceania "Champions" League involves teams from countries like Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Also, the funniest thing as that Auckland FC are not even the best team in New Zealand. This title is accorded to the New Zealand Knights, who unfortunately (in this context) play in the Australian A-League. The actual New Zealand Football Championship is composed of semi-professional clubs, and the players for Auckland City FC are a bunch of part-timers. There will however be a draw for Japanese fans, with the presence of Teru Iwamoto, a Japanese footballer of some reknown who offered himself to Auckland for the tournament, in a stunt similar to Sydney FC signing Japanese legend King Kazu for last years' edition of the Club World Cup.

Compare this scenario to that of Al-Ahly of Egypt, who won a rigorous and difficult tournament comprised of teams from all around Africa. Additionally, Egypt won the last African Cup of Nations, and several players from that cup-winning side play for Al-Ahly. The Egyptian league has provided several good players over the years - like Mido, Hossam Ghaly, Ahmed Hassan and of course the legendary Hossam Hassan. Egyptians players in general have a very high technical level.

However, what does affect them is that they are physically much weaker than European sides, especially when you have to play in the African heat for large parts of the year, it's not conducive to building muscle. Egyptians have also shown themselves to be extremely temperamental over the years, and they might break down in the face of physical play. What makes this matchup interesting then, is that this bunch of part-timers from New Zealand (a country with a strong rugby background, where the footballers are as physical as anywhere) is that they will be offering 150% commitment in every tackle, making the most of their appearance on the big stage. Al-Ahly will be rattled, and it remains to be seen whether their skill can persevere.

Anyhow, kick-off is in half an hour, so we should be going. Stay tuned!