It deafens me, but it sends a chill down my spine. If you've ever played the Japanese language version of Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution Soccer on the Playstation, this is pretty much a real life version of that complete with random, techno background music at inappropriate times.

With only a few minutes until kick off, here's a run down of the pre-match entertainment for this glorious final:

- Bewildering pre-match entertainment featuring giant inflatable globes and some kind of Japanese samba band who try but fail to get the crowd excited
- Announcer screaming excited Japanese at the top of his lungs, I have no idea what he is saying but it works. I'm both deaf and incredibly excited.
- For some reason we're asked to stand for the FIFA national anthem, which no one knew existed, which is then cut short awkwardly halfway through leaving everyone confused.

The pain is over, time to watch Barcelona thump someone.

A quick revelation while watching the first half of the match, but Jeonbuk seem to be winning virtually every header. Indulging my inherent stereotypes I assumed that if Auckland had one thing going for them it would be the ability to win the physical side of this match, including the most macho of all battles - in the air. Of course there are many things at play to win a header besides simply a physical advantage - timing and bravery come to mind. It's the latter which seems to be most significant here, as the Jeonbuk players are flying in with 'he's going to die!' levels of commitment while the Auckland lot seem somewhat less ready to put their heads on the line.

It's 2-0 right now, and if it stays that way it will be a shame if Auckland feel afterwards that perhaps they did not give their all.

Tonight is the all-important 5th/6th place playoff match at the FIFA World Club Cup, and I actually say that without the slightest bit of sarcasm.

Auckland FC from New Zealand take on Jeonbuk from Korea to determine last and second last place, but it'd be rather silly to see this as a meaningless fixture. Jeonbuk may be a little disappointed not to have progressed past Club America and will be playing for pride, but Auckland FC will be playing this one like a cup final. The New Zealanders are technically an amateur side and field anyone from ex-pros to, I assume, lorry drivers and what not. This is undoubtedly the biggest competition any of these players have or may ever be a part of and I'm expecting them to play as such.

That said, an upset is probably not on the cards. The bane of the amateur football club is a well-organised opponent and Jeonbuk fits the bill perfectly, any weaknesses or lapses in the Auckland side will be exposed quickly and frequently and it will take a minor footballing miracle for them to pull this one out. But I'll be rooting for them against the Koreans, and I'm guessing the stadium full of Japanese spectators might be as well - not the least because they signed Teruo Iwamoto specifically for this competition.

For a tournament featuring clubs with such a vast spectrum of footballing pedigree the results have been understandably predictable, if Auckland can shake things up a bit tonight then it'll be the second best thing to happen to New Zealand in a long time.

You'd think that anytime you see a match between the club champions of entire confederations, there would be plenty of individual talents on show. But after two FIFA Club World Cup matches the talent pool is still looking a bit thin.

Matchday 1 was especially bare. Sure there was Grant Young of Auckland FC, who showed why he earned 1 cap for South Africa, and Flavio of Al Ahly who demonstrated all the skill and flair of a Brazilian. Although he's actually from Angola, but if I said he demonstrated the skill and flair of an Angolan that wouldn't have really meant anything.

Matchday 2 saw Club America kick off against Korean side Jeonbuk. The Koreans were organised and energetic but lacked a cutting edge, second half substitute Botti was creative up front but wasn't on quite the same level as his near-namesake at Roma. Club America's standout players were Claudio Lopez and Blanco, which was unsurprising, but the two stars in the twilight of their careers are hardly the exciting young talents that I was hoping to find.

But these clubs were supposed to be of a lower quality, that's why they battled each other for the right to play Internacional and Barcelona in the next round. Today sees Club America take on the former, and there should finally be some players worthy of some attention from top clubs. Pato "The Duck" Alexandre alone should be worth the price of admission and my attempts to scout him will surely be matched by top sides across Europe.

After watching some rather uninspired football thus far, the FIFA Club World Cup is finally about to get interesting.

Scouting is easy.

Chelsea may have paid Tottenham a couple million pounds for Frank Arnesen and his scouting network but they were paying for his connections, not his eye for talent. A quick browse through the players he brought to Tottenham (Emil Halfredsson, Spase Dilevski, Rodrigo Defendi, David Limbersky et al) showed that the world's premiere Chief Scout got a hell of a lot more wrong than he got right. In fact, if I compare the real life careers of all the youngsters I unearthed in Football Manager 2006 in the last year alone to those that Arnesen has - the evidence clearly shows that Abramovich should be handing me a few hundred thousand quid a year instead. The World Club Championship, chock full of relatively unknown players, represented a perfect opportunity to hone my skills further.

So as Auckland FC and Al Ahly kicked off I was sure that a few players would catch my eye, and a couple quick emails to Premiership clubs would signal the beginning of a new career as a football scout. But after 20 odd minutes I realised the one thing that every talent spotter must be capable of, that I was clearly not - enduring terrible, terrible football matches in search of new talent. Auckland FC were full of industry and effort, Al Ahly were high on technical skill but the match remained somewhat amateurish. Passes flew miles out of bounds by accident, players fell comically and the referee seemed a bit confused.

I'm committed to sticking to the task of finding some true talent that has to exist when you pit the best clubs from each confederation against each other. But in 94 grueling minutes I learned exactly why Frank Arnesen's job is not quite as fun as, say, Steve McClaren's. Popping over to watch FH Hafnarfjordur in order to scout Halfredsson or Viktoria Plzen to get a final view on Limbersky is almost not worth whatever Roman is paying him.

Almost.