WHOAH!

So I'm missing Japan's Kirin Cup clash with Montengro at Ecopa Stadium on June 1 because I'm going to Tokyo to see New York Hardcore legends Sick Of It All instead. I'll have to tune into the match with a bunch of rowdy FC Tokyo fans at Footnik Pub in Shibuya, and I bet they won't be the only ones annoyed with Japan coach Ivica Osim's team selection.

In the past Osim has claimed that selecting European-based players "disrupts the squad." Perhaps he has a point, but when those players include the likes of Shunsuke Nakamura from Celtic and Eintracht Frankfurt striker Naohiro Takahara, could he really afford not to call those players up? When Japan beat Saudi Arabia in their final Asian Cup qualifier last November, Nakamura was holidaying in Japan anyway!

As it is, Nakamura, Takahara and FC Basel midfielder Koji Nakata have all been given call-ups for the Kirin Cup, but new Frankfurt signing Junichi Inamoto and wantaway Le Mans winger Daisuke Matsui have been overlooked. Those exclusions are not necessarily that surprising - especially since so many Japanese players have demonstrated that simply playing in Europe doesn't necessarily make one a good player, but it seems strange not to have called up Inamoto in particular, with the combative midfielder having been a virtual ever-present for Galatasaray this season.

Still, that won't be what has put a bee in Japan fans' bonnets. No, instead it is the fact that Ivica Osim has selected five JEF United players in his squad that has Japan fans scratching their heads. Or not scratching their heads - depending on how cynical those fans are. You see, JEF United are coached by none other than Ivica Osim's son! More importantly, the Chiba club are currently stuck in the relegation zone. How a team scrapping it out with the likes of Yokohama FC and Omiya Ardija at the foot of the J-League can have five international call-up's is anyone's guess.

Yet there are still fishier things afoot with Osim's squad. Although JEF United striker Seiichiro Maki has scored just one league goal this season - and that was an own goal according to everybody but the J-League, he still gets the nod up front alongside Takahara. This is despite the fact that Kawasaki Frontale striker Kazuki Ganaha scored three goals during the Asian Cup qualifying campaign. Yet Ganaha has been overlooked! What the? Meanwhile Gamba Osaka striker Ryuji Bando has lost his place in the Gamba line-up to ex-Ventforet Kofu striker Bare, yet Bando has still been named in Japan's Kirin Cup squad.

Another player overlooked is Yokohama F. Marinos' talismanic midfielder Koji Yamase. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but if there's one thing that Japan could use more of it is midfield creativity, if for no other reason than to take some of the pressure of Shunsuke Nakamura. Instead the squad is full of midfield grafters like Hideo Hashimoto and Yasuhito Endo, or players that aren't even first choice starting midfielders at their clubs, like Akihiro Ienaga, Yasuyuki Konno and Yuki Abe. Sure Japan have some promising youngsters - and JEF United's Koki Mizuno is one United player who deserves to be there, along with the likes of Shimizu's Jungo Fujimoto and Kawasaki's Kengo Nakamura, but Osim's team seems to smack of a man who has hardly seen any Japanese players in action.

It will be interesting to see if the likes of Hiroshima's Yuichi Komano and Nagoya's Keisuke Honda receive some game time during this Kirin Cup, or if the starting eleven will indeed by comprised of players from the axis of evil - Urawa, Gamba Osaka and...JEF United. Still, I won't be there to see it. Sick Of It All on the Thursday, pub food on the Friday and Magma Fest on the Saturday. It's a tough life, but somebody's gotta live it!

I, for one, was glad to see that Urawa's coach Holger Osieck was "unhappy" with the result from Sunday's 1-1 home draw with Yokohama F. Marinos - played in front of 51,829 fans at Saitama Stadium. He was certainly happy with the midweek 0-0 home draw with Sydney FC, which saw his side become the second Japanese team after Kawasaki Frontale to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals. That's probably because his team executed its game-plan almost to perfection; foul, defend, counter-attack, defend, foul, defend, counter-attack, defend. You get the idea.

For all the build up to the Urawa - Sydney FC clash, the match was a monumental anti-climax, as games that attract so much hype can often be. Sydney FC would have won but for some glaring misses in front of goal - David Zdrilic's failure to open the scoring with a free header midway through the second half may spell the end of his unhappy career with the club. Mark Milligan and David Carney also came desperately close for Sydney - although Urawa's Brazilian striker Washington could have undeservedly won the match for Urawa when he shot wide from sixteen yards in the last minute of the game.

There have been enough column inches written about the game itself without me having to rehash them, but as the Australian media is want to do, I couldn't help but chuckle at some of the deliberate misconceptions bandied about in the aftermath of this clash. Perhaps my favourite has been the Sydney Morning Herald's (surprise, surprise...one of Sydney FC's official sponsors!) consistent claim that the match was played in front of over 50,000 fans. Now I might have only scored 22% on my Higher School Certificate maths exam (hey, if I want to know how to do my tax...I'll call an accountant) but the last time I checked, a crowd of 44,793 was at least 5,207 fans short of the half-century mark. Why let facts stand in the way of an embellished story though, hey fellas?

It was also claimed in the Aussie media that the Urawa fans reserved a "special" atmosphere for Sydney FC. It sure was special - partly because it was Urawa's second-lowest attendance of the season, and partly because the atmosphere was about half that generated at a J-League game. In defence of the many Urawa fans who simply didn't turn up, I was personally surprised by just how far out of town Saitama Stadium actually is. With the Japanese tending to work late, it was no wonder that by the time the 7.30pm kick-off rolled around, thousands of fans were still streaming through the turnstiles and looking to take their seats. The horrendous traffic outside the ground didn't help, but of course with the match beamed live on TV throughout Asia, there was never a suggestion of delaying the kick-off to allow those fans to catch the entire ninety minutes of action.

It might be time for me to put my hand up and admit that I am bitter about the result from Wednesday night. Not just because I'm a Sydney FC fan - albeit a begrudging one, and not just because I dislike Urawa more than any other Japanese team. It's just that after thirty years of mistreatment by FIFA, shambolic administration and heart-breaking bad luck, it looked like Australian football had finally turned the corner and was starting to get what it deserved. I think if Sydney FC had qualified for the knock-out stages it would only have served to paper over the cracks at the club - but I certainly don't think that Urawa were the better team in the group. Sydney lead 2-0 after twenty minutes against Urawa in Sydney - before drawing 2-2, they lead 1-0 over Persik Kediri before losing 2-1 on a water-logged pitch in Solo City, and they drew 0-0 with Shanghai Shenhua in Sydney...with midfielder Ufuk Talay hitting the crossbar from a penalty - his first ever penalty miss for the club. Take maximum points from any of those fixtures and Sydney FC would have progressed.

As it is, it is the so-called "giants" of Asian football...with an imposing one J-League title to their name, who progress to the quarter-finals. According to Saburo Kawabuchi - head of the Japan Football Association, the AFC Champions League "should be more like the UEFA Champions League." I guess that's what we saw on Wednesday night. With a team that possesses an array of attacking talent such as Takahito Soma, Shinji Ono, Robson Ponte and the sulking hulking Washington, it's no wonder Urawa chose to sit back and defend for the entire ninety minutes. They were just trying to be more European...

So it's come down to this. Given the turmoil at Sydney FC prior to the start of their Asian Champions League campaign - with coach Terry Butcher given the sack and Branko Culina brought in as interim manager, it was difficult to envisage the Harbour City club unduly troubling the likes of Urawa Reds and Shanghai Shenhua United in their ACL group, right? Wrong.

Going into the final group game at Saitama Stadium on May 23, the 2005 A-League champions Sydney FC are still in with a chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages of the competition at their first attempt. They'd have been in prime position, had midfielder Ufuk Talay not crashed a penalty into the crossbar in Sydney's most recent 0-0 draw at home to Shanghai Shenhua.

That draw, coupled with Urawa's 3-3 draw with Persik Kediri in Indonesia means that the Japanese giants have nine points going into the final match, with Sydney FC just behind them on eight. Urawa can afford to draw in front of what should be a vociferous home crowd at Saitama Stadium, but Sydney FC will come at them with all guns blazing.

Urawa were stunned when these two clubs met at Aussie Stadium back in March, having seemingly underestimated the 2005 Australian champions, as they fell two goals behind after just twenty minutes. The J-League champions showed their mettle, however, more than matching Sydney for the rest of the game and roaring back thanks to strikes from Robson Ponte and Yuichiro Nagai. The latter arguably scored the easiest goal of his career in Sydney, and Clint Bolton's uncharacteristic handling error - he spilled a cross at the feet of Nagai, could come back to haunt the A-League giants.

Urawa, however, are under the pump in Japan. Rumours that several squad members don't see eye to eye with new coach Holger Osieck just won't go away. Despite the over-abundance of talent at his disposal, Osieck rarely makes changes to a team that has already made gruelling trips to Sydney, Shanghai and Solo City this season. As a result, Urawa have rarely looked their best in 2007.

Thus a fascinating battle should ensure between a club written off before this competition kicked off, against the over-hyped J-League champions. Before this competition commenced, Urawa loudly proclaimed their desire to become the first Japanese team to reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League since the competition was revamped in 2003. They have already been beaten to that punch by Kawasaki Frontale, and with Sydney FC looking to do business in Saitama, there might just be another nasty surprise in store for the 2006 J-League champions Urawa.

There's nothing like bandying about some good old clichés to get your point across. So there'll be no love lost when two of Japan's biggest rivals clash at Saitama Stadium this weekend! There, I said it. Urawa are playing Gamba Osaka, and no doubt the English-language media in Japan will be working themselves into a frenzy.

Saburo Kawabuchi - head of the Japan Football Association, claimed last week that the Asian Champions League needs reformatting. It invariably does, but it's difficult to see how Kawabuchi's vision of allowing more clubs from Japan, Korea and Australia to enter is going to help clubs from South-East Asia develop.

Recently the Australian media has been falling over itself to proclaim Urawa Reds as "the biggest club in Asia." Eh? Two years ago Urawa weren't even the biggest club in Japan. Maybe that fact has been lost on the likes of Kawabuchi, who dream of full houses at matches between clubs like Urawa Reds and Sydney FC.

Of course, Urawa's final Asian Champions League encounter with Sydney on May 23 very well COULD draw a full house. But it would be a first. The reality is that clubs like Kawasaki Frontale, Gamba Osaka and anyone else that qualifies for the Champions League, will continue to play in half-empty stadiums, fielding less than full-strength teams. The fact that Urawa have somewhat bucked that trend recently (even though few media outlets pointed out that two crowds of around 30,000 in the Champions League so far still meant that Saitama Stadium was only half full) makes it easy for the media to claim that Urawa are Asia's biggest club.

The fact that they have just one league title to their name suggests that they are not. The same could be said of Gamba Osaka, with the Panasonic-funded club having only the 2005 J-League crown to show for their efforts. Yet the winds of change have blown through Japanese football, so no longer can traditional powerhouses like Kashima Antlers, Jubilo Iwata and Yokohama F. Marinos claim to be the biggest teams in the country.

These things are often cyclical, so now it's Urawa and Gamba Osaka's turn to be labelled "the biggest arch rivals in Japan!" In reality, they've probably only been rivals for two years, but since Urawa thwarted Gamba Osaka at every turn last season - and Gamba responded in kind by smashing Urawa 4-0 in the 2007 Super Cup - this match is sure to be a hotly contested affair.

There are plenty of stars on show, and Marcus Tulio Tanaka's tussle with Magno Alves should prove fascinating. There will also be plenty of scrutiny on Urawa's Brazilian striker Washington - if he gets on the pitch. Out-of-form, heavily criticised, dropped and then restored...now Washington "supposedly" has an injury, but the rumours coming out of Saitama are that the temperamental striker doesn't see eye to eye with new coach Holger Osieck.  

Anyway, it should prove an exciting match, irrespective of how dubious any claims of "the biggest club in..." are. Gamba are currently on top of the table, while Urawa are in second, and with the likes of Jubilo Iwata, Yokohama F. Marinos and Kashima Antlers all floating about in mid-table, it looks like the new status quo of Japanese football is here to stay for some time yet.

Ah, to be alive during 'Golden Week!' Golden Week is that magical time in Japan where fifty million public holidays join together to create one lengthy footballing extravaganza! Or at least that's what Golden Week means to me. And what would Golden Week be without the obligatory hate-fuelled derby to spice things up? You and I both know the answer, so let's look at the match-up's!

A full round of fixtures takes place on Thursday March 3, and Gamba Osaka make the thirty kilometre trip to Kobe Wing Stadium in fine spirits, ahead of this 'Kansai Derby' against home team Vissel Kobe. Gamba have been banging in goals like it's nobody's business - a leisurely nineteen in their opening eight league fixtures. The Osakans are in irresistable form at the moment, but there's nothing like an inferiority complex to fire up a hitherto listless team, so Vissel Kobe will hope to go one better than their recent 2-2 draw with Gamba in the League Cup, and knock off their "big brother" from down the road in this one.

Yokohama F. Marinos are one of the genuine heavyweights of Japanese football, and they won't appreciate being over-shadowed by upstarts Kawasaki Frontale in the Kanagawa Derby. After winning the J-League in 2003 and 2004, F. Marinos have struggled in recent seasons. They'll be determined to get one over Frontale at Nissan Stadium, with Kawasaki having finished second in the league last season.

The first Shizuoka Derby of the season takes place at Nihondaira Stadium on Thursday night, when Shimizu S-Pulse host bitter rivals Jubilo Iwata. Jubilo beat Shimizu on penalties in the 1999 championship decider, and with S-Pulse fans having long memories, Jubilo can expect a hot reception at a packed Nihondaira, with all tickets for this game having been snapped up.

On Sunday March 6, two struggling southern clubs in the form of Oita Trinita and Sanfrecce Hiroshima meet, with the former currently languishing in the relegation zone. 

After facing FC Tokyo at Ajinomoto Stadium on the Thursday, Kashima Antlers return to Kashima Stadium for another tough encounter, when they take on a rampant Yokohama F. Marinos. Following a recent 5-0 hammering of hapless Oita, F. Marinos then went one better and smashed Albirex Niigata 6-0 in their most recent match!

Kawasaki Frontale take on neighbours FC Tokyo at Todoroki Stadium, while the Chiba Derby should ensure a full house at Fukuda Denshi Arena, when JEF United host the high-flying (or should that be high-kicking?) Kashiwa Reysol.

So plenty to look forward to in the J-League then, with the weather not the only thing currently heating up in Japan.