Half of Japan's football fans may have been sporting a wry smile on Saturday night. The other half are Urawa fans, and they were no doubt bemoaning Urawa's most recent 1-0 loss to Kashima Antlers in front of 62,123 fans at Saitama Stadium; a result that once again throws the title race wide open.

Cynical keyboard warriors like myself could perhaps be forgiven a bout of Schadenfreude after Urawa's German coach Holger Osieck was quick to point out how many players he was missing through injury in the wake of the defeat. Far be it for Urawa to ever admit being outplayed - they've been one of the most boring teams in Japanese football all season, preferring to wear down their opponents and grind out results instead.

Last season Urawa played a swashbuckling style under popular coach Guido Buchwald. The former German international tipped his hat and bid adieu to take over at 2.Bundesliga club Alemannia Aachen last January, and the red half of Saitama has seen their previous attacking style replaced with clinical (i.e. boring) efficiency under ex-Canada coach Osieck.

At any rate, perhaps the J-League was hoping that Urawa would wrap up the title at Saitama Stadium after all? Referee Kenji Ogiya had apparently already ordered his "Urawa - 2007 Champions" commemorative t-shirt - he sent off both Toru Araiba and Yuji Funayama for no apparent reason other than that they play for Kashima. It wasn't enough, as the nine-men Antlers held on for a famous 1-0 win.

If Kashima beat Shimizu S-Pulse at Kashima Stadium next weekend and Urawa fail to beat Yokohama FC at Nissan Stadium, then it is Kashima - and not Urawa, who will be crowned 2007 J-League champions. Of course, with 50,000 Urawa fans likely to outnumber the "home" fans by about ten thousand to one, there's more chance of me being picked for The Socceroos then there is of Yokohama FC beating Urawa. Still, stranger things have happened... like Urawa failing to win the league title at Saitama Stadium, for example.

Kashima Stadium will be packed next weekend as well, but one thing is for sure - there's no way they'll be outdancing the Yajima Fan Club! Shimizu experienced a bizarre afternoon at Nihondaira Stadium last Saturday. They went behind to an absolute peach of a goal from striker Seiichiro Maki, who if memory serves me correctly, last scored around the time that the Ice Age ended.

Jungo Fujimoto took it upon himself to level up proceedings, dancing passed two defenders before smashing an unstoppable drive that Tomonori Tateishi barely saw as it flashed into the net. Referee Hajime Matsuo then took centre stage, sending off United defender Daisuke Saito for a bookable offence after just eighteen minutes. Saito was the last man when he clipped Korean star Cho Jae-Jin's heel, but the decision to hand Saito a straight red card may have been slightly harsh - his collision with Jae-Jin looked accidental. Nevertheless Matsuo should be applauded for applying the letter of the law, when too often J-League referees have turned a blind eye to goalscoring opportunities being blatantly denied.

The send off left United to battle on with ten men, but it failed to hinder one of the goals of the season. On sixty-four minutes, JEF United defender Nenad Djordevic spotted Shimizu goalkeeper Yohei Nishibe off his line. As the ball broke to him in midfield, the Serb simply hammered a shot in on goal, and the 18,577 fans in attendance watched breathlessly as Djordevic's strike from inside his own half sailed over Nishibe's head and into the net. The Yajima Fan Club was not impressed!

Elsewhere Omiya Ardija virtually guaranteed their top flight status with a 2-1 win away at neighbours FC Tokyo, with defender Leandro challenging Nenad Djordevic in the Goal Of The Season stakes with a stunning, solo stoppage time winner. Ventforet Kofu were relegated after losing 2-1 away at Kashiwa Reysol, and for all the obvious refereeing vendettas against them, sceptics will point to the fact that Kofu have scored only 33 goals in 33 games - despite employing more strikers than I do bad metaphors. Sanfrecce Hiroshima will almost certainly play J2 side Kyoto Sanga FC in the promotion/relegation playoff match, but all eyes will be on Yokohama and Kashima next weekend, where either the Reds or the Antlers will be crowned 2007 J-League champions.

There were plenty of highlights for Shimizu S-Pulse fans when the J-League draw was made last January. The derby with Jubilo always takes precedence, but the Round 32 clash with Urawa Reds at Saitama Stadium was also a stand-out fixture. As one of the lucky few to score a ticket in the away end at Saitama, I thought I'd share with you some of my experiences, in what was essentially a day in the life of a J-League fan.

The day starts early. For dedicated fans of clubs like Oita Trinita or Consadole Sapporo, an away match means a trip to Japan's main island of Honshu and often an entire weekend of travel. For me, this match meant an early Sunday morning rise - the official S-Pulse organised tour bus left Shimizu station just before 5am! Domestic rail travel in Japan is expensive, particularly on the Shinkansen, so for the money-conscious the choice often falls between driving or taking one of the club-organised tour buses to the stadium.

Normally bus travel is something I look upon as a necessary evil. I've travelled the length and breadth of England quite comfortably on National Express coaches, but then National Express coaches don't have a habit of arriving at their destination six hours early!

Japan is nothing if not a unique place, and one of the peculiarities of its upstanding citizens is their willingness - scratch that, desire, to line up! These guys would beat the English in a Olympics Queue-Off hands down, and in anticipation of a 2pm kick-off, it was with a heavy heart that I disembarked from the bus at the ungodly hour of 8am! Being a self-proclaimed man of the world there was little to do but whip out a newspaper and catch up on yesterday's news.

"Why do people line up so early to enter the stadium?" you might reasonably ask. It has to do with the fact that General Admission is a popular concept in Japan. That is to say that many fans buy non-numbered tickets - reserved seating in Japan is usually the last to sell-out, and will then arrive at the stadium hours in advance in the hope of scoring the best seats available. While most fans use the long wait as an excuse to put on an impromptu picnic, I can't help but feel that the method takes away from some of the more ritualistic elements of attending a match.

Saitama Stadium is one of those super modern arenas built on the outskirts of town that FIFA seem to prefer these days. There's no chance of a quick pre-match pint - the stadium lies in a middle of a field literally miles from the city centre, and any hopes I had of enjoying an early afternoon brew in the beer garden (okay, plastic tables and chairs put out on the stadium forecourt) were dashed by the fact that I didn't want to be the only fan whose view was obscured by an errant pillar. So I piled in with the rest of my early-morning bus-trippers and spent several hours watching the shadows creep slowly across the pitch.

Both sets of supporters set about creating an atmosphere, with Shimizu's away end packed by around 3,000 travelling fans. Yet the atmosphere from the Urawa fans was strangely lacklustre, not the least because most of those in the reserved seating seemed to take their seats only moments before kick-off. Even then, those fans remained quiet for most of the match - it was hardly the kind of welcome one would expect for a team that had just been crowned continental champions, with only the wall of Urawa fans behind the goal making concerted efforts to lift their team.

Those efforts began to diminish as soon as Shimizu S-Pulse began to take the upper hand. Indeed, the Urawa fans seemed to spend more time jeering opposition players who happened to be in possession of the ball, than they did cheering on their own team. It didn't help that one of Urawa's best players, Keita Suzuki, had to be substituted after just seventeen minutes, nor did it help that Washington was suspended, while Nobuhisa Yamada, Tatsuya Tanaka and Shinji Ono were all injured. Yet for a club that is so quick to trumpet its depth, and one that so eagerly proclaims its fans to be the best in Japan - Urawa were being out-played both on and off the pitch, as every hoofed long ball forward from ex-Hertha Berlin defender Fabio Nene brought ironic cheers from the Shimizu fans.

The match ultimately ended in a 0-0 draw - the second time I've seen a scoreless draw at Saitama Stadium this season, after Urawa's cynical 0-0 draw with Sydney FC in the AFC Champions League. Both teams had chances; Marcus Tulio Tanaka going agonisingly wide with a header in the opening stages, while Ryota Tsuzuki pulled off a miraculous stop after Fernandinho found himself one-on-one with the Urawa shot-stopper in the last minute of play.

Urawa now go on to face second-placed Kashima Antlers in what is a clash of the titans at Saitama Stadium next weekend. For me, I went straight back on to the bus. Any notion that perhaps the vast majority of Urawa fans really do come from the city of Saitama were dispelled by the bumper-to-bumper traffic that clogged the highway all the way through the megalopolis that is Tokyo, and out on to the Tomei Expressway that winds down the Pacific coastline. The bright lights of the big city were blurred by my tired eyes - I had a headache, and I was hungry. But after one of the biggest days on the Shimizu S-Pulse fan calendar ended in somewhat of an anti-climax, there's no doubt that given the chance, I would do it all again.

Well, it had to happen. Urawa Reds have been crowned Asian champions, and who could begrudge them? Yes they played boring, cynical football to reach the final, but in the end they were too strong for Iranian side Sepahan - who knocked Kawasaki Frontale out at the quarter-final stage.

I haven't had time (okay, I mean "the desire") to read the morning headlines but I can guess what they say. In fact, I thought I'd help out by writing my own report and seeing if I can't get it on the global news wires.

Urawa Reds crowned Asia's best, most likely to become America's Next Top Model

Urawa Reds have won the AFC Champions League after beating Iranian side Sepahan 2-0 in front of 59,034 fans at Saitama Stadium in the second leg of the final.

Yuichiro Nagai's clinical first half strike calmed the nerves of the more than 60,000 fans inside the stadium, and when Yuki Abe struck with twenty minutes remaining, the capacity crowd of 65,000 rose as one to celebrate the first ever victory by a Japanese team in the AFC Champions League.

Jubiliant Urawa fans claimed outside the ground that the Saitama club's win vindicated their belief that the Reds were the most important team in the history of football.

"I'm just so happy that my local team could prove to the world that we are the best!" screamed one fan.

"It took me four hours to travel up on the local train from Hamamatsu, but it was worth it!"

Another claimed that the size of the crowd proved that football was truly on the map in Japan.

"We are the only team in this city," said the fan.

"The fact that 70,000 fans turned out for this match just proves that there's a market for football in this country. I used to be a fan of the Yomiuri Giants, but now they're boring... and named after a newspaper!"

Urawa officials have confirmed that they now plan to build a stadium on the moon.

One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, claimed that after winning the Club World Cup next month, the next step was domination of the galaxy.

"We had over 75,000 fans turn out for the home leg of the Champions League final," said the official."

"It's only natural that we use the moon as the base for our intergalactic missions."

Urawa could face Sepahan again at the FIFA Club World Cup, before going on to face European minnows AC Milan in the semi-finals of that competition.

"Playing Milan will be boring," said one fan on the trip back to his home town of Mito.

"I just can't wait to see Urawa win the Miss Universe competition next year."

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Anyway, if that doesn't make it on to the wires, you can always read a much better report here.

Saturday afternoon was always going to be enjoyable. With the cold weather closing in, I was delighted by the knowledge that I would be spending the afternoon basking in the warm glow of the television.

With national broadcaster NHK screening the clash between Gamba Osaka and JEF United, I was further spoilt for choice by the fact that subscription network J-Sports was also offering a choice of Albirex Niigata vs FC Tokyo and Nagoya Grampus Eight vs Jubilo Iwata.

Since my NHK reception could hardly be described as "crystal clear," I decided my best bet was to stick with the match in either Niigata or Toyota, with the obligatory flicking for updates from around the grounds.

One look at the crowd that turned out at Toyota Stadium (17,529... for those of you playing along at home) for the fixture between Nagoya and Jubilo convinced me that Big Swan Stadium in Niigata was the venue of choice.

The Niigata - Tokyo clash turned out to be an entertaining affair, with Naohiro Ishikawa's excellent first half strike made redundant by Edmilson's brace in the second half - the latter a contentious winner scored from the penalty spot. What made the game such a spectacle, at least in part, was the cracking atmosphere raining down from the terraces.

Conversely, the match between Nagoya and Jubilo had all the atmosphere of a funeral procession, as TV viewers were greeted by the sight of row upon row of empty seats. Fitting then, that the two sides played out a dull 0-0 draw - at least as far as I could tell by flicking over between breaks in play, with Takayuki Chano's red card the only real talking point.

It's ironic then, that football seems more and more to be heading down the path of becoming a television sport. Live games in Japan are screened by a multitude of broadcasters - just as they are elsewhere in the world, and although broadcasts don't quite reach the same dizzying standards of your average Sky Sports telecast, the simple choice of watching one of several matches from the comfort of a living room was no doubt persuasive in convincing at least some fans to stay indoors this weekend.

The perennial debate between Aussie Rules and Rugby League fans in Australia over which is the more popular sport, is often settled in the minds of Aussie Rules fans by the fact that some Rugby League matches are played against the backdrop of near-empty stadia. What that argument overlooks, however, is that by sheer accident Rugby League functions almost perfectly as a TV sport.

Of the three times that I've watched an entire game of Aussie Rules, all three have been inside an Aussie Rules ground. On the other hand, of the hundreds of times I've watched a Rugby League game from inside a stadium, I can hardly recall a match that hasn't been enhanced by later watching a replay on television. That's because the minute details of Rugby League are better captured by a TV camera then they are at the ground, whereas the complexities of Aussie Rules - and its large playing field, are lost on a TV screen that can only display so much.

Football probably lies somewhere in between these two sports, with the aesthetics of the beautiful game obvious both inside the ground and on TV. It's perhaps the subtle differences that count for most. When I missed Bare's first goal for Gamba Osaka because I was watching Niigata's Edmilson score on another channel, I simply waited for an NHK replay to bring me up to speed. This season Shimizu S-Pulse installed a video screen at Nihondaira Stadium to replay goals for those caught in the beer queue at an inopportune moment, but seeing a goal replayed on a screen high up in the sky is not quite the same as watching it on TV.

It should be said that of the nine games played in Japan last weekend, four were played in front of what were practically full houses, with another hindered by the fact that only so many away fans can make a 1000 kilometre round trip on a Sunday. That is despite the fact that when the J-League switched from a two-stage system to a single stage format, it ensured that mid-table clubs have little to play for once the title-chasers and relegation-battlers have sorted themselves out.

Still, one can't help but wonder if screening live games on TV does more harm than good. The difference between me and some other J-League fans, perhaps, is that I still went to a game on the weekend. That's a luxury that many fans in England, for example, can't afford.

A few months ago When Saturday Comes made the startling revelation that the average age of an English Premier League fan actually inside the ground, is 43! That's hardly surprising when you consider the cost of attending an EPL game, with many younger fans having no choice but to settle in at home or at a pub to watch the match on TV.

What that means now is that the sight of empty seats at venues like the Riverside Stadium, the Reebok Stadium and even at Chelsea's UEFA Champions League fixtures, is common place. Good for the TV companies perhaps, but good for the game? If football is not careful, soon the only people left on the terraces will be camera crews.

Jungo Fujimoto shows how it's done in front of 16,508 fans at Nihondaira Stadium, who turned out to watch Shimizu S-Pulse come from behind to beat Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3-1.

The match was notable for the fact that it marked Shimizu-born Teruyoshi Ito's 400th J-League game for the club.

Ito became the first player to achieve the milestone for the same club, after Toshiya Fujita reached the mark playing for both Jubilo Iwata and Nagoya Grampus Eight.

Sometimes it's just not your day. That's certainly what the students of Meiji University must have been thinking at around a quarter-to-four yesterday afternoon, after their football team had held Shimizu S-Pulse to an heroic 3-3 draw in the Fourth Round of the Emperor's Cup, only to lose on penalties.

How Shimizu managed to conjure a miraculous escape against the Kanto League part-timers will forever be a source of conjecture for the Nihondaira faithful, but the fact of the matter is that Shimizu are now in the hat for the Fifth Round of Japan's oldest sporting competition. For 120 minutes of a pulsating, thrill-a-minute clash, however, that never looked likely to be the case.

The two teams certainly looked mis-matched when they took to the pitch. For perhaps the first time in his career Shimizu's midget-like Brazilian Fernandinho was actually taller than someone, with Meiji University's left-midfielder seeming to stand around four foot tall! Appearances can be deceptive, however, and any doubts about Meiji University's talent were dispelled when the students bundled J2 side Kyoto Sanga FC out in the Third Round of the competition.

And after weathering an early onslaught, Meiji took the game to their illustrious rivals - taking a shock lead ten minutes before half-time, following a superb right-wing counter-attack. That prompted fury from Shimizu's hardcore fans, who responded with muted boos when their team left the pitch.

S-Pulse coach Kenta Hasegawa withdrew Korean star Cho Jae-Jin for the pacy Takuro Yajima at half-time, with most inside the stadium and watching on broadcaster NHK expecting Shimizu to make short shrift of Meiji's plucky resistance in the second half. Wishful thinking perhaps, as Meiji spurned several glorious chances to take a deserved two goal lead. It took until fifteen minutes from time for midfielder Akihiro Hyodo to thump home an emphatic equaliser, to the visible relief of those dressed in orange.

With eight minutes remaining, man-of-the-match Naoki Aoyama produced what could politely be described as a "defender's finish," simply bludgeoning the ball home from around ten yards out, after he had been thrown into the attack as a makeshift centre forward. Several locals began to head for the exits, but their confidence was misplaced. Deep into stoppage time Meiji received a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area, and throwing everyone forward they managed to loop a header over the hapless Kaito Yamamoto to send the game into extra-time.

The drama didn't stop there, and for the second time in the match, Japan's Olympic goalkeeper Yamamoto failed to cover himself in glory, as he was beaten just before the half-time interval in extra-time, with Meiji taking the lead for the first time in the match. It took Shimizu until five minutes from time to equalise, when the bullocking Aoyama powered a header home to send this breathless match to penalties.

As is so often in football's version of Russian Roulette, it was the woodwork that separated these two sides, with Meiji's second penalty thundering into the crossbar with Yamamoto well beaten. The Shizuoka side were flawless from the spot, but the response from both team and fans said it all after Akinori Nishizawa had converted his side's final kick. Shimizu fans gave their side the frostiest of after-match receptions - just one week after the team had been lauded as heroes for their outstanding 3-1 win over Gamba Osaka at the same venue. Instead the Shimizu fans reserved their applause for Meiji University, who were given a deserved standing ovation from all sections of Nihondaira Stadium.

Shimizu will now take on Kanagawa giants Yokohama F. Marinos in the Fifth Round, with the Tokyo-based Meiji University left to ponder what might have been. They came within an inch of producing undoubtedly the upset of the season, but as so often happens in knock-out Cup competitions, it was simply a case of so near, yet so far.

Gamba Osaka have won the 2007 Nabisco League Cup in Japan, beating Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 in front of 41,569 fans at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

Japan under-20 international Michihiro Yasuda scored the only goal of the game, sliding in at the far post to produce a scrappy finish to Bare's low cross.

Gamba had to withstand an early onslaught from Kawasaki - who were playing in only their second major final, but ultimately the Osakans deserved their win.

They were denied a seemingly cast-iron penalty by referee Toshimitsu Yoshida midway through the first half when Kawasaki shot-stopper Eiji Kawashima up-ended Gamba midfielder Takahiro Futagawa inside the box.

Gamba also hit the post through their elusive Brazilian marksman Magno Alves in the second half, as they eventually began to assert their superiority.

Gamba's next appointment is a Fourth Round Emperor's Cup clash with J2 strugglers Montedio Yamagata on November 7, but for the rest of the Japan, the Emperor's Cup action takes place this weekend.

With Urawa Reds hosting Shikoku side Ehime FC of J2 and Omiya Ardija taking on J1 cellar dwellars Yokohama FC, there's a potential Saitama derby looming on the horizon in the next round.

Elsewhere there's an all J1 clash between JEF United and Oita Trinita, while Yokohama F. Marinos take on Japan Football League high-fliers Sagawa Kyubin. There's an Ibaraki derby between neighbours Kashima Antlers and Mito Hollyhock, while Sagan Tosu travel to the crucible of Big Swan Stadium for their clash with Albirex Niigata.

The students of Juntendo University and Meiji University are also still involved. Juntendo knocked out J2 promotion hopefuls Vegalta Sendai in Round Three to book themselves a date with Jubilo Iwata, while Meiji University take on Jubilo's local rivals Shimizu S-Pulse, after Meiji University beat Kyoto Sanga FC in the last round.

The action wraps up on Wednesday night when Gamba clashes with Montedio Yamagata, while Kawasaki Frontale have a tough looking contest with J2 side Cerezo Osaka to contend with.