Japan beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 in freezing conditions at the National Stadium in Tokyo last night, thanks in no small part to two goals from substitute Koji Yamase.

After a season of starring for the otherwise mediocre Yokohama F. Marinos, the tricky Yamase finally got his chance when JEF United striker Seiichiro Maki went off injured. Yamase scored twice, finishing both goals with aplomb - which begs the question of why he was never given a chance under former coach Ivica Osim.

Speaking of Osim, the former Yugoslavia coach watched the match from the National Stadium, just months after suffering what appeared to be a life-threatening stroke. While Osim undoubtedly made strides with the national team, he'll no doubt have noted that many of the players most effective against Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely Atsuto Uchida, Yoshito Okubo and Yamase, were players who were overlooked under Osim's reign - generally for players Osim knew from his days as coach of JEF United.

Japan face Thailand in their opening World Cup qualifier on February 6, and on the basis of their 2007 showing at the Asian Cup, the Thai's will be no pushover. With the JEF United side that lifted the 2005 and 2006 League Cup having disintegrated this January, and with Ivica Osim no longer in charge of the national team, many fans in Japan are hoping that 2008 spells change for the Blue Samurai, particularly in terms of playing personnel.

Shimizu S-Pulse are rightly regarded as one of the most astute J-League clubs when it comes to signing young talent. One look at their current squad, which contains the likes of Jungo Fujimoto, Naoki Aoyama, Akihiro Hyodo and Shinji Okazaki, is enough to convince many young players that S-Pulse is the destination of choice to kick-start their career.

Still, even by their standards, S-Pulse have managed to pull of a major coup by signing the wonderfully named Genki Omae. The fact that this kid is nicknamed 'Lionel' - after Lionel Messi, speaks volumes.

It's not just that Omae stands a diminutive 1.66 metres tall. He also scores goals by the bucket-load. He recently hit the net an impressive seven times in steering Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa to the All-Japan High School tournament title. He scored twice in the final in front of 48,884 fans at the National Stadium in Tokyo, as RKU Kashiwa bulldozed Fujieda Higashi 4-0 at a frosty Kokuritsu to take home the title.

Despite also signing Brazilians Marcos Paulo Alves and Marcos Aurélio, all the talk around the club is about Omae. While not wishing to put pressure on a youngster that hasn't even kicked a ball in professional football, club officials are quietly hoping that Omae can fill the long-term boots of recently departed Korean star Cho Jae-Jin.

With S-Pulse having also snapped up midfielder Takuya Honda - who featured regularly in the Japan Olympic team's successful qualification campaign for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Shimizu fans could be forgiven for dreaming of the start of a dynasty. For now, at least, they'd settle for that elusive J-League title.

It's a funny old league, the J-League. Whether it's players labelling their coach "an idiot" in front of the press, referees sending off the wrong bemused player or top teams choking badly at already relegated clubs, there's rarely a dull moment in the Japanese game.

The same could be said of the 2.Bundesliga - a league I know well having watched many a Fortuna Köln game in that division, before die Fortunen died a slow, agonising death. One club that has managed to avoid a similar fate is eastern German side FC Carl Zeiss Jena, and by all accounts the second-from-bottom strugglers are on the verge of signing one Naoya Kikuchi.

It would be safe to say that 2007 wasn't quite Kikuchi's year. The midfielder was enjoying a solid, if unspectacular start to the new J-League season when word came through of an indiscretion that was set to cost the former Japan under-22 international his job.

In a turn of events that left even the most hardened J-League watcher shaking their head in disbelief (or maybe chuckling ever so slightly), Kikuchi was involved in one of the most bizarre sex scandals ever conceived.

It seems that one afternoon the young midfielder was particularly taken with a certain schoolgirl who happened to be passing him by. The two apparently locked eyes, and next thing you know they were getting jiggy with it in the back seat of Kikuchi's car. For some reason, Kikuchi attempted to pay the young lady in question the token sum of 10,000 yen after the deed was done. But his indiscretion was to cost him a lot more than that.

Kikuchi, in his infinite wisdom, inadvertently left his wallet in the front basket of the schoolgirl's bicycle, and left. The schoolgirl, being an upstanding, albeit amorous citizen of the world, dutifully handed the wallet in to local police, claiming that she had found it on the ground. The police took one look inside the wallet and promptly declared her a thief.

Evidently not wanting to take the fall for a crime that she had not committed, the schoolgirl confessed that she had had sex in the back seat of the car with the owner of the wallet. But this wasn't your average case of a star-struck teenage fan. She'd never even heard of Naoya Kikuchi!

The police had certainly heard of Naoya Kikuchi. They charged him with having sex with a minor - the schoolgirl was just 15, and Kikuchi was immediately sacked by his club side Jubilo Iwata. Claiming that his team's image had been tarnished, Jubilo Chairman Hiroshi Ukon even took a pay-cut - and fined several other members of his staff, for allowing Kikuchi to bring the club into disrepute.

The morality of Kikuchi's shenanighans aside - and let's not forget that it takes two to tango, he certainly took quite a fall for a few minutes worth of summertime fun. Ironically had he bothered to drive his femme fatale across prefectural borders to Kanagawa-ken, he wouldn't have even committed a crime! He just so happened to be committing a crime in his native Shizuoka Prefecture.

After being slapped with a year-long domestic ban, it looks like the erstwhile Jubilo star will be resurrecting his career at the Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld in Jena. I'm sure that the locals will take to him if he can help steer the struggling outfit to safety. But for everyone's sake, let's just hope the Jena training ground isn't located next to a school!

In just under a week's time the J-League fixture list will officially be announced, allowing fans up and down the country to start planning their weekends from March to December. With interest in the 2008 season gradually building, however, the J-League have announced the opening home fixtures for the eighteen top flight clubs.

Round 1

March 8

Kashima Antlers vs Consadole Sapporo (Kashima Stadium)

FC Tokyo vs Vissel Kobe (Ajinomoto Stadium)

Yokohama F. Marinos vs Urawa Reds (Nissan Stadium)

Shimizu S-Pulse vs Oita Trinita (Nihondaira Stadium)

Nagoya Grampus vs Kyoto Sanga FC (Toyota Stadium)

Gamba Osaka vs JEF United (Expo '70 Stadium)

March 9

Omiya Ardija vs Albirex Niigata (Omiya Park Stadium)

Kashiwa Reysol vs Jubilo Iwata (Kashiwa Hitachi Stadium)

Round 2

March 15

Consadole Sapporo vs Yokohama F. Marinos (Sapporo Dome)

Urawa Reds vs Nagoya Grampus (Saitama Stadium)

JEF United vs Shimizu S-Pulse (Fukuda Denshi Arena)

Albirex Niigata vs FC Tokyo (Big Swan Stadium)

Jubilo Iwata vs Gamba Osaka (Ecopa Stadium)

Vissel Kobe vs Kawasaki Frontale (Kobe Wing Stadium)

Oita Trinita vs Kashiwa Reysol (Kyushu Oil Dome)

March 16

Tokyo Verdy vs Kashima Antlers (Ajinomoto Stadium)

Kyoto Sanga FC vs Omiya Ardija (Nishikyogoku Stadium)

The obvious stand-out from the opening weekend sees the eternal grudge match between Yokohama F. Marinos and Urawa Reds take place at Nissan Stadium. Both teams don't have things much easier on the second weekend, where Marinos trek north to the chilly climes of Sapporo to take on last season's J2 champions Consadole, while Urawa host Nagoya Grampus at Saitama Stadium in a clash between two of Japan's wealthiest clubs.

For the second season in a row JEF United host Shimizu S-Pulse in their opening clash. S-Pulse hammered United 3-1 at 'Fukuari' last season, but it will be a radically different United line-up that takes to the pitch this time around, with almost all of their key players having left the club.

The J2 fixture list has also been announced, and it too will have a radically different look to last season. Two new clubs make their professional bow in the forms of FC Gifu and Roasso Kumamoto, and the season has been shortened from the marathon 52 rounds of last season to a half-marathon-esque schedule of 45 rounds (or something like that) this time around.

New boys Roasso Kumamoto travel to Ehime FC for their opening fixture, whilst FC Gifu host a tough-looking Vegalta Sendai in their first ever J-League clash. Elsewhere the likes of Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Cerezo Osaka will be looking to clamber back up to the top flight after they both endured nightmare seasons last year, while Pierre Littbarski's Avispa Fukuoka will be quietly confident of making a return to J1 at the end of the season.

The new J-League season gets underway on March 1 with the season-opening Super Cup clash between J1 winners Kashima Antlers and Emperor's Cup runner-up Sanfrecce Hiroshima at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

I read an interesting article over at the Kicker Magazin website yesterday about the transfer of Urawa Reds midfielder Makoto Hasebe to German Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg. Hasebe has been a lynchpin of the Urawa side for the past two seasons, but with his contract having expired, the 23-year-old has decided to try his luck in Europe.

According to Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath, Hasebe has been on the club's radar for some two years now. Magath claimed that the club's scouts had been interested in Hasebe since early 2006. But I wonder.

Certainly Hasebe did well enough to attract the attention of at least one European club, with Serie A strugglers Siena widely linked with the out-of-contract Reds star towards the end of 2007. Their interest came to naught though, with the Tuscans instead signing Brazilian goalkeeper Artur Moraes and soon-to-be Socceroo striker Richard Porta during the January transfer window.

That Hasebe chose to sign for a Bundesliga side comes as no surprise, given that his former coach at Urawa is none-other-than 1990 World Cup winner Guido Buchwald. Indeed, Hasebe's best season with Urawa came when the Reds lifted the J-League title under Buchwald in 2006. Yet I can't help but feel that the decision to sign Hasebe is as much an attempt to lift Wolfsburg's global profile, as it is one designed to strengthen their midfield.

Coach Magath has claimed that he envisages Hasebe to be a defensive midfielder in a two-man shield in front of the back four. Yet Wolfsburg already have two defensive midfielders in the form of Christian Gentner and Brazilian international Josué. The highly experienced Guinean Pablo Thiam is also standing in Hasebe's way.

Should Hasebe wish to break into the Wolfsburg starting eleven, then he'll invariably need to work on his physical strength. The 1.77 metre-midfielder was repeatedly knocked off the ball when Urawa came up against Milan in the recent FIFA Club World Cup, and he'll no longer have the intuitive Keita Suzuki by his side to clean up his mistakes. Indeed it's a wonder that no European clubs have made a more concerted effort to sign Suzuki, given that he's so clearly the most influential player in the Urawa line-up.

Of course pre-judging Hasebe's European career before a ball has even been kicked is hardly fair. It's just that history is not on his side. Of the Japanese players who have gone before him, only the exceptional Shunsuke Nakamura has shone in European football. Naohiro Takahara scored eleven league goals for Eintracht Frankfurt last season, only to up-and-leave for Urawa as soon as Frankfurt brought in some competition up front.

Mitsuo Ogasawara is perhaps a better example. He played over 200 games for Kashima Antlers, yet played just six times while on loan at Italian club Messina. He then returned to Kashima midway through the 2007 J-League season and promptly fired the Ibaraki club to the J-League title.

To suggest that Hasebe won't be the only foreign player at Wolfsburg would be an understatement, given that he becomes the SIXTEENTH different nationality at the club this season. But he'll need to adjust to the language and the food quick-smart. He'll also have to adjust from playing in a side that is perennially challenging for the league title, to one that is conceivably battling against relegation this season.

Perhaps the 2008-09 season is a more realistic timeline for Hasebe to break in to the Wolfsburg team. By then Christian Gentner could possibly return to VfB Stuttgart - who loaned him to Wolfsburg, while Pablo Thiam's contract is set to expire. Wolfburg's financial position will also play a role, given that the club spent a whopping 30 million euros on players last summer, and are so far yet to see any tangible returns. Wolfsburg won't be in Europe next season, but at the very least, Makoto Hasebe will hope to be.

For me, football and music go hand in hand. I've always loved both equally and have always lamented the fact that I'm rubbish at both. Still, I've spent a lot of good times watching games and watching bands and occasionally boring those around me with my inane opinions on either topic.

You can imagine my excitement, then, any time I discover bands that actually like football. One of my favourites is legendary Swiss band The Vanilla Muffins. Yesterday I was listening to their classic record "Ultra Fine Day," when I remembered that I interviewed their drummer Eddie for a 'zine I used to write called Drink, Drank,Tuck.

That was back in 2004 and since then the band have unfortunately disbanded (for health reasons) and morphed in to a new band. Anyway, I've still got the interview with Eddie sitting around in my inbox and even though it's way out of date, I thought I'd share it with you fine folks here!

Do you know many Australian bands? Do The Vanilla Muffins have plans to tour Down Under some time in the future?

I really love Rose Tattoo and AC/DC and of course I know Midnight Oil and Men At Work cos they had big hits over here but I hardly know any punk or Oi band from Australia, shame on me. We would really like to play some gigs in your country but first I guess we have to find a millionaire to buy us the plane tickets .

How would you compare the Swiss punk scene to the rest of the continent? What kind of reception do you receive in the French and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland?

It's a small small scene here in Switzerland compared with the one in Germany for example. Also we haven't a big echo here in Switzerland cos nobody seem to know Vanilla Muffins over here. Maybe that's because we only played once in our country.

Do you think that more people are in to Oi! and Streetpunk in Europe than they are in the United States and possibly Australia?

I guess Germany is No. 1 in Oi and streetrock scenes worldwide, the U.S. seem to have a growning scene too but I have no idea what's happening Down Under.

If The Vanilla Muffins could share the stage with any three current bands in the world, what bands would they be and why?

I personally would like to share the stage with KISS, AC/DC and Motörhead. KISS for American Showtime and their all time hits, AC/DC for just being AC/DC and haven't changed their sound for 30 years (go for the next 30!) and Motörhead as my favourite band after the Ramones have retired.

Your latest album is "The Drug Is Football." You met at the St. Jakob-Parkstadion in Basel. And you’ve written numerous songs about your love for the red-and-blues of FC Basel. Just how important a role does football play in your music?

Football is one of the most important things in life, at least in my life (specially after those incredible 3 weeks of the EURO 2004 in Portugal, what a wonderful world it could be!), and so it plays also a very important role in our music. Of course some of our songs are about other things than football, not many but there are a few hehe.

FC Basel are the team to beat in Switzerland these days and their UEFA Champions League exploits of 2002 have given them a real European profile. Where do you think this sudden success has come from?

The team has improved much the last 3-4 years, thanx to Christian Gross the trainer, and with the (financial) participation of new persons (Gigi Oeri the new female club owner) in the club FC Basel finally could affort some players that brought more class into the team and with effort and of course a little bit of luck we could win some big games.

FC Basel will try again this summer to get into the Champions League but the teams to beat this time have names like Manchester United, Real Madrid or Juventus Turin, so all football gods have to be on our side again.

How do you rate the new St. Jakob-Parkstadion? What do you think of a standing-terrace being reintroduced in the Muttenzerkurve?

I really like the new stadium, I also think you can compare it to other international stadiums (you can't say that about many Swiss stadiums hehe). It's packed almost every match so it's really hard to get some tickets but I heard the stadion will be enlarged from now 33000 seats to around 41000 seats for the EURO 2008 (in Austria and Switzerland).

It's a much better feeling to stand during 90 minutes instead of sitting and jumping up every 10 seconds to see what has happened on the touchline but after some troubles with some idiots (throwing things) they have seated the whole Muttenzerkurve, in the same way as if every "Super League" match would be a Champions League match.

What about the current standard of Swiss football? Do you see any other clubs challenging the big three of FC Basel, Grasshoppers and Young Boys in the near future?

Before a new season starts there are always the usual "suspects" to fight for the crown, FC Basel, Grasshoppers (thought they played a really poor season and I hope the next one will be the same hehe), Young Boys (also try to get into the CL this summer) and FC Zürich. This time maybe Servette FC will be a big one too, they have found a new financier and are now buying new players like other people collect beer bottles.

All in all the standard of Swiss football, compared with the international leagues, is more or less poor.

How would you compare the Swiss national team that has qualified for the 2004 European Football Championships, with the team from Euro ‘96?

Before the EURO 2004 got started I hoped for some goals and for reaching maybe the quarter finals, now I'm a wiser man hehe. Switzerland exactly shot one goal, like in '96, so they kept their poor standard. At least it was a goal out of the game and not a penalty like in '96, that's the positive thing about Switzerland at the EURO 04.

Switzerland is co-hosting Euro 2008 with alpine neighbours Austria. Will The Vanilla Muffins be doing shows that summer or will it be strictly a time for football?

That's a long time to go now so i can't say anything but as usually it will be strictly a time for football like most of the time of every year.

The Vanilla Muffins

Brazilians Marcos Aurélio and Marcos Paulo Alves have lobbed up at Shimizu S-Pulse, following the announcement yesterday that S-Pulse had lured Marcos Aurélio from Santos FC on a one year loan deal.

The signing of Marcos Aurélio is not exactly the big-name replacement for departed Korean star Cho Jae-Jin that S-Pulse fans were hoping for. Since 2002 Marcos Aurélio has played for no less than seven Brazilian clubs, and he seemed to spend the latter half of 2006 playing for Serie C side Bragantino. His stats at Santos FC, not that I'm fluent in Portugese, appear anything but flattering.

Clearly Shimizu S-Pulse have taken a gamble on Marcos Aurélio, and he'll most likely start behind Shinji Okazaki and Takuro Yajima in the pecking order. These one year intercontinental loan deals hardly ever work out well though, and in checking out the Santos FC website this morning, I noted that FC Tokyo defender Evaldo was on his way back to Brazil having signed for Santos after hardly getting on the pitch in the J-League.

Shimizu's other signing in Marcos Paulo Alves appears more promising. The former Brazilian international counts Udinese and Sporting Lisbon among his former clubs, although he failed to break through at either side. Indeed, Marcos Paulo's career seems to amount to little more than a succession of starts at no less than nine different clubs!

At least Marcos Paulo is accustomed to Japanese football, having made eleven appearances in the second half of Yokohama FC's ill-fated 2007 campaign. Indeed Marcos Paulo appeared embarrassed to even be on the pitch for Yokohama FC - clearly his agent failed to mention that he was joining one of the worst teams in the history of football, and his expression upon making his debut for Yokohama FC in their 8-1 pummelling at the hands of cross-town rivals Yokohama F. Marinos was priceless.

Yet even the signing of Marcos Paulo is somewhat puzzling. He generally features as a defensive midfielder, yet Shimizu S-Pulse already possess a defensive midfielder - one of the best in the Japanese game in Teru Ito, who has played more than 400 league games for S-Pulse!

It's clear that S-Pulse's twin signings are an exercise in strengthening the depth available to coach Kenta Hasegawa, with the permanent transfers of left-back Arata Kodama and midfielder Fernandinho from Gamba Osaka, after their one year loan deals with S-Pulse had expired, seen as the most important piece of business during the off-season.

Yet I can't help but feel concerned about the prospect of the new season. The departure of Cho Jae-Jin leaves a gaping hole in the S-Pulse squad and puts added pressure on Okazaki and Yajima up front. Maybe that's what they need but if one of them gets injured, here's hoping that Marcos Aurélio adapts to life in Japan quickly, otherwise it could be a long-season indeed for the orange faithful.

When I hit the 'power' button on the laptop this morning, I just knew another big-name transfer would have been announced in the J-League. Sure enough, what do I wake up to but the news that Kawasaki Frontale's playmaker Magnum has left for Nagoya Grampus Eight?

The former Santos FC schemer is Nagoya's second major foreign signing in as many days, after the club announced that they had signed Serbian defender Milos Bajalica from, surprise, surprise, Red Star Belgrade. Nagoya's new coach is of course ex-Red Star President and former Nagoya legend Dragan Stojkovic.

Magnum's decision to sign for Nagoya was probably prompted by (apart from a shiny new Toyota) Kawasaki's decision to recall from loan Brazilian striker Hulk. The aptly-named Hulk has scored an astonishing 62 goals in two seasons in J2 - for two different clubs! He scored a leisurely 25 goals in 38 leagues games for Consadole Sapporo, before firing Tokyo Verdy back to the top flight with 37 goals in 42 league games last season.

Kawasaki have justifiably come to the realisation that those are numbers they can no longer ignore, with Frontale's strikerforce set to take on utterly frightening proportions. They already possess last-season's top-scorer in J1 in Juninho, not to mention the bullocking Chong Te-Se. What price ex-Japan international Kazuki Ganaha starts afresh elsewhere? He should give disgruntled Gamba Osaka striker Ryuji Bando a call... they could jet off into the sunset together.

Speaking of Gamba, they've replaced their old and slow Brazilian defender Sidiclei with another seemingly old (and possibly slow) defender called Mineiro, last of Internacional. The bigger news was they that they lured ex-Stade Rennais striker Lucas Severino over from FC Tokyo - hardly what the seemingly out-of-favour Ryuji Bando was hoping for. They'll also be loaning out their talented youngster Akihiro Ienaga - my question is, who will sign a player whose only capability appears to be putting the ball into Row F every time he touches it? (Answer: Gamba - Akira Kaji).

Perhaps the most amusing news, at least for those of us who are not JEF United fans, was first posted a couple of days ago over at the F2FF (From the 2nd Floor of Fukuari) blog.

According to F2FF, Hiroki Mizumoto, Koki Mizuno, Yuto Sato, Naotake Hanyu, Satoru Yamagishi and Seiichiro Maki could all be headed for the exit door in Chiba. That might cut into United's calendar sales somewhat, since all six grace the cover of the 2008 version! On a more serious note, if even half of those players leave then United will once again be battling against the drop.

For the record, the goal-shy Maki looks bound for Omiya Ardija (he's just the type of player that Omiya love to sign... a striker who never scores). Japan internationals Yamagishi and Hanyu look set to join rival clubs in the Kanto region, while Scottish giants Celtic are rumoured to have made an approach for Koki Mizuno. Hiroki Mizumoto looks set to head for just about anywhere that will take him... I say we have a whip around here in Shimizu and try and lure him to Nihondaira Stadium!

Yuto Sato has apparently signed for newly promoted Kyoto Sanga FC, where he'll be joined by ex-Kashima striker Atsushi Yanagisawa. Down the road Vissel Kobe have pulled off a bit of a coup by signing Korean enfant terrible Kim Nam-Il. I wonder if that will get the fans back into Kobe Wing Stadium? (Probably not). Just about every club in the J-League is lining up to strip Sanfrecce Hiroshima of their highly-talented assets, although the whereabouts of Japan internationals Hisato Sato and Yuichi Komano for next season has still not been definitively decided.

Phew, all that and we're just a week in to the silly season! No doubt there'll be much more to come.

That's quite a team they've got brewing up there at Saitama Stadium. Evidently finishing second in the J-League didn't go down too well with the biggest club on earth last season. So they've dangled 1.5million euros in the face of Eintracht Frankfurt and snatched Naohiro Takahara from the Hessen club.

Takahara's transfer is a bit of a strange one. The former Hamburger SV man wasn't especially thrilled with Frankfurt's signing of Czech striker Martin Fenin this January, but then a cynic might suggest that one way to answer his critics might be for Takahara to get fit and start banging in the goals for Frankfurt again. He banged them in last season. But then, Takahara has always been a fits-and-spurts kind of guy.

Anyway, the 28-year-old will be back in the J-League next season. He's a high profile player, so his signing is likely to regenerate a bit of interest in a league that has stagnated somewhat of late. How Takahara fits in to a strike force that already contains Tatsuya Tanaka, Yuichiro Nagai and the newly-signed Edmilson is anyone's guess, although Nagai already looks the odd-man-out in that foursome.

Urawa have been doing a fair bit of wheeling and dealing this winter, and given the funds available to the club, that's really no surprise. The Reds are trying to offload the eternally-injured Shinji Ono, but a quick physical by Ruhr-strugglers VfL Bochum revealed what everyone in Japan already knows - Ono hasn't got the knees for the professional game any more.

The Reds have apparently signed Oita Trinita midfielder Tsukasa Umesaki for a whopping 300 million yen, although where Umesaki fits in to the Urawa line-up is anyone's guess. Urawa will have to make do without injured playmaker Robson Ponte for up to six months, while Makoto Hasebe is apparently on his way to Serie A outfit Siena. Yet with ex-Japan international Alex reportedly on the verge of a move back to Urawa from Salzburg, the highly-rated Umesaki could find his chances at Urawa limited.

That's not likely to be a problem for Naohiro Takahara. Still, you could forgive the cynics among us for chanting "are you Chelsea in disguise?" the next time the Reds machine rumbles in to town.

Six months ago the suggestion that Kashima Antlers would be crowned double winners in Japan seemed ludicrous. Yet with the long campaign having wrapped up with the season-ending Emperor's Cup final on New Year's Day, Kashima Antlers stand alone as the dominant force in Japanese football.

Kashima predictably beat Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2-0 in front of a packed National Stadium in Tokyo, with young defender Atsuto Uchida and surprisingly Brazilian misfit Danilo scoring the goals.

Kashima had reached the final with a clinical 1-0 victory over Kawasaki Frontale three days earlier, with Masashi Motoyama's stupendous volley belying the fact that the Antlers spent almost the entire match doing everything possible to dampen the attacking threat of Kawasaki's Juninho and Chong Te-Se.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima sprung an upset in beating Gamba Osaka 3-1 at Ecopa Stadium in the other semi-final, but while plenty of hearts hoped for another Hiroshima upset in the final, there were just as many heads that predicted a routine Kashima victory.

So it turned out, as flying defender Atsusto Uchida continued Kashima's trend of relying upon goals from anyone but their strike force of Yuzo Tashiro and the pedestrian Marquinhos. Uchida smashed an unstoppable opener in the ninth minute, as fans tuning in on TV settled in for an afternoon feast of Kashima casually knocking the ball around for eighty minutes in an attempt to hold on to a one goal lead.

Kashima were never really threatened, and with NHK switching to a shot of the suspended Yosuke Kashiwagi sitting high in the stands every sixty seconds or so, the point that Hiroshima would have presented far more of an attacking threat with the effervescent Kashiwagi in their side was made with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

This being Japan, all that was left - besides the final whistle, was an appropriate cameo from Kashima's aging veteran Atsushi Yanagisawa. Kashima's club captain appears to be on his way out of the Ibaraki giants, with his average of about two league goals every five or so seasons not even satisfying the often goal-shy Antlers these days. Nevertheless Yanagisawa came on to set up a second goal for perhaps the only player at the club even less effective than he, as Brazilian midfielder Danilo surprised everyone by proving that he does indeed know what a football looks like, as he smacked the round thing into the back of the net in stoppage time.

So Kashima end the season as by far-and-away Japan's best team. Urawa fans will probably disagree - why wouldn't they, when their club can afford to splash out a cool 300 million yen for the likes of Oita Trinita's star Tsukasa Umesaki? The trophy count tells the tale, however, and while Urawa end the season as Asian champions, it's Kashima who have trumped them as they end the season as double winners in Japan, and deservedly so.