It took Urawa Reds all of two matches to sack coach Holger Osieck and replace him with Gert Engels. Reds fans could be forgiven a sense of déjà vu - not because of the sacking, but because like Osieck before him, Engels is a familiar face within the Urawa camp. He's been at the club since 2004, but has surely leapt from the frying pan into the fire as he takes over as head coach at a club simmering with internal dissent.

The Reds have been outplayed in each of their opening two matches, losing firstly to Yokohama F. Marinos in front of more than 62,000 fans at Nissan Stadium, before just under 55,000 fans turned out at Saitama Stadium to see Nagoya Grampus snatch all three points from a club that is quickly becoming one of their favourite opponents.

Speaking of Nagoya, Pixy Stojkovic is yet to spontaneously combust on the Grampus touchline, although the exciteable Serb has shown signs that the only thing left of him could be a smouldering pair of shoes come the end of the J. League season. He was reportedly furious after Nagoya's opening 1-1 draw at home to Kyoto Sanga, in a match in which the visitors outplayed their more fancied opponents. Nevertheless following Nagoya's defeat of Urawa the diminutive former Grampus midfielder claimed that it was one of the best days of his life, leading one to ponder how Stojkovic might react if Nagoya actually won a trophy.

The topsy-turvy results continued on day two of the J. League, with the pick of the scores surely Vissel Kobe's 4-1 hammering of Kawasaki Frontale. Indeed Kawasaki's much-vaunted strike force hasn't looked remotely close to scoring yet, with coach Takashi Sekizuka suddenly the last to have realised that fitting Juninho, Hulk, Chong Tese, Kazuki Ganaha and Masaru Kurotsu into three striking places is not necessarily one of those "difficult selection scenarios that the club is happy to have."

With the League Cup taking centre stage for Matchday 1 and 2 of the group stage next Thursday and Sunday, certain clubs will invariably look to tinker with their line-ups in the hope of discovering a winning formation. Others will just be desperate for a win - foremost among them Urawa Reds, as they head into the Gert Engels era more quickly than anyone could have imagined.

After last weekend's Super Cup stupidity, league action finally returns to Japan as football fans up and down the country awake from their two-month hibernation.

As usual, the fixture list (ie. some bloke at J. League headquarters) has thrown up some fascinating opening day encounters - not the least being Urawa Reds' return to Nissan Stadium, where they face bitter rivals Yokohama F. Marinos. It was at Nissan that the Reds incredibly choked on the final day of last season, losing 1-0 to the already relegated Yokohama FC and handing the J. League title on a plate to Kashima Antlers.

The Antlers kick start their proceedings by hosting J2 champions Consadole Sapporo, with Antlers coach Oswaldo de Oliveira still smarting at Masaaki Iemoto's hysterical refereeing performance in the Super Cup. Nevertheless the Antlers will expect to kick off the new season with a win - in the league at least, with troubled Sapporo plagued by financial worries and hindered by the fact that their training pitch is usually under about ten feet of snow.

The return of Tokyo Verdy to Todoroki Stadium will have the locals hot and bothered, as Kawasaki Frontale host their former city rivals. The 25,000 capacity stadium is likely to be packed for the first clash between the sides since Verdy decided to leave the city of Kawasaki and reestablish themselves in the capital. That move has worked out wonderfully well for Verdy... if you exclude the fact that both FC Tokyo and Kawasaki Frontale are now more popular than Verdy, who've spent the past two seasons scrapping it out in the glamourous surrounds of J2.

Elsewhere Nagoya Grampus will slug it out with Kyoto Sanga FC at Toyota Stadium, with both clubs having deemed a shortening of names was in order. More importantly the match marks the return of legendary former Nagoya midfielder Dragan Stojkovic, who takes over as coach from the departed Sef Vergoosen. 'Pixy' has a street named after him Nagoya, but the diminutive Serb will be hoping that his Messiah-like return doesn't end in crucifixtion if he is unable to lift the Toyota-backed giants into the top five.

Personally I'll be down at Nihondaira Stadium and from the looks of it, I won't be the only one. Shimizu S-Pulse are expecting one of their largest opening day crowds in history and given that visitors Oita Trinita are likely to bring a couple of hundred away fans at most on the 1000 kilometre journey to Shimizu, that's quite an effort from the orange faithful. The atmospheric ground will thus be rocking to the tune of 20,000 partisan locals, as the Kyushu-based Oita Trinita get set for an uncomfortable afternoon.

So stay tuned for all the thrill, spills and old-school skills because the J. League is back, bigger, better and with more blind referees than ever!