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...