I'm living in my own private Shimizu

The O-bon holidays have prompted an eerie atmosphere around the port city of Shimizu, with the streets deserted as people return to their places of birth to pay homage to the dead.

Outside the footpaths sizzle, with the occasional breeze doing little to cool the simmering summer temperatures, while those that have remained in the town no doubt spending their time in the comfort of air-conditioned indoors.

Ironic, then, that Shimizu S-Pulse will find themselves in a pressure-cooker of an atmosphere come Sunday evening, as they welcome Yokohama F. Marinos down the Pacific coastline to what will be a sold-out Nihondaira Stadium. Only a handful of tickets remain for this clash between 15th placed S-Pulse and their 16th placed port city rivals, in what is a make-or-break game for both teams.

Yokohama F. Marinos recently disposed of coach Takashi Kuwahara - who won championships with Jubilo Iwata, replacing him with novice Kokichi Kimura. To suggest that Kimura's tactics so far have been puzzling would be an understatement to say the least, with Kimura's first order of business to throw Brazilians Lopes and Roni out of his starting eleven (Roni has since joined Gamba Osaka), while pushing dynamic playmaker Koji Yamase into a striking role.

It seems that "positions" are an abstract concept for Kimura, who has happily played midfielders as defenders, defenders as midfielders and, just for good measure, both defenders and midfielders as attackers. The jury is still out on the new man in charge, who only managed to record his first win in the league last weekend. That came in a 2-1 win over Gamba Osaka, who Marinos had coincidentally beaten 2-1 in the second leg of their League Cup quarter-final just days beforehand, although Gamba managed to progress on the away goals rule.    

The Tricolore are in the embarrassing position of occupying the relegation/promotion playoff place, and while many will suggest that the Kanagawa giants are far too good a team to go down - many said the same thing about Sanfrecce Hiroshima last season. A win at Nihondaira, however, would see Marinos leapfrog none other than Shimizu S-Pulse in the standings.

All to play for, then, in what will be a ferocious clash watched by more than 20,000 fans in one of Japan's most pictureseque venues. Fans will no doubt hope for a cool ocean breeze to stir up from the Pacific come kick-off, but there's no doubt that the atmosphere inside Nihondaira will be red-hot, as teams from two of Japan's most important ports clash in this critical fixture.