It's official, Australia is better than Brazil!

Just kidding folks, just kidding, but you've gotta strike while the iron is hot! 

And things are certainly hotting up in the J-League, where several scintillating matches took place this weekend.

Things kicked off in front of 22,168 fans at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo, where FC Tokyo finally cracked a home win, beating Oita Trinita 1-0. Paulo Wanchope made his first start in some time for Tokyo, and he laid on the only goal for the capital club, heading down for ex-Japan international Yasuyuki Konno to finish.

The real excitement took place just up the road, however, where 50,531 fans packed into Saitama Stadium to see a genuine slugfest between Japan's two Asian Champions League combatants. This match had everything, including a bizarre public spat that took place before kick-off between Marcus Tulio Tanaka - arguably Japan's best defender, and Japan coach Ivica Osim.

Coach Osim had scheduled a brief training session for Japan before this weekend's round of J-League matches. Urawa had claimed that Tanaka was injured, but sent the tenacious defender to the camp anyway. It was here, Tanaka claims, that Osim forced him to take part in several drills, where he further inflamed the injury that kept him out of the match with Kawasaki. 

A forlorn Tanaka sat high in the stands at Saitama Stadium and watched in horror as ex-JEF United midfielder Yuki Abe (these days a defender at Urawa, whose policy of signing ten midfielders for every one position now appears to be hindering them) stood idly by while Kazuki Ganaha burst in behind him to tap home Masaru Kurotsu's gently rolling cross.

For all those non-Urawa fans watching on TV (like myself) things got even better, when Urawa generously allowed the rangy Juninho time and space to deliver a cross. He delivered a cross alright, straight into the path of Magnum, who gleefully waltzed in front of goalkeeper Ryota Tsuzuki to "knee" the ball into the back of the net, in a somewhat unsightly fashion. 

Not to be outdone in the scrappy goal stakes, Urawa then scored the scrappiest one of them all, when Satoshi Horinouchi produced a spectacular - and rare - diving shoulder goal, after he appeared to be bear-hugged from behind by several desperate Kawasaki defenders. That was the only goal that the Reds could muster, however, as Frontale silenced the legion of Urawa glory-hunters fans packed into the stadium.

After that match I set out for Nihondaira in high hopes and with high spirits.  It wouldn't last. Kashima Antlers beat Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1, with former Messina striker Atsushi Yanagisawa - who some believe the word ineffective was actually invented for, miraculously scored twice to see off the home team. Worse still, his finishes were clinical - and the second came from a cross by ex-S-Pulse striker Marquinhos! Shimizu could only respond with a thirty-five yard rocket from defender Daisuke Ichikawa that threatened to send the goal-frame hurtling over Mount Fuji, but that was as much as a disappointing S-Pulse could conjure, as they sunk to a second home defeat of the season.

I came home to learn that Ventforet Kofu had come from behind to beat Kashiwa Reysol 3-2. I had the opportunity to watch Ventforet Kofu vs Vissel Kobe a few weeks ago, but chose not to. A wise decision, if I may say so, given that Kofu only managed a weak, last minute, come-from-behind 4-3 win over Kashiwa, who were at the time flying high near the top of the table. This time around Kofu opted for a more subtle comeback of the two goal variety. They went 2-1 down when substitute Tadanari Ri scored for Reysol, and things looked bleak with ten minutes remaining when another substitute in Kazunari Hosaka entered the fray. "Not to worry," thought Hosaka, who promptly scored twice for Kofu in the space of six minutes, to seal an improbable 3-2 win for the team from rural Yamanishi Prefecture.

Fortunately things calmed down on the Sunday, where nil-nil draws were always going to be the order of the day. That's not how it panned out, mind you, as Gamba Osaka smashed Jubilo Iwata 5-2 - bringing joy to the hearts of disgruntled Shimizu fans everywhere. Not to be outdone, Yokohama F. Marinos annihilated Oita Trinita 5-0 at Nissan Stadium, prompting thousands of J-League fans to simultaneously quip, "I never expected that!" Such is the wonder of the J-League, where unexpected results are never more than ninety minutes away.