So the League Cup finalists in Japan have been decided for another year, and the fact that Gamba Osaka have booked their place at Kokuritsu means that the Final is unlikely to sell out in a matter of hours, as it did last season - if it even sells out at all.

Gamba can thank a contentious penalty decision for their progression (and how often can you thank a dodgy call for a victory in Japan? Answer: just about every week), after they beat Kashima 1-0 in the first leg of their semi-final last Wednesday night.

Kashima fought back to win the second leg 3-2 at Kashima Stadium, but Gamba advanced on the away goals rule, depriving the Final of the colourful sight of thousands of Kashima fans filling one end of the National Stadium in Tokyo.

The Nabisco League Cup, as it's officially known, is sponsored by a company that makes biscuits and chips and similar sorts of savoury food items. I must say their heavily-salted chips are no match for the Potelkas that I munch on an ill-health inducing basis, and the League Cup Final also has a somewhat bland, almost stale look to it, with Kawasaki Frontale the team to take on Gamba in the championship game.

At least the Kanagawa club are in close enough proximity to bring thousands of fans to the National Stadium, although one can't help but think Kawasaki's local rivals Yokohama F. Marinos would have brought more.

At any rate Kawasaki beat Yokohama in both legs of their semi-finals, winning 2-1 at Nissan Stadium before making the ten kilometre trip back to Kawasaki to win 4-2 at  their Todoroki home and thus record a convincing 6-3 aggregate win.

A League Cup crown would go some way to vanquishing the disappointment of Kawasaki's AFC Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of Iranian side Sepahan. It won't mask the fact that Kawasaki dropped out of the J-League title race to try and win the AFC Champions League, nor will it hide the fact that without Juninho up front, Kawasaki probably wouldn't have won half the games that they have this season.

Nevertheless Gamba Osaka have also seemingly spent the past few months busily conjuring up new ways to choke in the J-League title race. Their "star" Brazilian striker Magno Alves is injured, and the Panasonic-backed team will hope that the elusive front man has recovered in time to take to their field on November 3.

They'll need all the help they can get, because if last season's Emperor's Cup Final is anything to go by, then Gamba are perhaps one of the few teams in Japan who can't rely on a fervent support to potentially get them over the line. It must be said that on New Year's Day Gamba's spindly support was being stared down by a roaring, vociferous army of Urawa fans, but what few dedicated Gamba fans there were (when they weren't being disrupted by interlopers like myself)... they were no match for the cacaphony of noise made by Urawa's exictable fans.

Last year's League Cup Final was a cracker (do I get paid for puns like this, Nabisco?) as JEF United and Kashima Antlers went head-to-head in a clash between two teams for whom a trophy would literally make or break their season. It'll be a similar scenario for Gamba Osaka and Kawasaki Frontale, when these two out-of-sorts teams clash at the National Stadium in Tokyo on November 3.