Strap on your helmets kids, it's time for THE GRUDGE MATCH!

There's nothing like bandying about some good old clichés to get your point across. So there'll be no love lost when two of Japan's biggest rivals clash at Saitama Stadium this weekend! There, I said it. Urawa are playing Gamba Osaka, and no doubt the English-language media in Japan will be working themselves into a frenzy.

Saburo Kawabuchi - head of the Japan Football Association, claimed last week that the Asian Champions League needs reformatting. It invariably does, but it's difficult to see how Kawabuchi's vision of allowing more clubs from Japan, Korea and Australia to enter is going to help clubs from South-East Asia develop.

Recently the Australian media has been falling over itself to proclaim Urawa Reds as "the biggest club in Asia." Eh? Two years ago Urawa weren't even the biggest club in Japan. Maybe that fact has been lost on the likes of Kawabuchi, who dream of full houses at matches between clubs like Urawa Reds and Sydney FC.

Of course, Urawa's final Asian Champions League encounter with Sydney on May 23 very well COULD draw a full house. But it would be a first. The reality is that clubs like Kawasaki Frontale, Gamba Osaka and anyone else that qualifies for the Champions League, will continue to play in half-empty stadiums, fielding less than full-strength teams. The fact that Urawa have somewhat bucked that trend recently (even though few media outlets pointed out that two crowds of around 30,000 in the Champions League so far still meant that Saitama Stadium was only half full) makes it easy for the media to claim that Urawa are Asia's biggest club.

The fact that they have just one league title to their name suggests that they are not. The same could be said of Gamba Osaka, with the Panasonic-funded club having only the 2005 J-League crown to show for their efforts. Yet the winds of change have blown through Japanese football, so no longer can traditional powerhouses like Kashima Antlers, Jubilo Iwata and Yokohama F. Marinos claim to be the biggest teams in the country.

These things are often cyclical, so now it's Urawa and Gamba Osaka's turn to be labelled "the biggest arch rivals in Japan!" In reality, they've probably only been rivals for two years, but since Urawa thwarted Gamba Osaka at every turn last season - and Gamba responded in kind by smashing Urawa 4-0 in the 2007 Super Cup - this match is sure to be a hotly contested affair.

There are plenty of stars on show, and Marcus Tulio Tanaka's tussle with Magno Alves should prove fascinating. There will also be plenty of scrutiny on Urawa's Brazilian striker Washington - if he gets on the pitch. Out-of-form, heavily criticised, dropped and then restored...now Washington "supposedly" has an injury, but the rumours coming out of Saitama are that the temperamental striker doesn't see eye to eye with new coach Holger Osieck.  

Anyway, it should prove an exciting match, irrespective of how dubious any claims of "the biggest club in..." are. Gamba are currently on top of the table, while Urawa are in second, and with the likes of Jubilo Iwata, Yokohama F. Marinos and Kashima Antlers all floating about in mid-table, it looks like the new status quo of Japanese football is here to stay for some time yet.