Well, it had to happen. Urawa Reds have been crowned Asian champions, and who could begrudge them? Yes they played boring, cynical football to reach the final, but in the end they were too strong for Iranian side Sepahan - who knocked Kawasaki Frontale out at the quarter-final stage.

I haven't had time (okay, I mean "the desire") to read the morning headlines but I can guess what they say. In fact, I thought I'd help out by writing my own report and seeing if I can't get it on the global news wires.

Urawa Reds crowned Asia's best, most likely to become America's Next Top Model

Urawa Reds have won the AFC Champions League after beating Iranian side Sepahan 2-0 in front of 59,034 fans at Saitama Stadium in the second leg of the final.

Yuichiro Nagai's clinical first half strike calmed the nerves of the more than 60,000 fans inside the stadium, and when Yuki Abe struck with twenty minutes remaining, the capacity crowd of 65,000 rose as one to celebrate the first ever victory by a Japanese team in the AFC Champions League.

Jubiliant Urawa fans claimed outside the ground that the Saitama club's win vindicated their belief that the Reds were the most important team in the history of football.

"I'm just so happy that my local team could prove to the world that we are the best!" screamed one fan.

"It took me four hours to travel up on the local train from Hamamatsu, but it was worth it!"

Another claimed that the size of the crowd proved that football was truly on the map in Japan.

"We are the only team in this city," said the fan.

"The fact that 70,000 fans turned out for this match just proves that there's a market for football in this country. I used to be a fan of the Yomiuri Giants, but now they're boring... and named after a newspaper!"

Urawa officials have confirmed that they now plan to build a stadium on the moon.

One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, claimed that after winning the Club World Cup next month, the next step was domination of the galaxy.

"We had over 75,000 fans turn out for the home leg of the Champions League final," said the official."

"It's only natural that we use the moon as the base for our intergalactic missions."

Urawa could face Sepahan again at the FIFA Club World Cup, before going on to face European minnows AC Milan in the semi-finals of that competition.

"Playing Milan will be boring," said one fan on the trip back to his home town of Mito.

"I just can't wait to see Urawa win the Miss Universe competition next year."

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Anyway, if that doesn't make it on to the wires, you can always read a much better report here.

A near sell-out crowd, a clash between two titans, a history-making encounter. Or not? Just two hours before Urawa Reds come face-to-face with K-League side Seongnam Chunma Ilhwa in the second leg of their hotly anticipated AFC Champions League semi-final, grumblings continue to rumble about the revisionist nature of some media reports pertaining to the match.

In a piece circulated around the globe through Reuters, Urawa Reds, it was claimed, would become the first Japanese team to reach the final of Asia's "premier club competition" if they managed to overcome Seongnam in the semi-final. As many fans on message boards across the world have rightly pointed out, Urawa might become the first Japanese team to reach the final of the newly rebranded AFC Champions League, but they are certainly not the first Japanese team to reach the final of a continental competition in Asia.

Whilst the forerunners to the modern-day JEF United and Tokyo Verdy both won the old "Asian Club Cup" in their pre J-League incarnations, the club seemingly most hard done by in the rush to proclaim new glory, is Jubilo Iwata. Not only did they win the old Asian Club Cup as recently as 1999, but they also reached the next two finals in a row as well.

Now that the AFC Champions League has been revamped to take on a look that more closely resembles the format of the UEFA Champions League, does that mean that the history of the Asian Club Cup should be forgotten? Has the success of teams like Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade suddenly been forgotten - teams that in the current European climate now have virtually no chance of ever tasting continental success again, simply because the European Cup changed its name?

In its rush to modernise, the Asian Football Confederation is in danger of eliminating its past. That might be the aim. Yet no amount of revisionism will change the fact that in 1994 and 1995, Asia's premier club team was the now defunct Thai Farmers Bank FC. Perhaps there was more to Saburo Kawabuchi's claim earlier this year that AFC Champions League must become "more like the European Champions League." Perhaps what he meant was that the future of Asian football lies only in glamour clubs like Urawa Reds and Seongnam Chunma, and not in obscure minnows with unflattering names, like Thai Farmers Bank FC.

Win, lose or draw tonight - Urawa's participation in this season's AFC Champions League has certainly brought much needed exposure to the competition. It would be a shame, however, if it has done so at the expense of history.

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.

Urawa Reds' bold declaration at the start of the season that they would become "the first Japanese team to reach the AFC Champions League quarter-finals" raised a few eyebrows in Japan. To begin with, it overlooked the fact that fellow J-League outfit Kawasaki Frontale were also competing for that honour. More importantly, it ignored the success of Jubilo Iwata, who reached three continental finals in a row between 1999 and 2001, before the old "Asian Club Cup" was rebadged and revamped.

Ultimately it was Kawasaki, and not Urawa, who became the first Japanese team since 2003 to book their progress beyond the knock-out stage of the AFC Champions League, as Urawa learned that deeds on the pitch and not words in the media, were the key ingredient in getting out of their group. Urawa did get out of their group - just, and not surprisingly they've kept the preparations for their quarter-final clash with defending champions Jeonbuk Motors FC fairly quiet, as have Kawasaki, who face a tough task against Iranian side Sepahan.

Yet Urawa's bombastic rhetoric marked a growing trend in world football. Arrogance, it seems, is the new black.

When Uruguay came to Sydney for their knock-out FIFA World Cup qualifying clash in 2005, Uruguayan striker Alvaro Recoba incurred the wrath of the locals by declaring that Uruguay would win the tie because they had a "divine right" to play at the World Cup. Sadly for Recoba, his inference that Uruguay's rich football history was enough to get his team over the line proved incorrect, as Australia ultimately booked their place at the World Cup finals.

The late Australian legend Johnny Warren had hoped to live long enough to say to the world "I told you so" when it came to Australia rejoining the footballing élite. Yet Socceroos fans didn't have to wait long before the clichés kicked into overdrive, as first Brazil and then eventual champions Italy fell over themselves to declare that they would be easy winners against the supposed minnows from Down Under, before a ball had even been kicked.

How ironic, then, that Australia's maiden Asian Cup campaign should come undone partly as a result of their arrogance. After declaring that they could beat any team because they possessed a "tougher mental attitude," the suggestion that perhaps Iraq might also possess a tough mental attitude - given that their country had just been bombed into submission and was now being torn apart by civil war, sent the Australian camp into a spin - and eventually lead to the suggestion that any media outlet who questioned Australia's attitude was obviously conspiring against them.

Of course there is no greater arena for arrogance than the UEFA Champions League. Today English giants Manchester United and Liverpool announced their opposition to new UEFA President Michel Platini's plan to include domestic cup winners in upcoming editions of the Champions League. For Liverpool - who last won a league title some seventeen seasons ago, and United, who like the Anfield club were recently bought by a consortium of North American investors, nothing is more important than their own self-interest.

Tradition-laden teams from countries outside of the big three of England, Spain and Italy are routinely portrayed as easy-beats by both managers and fans alike, and with a level playing field having long since disappeared from European football, triumphs by clubs like Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade seem more like historical anomalies than distinct possibilities nowadays.

With fans in the modern era possessing greater access to information and video footage than ever before, perhaps the most telling aspect of this facade of grandeur can be found on message boards and forums across the internet. In many cases the majority of fans spend more time belittling their opponents, than worrying about the fortunes of their own team.

Modern football is seemingly at a crossroad. There may come a time when money - and the churlish attitudes that seem to come with it, no longer rules the game. But with the likes of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho snarling his contempt for referees, FC Bayern commercial manager Uli Hoeness implying that the Bundesliga is a one-horse race, and Urawa Reds conveniently forgetting both their opponents and contemporaries on a regular basis... I wouldn't bet on it.

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...

So it's come down to this. Given the turmoil at Sydney FC prior to the start of their Asian Champions League campaign - with coach Terry Butcher given the sack and Branko Culina brought in as interim manager, it was difficult to envisage the Harbour City club unduly troubling the likes of Urawa Reds and Shanghai Shenhua United in their ACL group, right? Wrong.

Going into the final group game at Saitama Stadium on May 23, the 2005 A-League champions Sydney FC are still in with a chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages of the competition at their first attempt. They'd have been in prime position, had midfielder Ufuk Talay not crashed a penalty into the crossbar in Sydney's most recent 0-0 draw at home to Shanghai Shenhua.

That draw, coupled with Urawa's 3-3 draw with Persik Kediri in Indonesia means that the Japanese giants have nine points going into the final match, with Sydney FC just behind them on eight. Urawa can afford to draw in front of what should be a vociferous home crowd at Saitama Stadium, but Sydney FC will come at them with all guns blazing.

Urawa were stunned when these two clubs met at Aussie Stadium back in March, having seemingly underestimated the 2005 Australian champions, as they fell two goals behind after just twenty minutes. The J-League champions showed their mettle, however, more than matching Sydney for the rest of the game and roaring back thanks to strikes from Robson Ponte and Yuichiro Nagai. The latter arguably scored the easiest goal of his career in Sydney, and Clint Bolton's uncharacteristic handling error - he spilled a cross at the feet of Nagai, could come back to haunt the A-League giants.

Urawa, however, are under the pump in Japan. Rumours that several squad members don't see eye to eye with new coach Holger Osieck just won't go away. Despite the over-abundance of talent at his disposal, Osieck rarely makes changes to a team that has already made gruelling trips to Sydney, Shanghai and Solo City this season. As a result, Urawa have rarely looked their best in 2007.

Thus a fascinating battle should ensure between a club written off before this competition kicked off, against the over-hyped J-League champions. Before this competition commenced, Urawa loudly proclaimed their desire to become the first Japanese team to reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League since the competition was revamped in 2003. They have already been beaten to that punch by Kawasaki Frontale, and with Sydney FC looking to do business in Saitama, there might just be another nasty surprise in store for the 2006 J-League champions Urawa.

So the League Cup kicks off here in Japan this week, and woe any coach who doesn't take this competition seriously!

With talent spread so evenly in the J-League, plenty of clubs realise that the League Cup represents an excellent chance to pick up a piece of silverware.

Conversely, a poor run in the Cup can spell doom and gloom if you're a highly paid foreign coach brought in to win trophies. Just ask Paulo Autori!

The League Cup in Japan features only J1 clubs, and kicks off with a four-team Group stage. There a couple of interesting looking groups this year, but none of that is important...because my home-town team Shimizu S-Pulse have been drawn in the same group as Kashiwa Reysol.

Now I'm a mild-mannered man and I try to be fair and objective. But last weekend in the J-League, Shimizu were robbed thanks to what can only be described as THE WORST DECISION IN THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL.

Okay, it wasn't really that bad. But I reckon Shimizu will be out for revenge, since it was Kashiwa Reysol to whom they lost at Nihondaira Stadium for the first time in ages, and since they kick-off their League Cup campaign, predictably, against Kashiwa Reysol.

As for the decision in question - let's just say it was another classic piece of J-League refereeing, which saw Shimizu striker Cho Jae Jin pulled down in the box, Shimizu midfielder Fernandinho slot the ball into the net, and J-League referee Tsutomu Anazawa blow for a foul - after the ball had hit the back of the net - against Shimizu.

Anyway, I would say that JEF United are the team to beat in the League Cup, since they've won the last two editions, but I reckon a team of blind monkies could probably beat United at just about anything right now. Kashima Antlers obviously couldn't, but that's another story.

On a final note, Kawasaki Frontale and Urawa Reds are absent from the group stage of the League Cup, as they are competing in the "prestigious" (according to the AFC) Asian Champions League. Kawasaki take on Bangkok University tomorrow, but I must confess a personal interest in the Sydney FC - Urawa game.

I was a Sydney FC season-ticket holder during their inaugural A-League season, and since I possess a healthy disdain for all things related to Urawa, I'll be cheering louder than usual for their opponents in this one.