Well, it had to happen some day. Shimizu S-Pulse took a giant leap towards qualification for the knock-out stages of the League Cup with a convincing 2-1 win over JEF United in front of a respectable 10,214 fans at a wet Nihondaira Stadium. For me, it was my final game in Japan.

After more than seventy games and far too many away trips to mention, I've decided to call it a day and head back to Australia. I was relieved to see the good guys in orange end with a win thanks to two goals taken with aplomb by Kazuki Hara and Akihiro Hyodo, although the Chiba underdogs gave S-Pulse a scare when captain Tomi Shimomura pulled a goal back in stoppage time.

The win moves Shimizu S-Pulse up to second behind FC Tokyo in Group B and the two sides will meet at Komazawa Stadium on Matchday 7 - by which time both will hope to have guaranteed progression to the knock-out stages.

There was no Eddy Bosnar in the United line-up - after sitting out a suspension in the 1-0 win away at Montedio Yamagata last time out, he was left on the bench this time around - with Yohei Fukumoto and one-time Shimizu S-Pulse defender Takumi Wada preferred at the back instead. United were always on the back foot against an aggressive Shimizu, however, and the hosts took the lead when Kazuki Hara fired an unerring left-foot volley across Masahiro Okamoto and into the far corner.

It wasn't until stoppage-time that Shimizu scored a second when Frode Johnsen laid off a perfect cushioned header for the influential Akihiro Hyodo to lash home from sixteen yards, although United pulled a late consolation back when Tomi Shimomura took advantage of an unconvincing Kaito Yamamoto punch to steer home a skidding finish at the death.

All in all it was a convincing win from Kenta Hasegawa's team, and they will take some confidence into their League Cup clash away at Vissel Kobe on Sunday. I'll be back in Sydney by then, no doubt reminiscing about some of the fantastic football I've seen in what must be one of the world's most underrated football leagues.

I've made plenty of friends along the way - far too many to thank individually - but I'd like to take the opportunity to thank Melanie, Yuichi, Philip and Misa in particular, without whom I'd have never watched as much football in Japan as I have. I'd also like to thank all the readers of the blog, from Sydney to Phnom Penh via Tokyo and beyond. I hope I've managed to share a little bit of the unique world that is Japanese football with you.

As the late, great Jim Morrison once said...

This is the end.

Round 6 of the J. League kicks off this weekend with an unusual Friday night clash between Gamba Osaka and Montedio Yamagata.

With the Osakans off to the far-flung reaches of Sumatra to take on Indonesian outfit Sriwijaya in the AFC Champions League next Tuesday, the J. League has allowed Gamba to push forward their home clash with surprise package Montedio to give them time to prepare for their Asian gambit.

Australians will be familiar with the idea of Friday night football - indeed Friday night games are key marketing concepts for both the National Rugby League and Australian Football League. However it's a novel concept in Japan, and with fans struggling to leave their office in time for kick-off, Gamba have slashed ticket prices for club members in an attempt to draw a crowd.

The TV ratings would make for interesting analysis too, and with many Japanese working regular business hours on a Saturday, this could prove an interesting round of fixtures for the J. League. Midweek league games are common enough - particularly in J2 - but it remains to be seen what the response for a Friday night encounter is compared to the more common Wednesday-night variety.

However things pan out, I'll be tuning in on TV for a bit of Friday night action, and what's more I'll be making the trip down to Ecopa Stadium on Sunday afternoon for the latest installment of the Shizuoka derby.

These two sides have already met this season, but with league points on the line, the atmosphere will be ramped up a notch for what is always a feisty affair.

Former Urawa Reds striker Yuichiro Nagai is expected to make his belated debut off the bench for the good guys of Shizuoka football, while Jubilo Iwata are not only struggling at the foot of the table - they're also missing top scorer and serial yellow-card-collector Gilsinho through suspension for this one.

Good news for S-Pulse, but these things often have a way of evening themselves out, and after Jubilo Iwata outplayed Urawa Reds at Ecopa Stadium in a 1-1 draw this season, the team from the blue half of Shizuoka will no doubt keep things interesting in what is shaping up as an intriguing contest.

I read an interesting piece by Jesse Fink over at The Roar the other day about the A-League's current struggle to attract fans through the turnstiles. While I found myself nodding in agreement as usual with the Finkster, his suggestion that the A-League might scour the J. League for some talent got me thinking about just who from these shores would prove useful Down Under.

My first thought was Nagoya's out-of-contract, not-necessarily-wanting-to-return-to-Norway, goal-every-other-game former international Frode Johnsen. The big blonde bomber has not only been one of the most consistent goalscorers in Japanese football since his switch from ex-UEFA Champions League mainstays Rosenborg, he's also one of the nicest blokes going around. His salary might prove a stumbling block - something tells me that Toyota-backed Nagoya have a fair bit of bling to throw around - but he strikes me as the kind of bloke for whom a nice sea change by the beach with the wife and kids would not affect his strong work ethic and ability to find the net with monotonous regularity.

Then I turned my thoughts to Consadole Sapporo's hapless Brazilian Davi. The agile striker has been a joy to watch (for non-Sapporo fans, at least) as he struggles to rein in his combustible temperament in the midst of the total incompetence of his team-mates. The former Vitoria striker was one of the best in J2 last season, but the fact that he is now the top-flight's second-top scorer despite only playing twenty games speaks volumes for his quality - and the majority of his goals have been sights to behold, as well.

Davi is clearly the type of player that attracts fans through the gates - I know I was looking forward to seeing him when he came to Nihondaira Stadium last month - but then I remembered the rumours coming out of the Japanese press that several teams in the Gulf States are looking at luring some of the J. League's foreign stars to the Middle-East.

Australians already know about one of them. Emerson has been at the centre of a legal wrangle over his eligibility to play for Qatar in World Cup qualifiers for months, but before his reincarnation as a Qatari-goal getter, the Brazilian-born striker was a regular goalscorer for Urawa Reds. Emerson arguably set the trend for J. League players cashing in their yen and heading to the Middle-East, but Magno Alves upped the stakes when he walked out on Gamba Osaka to join Saudi side Al-Ittihad just days after the Osakans had lifted the League Cup in 2007.

The next Gamba striker to lob up at the Emirates Airlines express check-in desk was Baré, who booked himself a one-way flight to Dubai to link up with Al-Ahli. Gamba Osaka banked a cool six million euros for their end of the deal, but the simple fact is that the J. League is slowly but surely losing some of its best.

The departure of some of the J. League's Brazilian stars may ultimately help Japanese football. As it currently stands the Japanese national team has chronic problems in attack, with coach Takeshi Okada admitting that Japanese strikers in the J. League struggle in comparison to their Brazilian counterparts - many of whom spend half the time hogging the ball, and the other half berating their team-mates for not passing to them.

It's a hard stretch to see any Japanese players willing to sacrifice a generous salary, comfortable lifestyle and familiar culture to test their skills in the A-League, and suggestions that the J. League will "raid the A-League" for players next season seem wide of the mark given the extensive scouting network that most Japanese clubs employ in Brazil - not to mention the historical success of Koreans in the J. League.

A more realistic appraisal might be that the J. League becomes a kind of second-tier league - at least in terms of cash-flow - as it struggles to keep up with the oil-rich Emirates. Already the J. League is considered by many to be the most professional of Asian leagues, but a substantial injection of cash could gradually change things in the Gulf.

The J. League will always continue to attract skillful foreigners, but whether they are of the same calibre as players like Emerson and Baré remains to be seen. The departure of some of the limelight-grabbing Brazilians from Japanese football may ultimately be a good thing - at least for the Japanese national team - but with the A-League now a new player on the block and competing with Japan and the K-League for supplies of talent, the J. League will do well to keep an eye on the ball, lest the focus of Asian club football makes a seismic shift west.

It was a lazy headline writer's dream overnight as the J. League continued its haemoraging of big-name Brazilian strikers, with Hulk leaving a club that most people in Europe have never heard of (Tokyo Verdy) to join a club that most people in Europe forget won the UEFA Champions League in 2004 (FC Porto).

Practically every single online news outlet across the globe greeted the signing with the news that Porto had signed "the incredible Hulk," although perhaps the most incredible thing about the bustling Brazilian was his penchant for spectacular tantrums.

After running the Urawa Reds defence ragged in Verdy's recent 3-2 loss to the Reds at Saitama Stadium, Hulk was incensed at his 73rd minute substitution by coach Tetsuji Hashiratani. Cue his usual outburst, which resulted in Hulk returning to Brazil - apparently to oversee the birth of his child, at least according to Tokyo Verdy.

Now the much-travelled striker has lobbed up at FC Porto, and the ex-European champions will do well to rein in the giant striker's combustible temperament. After joining Kawasaki Frontale in 2005, Hulk was loaned out to Second Division club Consadole Sapporo where he blasted home 25 goals in 38 league games. With Sapporo unable to meet Hulk's hefty wage demands the burly Brazilian then found himself at Tokyo Verdy, whom he fired back to the top flight with an even more impressive 37 goals in 42 games. Some 62 goals in two seasons in J2 was enough to prompt Kawasaki to recall Hulk for the 2008 season, but after playing just three games he was promptly sold to Tokyo Verdy, with Kawasaki officials claiming that Hulk had had a negative impact on the Frontale dressing room.

Now the 22-year-old will be hoping to make his mark on European football, but with Verdy having hardly missed the Brazilian in their most recent 2-1 win over Kashiwa Reysol - in which ex-Torino striker Masashi Oguro turned in an impressive performance alongside strike partner Kazuki Hiramoto, Hulk may need to buckle down as he seeks to have an impact in Portugal.

It's all gone pear-shaped for Avispa Fukuoka. Relegated from J1 at the end of 2006, the Kyushu side were expected to make a swift return to the top flight under the auspices of former Sydney FC coach Pierre Littbarski. The German World Cup winner knows the J. League well - he was a star at JEF United in the early nineties, before going on to coach the inaugural Yokohama FC in the lower reaches of the Japanese game.

Things have gone horribly wrong since the appointment of Littbarski, however. Fukuoka only went down after losing the promotion/relegation playoff on away goals to Vissel Kobe at the end of 2006, but despite signing experienced Australian international Alvin Ceccoli, the southern side could only finish seventh in their thirteen team league last season.

This season the J. League welcomed two new additions to J2 in the form of FC Gifu and Roasso Kumamoto - making a tough league even tougher to get out of. The result is that after fifteen rounds of action, Avispa Fukuoka are currently struggling in twelfth place in the fifteen team league.

Ever the innovator, at the start of the season Littbarski decided to do away with Fukuoka's Brazilian gaijin and replace them with players that he became acquainted with during his time as a coach in the fledgling A-League. It has been a "verkorksten" strategy. After scoring 26 goals in 45 games from midfield last season, Alex has gone on to become a key player at J1 side Kashiwa Reysol. Lincoln scored sixteen goals in 39 games for Fukuoka last season before he was shipped out to Shonan Bellmare, who are very much in the race for promotion to the top flight next season. That's a position that Avispa Fukuoka can only dream of.

In their places came Sydney FC duo Mark Rudan and Ufuk Talay to line up in defence and midfield respectively. Following the departure of Alvin Ceccoli, Australian international striker Joel Griffiths was signed on loan. Fukuoka also brought in the likes of Mike Havenaar from Yokohama F. Marinos and veteran Teruaki Kurobe from JEF United. They have all failed to impress.

Only former Kashiwa Reysol man Tetsuya Okubo has shown any kind of form, and he is the club's current top scorer with five goals in fifteen games. The rest of Fukuoka's high-profile signings have struggled. After spending most of Sydney FC's championship-winning season on the bench, Mark Rudan looks set to do the same at Fukuoka. He has struggled with knee injuries for most of the season, but his 92-kilogram frame has also made him an easy target for some of J2's more nimble-footed attackers.

Ufuk Talay's expansive passing game has been stifled by the quicker pace of Japanese football and his explosive temperament has at times riled some of J2's nit-picking referees - who must rank as some of the most pedantic in world football. Only Joel Griffiths has shown glimpses of his best form, but injuries, suspensions and international call-ups have limited his productivity to just three goals in nine games. 

After a succession of embarrassing defeats - including a humiliating derby day home defeat to J2 newcomers Roasso Kumamoto, Littbarski was given three matches to turn things around. He failed to do so. Yet the German has been spared the axe by an admission from club officials that they cannot afford to sack him! Indeed, so dire are Fukuoka's financial straits that J2 officials are nervously hoping that Fukuoka don't go under.

It's a world away from the top flight, and Fukuoka will need a miracle to get back there any time soon, given that they are already a massive twenty points behind league leaders Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Their struggles will also vindicate those who claimed that the tried-and-tested method of signing Brazilians to fill the three foreign squad places available was the only way to guarantee success. In a traditionally conservative country like Japan, the fortunes of Fukuoka's three Australians - not to mention Eddy Bosnar's JEF United, who are struggling in last place in J1, means that J. League teams are likely to think twice when it comes to signing Australians in the future.

That's the least of Avispa Fukuoka's current concerns. Unless they can generate some cash flow... let alone start to win some games, they could become the next Japanese team to crumble under the weight of financial strain. Far from walking in a Litti wonderland, Avispa Fukuoka seem to have found themselves in a nightmare of their own making.

The so-called Pan-Pacific Championship kicks off in Hawaii this afternoon, with Los Angeles Galaxy (that's right kids... the team that contains DAVID BECKHAM) taking on Japan's Gamba Osaka, while Sydney FC do battle with Houston Dynamo.

With a marketing drive that would make even the most over-the-top American sports promoter proud, the tournament will supposedly answer the question that has plagued not that many people for lo these many years - which league produces the best teams?

Don't ask me what the criteria for taking part in the tournament is - in the case of the LA Galaxy I suppose it's having at least one famous player, while Sydney FC were generously described by the Honolulu Advertiser as having just been crowned A-League champions, despite the fact that the A-League season is still going, and Sydney came fourth... out of eight.

Gamba Osaka, meanwhile, have made the friendly kickabout a top priority by releasing a mere seven players for international duty with Japan. The tournament didn't even receive a mention on the Gamba Osaka website until yesterday, while contrary to the Advertiser's semi-factual claims, the matches will not be screened on Japanese TV, where interest in the tournament rates somewhere between zero to nothing.

Still, I personally can't wait for the competition for the simple reason that whoever wins it will trumpet themselves as "the unofficial best team in the region!" It might be a friendly tournament involving teams that are either out-of-form or that haven't played for months but by golly, it'll sure tell us who can play! I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it...

Pan-Pacific Championship

Well that was quick. After provoking howls of fury from certain sections of the domestic press for his frank assessment of the A-League, new Australia coach Pim Verbeek has seemingly won over some of his detractors following the Socceroos' clinical defeat of Qatar in their opening World Cup qualifier. 

Australia hammered Qatar 3 - 0; it should have been at least six, with the Qatari's seemingly overwhelmed by a Socceroos line-up containing the likes of Everton star Tim Cahill, Palermo ace Mark Bresciano and Celtic striker Scott McDonald. The goals were all scored within the opening thirty-three minutes and but for some wayward second-half finishing the Aussie's could have run-up a proverbial cricket score.

The victory was enough to momentarily silence some of the critics who seemed ready to blame Verbeek for everything from a potential dip in attendances at A-League games to the severe storms currently lashing the country - I wouldn't have been surprised if someone tried to rename La Nina - "La Verbeek."

Still, the straight-talking Dutchman just seemed happy to have got the job done. The real test now comes in the form of China at altitude next month. If Australia needs any reminder of just how much of a role weather can play in the outcome of matches, they need only watch a tape of the Japan - Thailand clash, with the Thai's looking visibly uncomfortable in the snow in Saitama.

Evidently not one to be too perturbed by the machinations of the press, Verbeek did let one cat out of the bag. When TV commentator Simon Hill reminded the Dutchman that former Socceroos assistant-coach Johann Neeskens had not only learned the words to the Australian national anthem but actually sung it with gusto during the World Cup, Verbeek suggested that he hopes to have learned the lyrics after fourteen qualifying matches - and went on to claim that he'll sing it on TV when he does!

From Euro-snob to "Aussie Pim" - it's a funny old game indeed.

The news that Australia talisman Harry Kewell has been overlooked by new coach Pim Verbeek for Australia's opening World Cup qualifier against Qatar provoked less wailing and collective gnashing of teeth than I might have expected.

That's probably because Australian football fans have already worked themselves into an hysterical frenzy over Verbeek's frank assessment that he would rather select European-based players who were training regularly, over players currently plying their trade in the A-League.

The reaction that Verbeek's statement caused was immediate and sadly indicative of Australia's insular mindset. The suggestion that the Dutchman pack his bags and head back to his snobby Euro-football might have been a predictable one from the average flag-waving fan, but when the calls are led by Fox Sports commentator Robbie Slater and Sydney FC coach John Kosmina, it's harder to fathom.

The fact that not a single ball has been kicked under Verbeek's reign has been incredibly overlooked. Nor has Verbeek's obvious knowledge of Asian football been taken into account - the Dutchman was formerly coach of J-League sides Omiya Ardija and Kyoto Sanga FC, and was twice an assistant coach of the South Korean national team, before guiding them as head coach during the 2007 Asian Cup. Oddly enough the same Australian fans who snipe that the Koreans played "boring football" remain silent on the subject of some of the football on offer in the A-League. The fact that Sydney FC coach Kosmina grumbled about how to utilise 2002 World Cup winner Juninho surely speaks volumes.

Now Verbeek has walked into the lion's den - desperately under-prepared as his team faces up to a tricky looking Qatar in Melbourne. An all A-League Socceroos side could only manage a 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory at the weekend, in Australia's only hit-out before the World Cup campaign kicks off. That surely vindicates Verbeek's claim that an all A-League team would struggle to qualify for the World Cup.

Patriotic jingoism aside, Verbeek's decision to drop Harry Kewell smacks of an attempt by the Dutchman to assert some authority over the squad. Kewell is, after all, the most storied player in the Socceroo ranks. As a 17-year-old he scored in both legs of Australia's agonising World Cup defeat at the hands of Iran. In 2003 he tormented England in a 3-1 demolition of "the Old Country" at Upton Park and was instrumental in Australia's epic World Cup playoff win over Uruguay in 2005. Crucially, he scored the goal the sent Australia through to the second round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Yet the erstwhile Liverpool midfielder has been plagued by injury and poor form over the past few seasons. His poor spot-kick against Japan in the 2007 Asian Cup sent Australia on the way to a penalty shoot-out loss, and his chances of regular first-team football appear limited at Liverpool. Form and fitness aside, Harry Kewell simply should not be expected to carry the national team every time he takes to the pitch.

The commotion over Verbeek's A-League assessment and the subsequent omission of Kewell has at least generated feverish interest in the clash with Qatar. Should Verbeek's men register a first-up victory at a restlessly sold-out Telstra Dome it might silence the sceptics - for now. It won't, however, dampen the perception that Australians are growing increasingly intolerant of outsiders. One thing is the same - when it comes to being criticised, Australians remain as reactionary as ever.

Having visited the incredible Toyota Stadium during the recent FIFA Club World Cup, I began to consider some of the best stadiums I've ever seen games in.

I've been fortunate enough to watch football in many different stadiums. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup I attended games at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in Kaiserslautern, the Allianz Arena in München and the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgart.

At the FIFA Club World Cup, we saw games at the National Stadium in Tokyo, the futuristic Toyota Stadium and of course Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. I've seen games in more ramshackle grounds too - my favourite being the Südstadion in Köln, where I once saw Fortuna Köln striker Seyedali Mousavi hit a passing train with a hopelessly inaccurate penalty against VfL Bochum.

These days I watch the majority of my football at Shimizu S-Pulse's atmospheric Nihondaira Stadium.

Set amongst the Nihondaira hills with a spectacular view of Mount Fuji and the port city of Shimizu below, it's hard to imagine a more picturesque venue for a football stadium.

The ground itself isn't too bad either, with four distinct stands rising up over the landscape. The so-called 'Back Stand' features a roof that stretches only three-quarters of the way across the stand. Like many I had been duped into believing it was so that the view of Mount Fuji was not obscured, but wikipedia's Shizuoka Sensei (whose photo I have lovingly republished here) assures us that the reason for the missing section is because there is not enough room behind the stand to lay the necessary foundations to support the roof!

Before moving to Shimizu, my venue of choice was the Sydney Football Stadium, home of A-League misfits Sydney FC.

The stadium would have to be the subject of one of the most ridiculous arguments I've ever stumbled across; that being whether Sydney FC should play out of a ground located in the city centre, or whether they should move to a stadium in the suburbs, closer to the geographical centre of Sydney - one of the world's most sprawling cities.

Personally I think it's ludicrous to suggest that Sydney FC should play anywhere but in the heart of the city itself, but when Sydney FC fans are not donning their town planning hats, they're often maligning the stadium's frustrating roof. Heralded as an architectural masterpiece, the roof over the Sydney Football Stadium is everything that modern architecture should never be - nice to look at and completely useless. The roof is supposed to represent a wave, or something, and meanders up and down over the stands in an eye-catching manner. Unfortunately it also covers about 10% of the stands below, allowing the majority of the crowd to leave A-League games wet, since a Sydney FC home fixture is synonymous with wet weather in the Harbour city.

Before the advent of the A-League, the ground I frequented most often was Borussia Dortmund's legendary Westfalenstadion.

There are hardly enough superlatives to describe what is rightly considered one of the world's truly great football grounds. Dortmund's Südtribüne (pictured) - where I used to stand in Block 12, is Europe's largest standing terrace, and is packed with more than 25,000 of Dortmund's most vocal supporters on Bundesliga matchdays. When I used to attend games in 2000, the capacity of the Westfalenstadion was 63,000. That was increased to 80,000 (or 65,000 as an all-seater) as Dortmund hosted a semi-final at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and these days Borussia Dortmund enjoy the highest average attendance of any club in Europe.

The stadium was originally built as a 40,000 capacity venue for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. With the capacity having doubled since those days, some Dortmund fans now complain that the atmosphere at the ground has been diluted, with half the fans in attendance simply there to enjoy the spectacle of one Europe's biggest crowds. Still, it's hard to look passed the Westfalen as a venerable temple of football, and it's generally regarded as one of the most intimidating venue in the Bundesliga, at least when frustrated Dortmund fans aren't jeering their own team.

These days stadiums built in the 20th Century seem to have passed their use-by-date. They are increasingly being replaced by stock-standard stadia built on the outskirts of town, far from commercial and residential areas, and the potential for social interaction that these areas encompass. It seems the days of enjoying a pint or two in pubs that line the route to the ground are numbered.

The question of what makes a great stadium is also subjective. Some talk about capacity, others prefer location, while others still mention the atmosphere created inside the ground. For me a great stadium entails all of those things. But I'm interested to hear what you think. Which do you consider to be the best stadium in world football?

Nihondaira Stadium

Sydney Football Stadium

Westfalenstadion

The performance of Sydney FC defender Mark Milligan, and to a lesser extent team-mate David Carney in Australia's 4-0 win over Thailand at the Asian Cup, has presented Australia coach Graham Arnold with somewhat of a quandry ahead of Australia's Asian Cup quarter-final clash with Japan.

West Ham defender Lucas Neill - who has endured a miserable tournament so far, returns from suspension, posing the question of who will partner Neill in defence - Milligan, or 1.FC Nürnberg stopper Michael Beauchamp.

Beauchamp has usurped Leicester City man Patrick Kisnorbo in the central defensive pecking order for Australia, although Beauchamp has at times looked shaky in an Australia jersey. He memorably came off the bench in the last minute of a friendly against Paraguay in Brisbane, and then promptly scored an equalising own goal, to send the crowd of 50,000 home in dismay.

Nevertheless Beauchamp turned in a solid performance against Thailand, even opening the scoring with his first ever goal for the national team - at the right end of the pitch, at any rate. Yet it was the performance of the small and agile Milligan that dominated the headlines.

Sydney FC coach Branko Culina has urged Milligan and Carney to consider their options in Australia, before rashly signing for one of Europe's lesser lights. Who could blame him? Culina obviously wants to keep his star players at the club, but in highlighting the fact that Milligan and Carney are both good enough to play for the national team, he has a valid argument.

Michael Beauchamp is a case in point. At Central Coast Mariners he was regarded as a defender with undoubted potential, but it took a move to the German Bundesliga for him to receive a serious look-in with the national team.

That no longer needs to be the case. Milligan and Carney's performance proves that if you are good enough, you should be in the team, regardless of where you play your club football. 

Of course one match is unlikely to be the basis of a monumental shift in attitude, but it has certainly given Australia coach Graham Arnold food for thought.