It may only be a pre-season friendly, but there will be plenty of interested onlookers when Shimizu S-Pulse host local rivals Jubilo Iwata for the "SDT Cup" at Outsourcing Stadium Nihondaira tomorrow.

Both teams have been busy with pre-season kickabouts of varying intensity. Shimizu's most recent engagement saw them split two games with Korean giants Seongnam Ilhwa - losing the first 2-0, before winning the second 2-1. 

Jubilo beat J2 side Sagan Tosu 2-0 before drawing 1-1 with the same opponents in their most recent matches, but a Shizuoka derby is always going to up the ante - even if it occurs some three weeks before the J. League season kicks off.

S-Pulse fans will no doubt run the rule over new signings Yuichiro Nagai and Frode Johnsen, and there's growing belief in this part of the world that the 2009 vintage could be one of S-Pulse's best teams in years.

A lack of depth in defence leaves an obvious question mark, but compared to Jubilo's threadbare looking squad, the team from the orange half of Shizuoka-ken look in good shape.

By contrast Jubilo haven't managed to attract any decent signings of note - save, perhaps, for the versatile Daisuke Nasu - who swaps the mediocrity of Tokyo Verdy for the potential mediocrity of Jubilo for the current campaign.

The team from Yamaha-town will be leaning heavily on Brazilians Rodrigo and Gilsinho this season, but how new coach Masaaki Yanagishita could do with a return to form of some of Jubilo's other heavyweights such as Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, ex-Sanfrecce Hiroshima man Yuichi Komano and Bobby Cullen.

Only Ryoichi Maeda provided sporadic glimpses of his best last season, but the occasional Japan international will need more support from his team-mates in what could be a make-or-break season for both Maeda and club.

It may be one of a spate of derbies to take place around the globe this weekend, but it could be a confidence-boosting one for either Shimizu S-Pulse or Jubilo Iwata. Plenty to play for then - pre-season friendly notwithstanding.

JEF United fans could be forgiven for dousing their heads in a bucket of icy water with the news that 32-year-old Greg Miller has joined the coaching staff of the Chiba-based club.

It's not that the one-time Rangers youth team coach is a bad coach - quite frankly I wouldn't have the slightest clue as to what sort of coach he is - it's just that of all the clubs that have been burned by father-son combinations, JEF United are surely right up there.

In the not-so-distant past, United were transformed by Bosnian coach Ivica Osim from an eager bunch of provincial also-rans into a genuine force in the Japanese game. They picked up the 2005 League Cup title under Osim Sr, but things started to go slightly awry when the respected tactician decided to leave the Chiba club and take up the reins as coach of the Japan national team.

Enter Amar Osim - Ivica's perpetually over-shadowed son - who was desperate to prove himself as a coach of the highest pedigree. He failed.

Under Amar, JEF United went from being a genuine force in Japanese football to providing the kind of comedy clips you see on those late-night, sports-related talk shows.

Everyone's favourite was the tête-à-tête between Amar and star Bulgarian defender Ilian Stoyanov, with the feisty Bulgarian telling the press that Osim Jr was "clueless" and about to steer his team to relegation.

In a Mexican stand-off that thrilled the rest of the J. League and no doubt gave United fans cold sweats, club officials chose to usher Stoyanov towards the exit door and stand by their erratic and increasingly beleaguered coach.

Unfortunately there was no Steve McClaren-style umbrella-related end - but JEF United did eventually sack Amar Osim - just days after he managed to avoid relegation by the skin of his teeth... and his father had suffered a life-threatening stroke. He had the 2006 League Cup crown to show for his efforts, but even that was tarnished by the fact that he only stepped in midway through the campaign to replace his father.

Sometimes I feel sorry for Amar Osim - it can't always be easy being the son of a legendary player and coach - but then, it also has its uses when it comes to walking into employment.

Enter one Greg Miller.

Hopefully JEF United fans won't have any cause to throw themselves off the second floor of Fuku-ari this season, but they can be forgiven a sense of déjà vu over JEF United's latest coaching appointment. 

The 2009 J. League fixture list is out - leaving husbands and boyfriends up and down the country to explain long absences over weekends and crucial holiday periods (although in the female-friendly J. League... wives and girlfriends mostly drag themselves along).

A convenient "computer glitch" was no doubt behind an opening day crackerjack as Kashima Antlers get set to host Urawa Reds at Kashima Stadium, with the locals no doubt frothing at the mouth to remind the hated Saitama outfit of just who has recorded back-to-back J. League titles.

The rest of the opening weekend Saturday fixtures all look like fairly ho-hum affairs. JEF United doing battle with Gamba Osaka again? Expect another dull scoreless draw.

As predicted, Omiya Ardija host Shimizu S-Pulse on the Sunday in a battle to determine which of the two sides has a more naff-sounding stadium name. The elegant "Nack5" rolls off the tongue like the sort of fur-balls my cat used to produce all over the kitchen floor, but I just reckon Shimizu S-Pulse's new "Outsourcing Stadium Nihondaira" could take the cake for the most ridiculous new stadium name, with S-Pulse fans set to outsource their pride all over the country in embarrassment over that one. 

The other Sunday game sees Kyoto take on Vissel Kobe in a Kansai derby at Nishikyogoku Stadium - although Gamba Osaka have registered an early application in the "pride of Kansai" stakes by actually managing to win one or two things of late.

Matchday 2 sees Urawa Reds welcome hot-headed regional rivals FC Tokyo to Saitama Stadium, while the locals in Chiba will be getting all hot and bothered as Kashiwa Reysol host JEF United in a local derby that always threatens to reach nuclear proportions. Here's hoping that the Reysol fans put away their flag poles for that one!

Japan-based Australian football writers in Shimizu will be furrowing their brows in earnest to come up with some sort of port-related analogy as S-Pulse welcome the team from "that other port" in the form of Yokohama F. Marinos to Hot Sauce Stadium, while the Sunday fixtures on Matchday 2 see J1 returnees Sanfrecce Hiroshima host Omiya Ardija at Big Arch.

The rest of the fixture list meanders along in similar vein for all of 34-rounds, while the format of the Nabisco League Cup group stage has once again been altered to the point that it looks like it was drawn by a blind man throwing darts at a balloon in a wind tunnel.

One thing that does stand out for Shimizu S-Pulse fans is that the club have reverted to playing Urawa Reds at Ecopa Stadium once again. They've cited "security reasons" for doing so (um, yeah right) but they'll want to draw a decent crowd, given that matchday costs are around three-times higher than they are at Nihondaira.

Makes the grand gesture of that "Our pride in this place - all home games in 2007 at Nihondaira Stadium!" t-shirt the club put out a couple of years seem pretty hollow.* Oh well, I guess the price to pay to shield your own supporters from the horrors of Urawa Reds fans willing to insult those wearing Pul-chan hand puppets is an 80km trip down the Tokaido line.

* anyone want to buy a slightly used 2007 Shimizu S-Pulse t-shirt?! 

In yet another piece written by an Australian media outlet containing the perjorative terms "Asian clubs" and "cashed-up," the Sydney Morning Herald has hinted that 2007-08 A-League champions Newcastle Jets - who curiously finished the current campaign bottom of the table - could be casting their eye over three Japanese players in preparation for their upcoming AFC Champions League campaign. 

The three players in question are Taro Hasegawa, Yukihiko Sato and Masaya Nishitani, and fans of Japanese top flight clubs could be forgiven a bout of quizzical head-scratching, with all three having just been released by teams in J2. 

Of the three, 30-year-old Nishitani has the most recent top flight experience. He got on the pitch 21 times for doomed Consadole Sapporo last season, as the Hokkaido club spent an ignominious 2008 campaign glued solidly to the bottom of the J1 table. Despite joining Consadole midway through 2005 - the fact that he only got on the pitch twice at Urawa Reds wasn't enough to stop the Herald labelling him an ex-Urawa player - Nishitani has now been deemed surplus to requirements as the northern strugglers attempt to steady their ship in the Second Division.

Veteran striker Taro Hasegawa managed just 14 appearances for Yokohama FC in their 45 league games in J2 last season, and a strike rate of zero goals won't exactly have Newcastle fans holding their breath that Hasegawa can prove a ready-made replacement should Joel Griffiths decide to join his brother Ryan at Chinese club Beijing Guoan.

Yukihiko Sato arguably carries the most pedigree, having graduated from the veritable football factory that is Shimizu Commercial High School (does that school hold the world record for the highest number of professional footballers produced, or what?) and having started his career at local club Shimizu S-Pulse, he also counts spells at FC Tokyo and Yokohama F. Marinos among his many postings. Sato was at J1 outfit Kashiwa Reysol as recently as 2007 - although he joined the Chiba-based side when they were in the second tier.

One thing that stands out with all three is the fact that they have so far been unable - or perhaps unwilling - to secure employment in the Japanese Second Division. With Australia's little corner of cyberspace often working itself into a frenzy in attempts to draw favourable comparisons with other leagues, it's hard to see how the fact that three ageing, off-contract Japanese journeymen being touted as potential A-League recruits is anything other than a slap of reality.

And that's to say nothing of the fact that convincing just one of the players to move to Australia - let alone all three of them - is a tough task in itself. With Tochigi SC, Kataller Toyama and Fagiano Okayama all joining the J2 party in 2009, there's plenty of work to go around, not to mention the fact that most of the clubs in the third-tier Japan Football League operate on a semi-professional basis.

I certainly hope that Japanese players start making the trip Down Under. So far only Hiroyuki Ishida has graced Australian shores with Perth Glory, and the tricky Sagan Tosu winger is apparently on the radar of several A-League clubs. Yutaka Tahara, meanwhile, once courted by Adelaide United, looks set for a switch to the K-League. That's a shame because he's certainly the kind of player that could do some damage on the Australian scene.

I'm not so sure about Nishitani, Hasegawa or Sato though.

I hope I'm wrong, but only time will tell.

It was widely expected, but Gamba Osaka have made public the signing of Korean striker Cho Jae-Jin from K-League side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors for the 2009 season.

As mentioned elsewhere, Jae-Jin became a cult hero during a goal-laden three-year spell at rival J. League club Shimizu S-Pulse from 2004 to 2007.

With his contract at S-Pulse set to expire the Korean had set his sights on a move to the English Premier League, but talks with a host of clubs including Fulham, West Ham United and Newcastle United came to nought.

On a recent trip to Korea I spoke with a source close to Jae-Jin, who claimed that the Korea Republic international was keen on a return to Shimizu S-Pulse. With the Shizuoka side having already signed Brazilian striker Marcos Aurelio - who was ironically released by S-Pulse this week - Jae-Jin was instead forced to return to the K-League, where he struggled to win over fans with some nervy displays for Jeonbuk.

Jae-Jin will now call Expo '70 Stadium in Suita City home for the foreseeable future, with Shimizu S-Pulse having pounced to sign ex-Nagoya striker Frode Johnsen, who has been replaced at the Aichi club by former Consadole Sapporo striker Davi.

Just another dizzying spell of musical chairs in the J. League, but Gamba's signing of Jae-Jin could prove significant for football in the region, with the K-League looking an increasingly attractive source of ready-made talent for a league that the likes of Korea Republic captain Kim Nam-Il already call home.