In my last blog, I hypothesized that Urawa Reds couldn't possibly receive more help in their quest to retain the Emperor's Cup. I was wrong.

In their dramatic 10-9 penalty shoot-out quarter-final win over Jubilo Iwata, Urawa's substitute midfielder Tomoyuki Sakai had his spot-kick saved by Jubilo's stand-in goalkeeper Yohei Sato. For some inexplicable reason, referee Masayoshi Okada ordered the spot-kick to be retaken. Sakai converted at the second attempt, and Jubilo defender Yusuke Inuzuka was the unfortunate player to miss, rolling his penalty wide to ultimately hand Urawa a semi-final birth, after a pulsating 3-3 draw in normal time.

Urawa used that let-off to maximum effect, beating Kashima Antlers 2-1 in Saturday's semi-final, to book a grudge match against Gamba Osaka in the Emperor's Cup Final in Tokyo on New Year's Day. You might remember that it was Gamba who came to Fortress Saitama, in the hope of claiming an improbable victory (by three goals, no less) on the last day of the J-League season, to regain the J-League title they won in 2005. Urawa ended up prevailing in that match to clinch the 2006 J-League crown, and the Osaka outfit will be hell bent on extracting revenge.

Gamba booked their own place in the final with a comfortable 2-1 win over Second Division club Consadole Sapporo in the other semi-final. The win means that talismanic captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto - who lead Japan at both the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, will play at least one more match in the blue and black jersey. The tenacious defender set up Masafumi Maeda's winner against Sapporo, but he will join fellow Japan international and former Urawa midfielder Alessandro Santos at Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, next season.

The other man calling it a day - in what will be an emotional send-off at the National Stadium in Tokyo, is Urawa's popular German manager Guido Buchwald. After finally leading the Saitama club to the J-League crown they so desperately desired, Buchwald has decided to return to Germany to spend more time with his family. Holger Osiek will return for his second spell in charge at Urawa, and the players will be keen to send Buchwald off as a winner and impress their new coach. One man will have to miss out though, and emotions will be high, as fans of both Buchwald and Gamba's Miyamoto urge their heroes on to victory.

At any rate, to say that this is a highly anticipated affair would be an understatement. The National Stadium will be rocking, as both Urawa and Gamba look to end their seasons on a cracking high, and start 2007 on a winning note.

Internacional have won. Ronaldinho has gone home. The stands have all been cleared. But if you listen closely, you'll notice that the football fields of Japan are still resonating - not quite to the sounds of samba, but to football nonetheless. For the Emperor's Cup has rolled into town, and if you happen to be Urawa Reds, it looks like it will be staying there for quite some time.

The quarter-finalists for this year's Emperor's Cup have been decided, after some fascinating encounters in the recent Round of 16. The JFA have found a new way to meddle with the Cup draw this season, awarding home ties to all First Division clubs when they entered the field in Round 4. No surprises then, that seven of the eight clubs that have made it to the quarter-finals are J1 teams.

The one exception are J2 club Consadole Sapporo. After overcoming reigning League Cup holders JEF United in Round 4, the northerners then battled their way to a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Albirex Niigata in the Round of 16. Their reward is a tie against Ventforet Kofu, who hammered Kawasaki Frontale 5-2 in their Round of 16 encounter. Thanks to the vagaries of the JFA's scheduling format, the Sapporo - Kofu tie will take place at Yurtec Stadium, home of Sapporo's J2 rivals Vegalta Sendai.

It's not a subject that I profess to be an expert on, but for some reason, the JFA schedules a number of Emperor's Cup matches per round in various regional cities throughout Japan. I think that it's a noble and worthwhile idea to expose towns that don't have professional clubs to big-time football. Towns and cities such as Okayama, Nagasaki and Marugame all successfully hosted matches in the Round of 16. But I begin to scratch my head when I see Sapporo take on Kofu in Sendai. I also struggle to comprehend why Gamba Osaka would take on Yokohama F. Marinos at the dilapidated Universiade Memorial Stadium in Kobe, when the town of Kobe just witnessed its own club win promotion to the top flight! But that's football in Japan.

In its convoluted way, the draw is supposed to offer some semblence of fairness, with each club supposedly receiving at least one home match each. That semblence of fairness tends to disintegrate, however, when you realise that Urawa Reds have been handed a home tie for ALL of their Emperor's Cup matches! So much for the spirit of the underdog! If there was one club in Japan that doesn't need help from above, it's Urawa.

Having said that, it's not as though the clubs that do play the majority of their Emperor's Cup matches at home draw large crowds. Knock-out football doesn't tend to grip this country until New Year's Day, when a packed National Stadium in Tokyo rocks as the two Emperor's Cup finalists do battle. The Emperor's Cup is, after all, the oldest sporting tournament still in existence in Japan, and the final has traditionally been played on New Year's Day since 1969.

Anyway, I'm probably just sore because my team, Shimizu S-Pulse, are playing over a thousand kilometres away in Kumamoto, on Japan's southernmost island Kyushu. Shimizu saw off FC Tokyo 3-2 in extra-time in the last round, and they meet Kashima Antlers this weekend, after Kashima saw off Nagoya Grampus Eight 2-1. The final match-up sees Urawa Reds take on Jubilo Iwata at - you guessed it, Saitama Stadium, for a place in the semi-finals.