Will Urawa fans cheer for Boca or Milan?

We're here at the Etoile du Sahel vs Urawa Reds 3rd/4th place playoff match, and the Urawa fans, although present in smaller numbers, are in good voice. It's 2-2 in an exciting game right now, but what we're all curious about is what the support will be like for the final.

As it is, there's large sections of empty seats for this game, because the Boca vs Milan final is the real attraction.

In the previous Urawa match, we asked the question about whether the "neutral" Japanese fans would support Urawa or go for the glamour of Milan, and as it turned out they were mostly there for the spectacle of the Italians. About 70% of the stadium were AC Milan "fans"/ neutrals, but not having any vested interests, they lacked the passion of the Urawa fans and made little or no noise (other than when Seedorf scored, and when somebody did a trick).

Tonight's equation is much more complicated, particularly because of two factors:
1. Boca have quite a following here for two reasons. Firstly, popular Japan striker Naohiro Takahara spent sometime there in the early noughties, and Boca have always been well regarded for that. Secondly, Boca are a team with a very successful Copa Libertadores history, and so they've made several visits to Tokyo already for the Club World Cup's predecessor, the Intercontintenal Cup, which they won in 2000 and 2003.

2. There is a combined ticket for both matches. So you have the small pocket of Etoile du Sahel fans, the few thousand well organised Urawa fans, the surprisingly sizeable contingent of travelling Bocense, the few Italians that could be bothered to make the trip/holiday, and of course the sea of unsure, easily impressed "neutral" Japanese fans that must still be furiously pondering whether to support Milan or Boca.

We know that Boca are equally as, if not more popular than Milan, so the neutrals here will be split on that (as opposed to last year, when the relatively unknown, starless Internacional played Barcelona and their midfield marketing maestro Ronaldinho).

We know that there aren't enough Etoile fans to make a difference to the overall support.

The Boca fans are a noisy, dancing bunch, who are concentrated into one section of the ground, right next to a bank of Urawa fans. They will be creating a lot of energy, but the eventual decision on what the atmosphere is like will come down to the Urawa fans, who could easily drown out the rest of the stadium.

They will be in good spirits (Urawa just beat Etoile on penalties), but it's unlikely that they'll keep singing Urawa songs. So the question is, will they just let the passion fade away and join the ranks of casual fans in polite applause and general silence? Or will they pick a side and really make this final feel like a football match of some worth?

It's difficult to predict. They seemed to be irritated during this match by the Boca fans, who just kept singing their Boca songs throughout the game, so they might go against Boca. But then again, football fans also just love to be football fans, and they just join the Bocense in their revelry.

Milan were also the ones who beat Urawa in that tight encounter, so they might just decide that's a good enough reason to ally with Boca. But as MikeTuckerman pointed out to me, they might even prefer to support a Milan victory, because they could then say "We lost to the eventual Champions".

Lots of different theories there, but that's football fan psychology for you.

Either way, we can't wait to find out what it's like for the second match, and any fan with a bit of sense will try and be as lively as possible outside, because it's f**king freezing here.