Six league championships. Three Emperor’s Cup titles. Three League Cup crowns. A swag of runner-up finishes. Not bad for a club going into its seventeenth season as a professional outfit – having played every season in the top flight during that time.

Yet ask Australian fans who the most dominant team in Japanese football are, and many will answer Urawa Reds.

It’s no great surprise.

Urawa’s run to the AFC Champions League title in 2007 captured the imagination of Australian fans because the Reds knocked out Sydney FC en route to lifting the Asian crown.

Never before had Australians encountered the sheer fanaticism of Japanese supporters – and Urawa fans left a lasting impression.

Kashima Antlers, however, are Japan’s most successful club. When you add four Super Cup titles to the collection, you gauge a sense of just how dominant Kashima are.

Judging by Kashima’s dismantling of Urawa in a marquee clash last Saturday, that’s not about to change any time soon.

The two old foes met in front of 37,878 fans at Kashima Stadium in an eagerly anticipated opening day clash, and Kashima always looked to have the measure of the Reds.

I covered the game for a German newspaper – Volker Finke’s arrival as new Urawa coach is big news in Germany – and as such I kept a close eye on Urawa’s display.

It was an obvious improvement on the performance that saw them crumble 6-1 at home to Yokohama F. Marinos on the final day last season, as Gert Engels ended his reign as Reds coach with a shambolic defeat.

Yet for all the improvements – and Finke’s side looked a far more cohesive unit than the loose collective of individuals that masqueraded as a team last year – the Reds struggled to cope with the pace and power of Kashima.

Last season’s J. League M.V.P. Marquinhos gave Urawa left-back Tadaaki Hirakawa a torrid time, setting up his team’s first for Takuya Nozawa and scoring the second with a rasping drive.

It wasn’t the best of starts for new coach Finke, who is determined to finish in the top three and thereby guarantee his team a place in next season’s Champions League.

So if Kashima are Japan’s most successful team, why are Urawa so popular?

The answer, like many things in life, can be attributed to hard work and good fortune.

In 2000, the Reds were slogging their way through an ignominious campaign in Japan’s Second Division, having been relegated from the top flight a year earlier. They finished second.

Despite failing to win the division, an average of 16,923 fans turned out at the 21,500 capacity Komaba Stadium to watch Urawa’s solitary J2 campaign.

By the time Urawa returned to the top flight, the 2002 FIFA World Cup was just around the corner and the sparkling Saitama Stadium was awaiting its new tenants.

In July 2001, a crowd of 60,553 fans piled in as Urawa Reds took on Yokohama F. Marinos in the first ever J. League game at Saitama Stadium. Reds officials worked diligently to convert newcomers into life-long fans.

The club also used its long-established links with German football to forge a lucrative commercial association with Bayern Munich, while the likes of Manchester United and Dutch giants Feyenoord have all paid visits to Saitama to take on the Reds in friendlies.

Yet for all the big-names that have turned out for the club – including ex-Socceroos captain Ned Zelic, former French defender Basile Boli and giant Brazilian striker Washington – and even allowing for the fact that Urawa’s crowds have practically trebled since the move to Saitama Stadium, one thing stands out.

They’ve won the J. League just once.

That’s something that new coach Volker Finke will hope to change, as he looks to follow in the footsteps of club legend Guido Buchwald in adding another J. League title to the one lifted in 2006.

Meanwhile, Australian-born “International Affairs Advisor” Ian Scott will no doubt continue his country-hopping as he looks to maintain Urawa’s status as the top shark in the commercial pool.

But until they start winning more domestic trophies, Urawa Reds will remain the great pretenders of the Japanese game.

Follow Mike on twitter @Mike_Tuckerman

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