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.
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March 13th 2009 @ 2:36pm
ohtani's jacket said | March 13th 2009 @ 2:36pm | Report comment
Japan’s most successful club is Tokyo Verdy.
March 13th 2009 @ 3:45pm
Mike Tuckerman said | March 13th 2009 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
ohtani’s jacket – that one’s a bit out of left field. We’re talking during the professional era here, not the days of Yomiuri FC when they were still playing out of Kawasaki before the J. League had even begun.
March 13th 2009 @ 9:30pm
Ryan Steele said | March 13th 2009 @ 9:30pm | Report comment
Urawa have a long-running history of inconsistency. Their manager rotation is worse than Sydney’s. They had seven managers between 1999 and 2001, which shows how much faith the board has in their recruits.
I feel the biggest problem is their performances at the end of each season. They could be excused in 2007, having succeeded in a hard-earned ACL championship, with fatigue ending their domestic season poorly (especially when they were so close to achieving a double). The start of their 2008 season continued their domestic losing streak, though, and that sent Osieck packing (for the second time). As a Reds fan, I really wanted Gert Engels to do well and be able to stay with the Reds, and I think – if he had stayed for more than 9 months – he may have been able to brush off any cobwebs he had from around 5 off the circuit.
The team were easily at their most confident and in their best form in 2006, when they had the superstars of the league: Shinji Ono, Washington, Nene, and Alex. They’d also had Guido for their third year as manager, who has a place in his heart for the team, having donned the Urawa jersey all those years ago.
The constant changing of managers couldn’t have helped the team, and all the youngsters aren’t going to receive much trust from egos like Tulio. The Reds locker room environment isn’t a health-promoting one, either (though I don’t know how much this has changed from the time Ono was in there. I’ve heard some stories from him in the past).
March 13th 2009 @ 9:55pm
ohtani's jacket said | March 13th 2009 @ 9:55pm | Report comment
JSL doesn’t count?
Verdy won the last two JSL titles and the first two JL titles. I realise they’re J2 now and haven’t won anything since the Emperor’s Cup in ’96, but they owned the J-League in the early days.
March 13th 2009 @ 11:50pm
Damian Jones said | March 13th 2009 @ 11:50pm | Report comment
I agree with what you have said and it’s a good report. However, as your report states, what makes Urawa more popular than Kashima is that they are much more of a “football club” with “football supporters” than Kashima. There is no doubting that Kashima are a good side but there doesn’t seem much of an aura about them. They were arrogant when they were setting up their axis of evil with Jubilo and Verdy and they are still arrogant. I have little respect for the way they have treated the ACL.
oh .. and that was Kashima`s first home win over Urawa since ??
ps: There are some great Urawa Reds clips on You Tube.
March 14th 2009 @ 1:03pm
Ben of Phnom Penh said | March 14th 2009 @ 1:03pm | Report comment
Vendo Thefastlane, I assume that you have spent time in the lovely environs of Tskuba City and the Space Centre. At least now it has a train line.
Uruwa also manages to dine out on the great Tokyo-Saitama divide which is why I alluded to Collingwood. It has pulled on more of the perceived social divide than the geographical one (as opposed to Omiya) which contributes to its off-field success as a club.
Damian, Kashima isn’t in a heavily populated area like Uruwa and I believe this also contributes to the crowd.