Pitch Invasion

Read the final part of furtho’s brilliant three part series on Omiya Ardija, a Japanese team living in the shadow of their near neighbours, the Urawa Reds.

Editor’s note: This is the second part in a three part series by furtho looking at Omiya Ardija, a Japanese team living in the shadow of their near neighbours, the Urawa Reds. Read the first part here, which looked at Omiya’s remarkable promotion to the top Japanese division, a joy tempered as their inadequate stadium […]

Editor’s note: Urawa Reds spent the past week basking in the global spotlight at the World Club Cup, but there’s more to Japanese football than them as Furtho explains in part one of a three part series looking at “Squirrel Nation”.

The Derby
There’s half an hour to go before kick-off. Away behind one goal, a huddled […]

Photo credit: Sasakei on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.
That concludes our week-long look at Japanese football supporters. Special thanks go to Sasakei on Flickr.

Photo credit: sasakei on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.

Photo credit: kumama-republicUltra nagasaki on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.

I would not like to take a penalty in front of Urawa Reds’ supporters at their Saitama stadium, myself. Watch this shootout from an Asian Champions League semi-final against South Korea’s Seongnam Ilhwa last week, and marvel at the spectacle of the giant flags. It’s really no surprise they won, is it?

(By the way, we’ll […]