New Urawa Reds manager Gert Engels guided the Asian champions to their first win of the season on Sunday, snapping a four-game drought that included two losses in the J.League and a loss and a draw in the league Nabisco Cup. The Reds defeated Albirex Niigata 3-0 on goals from Takahito Soma, Marcus Tulio Tanaka and Yuichiro Nagai on a rainy afternoon at Saitama Stadium. Afterwards we caught up with Engels, the former assistant manager who was promoted after the firing of fellow German Holger Osieck two games into the 2008 season. Engels said the win meant a significant weight had been lifted from his and his team’s shoulders and added that he hoped the victory would lead to greater things to come this year as the Reds look to regain the league and Emperor’s Cup titles they lost to the Kashima Antlers last year. Q: You must be relieved to have won today … A: Yes that’s the right word, relief. It was very important for us to win here and to win with such a goal difference is even better. 3-0 sounds good, even though it could have ended 3-1 or even 5-2. But I think we got the crowd to support because we tried to play aggressive and go forward and it’s important we do that here at home. Q: It looked like the players were keen to run up the score. A: In the second half we pushed a little too hard. We have to remember that we have a game on Wednesday. There were some situations where we shouldn’t have looked for the fastest way to the goal, we should have kept the ball a little more. There were a few scenes where (Hajime) Hosogai played the ball to Umesaki when he was under pressure. He should have stopped and passed back or tried the other side of the pitch. But I’m happy my players did this, they are young and can recover in the next two days. It’s better than playing too slowly. It was important for our fans that we pushed till the end. Q: You used Tulio as a (defensive) midfielder for the first time. It looked like a stroke of genius in retrospect. A: I think it worked. But everyone knows he’s not the big mover. And we have three games in a row now. We will see. The defense line worked well and Hosogai played 90 minutes with the Olympic team so I really though Tulio could influence the game more from the center of the pitch than from the back. I know he’s a player who likes to push forward and I thought (as a defender) there would be situations where he pushed forward too much and left us with only two defenders. As a midfielder he was in a situation where he could push. If he pushed too much, Keita (Suzuki) was there, Hosogai was there and even (captain Nobuhisa) Yamada, who was told to cover in the middle a little bit. I thought Tulio’s movement was good, and he scored a beautiful goal, which was a very good combination from everybody up front. Q: Keita Suzuki went off injured today and hasn’t looked at all sharp this season. Do you think he’s overworked? A: As you see, not only in our team but the national team they are not in good shape. And there are a few injuries in the national team, including now our Keita and (Naohiro) Takahara and even from other teams. It’s a big problem. I’m going to try to give the players more rest. If we play in the Nabisco Cup, these players play national team. It’s difficult to get them rest. We can try to rest them in training. If they have a lot of games we need to take care and maybe we can give them special training. It could be a problem with the Olympic squad, with Hosogai and (Tsukasa) Umesaki. We had a tough and long season last year and our players started up again in the middle of January. Q: This is your first win as Reds manager. Was it a special victory for you? A: I’ll remember this game, definitely. Whatever happens from now you never know. But I think the first win at home as a manager of a team like the Reds, I will remember it, definitely. A: You left defender Keisuke Tsuboi on the bench today in favor of rookie Shunsuke Tsutsumi. Can we have a few comments on that? A: We need to do this. If you are not really satisfied and you feel a player doesn’t have the confidence he usually has … We have a good squad and we can change players from game to game. And if they are used to this tension you can rest them and make them fresh again if you find the right way to do it. I think it’s very important for our team. Last year of course the pressure from the Champions League was immense, that’s why we couldn’t change players so much, we didn’t want to, and it didn’t pay off in the final weeks. I hope I can change players with the same quality more often to give them more rest and to push them. I spoke to Tsuboi and I think he himself was not very comfortable. He resigned from the national team and I thought that this would be a step forward to concentrate on his game and on his play. It showed that he was a little unsure. I said to him that if everything goes normal you will be a vital player for our team. But at the moment you don’t have the self confidence to do this. And he did very well in training the two days after. I think it was a relief for him, to be honest. But I’m sure we will need him. We will be playing offensively and we will need him to defend against counterattacking teams and I am sure we will need him. He’s a very important player for our team. Q: Osieck was canned two games into the season. What do you feel you need to do to ensure you’re still around at this time next year? A: It’s very easy: I need to win as much as possible. If we play good soccer like we did today, if we play Reds soccer, the people will forgive us if we don’t win all four titles. But my objective is of course to win titles with the Reds and to keep the team moving. And maybe also to bring young players in. Q: On injured striker Takahara: A: Takahara himself feels good with his injury. He moved well yesterday but the doctor sees an injury on the X-ray so we have to be careful. I hope for him and for us he can play against Jubilo (April 5). But the medical staff says he’s got a better chance of being ready for the game here against Kashima (April 13). It’s a risk in a young season to bring him in. We’ve got Edmilson up front, Nagai and surely we will need Takahara, but now it’s a risk. Q: On striker Nagai: A: I’m happy with what he’s been doing the last couple of games. He works very hard and he’s in good shape. He is of the age now where he also has to take responsibility. I think he suffered in the past because he never really had the stability of playing regularly in a season. But he’s become a little bit stronger mentally which is very important for him. Q: On striker Edmilson’s tantrum at being substituted late in the match against his former team: A: We need to talk about that, definitely. That’s what we don’t need now, situations like this. It was 3-0, the game was shut out and I thought we should rest him a little bit. Of course he thinks about Niigata, his former teammates, which I understand 100 percent. But I am not in the position to think about Niigata, or how he wants to score against his old club. The game was won, he’s not yet in his best physical condition and we need him on Wednesday so that’s why I made the decision to take him out. We need to talk about this and then it’s finished. There will be no problem from my side. Copyright: C.G. Williams and Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

Gert Engel's first match in charge of Urawa Reds, following the sensational sacking of Holger Osieck , ended in defeat. Urawa's loss to Vissel Kobe 1-0 in the Nabisco League Cup was Urawa's third successive loss without scoring. Group A Nagoya Grampus 0 Kyoto Sanga 1 Urawa Reds 0 Vissel Kobe 1 Group B Shimizu S-Pulse 3 FC Tokyo 1 Tokyo Verdy 0 Jubilo 2 Group C Kawasaki Frontale 0 JEF United 2 Kashiwa Reysol 1 Sapporo Consadole 1 Group D F Marinos 1 Oita Trinita 0 Albirex Niigata 2 Omiya Ardija 2 Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League Nabisco Cup Betting

After only two games, and two defeats, Urawa Reds have sacked their German coach Holger Osieck and replaced him with assistant coach and fellow countryman Gert Engels . Osieck's dismissal, the fastest in J-League history, came after the 2-0 home defeat to Nagoya Grampus on Saturday and an emergency meeting between club president Mitsunori Fujiguchi and general manager Shuzo Nakamura. Osieck's replacement, the affable Gert Engels was previously in charge of both Yokohama Flugels and Kyoto Sanga, teams he lead to Emperor's Cup success. Engels has been at Urawa since 2004 and his own dismissal as Sanga coach after failing to win any of his team's first five matches at the start of the 2003 J-League campaign. Engel's first game in charge will be the Nabisco Cup match at home to Vissel Kobe on Thursday. Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer Holger Osieck J-League Gert Engels Urawa Reds

Back to Tokyo for the semi finals of the competition and I noted that Sepp Blatter has already questioned the participation of the Oceania tournament winner. Not only is this the smallest of the federations it also recently lost Australia to the Asian tournament, as they wished the national team to have more competition and also avoid their inevitable World Cup play off against South American opponents. Making my way from the subway stadium to the first game it was noticeable that a large number of locals were sporting the yellow and blue of Boca. I was handed a flyer for La Bombonera, a Japanese bar dedicated to the team, there were a number of people handing them, obviously to boost business for what should be their busiest night ever. The standard of football was raised with the introduction of the first South American champions not to come from Brazil. Etoile showed their intentions with a shot at goal from the kick off. However Boca's slick passing was the key to their win. With 37 minutes gone Palermo put Palacio away down the left wing who played an intricate ball into the feet of Nery Cardozo who gleefully hammered the ball into the roof of the net. Etoile shook off the defensive qualities that saw them through their qualifying match and showed that they could play. The Argentinian side have been quoted as saying that they have to win this tournament no matter what, and Fabian Vargas's second yellow proved they are not going to let anyone get in the way. Despite this setback with 25 minutes left Boca reverted to 4-3-2, proving that attack is the best form of defence. They matched their opponents with chances at both ends, cruelly Etoile substitute Gilson Silva hit the post in the last minute. So where better to go having just seen Boca clinch their place in the final than La Bombonera. One useful skill in Japan is orienteering! Directions are given by small diagrams, they may have street names on but I wouldn't know. So having negotiated my way I arrived at a small bar in the back streets of the Yoyogi area. The bar was indeed box shaped and decked out with Boca souvenirs and old Boca matches broadcast in the background. I got talking to one local who had his Boca shirt on and had also gone to the game. During our conversation he pointed to a picture which showed mascots from the J League teams. I quickly reeled of two of the teams. With this I became an instant celebrity. I tried to explain the race that our mascots back in England, but I think this would seem rather tame to them. (Have you seen the clips from the Japanese show where they play football with binoculars on or even the rugby game in fancy dress suits!). Free drinks were the order of the night, Quilmes of course. Next day and it was down the road to Yokohama. Another closely contested game with an excellent atmosphere. The Urawa fans were their usual self. Chanting and pogoing (well almost all of them) to their songs. Urawa conceded territorial advantage but defended well. When they broke they used the width of the whole pitch and became more confident as the game wore on. Kaka was a constant menace but with no end product he switched flanks during the first half looking for a way past a resolute Urawa defence. The chants of the Urawa fans grew louder during the second half as they sensed that their team might get a result. Especially when Washington curled a shot into the corner only for Dida to pluck it out of the air just when it looked like going in. Then the inevitable, Kaka broke down the left and got to the byline and laid the ball into the path of Seedorf who stroked the ball into an empty net. Mysteriously Tanaka who didn't get to Kaka in time to stop the ball being pulled back signalled for his own substitution. At first he held his hamstring and then moments later collapsed as though he had been shot. The Urawa fans gave their all, but their team couldn't do quite enough to get back in the game. The referee blew the final whistle and the chanting stopped, just as suddenly as it had begun in Nagoya. Despite that as I left the stadium I could still hear the chanting in my head. It went (in my best Japanese) - Allez, allez, allez, allez, Allez, allez, allez, Allez, allez, allez, ............................. (repeat until coming to a sudden stop) © Ross Clegg & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League Urawa Reds Betting

Urawa Reds fans - tightly controlled, regimented, verging on the fascistic, the hordes from Saitama and beyond are the J-League's noisiest fans. "We are the Redsu" will be ringing out tonight when Urawa take on Milan in the semi-final of the World Club Cup. Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League Urawa Reds Betting

Argentine giants Boca Juniors booked their place in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup, but they failed to turn on the style in their 1-0 win over Tunisian side Etoile du Sahel. Midfielder Neri Cardozo scored the only goal before a crowd of 37,255 fans at the National Stadium in Tokyo, while midfielder Fabian Vargas was sent off for a second bookable offence with twenty-five minutes remaining. Etoile started the match with significantly more attacking intent than in their 1-0 win over Mexican side Pachuca , with ex-Liverpool defender Gabriel Paletta looking shaky at the back for Boca. Tunisian starlet Amine Chermiti was causing problems with his penetrating runs, but gradually Boca began to play their way into the match, and they opened the scoring after thirty-seven minutes when striker Rodrigo Palacio cut inside a defender and slid the ball to Neri Cardozo, who beat Etoile keeper Aymen Balbouli with an unstoppable left foot drive. The second half was a tense affair and Boca's cause wasn't helped when midfielder Fabian Vargas received his marching orders from Danish referee Claus Bo Larsen. Etoile saw a golden opportunity to equalise in stoppage time go to waste when substitute Gilson Silva headed wide at the far post. Boca will now meet the winner of tomorrow's semi-final between reigning European champions AC Milan and current Asian champions Urawa Reds , with a crowd of around 70,000 expected to descend upon Yokohama International Stadium to witness that clash. Copyright© Michael Tuckerman & Soccerphile Tags Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting