They think its all over...!

And it is.

Here in Japan we have our 2009 J-League Champions. Kashima Antlers are the deserving winners once more.

The final week of the 2009 J-League campaign kept people interested with 2 clubs still fighting for the title. Kashima had the upper hand, but only by a little bit. 1 minor slip up and Kawazaki would have slipped in. As long as they won. If Kawazaki won, then Kashima had no option but to win. A draw from Kashima would have seen Kawazaki win on goal difference.

The sript was going Kawazaki's way. They faced Kashiwa Reysol, a team playing or nothing. Kashiwa had already been relegated from J-1 and where only playing for pride. Unfortunately for them, Kawazaki, with everything to play for, and only a win will do, raced out of the blocks and played "balls-to-the-wall."

By half time, Kawazaki had raced out to a 3-0 lead over Kashiwa, whilst at the Saitama Stadium, Urawa where holding Kashima to 0-0. If the games where to finish here, then Kawazaki would have had a dramatic last-day victory to haul them over Kashima to win the league outright by 1 point.

Unfortunately, this was the situation after 45 minutes, not a complete 90.

Come the second half, Kashiwa decided to rattle a few cages and made a fightback, bagging a couple of goals to set up a tense finish to the game.

Meanwhile, back in Saitama, in the 60th minute, Atsuto Uchida crossed the ball, for Shinzo Koroki to meet the ball, and thump it into the back of the net.

This swung the league back in Kashima's favour, however, it was not guaranteed. Urawa stepped up the pace and began to throw everything at Kashima. Including the kitchen sink. Urawa sent on 3 substitutes, and all 3 caused Kashima big problems, and a huge collective tight-bum moment was when Urawa's Takahara went down in the box.

Luckily for Kashima, the referee did not point to the box, but Kashima's keeper Sogahata had to be sharp when 3 minutes later when Tulio came close with his own header. Kashima managed to hold on against Urawa for the remaining minutes to hoist the J-League title once more.

Their coach, Oswaldo Olivieria, who has overseen Kashima's last 3 title triumphs, was full of praise for his side.

"We were playing against the most talented team in Japan today, and I told the players before the match that the key was to keep their composure," he said. "It's not easy to beat Reds, but any game lasts 90 minutes. "There was no need to get an early goal and no need to lose our heads at the beginning or the end."

There was nothing else left to play for in the rest of the league, the relegation places had been settled before the final week.

A comment on Niigata. They played F.C Tokyo who occupied 5th spot, and fought out a 1-1 draw. F.C Tokyo headed in after the first half 1-0 up, only for Niigata's Naoto Matsuo to equalise in the 89th minute to rescue the game.

Unfortunately for Niigata, this season was full of "what if's." Niigata climbed the table, managing to get into first for the first time in the clubs history. However, they where not able to hold on, gradually slipping back. They hung on to 3rd for a while, then slipped to 5th, before finally dropping to 8th.

Whilst that does not look so good, Niigata's manager Jun Suzuke managed to take a small squad with one of the lowest wage bills in the league, and squeezed a lot out of them. Unfortunately, not having the spending power of other clubs with major industrial backers shone through in the end. The relatively small squad really did begin to tire by the end of the year. Still, if they can keep the core of the squad, next season could see them there or thereabouts again.

The only other issue to be settled today was the final promotion spot from J-2 to J-1. Going into the penultimate weekend, Shonan Bellmare headed Ventforet Kofu by 3 points. By the end of the penultimate weekend Ventforet had closed the gap to just 1. The final weekend saw Shonan beat Mito Hollyhock (I love that name!) to keep that 1 point gap, and claim the third and final promotion spot. This sees Shonan Bellmare return to J-1 after an absence of 10 years.

So, welcome to Vegalta Sendai, Cerezo Osaka, and Shonan Bellmare!