It's the season of the Warudo Kappu (World Cup, duh!), the season that screams: Sakka fuan ni arazuba hito ni arazu (Those who aren't soccer fans aren't even people). At least until July 11 (the day after the World Cup final) that is, or until the sakka netsu (soccer fever) abates -- whichever comes first.

So why not cave in and join the matsuri (festival), which, after all, only comes around once every four years. This time the Jyapan Irebun (Japan Eleven) is helmed by none other than Kamisama Zico (Zico the God) who, after all, is one of the leading forces that put J.League soccer on the map during his stint as a player and then technical director at Kashima Antlers.

As one of the supotsushi (sports tabloids) put it, when one looks back on the long, arduous road that Japan took from having no organized professional soccer league at all to becoming a contender in the international field, "namida nakushitewa katarenai (We can't talk about it without getting all teary)."