Kobe Wing Stadium by shunkoh (Flickr)

Japan defeated Vietnam in this friendly match to retain the UFWC title, and claim the Kirin Challenge Cup. The match was a warm-up for Japan, who play Tajikistan in a World Cup Qualifier on Tuesday. Alberto Zaccheroni’s team have now been Unofficial Football World Champions for a full 12 months, and are unbeaten in 14 UFWC title matches.

A full-to-capacity 30,132 crowd watched this one in the Kobe Wing Stadium, home to J. League club Vissel Kobe. Japan were again without the injured Keisuke Honda, but welcomed back defender Yuto Nagatomo, who had recovered from a broken shoulder. Yasuhito Endo and Maya Yoshida started on the bench, as did keeper Eiji Kawashima, with coach Hiroshima’s Shusaku Nishikawa starting in goal.

Vietnam’s German coach Falko Götz was relying heavily on star striker Cong Vinh Le, who had scored 31 goals in 47 games before today’s match. Also in the Vietnam team were goalscoring midfielders Nguyen Coung Huy and Nguyen Trong Hoang.

It took almost 20 minutes for Japan to create the first real chance. Jungo Fujimoto’s long ball created a chance for Shinji Kagawa, but the Dortmund player, who has been out of sorts in recent weeks, failed to control the ball properly, and his weak attempt was bundled wide for a corner, which was easily claimed by Vietnam keeper Tan Truong Bui.

Then, in the 24th minute, Japan scored, Tadanari Lee applying the finish to Fujimoto’s cross after great work from captain Makoto Hasebe. Japan led 1-0.

The Japanese created a handful of other chances, while Vietnam struggled to string anything together. Fujimoto shot just wide, then Lee had another chance, latching on to Kagawa’s through ball, but poking his shot wide under pressure from the onrushing Tan Truong. Tomoaki Makino met a Nagatomo cross at the back post and headed the ball across the face of the goal when it looked easier to score. But the first half ended with Japan totally dominant, but just one goal ahead.

Japan began the second half with four substitutes – Kengo Nakamura, Genki Haraguchi, Yuzo Kurihara and Yuki Abe all entering the game. And Vietnam started with a new lease of life. First Nguyen Trong Hoang stole the ball from Yasuyuki Konno, only to see his shot saved by Nishikawa. Then, the Japanese goalkeeper was forced to make a brilliant save from a Cong Vinh header, tipping the ball over the bar.

After that bright re-start from Vietnam, Japan again took control of the game, without really creating any clear chances. Makino fired a free kick straight at Tan Truong, and then picked up an injury that saw him stretchered from the field. Maya Yoshida came on as Makino’s replacement.

Japan created a handful of further half chances, with Lee attempting a header and an overhead kick. And any tiny chance Vietnam had of somehow finding an equaliser vanished when Tran Chi Cong was sent off for a professional foul on Lee with just two minutes left to play.

The final whistle blew with Japan winning by a single goal, which hardly demonstrated their near-total dominance of this match. Only Japan’s familiar lack of cutting edge up front prevented Zaccheroni’s team from winning by a much bigger margin.

So Japan remain Unofficial Football World Champions, and go on to defend their title against brand new challengers Tajikistan in a combined UFWC title match / WC qualifier this Tuesday 11 October. Once again, you’ll find full coverage right here.

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With the next Unofficial Football World Championships title match just over a week away, we’re going to take a moment to catch up on all things UFWC.

First of all, if you’re new to the UFWC, what on Earth is it about? Basically it’s an alternative way of working out the best team in the world. It works in a continuous boxing-style title match system, where winners of title matches become title holders and champions, and move up the rankings. The UFWC goes right back to the very first international match in 1872, 58 years before the first World Cup. You can find a lot more information in our Beginner’s Guide to the UFWC.

The current Unofficial Football World Champions are Japan. The Japanese reign began last October with a 1-0 win over previous champions Argentina. Japan has now gone 13 games unbeaten as UFWC champions, winning 8 title matches and drawing five, and scoring 20 goals along the way. If they can avoid defeat in the next title match next week they will have been champions for a full 12 months. You can find a full recap of Japan’s run as UFWC champs here: Japan: 13 games, 20 goals, 11 months as UFWC champions.

The UFWC also operates an all-time ranking system, in which teams are awarded one point for each title match win. No points are awarded for a draw. Japan had never won a title match before last October, but since then the team’s eight UFWC title match wins translate to eight UFWC ranking points. This means that, having been completely unranked a year ago, Japan has soared into the top 20 UFWC rankings, standing level on points with Colombia and Romania.

However, perhaps surprisingly, the team at tops the all-time rankings is Scotland, followed by England in second place. This is largely because those two nations dominated international football in the years that preceded the first World Cup. Argentina are third, followed by the Netherlands and Russia. You can see the full list at the UFWC Rankings Table.

The next UFWC title match, next Friday 7 October, sees champions Japan take on challengers Vietnam in Kobe. Vietnam have never competed in the UFWC before, and have only played Japan once – during the group stage of the 2007 Asian Cup, when Japan won 4-1.

Vietnam, coached by German Falko Götz, has played four matches so far this year, all World Cup qualifiers. In the first round, the Vietnamese thrashed Macau home and away, 6-0 and 7-1 respectively, winning 13-1 on aggregate. In the next round, Vietnam lost to Qatar 3-0 in the first leg, improved to win the second leg 2-1, but overall losing 4-2 on aggregate and being eliminated from the qualifying process. You can find out much more about the UFWC challengers here: Vietnam: new challengers for Japan’s UFWC crown.

Elsewhere on the website in recent weeks we’ve brought you news about the official UFWC book, which is available in both English and Japanese (Read all about it: get the official UFWC book), and about how to create your own UFWC T-shirt, available in Hughie the Mascot, UFWC Trophy and Japan Champions designs.

As usual, we’ll be providing full coverage of the Japan vs Vietnam UFWC title match. If you’d like to keep up to date, you can follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook group.

Get your UFWC T-shirts, including Japan mascot and trophy, at our T-shirt shop

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