Though it may not be any consolation to local soccer fans, the Japanese team won the Humanoid Division in the RoboCup soccer competition that took place in Bremen on June 14-20.

The players may only be pokey little machines right now, but who knows what they'll be four years from now.

"RoboCup is the first step toward a vision," Minoru Asada, the president of the RoboCup Federation told the BBC. "This vision includes the development of a humanoid robot team of 11 players that can win against a human, soccer, world champion team."