Japanese Abroad 2008/09 [R] - Part I

Re: Japanese Abroad 2008/09 [R]

Honda had a (somewhat lucky) assist for Venlo.

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It's slightly funny that one game without Naka and Celtic struggle hard and beat a 10 man Queens Park 2-1.

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Yeah it's weird.

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we've been consistently struggling for well over a month now in all matches and Naka has been involved in many of them. i wish it was as simple as saying it's a one player missing problem but it's far from it.

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fraser, what is going on with Mizuno?

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Wolfsburg 2-0 Bochum

Okubo played 61 Minutes
Hasebe played the last two minutes

Ono didn't play

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Frankfurt 2-2 Köln

Ina didn't play

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i suppose the question should really be, what's going on with Celtic?

not sure what's happened with Koki because, by all accounts, he's been performing well in the reserves. but then again so has McCourt, and he did quite well when he came on yesterday. he looked like a world beater at times when compared with the other performances. Maloney is now back from injury and started his first game since recovering yesterday.

this all means that the competition has greatly increased again for the wide spots.

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Morimoto scores equalizer against 10 men Juventus!

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Great! He likes to score against the top teams haha.

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Should have had atleast 2! But Buffon was godly today.

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1 question, why is Moritimo not invited for Japan's national team?
I cant understand why he is being left out?

And another one i would like to know about is Honda Keisuke, this kid is doing amazing in the Dutch 2nd division, why is he not invited?

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How many goals and assists have your players recorded in Europe?
Can anyone give some stats?? tanx

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I think it's a case where Okada doesn't want to fly out European club-based players during (their) mid-season, unless he knows exactly what he's going to get out of them, which usually ends up being veteran players (Naka, Ina, etc). Okada likely wants to leave the younger, less NT-experienced, European players alone, so as not to distrupt their development with their respective clubs during mid-season with the (unecessary) pressures/stress associated with the NT (media, trans-continental flights, etc). Having said that, I think Okada would eventually want to have both players (especially Morimoto) on his squad, and I believe he will do so when naming his final roster headed for South Africa.

On to specifics now:

Re: Morimoto
Okada must be drooling over this talent: a big, fast, young striker that can finish... something Japan has been lacking since Takahara went out of form in 2007. However, so long as Japan is not in serious danger of not making it through the qualifiers, I believe Okada will continue to juggle his current group of veteran strikers and leave him (Morimoto) be in Italy. Morimoto is only just beginning to see (somewhat) consistant playing time at Catania (and with that, some results as well), and probably figures it's not worth disturbing that developmental flow. Patience now, so that Okada can have a possibly more developed/experienced player later on when it really counts in South Africa, so to say.

Re: Honda Keisuke
From what I've read on on-line sports news columns, Okada was dissapointed in Keisuke's performance for both of the NT matches he has played in. Keisuke himself has admitted that he had not played up to par in those matches. However, Okada was, apparently, impressed with Honda's form during practices In either case, Japan has plenty of talent in the middle of the field, so there is little incentive for Okada to pull him out of Holland for a match in Asia, that Japan is probably expected to win without him in the first place. In other words, Keisuke is not expected to play any kind of "savior" role for the NT (that's Naka's job ) so no point disturbing with his development either.

I don't expect either players to participate with the NT squad during the European club season, unless the NT schedules a friendly in Europe (none scheduled ATM). I do expect both of them to begin making NT appearences as the 2010 finals approaches closer and especially during their off seasons.

Just my personal thoughts.

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A link that some of you may find useful/interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_footballers_playing_outside_Japan

debian, you might be able to find some of your answers there. I don't know about assists, but I know that Morimoto has 5 goals this season from both league and cup matches, and Honda has eleven goals so far, which puts him in the top 6 in scoring in the Dutch 2nd division (his team is crusing through the 2nd division and he isn't even their top goal scorer).

BTW, Soma made his Maritimo debut, starting and playing for the first half basically. According to the papers, Soma wasn't involved in anything too exciting during the match...

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Thanks. And I saw this morning that Fukuda, the japanese playing at Ionikos, 2nd Greek division, scored this week-end :

http://rojadirecta.org/foros/viewtopic.php?t=58174

They seem to like him there (saw a japanese flag). And Ionikos could go up this year.

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Daigo Kobayashi has signed a 12 month loan contract with Stabæk, Norway .

http://fotball.aftenposten.no/eliteserien/article129600.ece

Who do you think are the next Europe-bound Japanese players?

A lot of young defensive names come to mind: Uchida, Nagatomo, and Yasuda, to name a few. But is it (way) too late for guys like Endo (29) and Tulio (27)? Nakazawa recently turned down an offer from Borussia Mönchengladbach and he's 30.

Who do you think is/are the next Japanese player(s) to head to Europe? How likely do you think those players will achieve "success" over-seas?

BTW, this doesn't have to be for only this year's transfer windows, but anytime in the foreseeable future.

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Ina vs. Hasebe and Okubo today

Frankfurt - Wolfsburg

Bochum - Schalke

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Hasebe played 90 minutes and got subbed out in 2nd half injury time.
Okubo came in with like 2 minutes left and Hasebe tried to cross to him but it got blocked out for a corner, and Wolfsburg just wasted time from there to claim a 2-0 victory.

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Honda played the full game vs Cambuur, did not score, and Venlo lost 2-1.

Matsui injured his left ankle during practice so he will not be travelling with the team this week for the PSG match.

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Shintaro Harada returns to Crystal Palace Baltimore of USL-2.

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Soma played his first 90 minutes for Maritimo with a 1-0 win.

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His girlfriend attended the match and became news in the local media

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Yutaka Tahara to have a medical at Adelaide UTD today and could play in their next match against Queensland in the Prelim Final

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25059696-5006373,00.html