Average player who can't quite make the cut in J1. We'll see if he has evolved, but hell no call-up yet please.
Kirin Cup members GK:林卓人(仙台)、山本海人(清水)、西川周作(広島) DF:駒野友一(磐田)、岩政大樹(鹿島)、今野泰幸(G大阪)、栗原勇蔵(横浜FM)、近藤直也(柏)、伊野波雅彦(神戸)、森脇良太(広島)、槙野智章(浦和) MF:遠藤保仁(G大阪)、中村憲剛(川崎)、阿部勇樹(浦和)、増田誓志(鹿島)、柏木陽介(浦和)、磯村亮太(名古屋)、柴崎岳(鹿島) FW:石川直宏(FC東京)、前田遼一(磐田)、大久保嘉人(神戸)、藤本淳吾(名古屋)、田中順也(柏)、金園英学(磐田)、久保裕也(京都) Wow Shibasaki and Kubo. I hope both get to play, especially Kubo. The only J2 player selected. FFS amazing that he's been called up. Surprised that Yamada was not called up. Shit, never thought I'd see Okubo in the NT again. When I see his name, I think of the terrible tandem of Yano-Tamada-Okubo under Okada.
Hell yeah! Kubo and Shibasaki! Nice to see Kanazono and Tanaka there as well. Okubo (And Ishikawa) are probably just as surprised as some of us.
GK Hayashi (Vegalta) Yamamoto (S-Pa) Nishikawa (Sanfrecce) DF Komano (Jubilo) Iwamasa (Kashima) Konno (Gamba) Kurihara (Yokohama) Kondo (Kashiwa) Inoha (Vissel) Moriwaki (Sanfrecce) Makino (Urawa) MF Endo (Gamba) Nakamura K. (Frontale) Abe (Urawa) Kashiwagi (Urawa) Masuda (Kashima) Shibasaki G. (Kashima) Isomura (Nagoya) FW Ishikawa (FC Tokyo) Maeda (Jubilo) Kanazono (Jubilo) Okubo (Vissel) Fujimoto (Nagoya) Tanaka (Kashiwa) Kubo (Kyoto)
http://masujimareport.cocolog-nifty.com/blog2/2012/02/post-24cb.html Miyaichi might get his first cap against Uzbekistan.
Him or Fujimoto would be the logical replacements for an injured Kagawa, so it's worth giving him a go i suppose. Find it odd that Zac called in Okubo and preferred him over Tamada who's been on fire in the last couple years. It's probably the age of Tamada (okubo is 29 i think). Maeda's the only real CF able to play in a 1-top formation in this squad. I dunno, maybe someone can mention how Kanazono is like, stats say he had a pretty decent year.
I wonder if Zach had already told Sekizuka he was intending of bringing in Kubo and Shibasaki, if these two come on and have a great game Zach will make Sekizuka look like a fool.
Pretty sure (from what Zac said in the press conference) that those young players will not play and are only there to experience the feel of the NT.
Fair call, i thought Inui was more a CAM (not sure when but I thought that's how I remember him) so more a replacement for Honda's spot (and different style).
As long Honda is injured, Kagawa wouldn't have been fielded on the left imo. So now that Honda and Kagawa (and Kiyotake) are injured Zac could field Inui in the center (which is also his natural habitat in Bochum, pretty similar to Kagawa at Dortmund). I'd love to see an attacking midfield consisting of Miyaichi, Inui and Okazaki against Uzbekistan, but I guess Kashiwagi and Fujimori are in front of Inui and Miyaichi.
I hope Zach is still keeping an eye on Inui. I get this feeling Kashiwagi is running out of chances to prove himself for the JNT. He hasn't got as much game time so far, but he'll be 25, I reckon he needs to have a big performance soon, take the game by the scruff of the neck. I've always been annoyed when Kashiwagi seems to make more headlines for developing his 'geinoujin' career post-retirement.
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/bodies/news/newsid=1585615/ Remember the yellow cards in Uzbekistan's match against Tajikistan? Those players (including AFC's player of the year 2011) got suspended for another match in the next round.
Simple: Zac doesn't see him. It's a mistake, but it isn't hard to explain. Really good. Djeparov is a great player, being suspended is an advantage for us.
I don't think so, Zac would be well aware of Tulio. I'm pretty sure Tulio has just taken his name out of the hat, at least for now. Meh, I would've liked to see Djeparov play, it's a dead rubber it's just a practice game.
Rethorical question, heh ... he needs to get his eyes checked btw. And hopefully Okubo prove the haterz wrong .
went to a couple local stores here in Japan tonight. came across this. each store only had 1 size small and that was it. =\