official: Shinji Okazaki joins Huesca in the Spanish second division: https://www.sdhuesca.es/noticia/okazaki-la-guinda-al-ataque-de-la-sd-huesca He will stay at Andalusia, no reunion with Kagawa at Zaragoza. He signed a 1-year contract + 1-year extension.
Why they didn't come back home? They like 2nd divison football so much? Or are they on a journey ala Matsui?
List of things to do before die by former 2 times Bundesliga/DfB Pokal and 1 time EPL champion Shinji Kagawa: + Play in Turkey + Play in Spain 2nd division + Play in Iceland? Anyway, good luck to them.
The Guardian has an interesting article about the story behind Okazaki in Malaga: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/sep/04/malaga-shinji-okazaki-la-liga-release
Made his debut yesterday, came in the 85th minute as a substitute, as Huesca won 1-0 against Sporting Gijon.
Scored his second goal of the season yesterday. His team lost 3-2 in an away match, but they are still in the promotion play-off spots.
Sorry but Okazaki is out of the picture from a JNT pov. He can't sub Osako and in 2022 he will be a retired player. In Tokyo 2020 the oldies will be defenders/mfs as always then no chance to play even there. Anyway nice for him to score continuously in a european 2nd division.
This is Okazaki’s thread, not Japan NT’s thread. Every Japanese players playing abroad has his own thread here regardless of his NT status to discuss his news on Europe. Right now, we have almost 50 players playing in Europe, and the NT squad consisting of 23, which means more than half of our Japanese players in Europe will not make the NT squad. Do you suggest that we shall overlook them altogether and not post anything about them unless they are involved in the NT? For your information, Okazaki was called-up for last June’s friendly and as an overage players alongside the Olympic team for Copa America. He is still not written off completely.
Okazaki was playing the Copa America and he will come back. He told that his goal is the next World Cup 2022, he will try and I think he can succed. Okazaki is a real fighter. First he will explode and shoot Huesca back into the first league and then he will score 10+ goals in the spanish 1st divison and he is back =).
Today was Shinji vs Shinji match, as both Okazaki and Kagawa face off against each other. Okazaki and his club Huesca ended up being the winners vs Kagawa’s Real Zaragoza. 2-1 win for Huesca. Both of Okazaki and Kagawa started, with Okazaki scoring the opener for Huesca. 4 goals this season so far for Okazaki. Huesca are 3rd in the league table while Zaragoza is 5th, as they both remain in the promotion race.
Just a correction, the goal is at 1:50. The goal at 1:31 sadly didn't count. They could've counted it...
Oh, I didn’t watch the full video, just stopped watching after that first -disallowed- goal. Thank you for the correction, mate.
Scored again today. His 6th goal of the season. So far, he is the most “successful” Japanese at Spanish’s second division, he played more minutes and started more matches than other Japanese players, and contributed more than them for his team.
... and he adds another goal by a header, as it was the case in the first goal. 7th goal of the season.
Scored from a header again. I cannot remember a Japanese players who scored three goals in a row by headers. Anyhow, this is his 8th goal of the season, and Huesca are leading 2-0 at HT as they are solidifying their promotion chances and keeping their 3rd place on the league table.
Okazaki won a penalty kick for his team in the last minutes of their match, when they were losing 2-0, to help his team to a 2-2 thrilling draw Okazaki so far has been the most impressive Japanese in the Segunda Liga. His team is in contention for the promotion, he is the team's top scorer, playing more minutes than any other Japanese in the league this season, and started in most of his team's matches (starting in more matches than any other Japanese player in the league). If he does not score or assist, he is always active, creating opportunities for his teammates by pressing the opponent's defenders.