Hey even though we are in a comfortable position with 2 tall centre-backs (Tulio & Nakazawa) it appears that after Nakazawa finishes probably after 2010, that Daiki Iwamasa can take his place. He just got into the J.League best eleven, and happens to be 186cm and 82kg. And him and Tulio can go to 2014 cup as the centre-backs. Also if he gets better, then Mike Haavenaar 194cm 82kg of the U-20 team could be there as well. But I fear that Hirayama seems to be going downhill and needs a new club. Cause he has a lot of potential especially at 190 cm, 85 kg. But at the moment we have Takahara who is by far the best Japanese striker. But who will replace him? The top 7 strikers in the J.League this year were brazilian. They were followed by Okubo and Hideo Oshima. There needs to be a new GUN of a striker. I hope that Okubo's two goals against egypt were the end of drought and start of a goal spree for the NT. Has Hideo Oshima ever played in the NT? He's Maki's height but actually scores in J.League (well, this season he has anyway).
he scored 4 of his 14 goals against yokohama fc. he isn't nearly consistent enough in the j-league to be considered for the national team.
Fair enough then. But the thing is that there needs to be a GOOD tall striker. Maki is getting there but under Okada's coaching I don't think he'll get much better. Cause I seemed to see the best of Maki when he played under an Osim coached team. Yeah I said that thing about Oshima based on stats. Living in Australia, that's all I can judge a player by then I post it here or something to see if the player's actually any good.
The only consistant striker in the japanese nt is Takahara as you said. And i agree Japan need to find another good striker. I like Okubo, he haven't scored much in the NT but after his performance against Egypt he deserves another chance. Tanaka and Sato are too small. Maki doesn't score, but i like him for his fighting spritit etc. Isn't there any young deadly sniper coming, please
Height has very little to do with it, in fact okubo is smaller than sato and around the same height as tanaka
i like okubo, but liking him does not make a dif, anyway, i thought he was going to be one potential guy in the future like how everyone said he would be. And he was talented just had some attitude issues, he was a tough guy. Wasn't the "abusing staff" incident a few years the reason for his absence or a few years until this year?
The reason I say we need a good tallish striker is cause the Japanese midfield has Nakamura and Endo who are brilliant with long balls into the box. If there was a tallish striker then more of those crosses would be finding the net assuming the guys a good header. That's a part of the Japanese game that needs to be taken advantage of. Just someone with a good header who's quite tall. Which is why I mentioned Oshima, Haavenaar, Hirayama and Maki.
In short, maybe Japan needs a post-player. That was where Maki was supposed to come in but he hasn't cut it. Maeda looks pretty tall and he's in good form, so I guess he'll get the nod for now.
Havenaar is a great guy, very professional, but he's not cut to play for the senior national team. I doubt he would even be on the U20 men's team if he was in the US. Hell, if Havenaar ever played on the senior team, it gives everyone hope.
Also, sad to note that Umesaki is on the National team radar, and transferred to giants Urawa Reds, while Ito Sho who was supposed to be the Thierry Henry for Japan just fell of the face of this earth.
Many promising players disappears. Sometimes it's medias fault, for all the hype and shit. I like Umesaki, great player. Urawa will do him good.
Sota Hirayama sure seemed to disappear overnight (going to FC Tokyo will do that, I guess). Something tells me he didn't just up and forget how to play the game. A full season and a settled situation will do him a world of good.
Remember Maezono...? He could still be playing, instead, he was playing with my son (9) and another bunch of kids at a park near Waikiki, last week... The day after, he run a marathon. Star-status in japan seems to be very consuming...
He lives in Tokyo, where he makes a living with a soccer school and doubles as "TARENTO." He comes to Hawaii often, anyway. I must add he is a really nice chap, and to see him going thru drills is still quite impressive.
Everybody I created a poll, and it is who is the best FK taker in the world. So go and vote for the best. (Nakamura) https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=638038
First of all, Japanese fans have never thought he is Japanese henry. He is crap, couldn't do anything in Japanese highs school soccer tournament.