Not-so-famous Japanese Players Abroad \ Japanese players in minor leagues

Nice Video Kiddo

 

Who's Shinta Appelkamp? Just found him randomly and plays in the youth team for Bundesliga team Fortuna Dusseldorf. Top scorer in the team as of now from CAM/RW with 5 goals 3 assists in 11 appearances which isn't bad (4th tier of German football) If i'm not mistaken age 19. Apparently his been on the bench for bundesliga games but never got on the pitch as of yet. Anyone know who he is ?

 

We talked about him on last page: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/no...in-minor-leagues.285190/page-59#post-38087430

 

Nikki Havenaar scored his second goal of the season in the Swiss Super League for his club FC Thun.

 

Leo Kokubo has cemented his spot as the #1 GK for Benfica U-23. Many fans think that he will be the starting GK for the B-team next season.

 

Is he in Benfica's future plans or just there to strengthen their reserve teams?

 

Bad boy Kunimoto moved to Jeonbuk Hyundai, the strongest team in Korea.

From what I've seen, he is physically strong and technically very gifted. His passes are accurate and he has vision for difficult passes. Also, his ball control is good and he can dribble in little spaces.

At 22, he is widely regarded as one of the best foreigners in K-league. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go to a decent European league.

 

Talent wise, they think he is on par with Oblak, Ederson and Júlio César.

Please read this article. (English translation via Google)
http://web.archive.org/web/20190204191506/https://www.abola.pt/Nnh/Noticias/Ver/771941

 

Last week, Saint Etienne defeated fourth-flight team SAS Epinal in the french cup quarter-finals, end score 1-2. I randomly noticed that a certain Alpha Kubota came on the field.

Here's his story: http://www.leparisien.fr/sports/foo...it-le-bonheur-d-epinal-13-02-2020-8258784.php

 

Incredible strike by Kubo for his first goal in MLS.

Quite the way to score your first @MLS goal! @kuboyuya31 makes it #ATLUTD 2 - #FCCincy 1#ATLvCIN | #AllForCincy pic.twitter.com/NED5TiHfa6

— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) March 8, 2020

Not surprising that he seems to understand English well:

After the match, @Alex_Stec_ caught up with @kuboyuya31, who scored his first @MLS goal. #ATLvCIN | #AllForCincy pic.twitter.com/6pjkppvTLM

— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) March 8, 2020

 

Kokubo has earned his first first-team call-up. He could be the answer to Japan's goalkeeper problem.

A Bola: #Benfica The 8 top Seixal prospects (Kokubo, GRamos, TAraujo, Dantas, PBernardo, RBrito, Morato, JFerreira) start training with the 1st team. Lage wants to integrate them to help create depth against injuries or suspensions.

AC Milan persistent chasing Florentino.

— PortugueseSoccer.com ⚽️ (@PsoccerCOM) May 10, 2020

 

Kokubo looks like the real deal. He has good passing skills and agility despite his size. No wonder he was described as the next Oblak and Ederson by Benfica's key personnel. Let's hope he will become football's equivalent of Rui Hachimura.

 

Shohei Honda on trial at Feyenoord. He played a match with Feyenoord U21 in a friendly against Excelsior Maassluis.

 

https://www.uefa.com/uefayouthleague/match/2029962--juventus-vs-real-madrid/lineups/?iv=true

Takuhiro Nakai has been included in Real Madrid's UEFA youth league squad. He is the youngest player on the list.

 

Nikki Havenaar's team FC Thun is relegated to Swiss 2nd division.

 

He kept a clean-sheet, as Benfica won 3-0 and qualified to the final.

 

Hopefully he'll be a regular for the B team this year and loaned out to another Portuguese team next year.

 

Japan seems to have quite a few potential good youth GKs atm. On top of my head are Yuya Oki, Keisuke Osako, Go Hatano, Togo Umeda, Kosei Tani and maybe even the likes of Haruki Saruta and Yuma Obata as well.

 

I found a recent video on youtube with the highlights of another promising GK, Kazuki Fujita:



Yes, fortunately Japan seems to finally be safe in the GK position in the near future with all these promising young GKs.

 

There's also Taiki Yamada (18) at Antlers, Tomoya Wakahara (20) at Sanga, and Haruhiko Takimoto (22) at Kashiwa.

The biggest talent is probably Zion Suzuki (18) at Urawa though. I think he will take over for Nishikawa very soon.