Good point here - maybe it's this 'ch' which isn't pronounced by most of Germans in proper way. It's something like 'h' in 'ho' instead of some Hepburn 'ch' transcription used around the world, native for most languages. Yep, I think that Atsuto is much simplier than Uchida for Germans.
Rate by Shinji Kagawa's display this season and Dortmund's players quality, can you guys give opinion if he'll be able to be starter ? I followed Bundesliga last season but did'nt know much about Dortmund(I support Bremen),and all I know about Kagawa that he's Japanese Messi
No, both are relatively easy to pronounce. @mushu21 ask me in a few weeks again . He played 65 minutes today but obviously he hasn't trained a lot with the team yet so I didn't have any expectations. I think he definitely adds something that is missing in Dortmund - he can score from distance, good dribbling qualities and relatively quick. BUT I could already see today that he had huge problems with the big defenders of the opponent. He will need time to adapt to the physical game in Germany. I wouldn't expect him to become a starter in the first months. It will take some time to get used to the game.
You've lost me. (I know who Ichiro is... but not sure what you're getting at) So... hate to be a downer here. But I have to wonder -- were Kagawa and Uchida signed by their clubs managers or by the backroom/owner/marketing/sponsor ? If Kagawa needs time to adjust, I will become more skeptical. So far, Japanese players who move abroad do poorly with the "time to adjust before they get onto the pitch" thing. I think these players are used to playing every week... and when they go months without a legit match, they lose the drive to succeed.
Or maybe the guy at the fan shop who had to make the shirt thought Atsuto was the lastname. Stupid but plausible explanation, i get that a lot with my name too
Didn't hear about any Japanese capital being involved here. Magath was playing the classical English manager's role (coaching and signing players) last season and he is said to hold Japanese players' training ethics in high esteem (Hasebe), so in Uchida's case, with also Schalke04 chronically in debt, I doubt that future marketing was the main motivation. As for BVB's Juergen Klopp, I am not aware of him having any preference for the Japanese, but he seems one of the idealistic kind who would not be willing to sign players out of marketing reasons. Both signings look primarily sportive, but I imagine it helped that both, especially Kagawa, have been rather reasonable in price. For Uchida, with him being a sought-after attacking rb-species, he could have become far more expensive if he went somewhere else first (or if he didn't succeed he would have returned back). What strikes me though is that Schalke 04 and BVB is the biggest rivalry in the Bundesliga, and both signing a young Japanese hopeful looks like out of the script of a manga artist...
Well, I'm not an expert in German so sorry. Błaszczykowski is 'relatively' easy too I think (heard that pronounced in German TV clips on Youtube few times).
rtmp://fms.0E08.edgecastcdn.net/000E08/100713_atsuto Dunno if this clip from yesterday's Uchida-presentation at Schalke 04 works - he says "I will give my best for Schalke" in German... and that he will probably not live in the Japanese community of Duesseldorf. Also to be found here (7/13): http://www.schalke04.de/aktuell/videoarchiv.html Nothing about the name on his uniform though... maybe they didn't know if to write "Uchida" or "Utchida"? It's true that Germans tend to read English/Hepburn transcription in German: So during the WC Keisuke Honda was "Kaisuke" as Eiji Kawashima became "Aiyi" etc so Uchida might have really become "Uhida"...
Nobody in Germany will pronounce Blaszczykowski correctly if the person doesn't have a Polish background. It's a different case compared to names like Uchida, although by now most people know how to pronounce Kuba's name since it's said every week by sport commentators I had a look at Schalke's forum and they also don't know why he doesn't use his last name. There's a small newspaper article where it is written that Uchida wanted it that way. Why? No idea. But I don't see any problems regarding the name Uchida and I'm a native speaker.
It's no big deal really. It's simply a J-League trend. Hisato Sato has "Hisato" as shirt name, Michihiro Yasuda has "Michi", Yuji Nakazawa has its surname "Bomber", Koji Yamase has "Koji" as a shirt name and I can name a lot more players.
Yuto Nagatomo transfers from FC Tokyo to AC Cesena on loan http://www.fctokyo.co.jp/home/index.phtml?cont=item&item=9761
Anyone have any news on Honda's transfer rumors? The guy was a beast during your WC campaign and it'd be not at all bad to see him at CSKM but he can do better than that. And what happened to Morimoto? He like disappeared from the face of the earth. On another note, it's good to see that Korea and Japan are getting our players into the quality teams they deserve to be.
What's more important is what's gonna happen with Daisuke Matsui? About 10 days ago there were rumors left, right and centre but I haven't heard much about him these last couple days. It wouldn't be unforgivable if he stayed at Grenoble as he won't play 2014 but still at very least I'd like to see him back in J.League for a season or two.
Honestly, NOTHING is moving on the European market at the moment... Inter, Milan, Juve, Barça, Chelsea, Man Utd too... All is quiet...