Dontcha just love all the speculation and rumor that surrounds transfers?Anyway, it's about 95% sure that Celtic have indeed signed Shunsuke Nakamura -- an official annoucement is expected tomorrow.
The deal: 3.5 million pounds (700 million yen), annual salary 748 thousand pounds (150 million yen), a three year contract and the transfer is permanent.
Reports say that the agreement was reached because Celtic offered generous conditions and appeased Nakamura's worries with the assurance that he will be a central figure in the team strategy. Celtic are in need of a "true" midfielder, one that can construct offensive plays from the midfield.
He's missed the deadline for the next CL game, but he will have to hurry to make it to the first league game on the 30th of this month. (He has already started training on his own two weeks ago.) His debut will be an historic day -- the first Japanese player in the Scottish League. Will the Scotland fans respond to the lefty's fluid style of football?
>>Click to see related article on ETims or >>Click to see NikkanSports article in Japanese.
The second update was announced, and there doesn't seem to be many changes in the top three for each catergory of each team.
The only change has been in the J-West Midfielder category -- the number 3 slot is now occupied by Jubilo Iwata ex-international Koji Nanami...he boots aside Toshiya Fujita of Nagoya Grampus.
Also, Kazu Miura, who just transfered to J2 team Yokohama FC will be disqualified from the voting -- which is too bad because he's currently in second place in the J-West Forwards category.
>>Click to see my previous entry listing the rankings.
>>Click to visit JOMO All Stars Rankings website (in Japanese).
As for the breakdown of votes according to clubs:
Oita are getting a healthy share of votes -- Oita will be hosting this year's All Stars game.
It's great to see Jef Chiba players getting so many nods.
Here's an old photo I found on Zico's blog -- it was taken at last year's JOMO All Stars. All the mascots compete in a penalty shoot-out... really hilarious, some of these mascots. The strange blocky looking green mascot in the mid-front area, is Mr. Pitch. He's the mascot of JFA's 100 Year Plan.. among the first of its goals is to get schools and facilities around the country to have real turf/grass fields (not just for football but for the better enjoyment of any outdoor sports). >>Click here to see some funny Mr Pitch promotional videos. Just click the Play icon There are eight videos.
The only change has been in the J-West Midfielder category -- the number 3 slot is now occupied by Jubilo Iwata ex-international Koji Nanami...he boots aside Toshiya Fujita of Nagoya Grampus.
Also, Kazu Miura, who just transfered to J2 team Yokohama FC will be disqualified from the voting -- which is too bad because he's currently in second place in the J-West Forwards category.
>>Click to see my previous entry listing the rankings.
>>Click to visit JOMO All Stars Rankings website (in Japanese).
As for the breakdown of votes according to clubs:
Oita are getting a healthy share of votes -- Oita will be hosting this year's All Stars game.
It's great to see Jef Chiba players getting so many nods.
Here's an old photo I found on Zico's blog -- it was taken at last year's JOMO All Stars. All the mascots compete in a penalty shoot-out... really hilarious, some of these mascots. The strange blocky looking green mascot in the mid-front area, is Mr. Pitch. He's the mascot of JFA's 100 Year Plan.. among the first of its goals is to get schools and facilities around the country to have real turf/grass fields (not just for football but for the better enjoyment of any outdoor sports). >>Click here to see some funny Mr Pitch promotional videos. Just click the Play icon There are eight videos.
it's true
Following up on my quest >>Click to go to the entry I'm referring to.
Not quite as 坊主 as I had imagined but...
sniff... somehow, I'm afraid to see him turn around.
I heard he borrowed Ogasawara's electric razor to do the deed. Apparently he hasn't had this 'do since middle school but thought it would be fun.
photo from 別館blog.
Following up on my quest >>Click to go to the entry I'm referring to.
Not quite as 坊主 as I had imagined but...
sniff... somehow, I'm afraid to see him turn around.
I heard he borrowed Ogasawara's electric razor to do the deed. Apparently he hasn't had this 'do since middle school but thought it would be fun.
photo from 別館blog.
Random chatter about the newbies: I thought I'd do a quick sketch of some of the newer members of the NT roster >>Click for the full roster, for those of you who don't follow the J-league that much. Who are these guys? What are they like? Click the photos to enlarge.
Of course, knowing how Zico is not prone to use his backups actively, I wouldn't be surprised if these guys don't get much/any play time.
As for the Kubo situation >>Click to read related entry, no decision has been made regarding his withdrawal from the team. However, the likelihood seems high, so we should expect to hear a last-minute additional forward call-up after this weekend's league games. I'm guessing Zico will want to take one last look at this next round before he decides on who to add.
Tatsuya Tanaka - forward, Urawa Reds
He's had to play in the shadow of Reds teammate Emerson, and in last year's Athens Olympics he played second fiddle while Yoshito Okubo (who is now playing at Mallorca) got international recognition. When he came back from the Olympics, Tanaka looked like he was a little confused -- whether to play to his own ego and get goals or listen to the team philosophy of "pass to Emerson". Zico has commented that after Tanaka came back from the Olympics he'd looked a little off. The Olympics experience was a huge disappointment for the young group of players. Their generation has been called the "chasm" generation... In other words their generation failed to produce stars during the U-19 stage. People mentally skipped over them to the next generation of youth. But Tanaka and his teammates fought their way through the Olympics qualifiers against tough Middle East teams like UAE, Bahrain, and Lebanon. In the process, they overcame various hurdles and gathered momentum -- the nation was really turning out to support this young group of footballers. The "chasm generation" monicker was still stuck though, and the only way for them to prove themselves was to get better results than their predecessors -- the 2000 Sydney Olympics squad that made it to the Best Eight. This Sydney squad contained many of the present NT members. Anyway, my point (now that I'm way off the path) is that Tanaka's generation lacked the international top-competition experience they needed -- but the expectations were so high that everyone was training ruthlessly to get on the team and play in the Olympics. A number of players suffered from over-training syndrome when they got back from Athens, suffering from insomnia and mental fatigue. And the players had to relive their failure when the returned to Japan. The country's reaction to their performance was less anger than a certain resignation -- there is still this feeling that this generation just doesn't have that top-class quality, particularly lacking in tough international experience. That feeling motivated players like Okubo and Matsui to take action and move to overseas clubs. Tanaka himself has signed on with an agent to start exploring the possibility of going abroad. Tanaka's main characteristic is that he's extremely speedy and moves efficiently, and should give Tamada a run for his money during the upcoming NT training camp especially if Tamada still hasn't addressed his trapping problem. Tatsuya is a bit straightlaced, not having the trouble-maker charisma of Okubo or the down-to-earth unpretentious appeal of Oguro. My personal wish is for him to not get so uptight during NT training, avoid beating himself up too much if he makes an error here or there. When he found out he had gotten onto the NT, he said he was so happy, that he would give it his 120%. He also said that in order to stay on the team, he knows he's going to have to go get goals when he gets the chance to play. His trademark goal performance is to kiss his wedding ring.
Yasuyuki Konno - defensive midfielder, FC Tokyo
Refered to by his FC Tokyo fans as "Kon-chan", Konno is probably one of the shy-est players in the J-League. He's a relentless unwithering mentally focused athlete on the pitch, but outside the game he is quite the wall-flower and finds comfort in any group by allowing himself to be the butt of joshing and good-humored picking. During the pre-Olympics training camp, there is a story that one sunny afternoon as practice wound down Konno decided to lie on the grass and shut his eyes. The manager and team decided to play a joke on him by quietly tiptoeing off the pitch, leaving poor Konno to open his eyes a few minutes later to find himself all alone. At FC Tokyo, it is the same deal, but Konno insists its all okay. "I think it would be over for me if the guys stopped picking on me in their usual way -- I'm really nervous about the NT, with all those top players. I don't know who would talk to me. I hear there's some unspoken rule about who sits where on the bus, but Doi (FC Tokyo and NT goalie) won't tell me, and Kaji (FC Tokyo and NT right side) will probably lie to me anyway. I think I'll just wait until everyone else sits to find a seat for myself." But don't let Kon-chan's social awkwardness fool you. He is a pitbull, and he outclasses Ono and Inamoto defensively. He has tremendous endurance, and got recognition during the Olympic qualifier away series of games when he played full games while not getting one yellow card. So he has stamina and knows how to tackle accurately without fouling much. What I also like about him is though he hustles without giving up, he doesn't let emotions cloud his judgment. At FC Tokyo, the one problem is that the team doesn't play sophisticated build-up football -- where the ball settles down in defensive midfield and the dmf essentially starts the process of the offensive play. FC Tokyo tends to just throw the ball forward and speed things along. In this matter, though, Konno seems to be aware of what Zico Japan's style requires of the dmf -- that it is the job for the dmf to steal the ball back and then initiate the offensive build-up. Konno has good ball feeds, but still needs to nurture his eye for the offense. "Of course, if I get called up once, I'd like to keep getting called. I'm the type of person who gets more and more greedy, so my ambitions grow with each step."
Shinji Murai - left side, Jubilo Iwata
Jef Chiba supporters are a little ticked with Murai's comments following his call-up announcement. He has been gushing about how transfering to Jubilo this season was what helped him get called up to the NT. Of course, Jef fans take exception to this statement, as Murai first started to get recognition during his days in the yellow jersey. It's hard to ignore the power of the Jubilo group, now that they have 5 members on the NT roster. Luckily he was able to recover from injury and show competitive performances as Jubilo shook off their atrocious poor start to the season. Born in 1979, Murai is part of the "golden age" group of star players like Ono, Takahara and Inamoto. He had once been called to the U-20 training camp ahead of the 1999 World Youth Championship -- but the competition was too great and he was not called back after that once. It was only a couple years ago, when Jef Chiba under wily manager Osim started to impress the Japanese football community. The recognition planted an ambitious seed in Murai, which grew when in 2004 he was called to the Japanese Selection vs. Hungary Selection under Manager Yamamoto and to the Niigata Earthquake Charity match by Zico for his Dream Team vs. Niigata Albirex. Murai realized he had to do something to challenge himself to improve, so he made the decision to move to Jubilo Iwata where he could play under World Cup coach and Olympics squad manager Yamamoto as well as with a large group of ex- and current internationals. The season started off badly for Murai when his father passed away in March and injuries followed. But he has just gotten married, and now with his first NT call-up, the momentum is in his favor. "I find that it's a lot of fun to play football where you connect passes and build up the play. I've always liked the Jubilo style of football. And at the NT, they play like that, connecting the passes. It's a lot of fun to watch... When I was watching the NT on tv, I would think 'If I was playing the side, I'd go forward more or create more plays', but now I'm not in the position to make such cavalier and arrogant statements. First, I have to get a chance to play and perform well. I'd like to contribute to both defense and offense. And only then would I see the hint of Germany."
Yuki Abe - defensive midfielder
Abe has the most beautiful free kicks in the J. He impressed the Italy manager in Athens with his two great kicks which resulted in goals. This year he made his international A match debut in the January game against Kazakhstan. I still remember how he quietly approached Ogasawara as he was placing the ball for a free kick and asked him if he could take the kick instead. Ogasawara immediately stepped back and gave him the kick, and the rest of the team sort of patted him smiling as they passed by to join the group in front of the goal. It was his first free kick in the national team. The ball was a low curling shot that went around the wall and headed to the lower right corner of the goal -- but the goalie got to it in time to slap away. He did contribute to one of the goals the NT did get, his vertical pass to Ogasawara was then sent up beautifully to Tamada for the finish. But his performance in the twenty minutes he played was so-so, still unsure of his movements. At 23 now, he's the captain of his team and is currently the top scorer as well. What truly has impressed me about him is that he has really bloomed since last year. He looks stronger, plays with more power, has become a leader, and is building many of Jef's offensive plays as well as stabilizing the defense. Jef is an attacking team, so they will play more in front than back. At the NT, though, the entire team has defensive responsibilities so he must focus on defense first -- no silly mistakes and no fear. Also, the dmf is the main balance-maker of the team. It is this balance that Zico stresses, so the job of a dmf is quite demanding. Intercepting opponent balls, coordinating marking duties with the back line, balancing when the sides go up, and building up the offensive plays. He has to show that he is physically capable of matching the opponent too if he wants to make it to the World Cup. The fact that he is a leader at Jef is big, though -- it's a big responsibility for a fragile team like Jef, especially after they lost so many of their core players. But he has a great calm attitude, and he has never shown to be panicky in games, whether at the J or international level. I'm really impressed by his presence in Jef this year, a little surprised that he turned out to be such a natural leader.
Of course, knowing how Zico is not prone to use his backups actively, I wouldn't be surprised if these guys don't get much/any play time.
As for the Kubo situation >>Click to read related entry, no decision has been made regarding his withdrawal from the team. However, the likelihood seems high, so we should expect to hear a last-minute additional forward call-up after this weekend's league games. I'm guessing Zico will want to take one last look at this next round before he decides on who to add.
Tatsuya Tanaka - forward, Urawa RedsHe's had to play in the shadow of Reds teammate Emerson, and in last year's Athens Olympics he played second fiddle while Yoshito Okubo (who is now playing at Mallorca) got international recognition. When he came back from the Olympics, Tanaka looked like he was a little confused -- whether to play to his own ego and get goals or listen to the team philosophy of "pass to Emerson". Zico has commented that after Tanaka came back from the Olympics he'd looked a little off. The Olympics experience was a huge disappointment for the young group of players. Their generation has been called the "chasm" generation... In other words their generation failed to produce stars during the U-19 stage. People mentally skipped over them to the next generation of youth. But Tanaka and his teammates fought their way through the Olympics qualifiers against tough Middle East teams like UAE, Bahrain, and Lebanon. In the process, they overcame various hurdles and gathered momentum -- the nation was really turning out to support this young group of footballers. The "chasm generation" monicker was still stuck though, and the only way for them to prove themselves was to get better results than their predecessors -- the 2000 Sydney Olympics squad that made it to the Best Eight. This Sydney squad contained many of the present NT members. Anyway, my point (now that I'm way off the path) is that Tanaka's generation lacked the international top-competition experience they needed -- but the expectations were so high that everyone was training ruthlessly to get on the team and play in the Olympics. A number of players suffered from over-training syndrome when they got back from Athens, suffering from insomnia and mental fatigue. And the players had to relive their failure when the returned to Japan. The country's reaction to their performance was less anger than a certain resignation -- there is still this feeling that this generation just doesn't have that top-class quality, particularly lacking in tough international experience. That feeling motivated players like Okubo and Matsui to take action and move to overseas clubs. Tanaka himself has signed on with an agent to start exploring the possibility of going abroad. Tanaka's main characteristic is that he's extremely speedy and moves efficiently, and should give Tamada a run for his money during the upcoming NT training camp especially if Tamada still hasn't addressed his trapping problem. Tatsuya is a bit straightlaced, not having the trouble-maker charisma of Okubo or the down-to-earth unpretentious appeal of Oguro. My personal wish is for him to not get so uptight during NT training, avoid beating himself up too much if he makes an error here or there. When he found out he had gotten onto the NT, he said he was so happy, that he would give it his 120%. He also said that in order to stay on the team, he knows he's going to have to go get goals when he gets the chance to play. His trademark goal performance is to kiss his wedding ring.
Yasuyuki Konno - defensive midfielder, FC TokyoRefered to by his FC Tokyo fans as "Kon-chan", Konno is probably one of the shy-est players in the J-League. He's a relentless unwithering mentally focused athlete on the pitch, but outside the game he is quite the wall-flower and finds comfort in any group by allowing himself to be the butt of joshing and good-humored picking. During the pre-Olympics training camp, there is a story that one sunny afternoon as practice wound down Konno decided to lie on the grass and shut his eyes. The manager and team decided to play a joke on him by quietly tiptoeing off the pitch, leaving poor Konno to open his eyes a few minutes later to find himself all alone. At FC Tokyo, it is the same deal, but Konno insists its all okay. "I think it would be over for me if the guys stopped picking on me in their usual way -- I'm really nervous about the NT, with all those top players. I don't know who would talk to me. I hear there's some unspoken rule about who sits where on the bus, but Doi (FC Tokyo and NT goalie) won't tell me, and Kaji (FC Tokyo and NT right side) will probably lie to me anyway. I think I'll just wait until everyone else sits to find a seat for myself." But don't let Kon-chan's social awkwardness fool you. He is a pitbull, and he outclasses Ono and Inamoto defensively. He has tremendous endurance, and got recognition during the Olympic qualifier away series of games when he played full games while not getting one yellow card. So he has stamina and knows how to tackle accurately without fouling much. What I also like about him is though he hustles without giving up, he doesn't let emotions cloud his judgment. At FC Tokyo, the one problem is that the team doesn't play sophisticated build-up football -- where the ball settles down in defensive midfield and the dmf essentially starts the process of the offensive play. FC Tokyo tends to just throw the ball forward and speed things along. In this matter, though, Konno seems to be aware of what Zico Japan's style requires of the dmf -- that it is the job for the dmf to steal the ball back and then initiate the offensive build-up. Konno has good ball feeds, but still needs to nurture his eye for the offense. "Of course, if I get called up once, I'd like to keep getting called. I'm the type of person who gets more and more greedy, so my ambitions grow with each step."
Shinji Murai - left side, Jubilo IwataJef Chiba supporters are a little ticked with Murai's comments following his call-up announcement. He has been gushing about how transfering to Jubilo this season was what helped him get called up to the NT. Of course, Jef fans take exception to this statement, as Murai first started to get recognition during his days in the yellow jersey. It's hard to ignore the power of the Jubilo group, now that they have 5 members on the NT roster. Luckily he was able to recover from injury and show competitive performances as Jubilo shook off their atrocious poor start to the season. Born in 1979, Murai is part of the "golden age" group of star players like Ono, Takahara and Inamoto. He had once been called to the U-20 training camp ahead of the 1999 World Youth Championship -- but the competition was too great and he was not called back after that once. It was only a couple years ago, when Jef Chiba under wily manager Osim started to impress the Japanese football community. The recognition planted an ambitious seed in Murai, which grew when in 2004 he was called to the Japanese Selection vs. Hungary Selection under Manager Yamamoto and to the Niigata Earthquake Charity match by Zico for his Dream Team vs. Niigata Albirex. Murai realized he had to do something to challenge himself to improve, so he made the decision to move to Jubilo Iwata where he could play under World Cup coach and Olympics squad manager Yamamoto as well as with a large group of ex- and current internationals. The season started off badly for Murai when his father passed away in March and injuries followed. But he has just gotten married, and now with his first NT call-up, the momentum is in his favor. "I find that it's a lot of fun to play football where you connect passes and build up the play. I've always liked the Jubilo style of football. And at the NT, they play like that, connecting the passes. It's a lot of fun to watch... When I was watching the NT on tv, I would think 'If I was playing the side, I'd go forward more or create more plays', but now I'm not in the position to make such cavalier and arrogant statements. First, I have to get a chance to play and perform well. I'd like to contribute to both defense and offense. And only then would I see the hint of Germany."
Yuki Abe - defensive midfielderAbe has the most beautiful free kicks in the J. He impressed the Italy manager in Athens with his two great kicks which resulted in goals. This year he made his international A match debut in the January game against Kazakhstan. I still remember how he quietly approached Ogasawara as he was placing the ball for a free kick and asked him if he could take the kick instead. Ogasawara immediately stepped back and gave him the kick, and the rest of the team sort of patted him smiling as they passed by to join the group in front of the goal. It was his first free kick in the national team. The ball was a low curling shot that went around the wall and headed to the lower right corner of the goal -- but the goalie got to it in time to slap away. He did contribute to one of the goals the NT did get, his vertical pass to Ogasawara was then sent up beautifully to Tamada for the finish. But his performance in the twenty minutes he played was so-so, still unsure of his movements. At 23 now, he's the captain of his team and is currently the top scorer as well. What truly has impressed me about him is that he has really bloomed since last year. He looks stronger, plays with more power, has become a leader, and is building many of Jef's offensive plays as well as stabilizing the defense. Jef is an attacking team, so they will play more in front than back. At the NT, though, the entire team has defensive responsibilities so he must focus on defense first -- no silly mistakes and no fear. Also, the dmf is the main balance-maker of the team. It is this balance that Zico stresses, so the job of a dmf is quite demanding. Intercepting opponent balls, coordinating marking duties with the back line, balancing when the sides go up, and building up the offensive plays. He has to show that he is physically capable of matching the opponent too if he wants to make it to the World Cup. The fact that he is a leader at Jef is big, though -- it's a big responsibility for a fragile team like Jef, especially after they lost so many of their core players. But he has a great calm attitude, and he has never shown to be panicky in games, whether at the J or international level. I'm really impressed by his presence in Jef this year, a little surprised that he turned out to be such a natural leader.
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