Yuji Nakazawa just signed a three-year contract with his current team Yokohama F Marinos. He had been tossing and turning for the past week trying to decide whether or not to take an offer from one of the European clubs (the club of focus was Bundesliga's Dortmund). If Nakazawa had taken the offer, he would have been the first defender to go abroad from Japan.The biggest factor in his decion-making process was the World Cup. Most would automatically assume that getting a gig with a Euro club would be the fastest way to getting on the World Cup Japan squad. That used to be the case... maybe three-four years ago. Heck, even one-two years ago. But in these past couple years, we've seen all sorts of positive and negative repercussions of playing abroad. I guess things are never that simple. continued
If it were any other year, Nakazawa would probably have taken the offer. But with less than a year to go until Germany, his biggest concern was how much play time he could get. He was the 2004 J-League MVP, afterall, but clubs abroad aren't going to just slide their players over for his sake; at least not until he's shown he has the right stuff. He commented that it would be highly unlikely for him to succeed immediately in the first year abroad. He had been trying to get information from Dortmund regarding the competition he should expect among the defenders, whether there were other new defenders coming into the team, etc. It takes a year to get the hang of things: the language, the team philosophy, the physical, etc. We all know that Nakazawa would do his utmost to make us proud no matter where he went. But if he did not get enough play time in this crucial year, the quality of his play might go down or Zico may look to another defender who was showing equal abilities but playing constantly and maintaining fitness.
In Japan, afterall, THE overarching priority is the World Cup. The J-league was created so that Japan could qualify and better compete against the best of the world. Career moves are made with the World Cup in mind -- take Toshiya Fujita's move out of Jubilo and into Nagoya Grampus 8 recently. He could have hung in and fought his way back to the starting team; but the fact that Jubilo coach Yamamoto indicated to him he was not looking at Fujita, who is now 33, as a starter anymore...well, Fujita lost no time telling everyone he was out of there. He said that he was still aiming for the World Cup squad.
Shunsuke Nakamura was cut from the 2002 World Cup roster and he immediately signed a contract with the first team from Europe that still had an offer on the table (there was interest from Real Madrid but they withdrew when Nakamura got cut from the team). He rushed out of Japan so that he could get started immediately on building himself up for the next World Cup.
Of course, players like Nakamura, Hide Nakata, Shinji Ono, Junichi Inamoto, and Naohiro Takahara could not have stayed in the J-league any longer than they did. There was just no where left for them to go but out to Europe, and luckily they got to go while they were still relatively young. Aside from HNakata, they have not have the great successes that many had hoped for (club issues, injuries/health) but they are hanging in and have certainly grown. The successes and problems that they've encountered abroad have become references for other ambitious players.
But with less than a year to go until Germany, most players are proceeding with extreme caution. Not only the example of Nakazawa, but I think I've heard that Reysol's Keiji Tamada and Reds' Alex Santos are not going to even think about attempting to go abroad until after the World Cup -- despite the fact that there have been whispers of interest. Gamba Osaka have given Masashi Oguro the green light to transfer abroad, but only after the World Cup next year -- though in his case I haven't heard of any interest yet. And players like FC Tokyo's Akira Kaji 25 and Yasuyuki Konno 22 (there was talk that these two were scouted) have said that they are not thinking about going abroad until they can first contribute to FC Tokyo with the National Team in mind. A few years ago, it was almost unheard of for players to put even the thought of an opportunity like that aside, but now that everyone is a little wiser about the risk they would be taking, there is a wide range of thinking with regard to this issue.
According to a prominent Italian agent, the two players in Japan who are getting serious interest are Antlers' Mitsuo Ogasawara and Jubilo's Takeshi Fukunishi. By serious, I mean this guy had club names and transfer fee numbers already figured out. As I mentioned before in my profile about Ogasawara >>Click to read it's too bad he didn't go abroad at least a year ago. Now, with Antlers having a good chance at the J-League Championships this season plus having let go of former captain Koji Nakata to Marseille, the club is going to be extremely reluctant to allow Ogasawara any move until the season's over. If anyone in the J-league really needs to expand his wings abroad, Ogasawara is the guy.
Takeshi Fukunishi and Marinos' Tatsuhiko Kubo are well known to have shown little interest in going abroad in the past. However, after Kubo's inspiring performances last year during the European tour (his goals against Iceland and Czech) he started to change his tune. Fukunishi also had shown little interest in going outside Japan, but with his eye-catching performance of late (at the Confederations Cup in particular), and interest from scouts, he's also started to show a shift in interest. He said this week that he'd like to consider it as a possibility. I guess they tasted the difference playing against some of the best teams/players in the world and it had whet their appetites.
But these two are already 28 years old, and the clock is ticking.
Which makes the transfers abroad of Le Mans' Daisuke Matsui and Mallorca's Yoshito Okubo seem in retrospect like such good decisions. Matsui just turned 24 this May, and Okubo just turned 23 -- and they are both doing fairly well in their new clubs. They are making their own individual impact in their respective leagues outside the umbrella of the Japan national team. I know that their desire to go abroad was fuelled by their encounter with Shinji Ono during last year's U-23 Olympics squad where Ono came in as one of the over-age players. His advice to the young players was to take advantage of good offers that came -- that there was much they could learn from the challenges abroad. For the guys from this age group (the 2004 Olympics squad generation), going abroad and toughening up there is probably the best way to show Zico they are getting better and stronger, both physically and mentally. It certainly puts them in the international arena and gives them the required experience that could get them on the World Cup squad.
In Japan, afterall, THE overarching priority is the World Cup. The J-league was created so that Japan could qualify and better compete against the best of the world. Career moves are made with the World Cup in mind -- take Toshiya Fujita's move out of Jubilo and into Nagoya Grampus 8 recently. He could have hung in and fought his way back to the starting team; but the fact that Jubilo coach Yamamoto indicated to him he was not looking at Fujita, who is now 33, as a starter anymore...well, Fujita lost no time telling everyone he was out of there. He said that he was still aiming for the World Cup squad.
Shunsuke Nakamura was cut from the 2002 World Cup roster and he immediately signed a contract with the first team from Europe that still had an offer on the table (there was interest from Real Madrid but they withdrew when Nakamura got cut from the team). He rushed out of Japan so that he could get started immediately on building himself up for the next World Cup.
Of course, players like Nakamura, Hide Nakata, Shinji Ono, Junichi Inamoto, and Naohiro Takahara could not have stayed in the J-league any longer than they did. There was just no where left for them to go but out to Europe, and luckily they got to go while they were still relatively young. Aside from HNakata, they have not have the great successes that many had hoped for (club issues, injuries/health) but they are hanging in and have certainly grown. The successes and problems that they've encountered abroad have become references for other ambitious players.
But with less than a year to go until Germany, most players are proceeding with extreme caution. Not only the example of Nakazawa, but I think I've heard that Reysol's Keiji Tamada and Reds' Alex Santos are not going to even think about attempting to go abroad until after the World Cup -- despite the fact that there have been whispers of interest. Gamba Osaka have given Masashi Oguro the green light to transfer abroad, but only after the World Cup next year -- though in his case I haven't heard of any interest yet. And players like FC Tokyo's Akira Kaji 25 and Yasuyuki Konno 22 (there was talk that these two were scouted) have said that they are not thinking about going abroad until they can first contribute to FC Tokyo with the National Team in mind. A few years ago, it was almost unheard of for players to put even the thought of an opportunity like that aside, but now that everyone is a little wiser about the risk they would be taking, there is a wide range of thinking with regard to this issue.
According to a prominent Italian agent, the two players in Japan who are getting serious interest are Antlers' Mitsuo Ogasawara and Jubilo's Takeshi Fukunishi. By serious, I mean this guy had club names and transfer fee numbers already figured out. As I mentioned before in my profile about Ogasawara >>Click to read it's too bad he didn't go abroad at least a year ago. Now, with Antlers having a good chance at the J-League Championships this season plus having let go of former captain Koji Nakata to Marseille, the club is going to be extremely reluctant to allow Ogasawara any move until the season's over. If anyone in the J-league really needs to expand his wings abroad, Ogasawara is the guy.
Takeshi Fukunishi and Marinos' Tatsuhiko Kubo are well known to have shown little interest in going abroad in the past. However, after Kubo's inspiring performances last year during the European tour (his goals against Iceland and Czech) he started to change his tune. Fukunishi also had shown little interest in going outside Japan, but with his eye-catching performance of late (at the Confederations Cup in particular), and interest from scouts, he's also started to show a shift in interest. He said this week that he'd like to consider it as a possibility. I guess they tasted the difference playing against some of the best teams/players in the world and it had whet their appetites.
But these two are already 28 years old, and the clock is ticking.
Which makes the transfers abroad of Le Mans' Daisuke Matsui and Mallorca's Yoshito Okubo seem in retrospect like such good decisions. Matsui just turned 24 this May, and Okubo just turned 23 -- and they are both doing fairly well in their new clubs. They are making their own individual impact in their respective leagues outside the umbrella of the Japan national team. I know that their desire to go abroad was fuelled by their encounter with Shinji Ono during last year's U-23 Olympics squad where Ono came in as one of the over-age players. His advice to the young players was to take advantage of good offers that came -- that there was much they could learn from the challenges abroad. For the guys from this age group (the 2004 Olympics squad generation), going abroad and toughening up there is probably the best way to show Zico they are getting better and stronger, both physically and mentally. It certainly puts them in the international arena and gives them the required experience that could get them on the World Cup squad.
Comment On This Entry
As the sun set in, as well perform?
He was just entering a space that was not great, and at the interment of her companion had so long as he is very pleasant to tell the true sunset, sarcumventing and contriving, and there is no way given to God; don't I make no question.
Captain Williams among our luck, forgetting that the wind held where it did, and I shouldn't half like the well-known cupidity of Kennebunk was about an hour the next Sabbath.
| HOME |
