Okazaki interviews, comments and pictures from the Japanese media

[Steven]

On 23/09/2017 at 08:58, notnow john said:

I'd like to hear Merson explain that .

He couldn't if it was in English.

[Finnegan]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

If he could shoot from more that 4 yard out he'd be amazing!

 

 

Shinji says what? 

[Babylon]

3 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

 

Shinji says what? 

He was aiming for the other corner....

[Finnegan]

It would basically be my favourite ever non-football moment at the King Power (surpassing current favourite, which was listening to fifty pissed up Belgian Wasilewski fans abusing Millwall from the opposite side of the ground in broken English) if either L1 or UFS managed to get this going loud enough to be heard all round the stadium / become a regular chant. 

 

 

It would also probably mean a hell of a lot to him, all jokes aside, and he probably deserves a good display of appreciation for the dog work that helped win us the league when he often slips (no pun intended, sorry Shinji) under the radar and gets ridiculed because people don't understand what he does. 

 

@C-man @Voll Blau @Sol thewall Bamba @othersingingpeople

Edited 23 October 2017 by Finnegan

[Finnegan]

2 minutes ago, Babylon said:

He was aiming for the other corner....

 

You'd have put it in row ZZ, broken your collar bone, slipped a disc and ruptured your coccyx to be fair. 

[Babylon]

5 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

You'd have put it in row ZZ, broken your collar bone, slipped a disc and ruptured your coccyx to be fair. 

Row bb more like

[Finnegan]

8 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

You'd have air kicked it completely, broken your collar bone, slipped a disc and ruptured your coccyx to be fair. 

 

Edited 23 October 2017 by Finnegan

[kushiro]

10 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Good stuff kushiro, keep it coming!

 

What do the media in Japan think of Okazaki this season? If the season stopped now, he would win our player of the season award!

There is a great pride in Japanese footballers (and baseball players) doing well overseas, so he gets loads of coverage, but it's bizarre how it's totally focused on goalscoring - so last season when Shinji was a key part of the revival under Shakespeare (but not getting on the scoresheet) there was hardly a mention, but now it's like there's a regular feature - the Shinji goal report.

 

The Japanese version of Sky has pretty much reverted to its 2015/16 policy - i.e. choosing a Leicester game for full coverage every week. There is often exasperation though, about :

 

1) Shinji being subbed even though it looks like he's got a lot left in the tank (like last Saturday, for example). 

 

2) Shinji seemingly being allowed only one off day before he's dropped - something that doesn't seem to apply to the other 2015/16 title winners.

 

[kushiro]

Some great coverage in the Japanese sports papers this morning:

 

It was a match-up between the two Japanese stars of the Premier League. One, Maya Yoshida, who is in the Japan national team, the other, Shinji Okazaki, who has been left out. It was Okazaki who won the battle. 24 minutes into the second half, Okazaki suddenly comes racing in past Yoshida at top speed to meet a Vardy cross. He catches it beautifully with his right foot and the net ripples. 

 

Maya Yoshida knew what was going to happen but still couldn't stop it. "For someone like me, who knows Oka-chan's game so well, I shouldn't have been done like that. He destroyed me."     Okazaki said, "That's the kind of goal I've been trying to score, and finally I showed what I can do." 

 

Okazaki has not been sure of his place in the Leicester team this season, with only 9 starts in 17 games, but he's already passed his five goal total from the 2015/16 season when Leicester won their 'miracle Premier League title'. "I'd like to get into double figures this season. And I haven't given up hope of making the squad for Russia"

 

"He should be back in the national side", Yoshida said after the game. But will the message get through to Halilhodzic? 

 

 

 

 

Edited 15 December 2017 by kushiro

[kushiro]

Here's some more. This headline reads 'Two-Goal Okazaki Still Shining':

 

 

 

The next two have the same headline, 'Okazaki Double Strike':

 

 

[Suzie the Fox]

Love the pics. Shinji is just such a happy little bunny

[Jimmy]

Apparently that game was the first time 2 Japanese players scored for opposing teams in the prem

[SheppyFox]

On 23/10/2017 at 13:54, Finnegan said:

It would basically be my favourite ever non-football moment at the King Power (surpassing current favourite, which was listening to fifty pissed up Belgian Wasilewski fans abusing Millwall from the opposite side of the ground in broken English) if either L1 or UFS managed to get this going loud enough to be heard all round the stadium / become a regular chant. 

 

 

It would also probably mean a hell of a lot to him, all jokes aside, and he probably deserves a good display of appreciation for the dog work that helped win us the league when he often slips (no pun intended, sorry Shinji) under the radar and gets ridiculed because people don't understand what he does. 

 

@C-man @Voll Blau @Sol thewall Bamba @othersingingpeople

Would love to see this, the little fellas smile would be brilliant!  

[Chester Dontlie]

Salihodzic must be bonkers if he's thinking of leaving Shinji out of his Japan World Cup team. 

Just glanced at Bundesliga table and Osako's Koln have ... 3 points. That's THREE POINTS after 16 games!  

Osako - 1 goal in BL so far, Okazaki - 6 in PL.

 Dilly ding, dilly dong, man!!! 

 

PS As always thanks for the great translating work and photos @kushiro 

 

[kushiro]

The Japanese papers love their detailed analysis. Stats, graphs, pie charts, bar charts, diagrams with wiggly lines. They've got it all. But look at this diagram of Shinji's second goal on Wednesday:

 

 

I'm just trying to think of the Japanese expression for 'phoning it in'. This completely fails to capture the key point about the goal - Shinji's wonderful movement, that totally defeated Maya Yoshida. In the diagram, that subtle yet devastating change of direction has been ironed out into a boring old straight line.

 

Fortunately, the person with the same job on a rival paper portrayed what happened fairly accurately:

 

 

 

Another thing mentioned in the reports this morning was Shinji's eye injury, which meant he wasn't able to head the ball for the whole 90 minutes (was there anything about this in the UK media? - I didn't see anything). After I read that I thought 'Yeah - come to think of it, I can't remember him heading the ball once in the game'. I watched the first half again and there were three moments when it looked like he might have headed it, or at least tried to, but didn't. I think that we can be pretty sure, though, that had a cross come over in the 91st minute at the perfect height for a classic Shinji diving header to complete his hatrick, he'd have thrown himself at it without a care in the world. 

 

 

[foxy boxing]

Really great to see Shinji get the recognition he richly deserves from all his hard work on the pitch on Match of the day and also on Drivetime on Talksport. really the only thing missing from his play was regular goals and he has started adding those. the guy is at upmost professional who always does his best for the team and plays with a smile on his face.

[special1]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/928303712237432833

[Great Boos Up]

A Leicester fan called into talk sport's drive yesterday and said we love him to bits and if we put his smiling face on the moon; the next full moon would bring world peace.

[fuchsntf]

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 07:59, mozartfox said:

If you plan visiting Japan (great place/great people by the way)then to acclimatize yourself to Japanese

Hotel rooms, suggest you sleep in a broom cupboard for a views nights with your suitcase before departing.

Good preparation for what you will encounter.

For best weather suggest October through to end of April.

Best Asian Country to visit by a Country mile and not that expensive nowadays.

I went to Japan , many years ago, with then my Japanese Girlfriend.I stayed mainly on the mainland but did visit a couple of islands. The accomodation , Rented rooms and cabins.

Ample space..

This last 2 months , my daughter , husband and baby daugher, used Airb+b.Plus help from

Japanese/english friends. The japanese loved Ronja my 1 yr old granddaughter, being lighthaired helped. The japanese loved, making contact, especially  in vacation areas.

My daughter did say , sometimes it was quite difficult to communicate on a level ground.

Few spoke a European Language.Though in tourist areas, japanese tourists authorities, had

Computer translation phones, and PCs.There were a few who spoke English or another language, but it couldnt be taken for granted..

They went into a fish restaurant, and said the manager, who also waited, just kept grumbling on and on, they thought it was because of them...another guest told them not to worry, hes been complaining the whole week, over delayed food supplies and weather (5 days continual rain) .Later only speaking Japanes , he took my grand-kid on his lap, and played with her, and told, the other guest, he will h old and play with her, so Mama and papa can eat in peace...

Then his wife and daughter the cooks came out, running backwards and forwards to help, looking after the baby.The wife spoke a very broken English, but the daughter none.

They paid for the meal , but they  got some free extras, and he offered to drive them to their digs, but they were only 200 meters away, he asked where..?  Then they all broke out in laughter, leaving my daughter somewhat perplexed, then they told her,through  the other English speaking guest 'your staying at my other daughters lodgings....and they thought she was still out of town....Then just has they got up to leave..she came in....Then they all laughed...

My daughters family were coincidently, the 1st ones she had taken on for a month, the house/rooms had been empty, but would be booked after they leave, until after the xmas period..

Local h olidays and small festivals..

  

[kushiro]

My head's still full of Shinji thoughts after Wednesday - but I'm not alone in that. He's talking point of the week here - so here's a few more random Oka-musings.

 

The Premier League's legal bods have had a hell of a job this week chasing down and deleting youtube footage of the Southampton game. The reaction to the Okazaki-Yoshida clash here has been massive, with loads of videos being uploaded. One highlights video had an amazing half a million views and 500 comments just 12 hours after being put up - but was then taken down. It's like whack-a-mole though, and it's still easy to find other videos.

 

So much of the coverage is about Shinji and the World Cup. There's a massive clamour for the 'Big 3' (Okazaki, Kagawa and Honda) to be brought back into the squad, although there are arguments on both sides. Some of the newcomers in the national team have done really well - especially Ideguchi (who is apparently bound for Leeds United) - and some believe that being dropped was just the kick up the backside that the older players needed. It does seem crazy though when you look at the list of top scorers in the Premier League - every one else on the list will be in Russia, apart from Rooney (and Southgate wants him to be there) - but somehow Shinji, despite Japan being ranked way lower than any of those other countries, despite his amazing goals-per-minute numbers, and despite the massive contribution he makes to the team aside from putting the ball in the net.....no, hang on... I'd better stop before the steam comes parping out ot my ears.

 

Finally a word about facial expressions. Shinji is famous for his smile, but for most of the time he has his 'game face' on. Pure determination. I love these two examples - the first one from Wednesday night, a close-up of the moment he scores his second goal. The other one as he scores v Liverpool a few weeks back.

 

 

 

Keeping him on for 90 minutes on Wednesday was probably a sign that Puel had already decided to revert to the Burnley XI for the Palace game, which is a shame because this fixture last year was Shinji's best performance of the season. Oh well, maybe a cameo appearance as sub, then raring to go for the Man City game.

Edited 16 December 2017 by kushiro

[kushiro]

It looks like Shinji could be back in the Leicester team today, and he may be getting some more good news very soon. He's been out the Japanese national squad since last September, and it looked like his hopes of appearing in his third World Cup had disappeared. But this has just come up on the Japanese news sites:

 

 

 

It says that the Japanese FA have contacted Shinji about his availability for the upcoming friendlies against Mali and Ukraine (that will be played in Belgium later this month). Presumably, this wouldn't  be happening without there being a very high chance of him being in the squad when it's announced next Wednesday. Fingers crossed.

[Wolfox]

@kushiro I hope you’re right... would love to see Shinji at the World Cup

 

we’ve missed him in past few weeks...  he inspires the team to up their games...

[Foxxed]

He should play today to help with the midfield battle, as he did previously against Chelsea, but I hope he scores: after Japan's coach's decision to not include him he has something to prove.

[kushiro]

Fantastic news for Shinji - after eight months out he's back in the Japan squad. After the sacking of Halilhodzic last month, new boss Nishino has restored him to the squad of 27 for the World Cup warm up game against Ghana in 12 days time. Nishino acknowledges that there is a question mark over his fitness, but thinks that with one month to go Shinji has a chance to make it. Presumably he'll get some kind of run out in the Ghana game before the final 23 is announced on May 31st. Nishino was keen to praise Okazaki in his interview after the squad announcement, calling his selfless play and contribution to the team 'irreplaceable'. Let's hope he really can get back to full fitness and the kind of form he was in the the first half of the season, rather than the clearly half-fit Shinji we saw in March. 

 

In other news, Shinji has another book out, the third volume of his own writing (you may remember the second one  - a diary of the 2015/16 season). This one is called 'The Worried Man' - it's a collection of refelctive interviews over the last two years about all aspects of the game. 

 

Edited 18 May 2018 by kushiro

[st albans fox]

Hope the guy makes it -could be argued that our drop off in form and intensity co incided  with shinj’s injury problem a little too neatly to not be relevant to us. Don’t think we ever really  understand and appreciate his value to our team.