Okazaki interviews, comments and pictures from the Japanese media

[norwichfox]

2 hours ago, st albans fox said:

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. 

Nobody knows what he does, even Shinji....he's a sort of falling (over) star - but it's worked well for us, particularly in Premier League winning season and the European matches. I hope he gets to play for Japan during the World Cup, I'm sure it would mean a heck of a lot to him.

[kushiro]

Sports papers here this morning are full of the change of direction under the new boss, with the 'Big Three' (Okazaki, Honda and Kagawa) all called up together to the Japanese squad for the first time in a long time. One of the papers likens it to a change of government - and there is certainly a sense of ripping up a predecessor's legacy - for Trump-Obama read Nishino-Halilhodzic. Another paper rates each player's chance of making the final cut - and puts Okazaki at 80% and Honda and Kagawa at 70%. It's largely guesswork of course but it's nice to see such confidence being expressed in Shinji, who himself was making very positive noises about his fitness and how confident he is he can do something in Russia when he arrived back in Japan on Tuesday. 

 

When he was asked about the Big Three at his press conference yesterday Nishino deliberately singled out Okazaki, and had to be pressed again to give his thoughts on Honda and Kagawa - the reverse of the situation at Halilhodzic's last press conference (see above) when journalists had to push him hard to explain exactly why Shinji wasn't in the squad. 

Edited 19 May 2018 by kushiro

[kushiro]

Shinji looks set to start today's final World Cup warm up match against Paraguay - kick off just after 2pm UK time. This is a big chance for him because Japan's preparations so far have been truly dreadful. The switch of manager has had no effect, and if anything they've looked even more lifeless since Nishino took over, losing to Ghana and Switzerland. All the media reckon Okazaki will be given the lone striker's role today - what used to be his favourite position, though recently he's been saying that he'd actually prefer his Leicester role. He had twenty minutes in the Ghana game and looked pretty sharp, but didn't get off the bench in the Switzerland game four days ago. 

 

A couple of pictures from a recent training session:

 

 

[egg_fried_rice]

Great shot of Shinji's superhuman calves there

[MC Prussian]

Shame he didn't make it on as a sub against Switzerland, will be watching today's game with great interest.

[kushiro]

The clouds have lifted somewhat after the 4-2 win against Paraguay. Shinji started the game and he came off with 15 minutes to go when Japan were 2-1 up. He played in the lone striker role, and while he didn't score, or have any clear chances, his contribution to the victory is being acknowledged this morning. This game was clearly seen as a rehearsal for their first Group H match against Colombia next week. Nishino's strategy was to stop the opposition playing, and who better to play that role than Shinji? As one commentator writes, 'Okazaki's pressing sent a message to the team. When the opposition defenders had the ball, Shinji was quick to close down. Kagawa followed his lead, and then the midfield all pushed forward. Okazaki's job of closing down passing lanes is not a glamorous one, but it was key to the victory'.

 

The question now is whether Nishino will stick with Shinji against Colombia. Some think he will revert to Osako, but Nishino must be very tempted to keep the same shape up front. Osako's goals have dried up recently and pressing isn't one of his strengths. Shinji must have a pretty good chance of winning cap number 114, and who knows - maybe even scoring goal number 51. After all, his last goal in the World Cup was against the same opponents four years ago. 

 

Here he is in action against Paraguay:

 

In this picture you can see Shinji in the foreground and Inui about to unleash a very Mahrez-like 25-yard curler for Japan's first goal:

 

 

And here he is saluting Kagawa's goal that made it 4-2 in stoppage time:

Edited 14 June 2018 by kushiro

[kushiro]

Shinji's been sounding very positive in the final hours before kick-off. Saying he's raring to go, basically. I've been looking back at Shinji's first world cup - eight years ago. Here's a few pics from that amazing 3-1 win over Denmark. Shinji came on as sub and put the seal on the victory with goal number 3, set up beautifully by Keisuke Honda.

 

 

Here he is thanking Honda for the assist - so boyish!

 

And here's another future Fox celebrating the victory:

 

Remember those two free-kicks that set up the victory? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1YK0e-UWNg&t=0m45s

 

[Jonezy]

Oi!!!  We are NOT talking about that Japan-Denmark game.... Like never.... 

 

 

 

Grats on a great win today! 

[kushiro]

Coverage from this morning's sports papers -

 

'Okazaki went into the game with two ambitions. "I wanted to help us win, and I wanted to answer those who say I'm finished". Nishino sent him on after 75 minutes, telling him 'link-up with Osako and get us an equaliser'. Within three minutes, he threw himself at Osako's cross to distract the keeper, then when Inui put the ball back in he dived in again, and the ball ran loose for Honda to score. 

 

Nagatomo said 'When that goal went in I was happy like I'd scored myself -  Shinji was saying 'typically, it was Honda who got the rewards for my dirty work'.

 

Honda's equaliser step-by-step: 

 

1) Osako crosses...

 

2) Shinji challenges the keeper...

 

 

3) Inui puts the ball back in...

 

 

4) Shinji and the keeper challenge again..

 

 

5) Honda scores.

 

 

The celebration afterwards was, according to the papers, 'two veterans' show of mutual respect':

 

[kushiro]

In the aftermath of the Senegal game, Shinji's been called the 泥臭いつぶれ役　- the dorokusai tsubure yaku -  not the easiest phrase to translate - but here are a few possibilities:

 

'the player whose role is to fall over and get all muddy'

 

'the player whose role is to throw himself about and do the dirty work'

 

'the player whose role is to fly in to challenges and get stuck in'

 

I think you get the picture. Speaking of which, there have been some great shots of that equaliser in the papers - here's another one:

 

[RutlanderFox]

3 hours ago, kushiro said:

In the aftermath of the Senegal game, Shinji's been called the 泥臭いつぶれ役　- the dorokusai tsubure yaku -  not the easiest phrase to translate - but here are a few possibilities:

 

'the player whose role is to fall over and get all muddy'

 

'the player whose role is to throw himself about and do the dirty work'

 

'the player whose role is to fly in to challenges and get stuck in'

 

I think you get the picture. Speaking of which, there have been some great shots of that equaliser in the papers - here's another one:

 

Yep that sounds like him! Do you think he will start today?

 

Edit: never mind just seen your post in the match thread

Edited 28 June 2018 by RutlanderFox

[kushiro]

A couple of post Belgium game photos:

 

1) Apologizing to the fans.

 

 

2) The scenes as they arrive back in Japan.

 

 

He's been saying that this is not the way he wants to end his international career - so we may see more of him in a Japan shirt. 

Edited 9 July 2018 by kushiro

[CosbehFox]

Asian Cup in January isn't it? So not too long before a major tournament again. 

[Jimmy]

5 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Asian Cup in January isn't it? So not too long before a major tournament again. 

its not FIFA sanctioned so we don't have to release him I believe, heard something about that in relation to Son at Spurs

[MPH]

2 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

its not FIFA sanctioned so we don't have to release him I believe, heard something about that in relation to Son at Spurs

 

Wed be pretty mean not to... especially if we plan on keeping hold of Musa as is alledged.. Vardy nacho and musa should do us fine 

[CosbehFox]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

its not FIFA sanctioned so we don't have to release him I believe, heard something about that in relation to Son at Spurs

Slight confusion. Asian Cup is FIFA sanctioned. 

 

To avoid national service, Son has to finish the top four of a international competition. The Asian Games and Olympics are considered those by Korean authorities but not FIFA sanctioned. 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/jun/17/son-heung-min-world-cup-south-korea-military-service-asian-games

[Chester Dontlie]

Japan were one of the brightest points of the tournament for me. I was gutted to see them concede those two silly goals (the first and the last one) to Belgium and lose. I think the biggest mistake was to leave the experienced 泥臭いつぶれ役 on the bench for the entire game :/

[norwichfox]

3 hours ago, Chester Dontlie said:

Japan were one of the brightest points of the tournament for me. I was gutted to see them concede those two silly goals (the first and the last one) to Belgium and lose. I think the biggest mistake was to leave the experienced 泥臭いつぶれ役 on the bench for the entire game :/

As I am totally unfamiliar with the Japanese language, I did a google translate on 泥臭いつぶれ役....and all became clear (or not so clear.....but clearly obvious)

[kushiro]

I'm grabbing any bit of good news I can get at the moment - and what better than seeing Shinji smile after scoring with a diving header - something that has happened in his last two games for Huesca. The diving header was always his party piece - he scored a load in the J-League, in Germany and for Japan. Strangely, it never happened once in his four years at Leicester. 

 

He's on a a bit of a hot streak at the moment - with three goals in those last two games (the other one also with his head).

 

 

 

[Deeg67]

As well, Huesca has a definite chance at promotion.  

 

8 goals for Shinji so far this season.

[Chester Dontlie]

I'm checking on Shinji and Huesca every several weeks and hoping they will get the promotion. Even watched their game a few weeks ago (it was an away fixture and the pitch was horrible, which resulted in multiple sometimes comically misplaced passes from both teams, I bet he misses the clean cut green grass of KP stadium lol). I was pretty agitated when he wasn't featured in the squad for a couple weeks (could be down to some slight injury or some other reason, not necessarily the manager's shortsightedness), and the immediate effect was Huesca did poorly in those games. With him in the starting eleven they are doing much better, actually winning most games. He still seems as mobile and tenacious as when he played for us, his engine running at top speed just good old Shinji, I had a chuckle when saw how he always seemed to be the one starting the pressing, reminded me of his Leicester days. I might be mistaken but think because of his incredible work ethic, the never say die attitude (chasing opponents and lost balls, tackling, fighting against big guys and so on) he's become a bit of a fan favourite, because during that game I had watched I heard the supporters applauding him louder than other players :D   

 

 

[StanSP]

Not from Japanese media, but our club  

 

13.34 mins to pass the time and revel in all goals Shinji scored  

 

 

[Stuntman_Mike]

2 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Not from Japanese media, but our club  

 

13.34 mins to pass the time and revel in all goals Shinji scored  

 

 

I love this, I love him and I love how I'm on this clip celebrating his last goal for us  legend. 

[Mike the Metal Ed]

12 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Not from Japanese media, but our club  

 

13.34 mins to pass the time and revel in all goals Shinji scored  

 

 

I miss that smile.

[Deeg67]

Stuck in lockdown?  Why not build calves like Shinji?

 

https://twitter.com/jfa_samuraiblue/status/1243004381798121472