21 Jul 2003(Mon)

Jubilo Iwata fans have found a new hero to replace Naohiro!

Rodrigo Gral is the striker who has stepped up to the plate to score the goals this season in the absence of Naohiro Takahara, last season's J.League MVP who is now playing for Hamburg in Germany.

Before Sunday's top-of-the-table game at home to JEF United Ichihara, Gral had scored 11 times in 12 games, including four out of four from the penalty spot.

This put him at the top of the J.League scoring chart, alongside JEF's Korean forward Choi Yong Soo.

So Sunday's match featuring first-place JEF (26 points) and second-place Jubilo (24) could really be described as a shootout between the league's two hottest strikers, especially with only two games to go in the first stage after this weekend.

Whereas Choi batters defenses into submission with his height, strength and and power (and occasionally his elbows), Gral is more of a goal poacher.

Before this season he had scored only once in the league, on his debut against Sapporo on March 17, 2002, but has really flourished now he has been given an extended run in the starting lineup.

Jubilo's Dutch goalkeeper, Arno Van Zwam, has watched Gral emerge from the bench to a starring role.

"He is a striker who is in the right place at the right time, and has scored many cheap goals," says Van Zwam. Here, the word "cheap" means "easy," as his goals have come from very close to the opposition goal after a flowing Jubilo buildup. "Cheap" is not meant to lessen the achievement.

"He is very sharp in front of goal and waits for his chances." So does this make the 26-year-old Brazilian similar to the veteran Masashi Nakayama?

"Nakayama is working more for the team and going to every corner. Gral seizes the moment."

One day in the office in Tokyo, a female colleague said she thought she had seen Francesco Totti playing for Jubilo Iwata in the J.League highlights on television.

I explained that, indeed, Gral looked similar in appearance to Totti, with the headband holding back the flowing blond locks, but that not even the money of Yamaha could persuade the Italian master to leave Serie A for the J.League!

Gral has also become famous for his goal celebration. A particularly cheeky one is when he removes one of his boots, presses the studs and holds it to his ear as if he is on his mobile phone.

This proves beyond doubt that, after an unconving start, Gral has settled into Japanese lifestyle.

ends