14 Jun 2004(Mon)

There's just no stopping Tatsuhiko Kubo at the moment.

Well, there is actually: an injury to his right knee.

The injury has come at a bad time for Kubo, just as he begins to estabish himself as Japan's most reliable striker.

He scored a wonderful goal against India on Wednesday night, meeting Alex's delicately-flighted pass with an exquisite left-foot volley from near the penalty spot.

Then his soaring back-post header gave Fukunishi the chance to make it 2-0, and Kubo was fouled to earn the free kick from which Nakamura curled home the third.

Zico took him off at half-time, though, to protect the knee.

Still, Kubo will not be in the Marinos starting lineup at Kobe on Saturday.

After Friday's training at Totsuka, near Yokohama, manager Okada said he may put Kubo on the bench, but would prefer not to use him at all.

The club doctor had told Okada that rest was Kubo's only cure, but the first stage had two weeks still to run. After that, the doctor said, Kubo would need two or three weeks' rest.

Kubo has really developed and matured under Okada.

I always remember him as a raw talent at Sanfrecce. He was wild and unpredictable, which made him difficult to mark.

Now he is beginning to look like the finished product, the complete centre forward who can score goals in the air and on the ground, and can create them for his teammates, too.

Troussier gave Kubo several chances, admittedly rarely for long, and waited for him to win his place in the 2002 World Cup squad. Kubo wasn't quite there, though, and Troussier selected Nishizawa instead.

The turning point for Kubo came with his two goals against China in the East Asian Championship last December, and since then he has gone to score against Oman (what a priceless goal that may turn out to be), Hungary, Czech Republic, Iceland (2) and now India.

That's eight goals for Japan in his last 11 games, which is an excellent strike rate against some strong opponents.

Zico will need Kubo to plunder the Asian defenses at the Asian Cup in China next month, so hopefully the right knee will be healed.

ends