18 Apr 2005(Mon)

TOKYO (April 16): If one Shunsuke wasn't enough, it now looks like Japanese football has another!

Meet Shunsuke Maeda, 18, of Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Some J.League fans will be aware of him already, as he made 11 appearances last season while still at high school, scoring one goal.

But at Ajinomoto Stadium on Wednesday night, the new Shunsuke was receiving as much media attention as the old one, Nakamura.

In a 4-1 demolition of a poor Verdy side, Maeda scored the first goal and gave a bright and lively performance.

His goal, midway through the first half, summed up Verdy's incompetence, as they allowed a player measuring 1.73 metres to score with a free header at a corner.

Before the game, the former Sanfrecce, Verdy and national team centre forward Takuya Takagi had tipped me off about Maeda, so I was looking forward to seeing him in action in his first year as a pro out of the Sanfrecce youth team.

I was expecting to see a Nakamura lookalike, slight of build, with a nice left foot and a languid playing style.

But this Shunsuke looked more like Oku in appearance, somewhat scruffy with his shirt hanging out and his socks halfway down his shins.

As a player, he was nothing like Nakamura, either.

For a start he was much quicker and more explosive in open play, buzzing across the front line more like Okubo. He loves to take people on, and gave the Verdy defenders a torrid night.

Inevitably, the star-hungry Japanese media flocked round Shunsuke Maeda after the game. First the TV crews, then the reporters, as Maeda was pinned against the wall for about 20 minutes.

Sanfrecce's manager, Takeshi Ono, did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Of course his club needs media attention, and needs a Japanese star, but Ono also knows that too much publicity too soon can lead a young player to think he has made it to the big time.

"I have to protect him," Ono said.

"He is a good talented player, but he has to learn much more about football, such as defending and moving without the ball. It's not good to cheer him too much because he is only young and has to learn much more."

Wise words from the manager, but on the night, with three points in the bag, Ono was happy to let the media go overboard on a Sanfrecce player.

ends