27 Oct 2005(Thu)

October 25, 2005 −Tsuneyasu Miyamoto is not the luckiest of players.

At the 2002 World Cup, Miyamoto became famous for his Batman-style mask to protect a broken nose.

Now, with Gamba in the running for a league and cup double −and, who knows, maybe a treble with the Emperor's Cup thrown in as well −Miyamoto is set to miss around a month's action with a right knee injury.

Miyamoto collected the injury toward the end of Saturday's 2-1 loss at home to the rejuvenated Oita Trinita, which was a double blow for Gamba in the space of a few minutes.

He looks certain to miss the Nabisco Cup final against JEF United on November 5 −but you never know with injuries these days −and that will be a huge disappointment for such a loyal club servant.

But Miyamoto knows he must not rush back, not necessarily for the Nabisco Cup final but for the rest of the season.

The reason for this is simple...hat the 2006 World Cup must be uppermost in Miyamoto's priorities.

If he comes back too early, when the ligament injury is not fully healed, and he makes it worse, then he has a much bigger problem on his hands.

If a few weeks on the sidelines becomes a few months, he would miss the start of the build-up to Japan's World Cup campaign, and he knows as well as anyone that Zico will stay loyal to a player who comes in and does a good job.

These next couple of weeks are critical for Miyamoto's World Cup campaign, as he must be patient and not let his Gamba heart rule his national team head.

Of course the Nabisco Cup final will not be the same without him, but, if there are no setbacks, he should be up and running in time for the end of the league season.

If he ends the J1 season as a league champion and with his right knee strong again, then maybe he might be feeling lucky after all.

ends