13 Nov 2006(Mon)

Nagoya, Japan, November 11, 2006: Aaah yes, Naohiro Takahara.

I was wondering what had happened to him, and then he pops up with a couple of goals for Eintracht Frankfurt.

No doubt this will prompt a round of "Osim should pick Takahara" chit-chat among fans and maybe even in the media, but I am not convinced at the moment.

It will take more than a couple of goals (and three in all so far this season) for me to join the Takahara Fan Club; or, should I say, renew my membership of the Takahara Fan Club.

Because once I was a big fan of Takahara's when he was banging in the goals for Jubilo Iwata, the Olympic team and the national team, until that serious illness ruled him out of the 2002 World Cup.

At the 2006 World Cup I thought he was a major disappointment, and wondered if he would ever play for Japan again after that. I still have my doubts.

A few weeks before the World Cup I had a long interview with Zico for a Croatian newspaper, and Japan's Brazilian coach picked out three players he thought would shine on the world stage. He named Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke and...yes, Takahara.

I always thought that was a bit optimistic, as Takahara, in all his time out of Japan, in Argentina and then Germany, had never done anything over a sustained period to suggest he would trouble world-class defences.

The move from Hamburg to Frankfurt, though, has freshened him up, and given his stagnating career the drive it needed.

So the big question is...will Osim be taking note and still have Takahara in his plans for next year, once he has completed his survey of the J.League talent?

Well, of course he will be monitoring Takahara, as anyone who can score regularly in the Bundesliga must be a good player. But he's got to keep his place in the team for Osim to be tempted to call him back -- and that means over a period of months, not weeks.

I have said before and will repeat here that Osim's decision to leave the European players alone this year and let them settle at their clubs is absolutely the right one -- and Takahara himself says he is relieved not to have to travel back for games against the likes of India and Yemen.

This is commonsense from Osim, as there is plenty of time for him to inject some Euro quality into the squad in time for next year's Asian Cup defence.