17 May 2007(Thu)

May 15, 2007: You are never too old to learn – and never too young to learn from the old master, Kazuyoshi Miura.

That was a great goal he scored on Saturday, wasn't it, smashing the ball with his left foot on the run into the back of the Sanfrecce net. The perfect dipping volley.

What I liked about it was that Kazu just hit it! Too often in the J.League – and at the Emirates Stadium for that matter – you see players take one more touch than necessary, and the chance to strike is gone.

Worse still, they will control the ball and try and cross when the only thing on their mind, as a forward, should be to shoot.

That is why I loved Kazu's goal. Cynics may argue that he had no other choice but to shoot from that position as he no longer has the legs to keep running – and they may have a point as it was in the 42nd minute after all – but he knew what he wanted to do and executed this difficult skill in textbook fashion.

A shot like that can go horribly wrong, and the ball flies over the bar like a balloon, but on this occasion it rose and dropped at speed like a big dipper at the fairground. The result was another Kazu cracker -- his first league goal as a 40-year-old.

The lesson here for youngsters (such as Gon Nakayama, for example) is to feel confident in your own ability in front of goal. Don't be afraid to take a chance, especially when you are 1-0 up and there is only a couple of minutes to go to halftime.

There was nothing to lose and everything to gain at this stage of the match, and Kazu gambled and came up trumps with his spectacular dipping volley. (I have heard Japanese commentators call it a "loop shoot" – a "chip" or a "lob" in English, but that just does not do it justice).

ends