7 Apr 2008(Mon)

April 4, 2008: Dragan Stojkovic certainly enjoyed himself on his first visit to Omiya Ardija on Wednesday night.

He was happy with his Grampus team, who fought back from 1-0 down at half time to win 2-1, and he was happy to be involved in a match at the new-look NACK5 Stadium.

"It's fantastic," he said. "It is a stadium made for football. There is a great atmosphere, and the pitch is so good you could play snooker on it, no problem."

The renovations to the stadium, which already enjoyed a picturesque setting on the edge of Omiya Koen, have given the club one of the best grounds in the J.League. The fans are close to the pitch, and the steep tiers behind the goals have increased the noise volume all round.

"It is English style," added the Grampus boss.

"It is very good for the coach and also for the players because we are really close and we can give instructions easily. Everything was good."

Stojkovic was always interesting and amusing to watch as a player, with his extravagant skills on the ball and his gestures off the ball.

As a manager he is very calm, but still treated the fans to a classic burst of passion during the first half, punching the ball into the ground for his left back, Shohei Abe, to take a throw-in.

What was all that about, I asked him.

He laughed: "I said to him to throw the ball down the line as far as possible, because sometimes they throw it into the middle and they can lose it easily and allow the other team to counter-attack. I was telling them to wake up because we were 1-0 down."

In a thoroughly entertaining match, which passed very quickly, Abe chose a good time to have an impressive game -- in front of national coach Takeshi Okada.

One moment Abe was clearing Leandro's header off the line, perfectly positioned on the far post to safeguard against such events, and the next he was breaking forward to help his attack.

One pass in particular stays in the memory, when he jabbed his left foot under the ball to produce back spin that even Tiger Woods would have been proud of.

Not the tallest of defenders at 1.71 metres, he also won some great defensive headers down the line in the second half, attacking the ball in the air in the same way Komiyama does for Marinos.

"Abe...he is a very interesting player," said Stojkovic, borrowing a favourite Troussier line.

"Even though he is not so tall he has a very good jump and very good timing, which is very important for defenders. He also has attacking blood and always tries to go up and overlap and make a cross."

Okada, I am sure, will have noted that.

ends