16 Jun 2008(Mon)

June 13, 2008: Tsukasa Umesaki -- What a quick, clever...totally annoying player he is.

A good player, for sure, with the potential, at 21, to be one of the best Japan has produced.

But doesn't he irritate you, the way he goes to ground so quickly and so often?

Against Cameroon at National Stadium on Thursday night, I reckon Umesaki set some kind of Japanese record: He'd only touched the ball six times but already won seven free kicks!

Okay, so I'm exaggerating a bit, but he really does overdo it on the theatrics, expecting the referee to give a free kick every time he falls down.

This is a dangerous assumption by Umesaki, because when the ref waves play on -- and sometimes they do -- he has taken himself out of the game and is no good to his team when he is on the floor appealing or grumbling.

But the boy can play, there is no doubt about that; and against Cameroon he surely secured his place in the Olympic 18.

He set up a wonderful chance for Morimoto in the ninth minute with a low cross from the right, but the striker put it wide of the far post. How costly a miss could that be for Morimoto, who is now struggling to make the squad.

In fact I think Morimoto was extremely lucky to stay on the field after that shocking challenge on the right back, Georges Ndoum. Maybe the ref was lenient on Morimoto because it was only a friendly and it was quite early in the game, 27 minutes, but I thought it deserved a red card at the time and even more so when I watched it again on TV later in the night.

So while Morimoto is doubtful, Umesaki is a certainty.

Going back to the Toulon Tournament, the young Reds schemer scored a lovely header against France, arriving in the box with a late run to meet Okazaki's exquisite cross from the right with a header from near the penalty spot that was perfectly placed inside the far post. The defenders never saw him, and the keeper had no chance.

That was on 16 minutes, and he spent the rest of the game on the floor annoying the French players and bench alike. (In Umesaki's defence, there's actually nothing wrong with annoying the French. I'm all for it really.)

Against Cameroon, he forced a great save from Joslain Mayebi with his clever, side-foot volley, again with a well-timed run into the box to elude his marker.

When Umesaki went off in the 67th minute, Sorimachi gave him an enthusiastic handshake as if to say, "Well done son, you're in!" And he deserves to be because he has a bright future ahead of him.

He is also extremely useful with his delivery at set-pieces; not yet the master of taking free kicks -- but certainly the master of winning them.

ends