8 Sep 2008(Mon)

September 6, 2008: He first came to Japan in 2000. He is now 36 years old and with his third J.League club. The goals keep coming.

I am talking, of course, about Ueslei, the master goal scorer and one of the main reasons behind the rise of Oita Trinita this season.

In the Nabisco Cup semi-final first leg at Nagoya on Wednesday, Ueslei rescued Trinita with an equaliser for a 1-1 draw, five minutes after Grampus had gone in front.

And what a beauty Ueslei's goal was; so simple, so inevitable.

Admittedly, the Nagoya defending was poor, first as Bajalica was beaten in the air by Takamatsu and Abe's attempted header back to the keeper was weak.

But see how Ueslei anticipated the mistake, running around Abe so that when the ball did fall to him he was in the perfect position to slot it past Nishimura, who had no chance to save it.

This was classic Ueslei; the predator, prowling the box and ready for the kill. Nine times out of 10, possibly even 99 times out of 100, Abe's header would have landed safely in the keeper's arms, but Ueslei was prepared for the one occasion it didn't and collected his reward with another goal.

Grampus fans know all too well of his quality, and so does Nagoya manager Dragan Stojkovic, his former teammate.

I have noticed this season that Ueslei makes the point of jogging to the Grampus bench before the kick-off and embracing Stojkovic. The mutual respect is obvious.

It is the kind of respect that leads me to think there could be a coaching job awaiting Ueslei in Japan when he decides to hang up his boots. He is the ideal person to coach young strikers, and to make them focus on scoring a goal.

There is only one thing on Ueslei's mind whenever he gets the ball, and that is to try and score; hence the occasional attempt from the halfway line if he spots the keeper off his line. Always thinking. Always plotting.

I know this is a natural instinct, something that cannot be coached, but he can work on the psychological and technical aspects of finishing with Japanese forwards.

Ueslei still has a lot to offer Japanese football.

ends