23 Oct 2008(Thu)

October 21, 2008: There's never a dull moment watching Vissel Kobe; or, more to the point, watching Yoshito Okubo.

The Vissel skipper played a major role in his team's winner at Saitama Stadium 2002 on Saturday, a candidate for Goal of the Season scored by Leandro.

With just eight minutes to go, Okubo collected the ball on the right flank in his own half, and moved inside before picking out Leandro with a magnificent left-footed pass.

Leandro, streaking away in the inside left channel, still had a bit to do, as he checked inside a weak challenge by Keita Suzuki and stroked the ball into the top far corner.

"A fantastic goal," beamed Kobe manager Hiroshi Matsuda -- and indeed it was, reminiscent of Nozawa's super strike for Kashima in that pivotal victory against Reds towards the end of last season.

"A collective counter-attack," added Matsuda, and that's where Okubo comes in.

Matsuda has been playing Okubo on the left side of midfield in recent games, but he has still posed a big threat in front of goal.

In the first half against Reds he should have buried a header from Kim Nam Il's delicately-flighted cross, but put it wide, and then he failed to pull the trigger when he had a clear sight of goal on the edge of the box; instead he delayed, and then tumbled over Abe's superb tackle in a lame attempt to win a free kick.

Okubo improved in the second half, forcing two saves out of Yamagishi, hitting the bar with a fierce close-range drive and being pulled back by Tulio when breaking clear; an offence that went unpunished but could have earned the Reds libero a red card on another day.

But it was his through-ball to Leandro that eventually won the day, and had Matsuda glowing in the corridors of power after the game.

"Originally he was a midfielder," the Vissel manager said. "At high school he played attacking midfield, and I have always admired the quality of his passing. His last pass is dangerous, and today it was a killer pass. He has very good vision under pressure.
"I think his biggest quality is his passing. He had two good chances to score, but missed."

So what is Okubo? Goal-taker or goal-maker?

I still hope for the former, at national team level, but recent evidence suggests the latter.

On the subject of Vissel, they have been linked with the Marinos duo of Yuji Nakazawa and Koji Yamase for next season; leading to billionaire owner Hiroshi Mikitani being dubbed the Roman Abramovich of the J.League.

I asked manager Matsuda about the rumours, but he said it was not his business.

"I don't even know if I will be manager next season," he added. "I should find out by the end of this month."

ends