20 Aug 2009(Thu)

August 18, 2009: If a player’s profile needs a lift, a goal can never do any harm.

Such is the case with Masahiko Inoha, whose expertly-taken header earned Kashima Antlers a 1-0 win at home to Oita Trinita on Saturday.

Thanks to the goal, Inoha was interviewed on TV after the game and made Man of the Match, with a 7.5 rating, in the newspaper I read three days later. In short, the accomplished central defender was finally getting the attention that his steady and consistent performances have deserved.

A player of his ability, however, should not need a goal to project him into the spotlight, as his progress and development under Oswaldo Oliveira at Kashima has been noticeable over the past year or so.

Oswaldo thinks the world of this player, and constantly praises his ability to read the game, his composure on the ball, his game intelligence and, last but not least, his speed.  It is this latter quality that had Oswaldo purring in a recent chat at Todoroki, saying he was urging Inoha to push forward more in open play to give Antlers an extra man, comfortable in the knowledge that he could get back and cover due to his phenomenal pace.

The Antlers boss also said that Inoha had shown great character after the disappointment of being left out of Japan’s Olympic squad for Beijing – a team he had captained earlier in the qualifying campaign before losing this honour, surprisingly, to Mizumoto.

Funnily enough, it was during the Olympic qualifying that I watched Japan’s game in Hong Kong at a pub in Omiya along with the Ardija manager at the time, Robert Verbeek. Inoha was playing at libero in a back three, and his sumptuous passing and confident poise was drawing comparisons with Ronald Koeman; the swagger, the authority on the ball, the precise distribution.

Verbeek wanted to sign him for Omiya on the spot, and elevate him from the FC Tokyo bench, but it would be Antlers who would eventually swoop and turn him into a two-time J.League champion. Gert Engels has also told me on numerous occasions that Urawa Reds were interested in signing him from Hannan University in Osaka, but were beaten to the punch by FC Tokyo.

Oswaldo took his time with Inoha at Antlers, trying him at full back and also in central midfield before deciding categorically that central defence was his best position, alongside Iwamasa as the successor to Oiwa.

Now he is a permanent fixture in the team, although he must sit out the next match through suspension after picking up a yellow card later in Saturday’s match.

ends