Now that most of the domestic leagues across the world have wrapped up for the season, many J.League teams are taking advantage of expiring contracts to snap up foreign players who might provide a needed advantage.
FC Tokyo, which has gone nearly half a season without filling the 3rd “foreign player” spot in its roster, has invited several players to participate in team practices and may be close to signing one.
-Brazillian Rafael Bastos, believed to be playing for Vitoria in Brazil, has spent the last couople weeks with the team and participated in practice matches, but as of last Friday team officials had said they were “postponing judgement” as they did not feel that Rafael had been able to properly display his abilities.
-Argentinian Carlos Escudero, 19, has just finished a 2-year contract with Argentinian side Club Athletico Huracan and came to Japan after talking with cousin Sergio Escudero, a forward with Urawa. According to Carlos, “I’ve heard that while Japanese players have speed and ability, the number of players who can dribble effectively and move the ball up the field are relatively small. I’d like to see that sort of play.
-Brazillian David dos Santos, of the Brazillian club Juventus (which as far as I can tell is something like 5th or 6th division if that), will also be participating in team practices.
Escudero and dos Santos are supposed to have participated in a practice match this morning; however it’s raining quite heavily in Kanto at the moment so unless they’ve got an indoor stadium I’m not sure what’s going to happen. If Escudero wants to demonstrate his ball control, a wet pitch may be the best place to do it.
Hoo-bloody-ray on two fronts! Firstly dokool returns from his month of self-imposed exile, and secondly, and most importantly, we have finally realized that a third foreigner is necessary to help us kick on.
Obviously I’ve never heard of any of the guys you mention, and there’s a risk of another ordinary Rychery-type player lucking into a contract, but let’s get someone in and then we can start slagging him off!
P.S. Looking forward to a balmy Saturday evening in Shinjuki(?!)
>YNWA
Not an exile, just been really, really busy with work and had a close call with visa applications. The storm’s calmed a little bit, which is why I caught up on reports this week. Props should go to Lantis because if he wasn’t setting up report templates nothing would ever get done.
On Mixi, reaction to Rafael was kinda mixed. I’m intrigued regarding Escudero since his family has a history of playing in Japan (in addition to his cousin, their uncle played for Urawa for a year in the early 90s). dos Santos is an X-factor.
I will be girigiri to Saturday’s match but I will be there. Let’s hope for a repeat!
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that. A 2-1 win over our bogey team from last season. Mission accomplished, and what a strike from Nao. Early on I had a go at you, dokool, for calling him prolific, but that is exactly what he is right now, the lad is absolutely on fire. The campaign to get him to the World Cup has got to start here!
>YNWA
Agreed. No shortage of cardiac arrest-inducing plays near the end but they played the way we expected them to play at the beginning of the year. Shimizu played much better than they did two weeks ago and we rose to match them and that’s the important part.
Nao is simply a beast. Chunichi Sports actually had an article that speculated on Nao having a chance at the national team but I figured that for journalistic grandstanding, now I’m starting to wonder. Imagine that, three FCT players wearing samurai blue! I’d rather brag about silverware but beggars can’t be choosers.