Japan´s World Cup campaign draws new blood

Japan’s World Cup qualifying campaign has drawn new blood with 18-year-old midfielder Naoki Yamada making a promising international debut in a 4-0 win over Chile at home.

Yamada, who joined former Asian champions the Urawa Reds straight from their youth team this spring, was sent in to replace injured striker Keiji Tamada in the 39th minute in the friendly match in Osaka Wednesday night.

He set up Japan’s fourth goal through Venlo midfielder Keisuke Honda in stoppage time in the second half.

At 18 years and 327 days, he could have become the youngest player to score for Japan’s senior national team if he had made the shot himself — earning him praise for passing up the chance and thinking of the team.

“I always think about the rate of success. So it turned out that way,” said Yamada, who has scored a goal in each of the 10 matches he has played so far in the spring-to-autumn J-League season.

“I didn’t expect him to do so much in his debut game,” said Japan coach Takeshi Okada, whose side is just one win away from qualifying for their fourth straight World Cup finals.

“He made mistakes,” said Okada, whose squad will face Belgium in another friendly on Sunday ahead of Japan’s three remaining World Cup qualifiers next month against Uzbekistan, Qatar and Australia.

“But instead of playing around in a reserved manner, he challenged things. He played beautifully,” Okada said.

Japanese media heaped praise on Yamada, with some sports dailies featuring him on the front page, rather than striker Shinji Okazaki who bagged a brace.

In an article headlined “Naoki’s 18-year-old debuts with an assist,” the Nikkan Sports daily dubbed him “Japan’s secret weapon.”

Yamada, who has caught nationwide attention with brilliant performances at Urawa, all but set up a hat-trick for Okazaki on the stroke of half-time. He sent a pin-point left cross for the Shimizu S-Pulse striker but he headed over.

With just a minute left in the match, he picked a pass from substitute Kisho Yano in front of the goal. He faked a shot and fed a grounder to Honda on the right to fire home.

In 1977, Nobutoshi Kaneda became the youngest player to score for Japan when he was 19 years and 119 days old.

At 166 centimetres (5.4 feet), Yamada was not an imposing figure on the pitch as he was bumped off several times by Chilean players.

But he wowed the 44,000 spectators at Nagai Stadium with his stamina.

“Yamada’s greatest weapon is not brilliant passing or dynamic dribbling. His great rate of work shows in situations not favourable to the opponents,” the Sports Nippon Daily said.

“The World Cup has been my dream since I started playing football,” said Yamada, whose father Takashi, 48, once played for Mazda (now J-League Sanfrecce Hiroshima).

“I feel… it has come a bit closer to reality.”