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In describing his contributions to the Japan National Team, the Rising Sun News has never made much of an effort to disguise our dislike for Makoto Tanaka. But in all fairness, we must begin by giving him his due. Tanaka is a wily veteran who learned very early in his career what it takes to win championships, and he certainly earned his share of trophies with Jubilo Iwata, during the late 1990s. Tanaka is a strong, rugged defender who may lack the speed that he had in his prime, but still has a large compendium of tricks and tactics to help his team win. Unfortunately, a lot of those "skills" tend to be of the more unsavoury variety. To put it in the most cynical terms, we think the most important reason why Tanaka (as well as his Jubilo teammate Takashi Fukunishi) managed to remain in the national team lineup as long as they did was that both players were masters of the "professional foul". While fans may boast (accurately, in our view) that Japan plays some of the cleanest, most positive football in Asia, and perhaps in the world, another viewer's take on that same fact is that Japan can be "too naiive", and may lack the "skills of gamesmanship" that are now considered essential if a team is to progress far in international competition. If this is the case, then Tanaka was chosen as a NT member in order to provide balance. If Tanaka gets beaten by an opposing player -- something has been happening with disturbing frequency in recent years -- you can be sure that the result will not be a clean break on net. With Tanaka in the back line, you may have to defend more than your share of set plays, over the course of the contest, but you can be sure that an opponent will not get off a clean shot as long as Tanaka is somewhere within . . . . errrr . . . fouling distance. Under Zico, Tanaka received many calls to the national team, as the Brazilian seemed to think the veteran's cynical, thuggish experience could provide positive value to the team. If Japan found itself protecting a lead in the late stages of a fiercely-contested match, it was nice to know that Japan had a player such as Tanaka, who can match even the most adept Brazilian or Italian player -- cynical ploy for cynical ploy -- in the dying moments of the contest. Unfortunately, Tanaka never truly got his moment in the sun. Despite being called to the World Cup squad, a hamstring injury hobbled him enough that Zico finally decided to send the Jubilo veteran home prior to the big event. His place was taken by Teruaki Moniwa, and that ended the final chapter of his national team career. Nevertheless, he may still have a few years left to contribute at the J.League level, and he certainly can't complain that he was never given a chance to "make the big time".
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