Team Roster for 2008 1 Tetsuya Enomoto 3 Naoki Matsuda 4 Yuzo Kurihara 6 Ryuji Kawai 7 Hayuma Tanaka 8 Welington Nogueira Lopes 9 Ronielton "Roni" Pereira Santos 10 Koji Yamase 11 Daisuke Sakata 13 Takanobu Komiyama 14 Kenta Kano 15 Hideo Oshima 16 Yukihiro Yamase 17 Shingo Hyodo 18 Norihisa Shimizu 19 Takashi Inui 20 Kota Mizunuma 21 Daijiro Takakuwa 22 Yuji Nakazawa 23 Masakazu Tashiro 24 Takashi Kanai 25 Fumiya Yamamoto 26 Yusuke Tanaka 27 Yosuke Saito 28 Nobuhisa Urata 29 Ariajasuru Hasegawa 30 Shohei Ogura 31 Hiroki Iikura 32 Kenta Furube 33 Daiki Umei 34 Taku Ishihara 35 Takashi Amano 36 Yota Akimoto 22 Yuji Nakazawa Position: DF Born:25-Feb-1978 Height/Weight:187/78 Birthplace:Saitama Previous Teams:Yoshikawa Higashi Jr.HS, Misato Tech HS, FC America (Brazil), Tokyo Verdy, Yokohama Marinos Matches (J1/J2):248/0 Goals: 17/0 First Appearance: 13-Mar-1999 Verdy Kawasaki - vs - Cerezo Osaka (at Todoroki Stadium) First Goal : 10-Apr-1999 Verdy Kawasaki - vs - Nagoya Grampus (at Todoroki Stadium) Year Team Appearances Goals 1999 Verdy Kawasaki 28 1 2000 Verdy Kawasaki 29 4 2001 Tokyo Verdy 26 0 2002 Yokohama Marinos 27 1 2003 Yokohama Marinos 29 4 2004 Yokohama Marinos 27 1 2005 Yokohama Marinos 27 3 2006 Yokohama Marinos 23 1 2007 Yokohama Marinos 32 2 TOTAL 248 17 Yuji "Bomberhead" Nakazawa earned his nickname for the long, dreadlock-type curls he wore during his early years as a powerful youngster at Verdy Kawasaki, and later for the national team. Nakazawa entered the league at a time when Verdy were entering a long decline, and as the team sold off its aging and fading stars, Nakazawa was one of the few team members who still carried the torch for the former champions. But by 2001, Verdy were struggling just to remain competitive, and in difficult straits financially, as well. Shortly after the team restructured, changing its name to Tokyo Verdy, Nakazawa was traded away to Yokohama Marinos, where he joined another young national team prospect, Naoki Matsuda. Though Nakazawa managed to win only a few trials with the full national team, under Troussier, and failed to establish himself in the lineup, at Yokohama he and Matsuda were developing into perhaps the most highly respected team of central defenders in the league. A powerful presence in the air, and a fairly effective dribbler as well, Nakazawa's contributions are not limited to defence. He is a dangerous scoring threat on set plays, and has good instincts for when to surge forward in support of the attack. After Zico took over the reins as national team coach, Nakazawa swiftly worked himself into the lineup, and established himself as the most consistent and effective central defender on the team. His speed and strength in the air are valuable characteristics that are not particularly common among central defenders in Japan, and these skills were valued highly by Zico. Unfortunately, when the defence crumbled in the final few minutes against Australia, at the 2006 World Cup, Nakazawa found himself the target of some very shortsighted criticism (though he was responsible for the crucial go-ahead goal, it was perhaps the only major error he had made in two years of NT starts). Nakazawa took this very hard, and announced his "retirement" from international play just a month later. However, it did not take long for JFA officials to coax him to reconsider. Most observers would still view Bomberhead as the most effective "big man" that Japan has available on defence, and though the current national team strategy calls for mobility and intelligence, more than height and power, by the time the 2007 Asian Cup rolled around he was back in the center of the Japan defence. We think that Nakazawa will continue to receive consideration as a top NT candidate for several years to come, and will continue to be a key contributor on his club team as well. National Team Data & History NT Caps: 68 NT Goals: 12 Tournaments: Asian Cup (2004) World Cup (2006) Date Vs. Score Location Status Min. G 9-8-1999 Iran 1-1 Yokohama Int'l Start 90 0 2-8-2000 Hong Kong* 0-0 Hong Kong Start 90 0 2-13-2000 Singapore 3-0 Macao Stadium Start 90 2 2-16-2000 Brunei 9-0 Macao Stadium Start 90 0 2-20-2000 Macao 3-0 Macao Stadium Start 90 0 6-18-2000 Bolivia 2-0 Yokohama Int'l Sub 3 0 8-16-2000 UAE 3-0 Hiroshima"BigArch" Sub 18 0 10-17-2000 Uzbekistan 8-1 Sidon, Lebanon Start 90 0 10-20-2000 Qatar 1-1 Sidon, Lebanon Start 90 0 10-23-2000 Iraq 4-1 Beirut, Lebanon Start 90 0 3-25-2001 France 0-5 St.Denis,France Sub 18 0 4-25-2001 Spain 0-1 Cordoba, Spain Sub 1 0 5-14-2002 Norway 0-3 Oslo, Norway Start 90 0 9-10-2003 Senegal 0-1 Niigata Stadium Start 90 0 10-8-2003 Tunisia 1-0 Tunis, Tunisia Start 90 0 10-11-2003 Romania 1-1 Bucharest, Romania Start 90 0 12-4-2003 China 2-0 Nat'l Stadium Start 90 0 12-10-2003 Korea 0-0 Yokohama Int'l St. Start 45 0 2-8-2004 Malaysia 4-0 Nat'l Stadium Sub 26 0 5-30-2004 Iceland 3-2 Manchester, England Start 90 0 6-01-2004 England 1-1 Manchester, England Start 90 0 6-09-2004 India 7-0 Saitama Stadium, Japan Start 90 2 7-10-2004 Slovakia 3-1 Oita Stadium, Japan Start 90 0 7-13-2004 Serbia 1-0 Yokohama Int'l Stadium Start 90 0 7-20-2004 Oman 1-0 Chongqing, China Start 90 0 7-25-2004 Thailand 4-1 Chongqing, China Start 90 2 7-28-2004 Iran 0-0 Chongqing, China Start 90 0 7-31-2004 Jordan 1-1 (PK4-3) Chongqing, China Start 120 0 8-04-2004 Bahrain 4-3 (OT) Chengdu, China Start 120 1 8-07-2004 China 3-1 Beijing, China Start 90 0 8-18-2004 Argentina 1-2 Shizuoka Stadium, Japan Start 45 0 9-8-2004 India 4-0 Calcutta, India Start 90 0 10-13-2004 Oman 1-0 Oman Start 90 0 1-29-2005 Kazakhstan 4-0 Yokohama Intl Start 90 0 2-2-2005 Syria 3-0 Saitama Stadium Start 90 0 2-9-2005 North Korea 2-1 Saitama Stadium Start 90 0 3-25-2005 Iran 1-2 Azadi Stadium, Iran Start 90 0 3-30-2005 Bahrain 1-0 Saitama Stadium Start 90 0 6-4-2005 Bahrain 1-0 Manama, Bahrain Start 90 0 6-8-2005 North Korea 2-0 Bangkok Thailand Start 90 0 7-31-2005 North Korea 0-1 Daejon, Korea Start 90 0 8-07-2005 Korea 1-0 Daejon, Korea Start 90 1 8-17-2005 Iran 2-1 Yokohama Stadium Start 90 0 9-07-2005 Honduras 5-4 Miyagi Stadium Start 90 0 11-12-2005 Angola 1-0 Natl Stadium, Tokyo Start 90 0 2-10-2006 USA 2-3 San Francisco Start 90 1 2-18-2006 <Finland 2-0 Shizuoka Stadium Start 90 0 2-22-2006 <India 6-0 Yokohama Stadium Start 90 0 2-28-2006 <Bosnia 2-2 Westfahren Std.(Germany) Start 90 0 3-30-2006 <Ecuador 1-0 Oita "Big Eye" Std Start 90 0 5-09-2006 <Bulgaria 1-2 Nagai Std., Osaka Start 90 0 5-13-2006 <Scotland 0-0 Nagai Std., Osaka Start 50 0 6-3-2006 Germany 2-2 Kaiserslautern, Germany Start 90 0 6-6-2006 Malta 1-0 Frankenstadion, Germany Start 90 0 6-11-2006 Australia 1-3 Kaiserslautern, Germany Start 90 0 6-18-2006 Croatia 0-0 Frankfurt, Germany Start 90 0 6-22-2006 Brazil 1-4 Dortmund, Germany Start 90 0 3-24-2007 Peru 2-0 Yokohama Stadium Start 90 0 6-01-2007 Montenegro 2-0 Shizuoka Stadium Start 90 1 6-05-2007 Colombia 0-0 Saitama Stadium Start 90 0 7-09-2007 Qatar 1-1 Hanoi, Vietnam Start 90 0 7-13-2007 UAE 3-1 Hanoi, Vietnam Start 90 0 7-16-2007 Vietnam 4-1 Hanoi, Vietnam Start 90 0 7-21-2007 Australia 1-1 Hanoi, Vietnam Start 120 0 7-25-2007 Saudi Arabia 2-3 Bangkok, Thailand Start 90 1 7-28-2007 South Korea 0-0 Bangkok, Thailand Start 120 0 8-22-2007 Cameroon 2-0 Oita "Big Eye" Std Start 90 0 9-07-2007 Switzerland 4-3 Klagenfurt, Austria Start 90 0 9-11-2007 Austria 0-0 Klagenfurt, Austria Start 90 0 10-17-2007 Egypt 4-1 Nagai Stadium, Osaka Start 90 0 1-26-2007 Chile 0-0 Natl Stadium, Tokyo Start 90 0 1-30-2007 Bosnia 3-0 Natl Stadium, Tokyo Start 90 1

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