Team Roster for 2008 1 Yoichi Doi 2 Kensuke Fukuda 3 Shigenori Hagimura 4 Takumi Wada 5 Daisuke Nasu 6 Tomo Sugawara 7 Leandro Lessa Azevedo 8 Kosei Shibasaki 10 Diego de Souza Gama Silva 11 Harutaka Ono 13 Taira Inoue 14 Seitaro Tomisawa 16 Kazunori Iio 17 Yukio Tsuchiya 18 Kojiro Kaimoto 19 Yuzo Funakoshi 20 Nozomi Hiroyama 21 Yoshinari Takagi 22 Toshihiro Hattori 23 Takashi Fukunishi 24 Tsuyoshi Yoshitake 25 Kazuki HIiramoto 26 Takahiro Shibasaki 27 Masaki Iida 28 Sho Asuke 29 Sho Miyasaka 31 Jumpei Shimamura 32 Osama Elsamuni 33 Hiroki Kawano 34 Tomoyuki Suzuki 23 Takashi Fukunishi Position: MF Born:01-Sep-1976 Height/Weight:181/77 Birthplace:Ehime Previous Teams:Kawahigashi Jr.HS, Niihama Tech HS, Jubilo Iwata, FC Tokyo, Tokyo Verdy Matches (J1/J2):320/0 Goals: 59/0 First Appearance: 16-Aug-1995 Jubilo Iwata - vs - Kashima Antlers (at Iwata "Yamaha" Stadium) First Goal :6-Sep-1995 Jubilo Iwata - vs - Kashiwa Reysol (at Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium) Year Team Appearances Goals 1995 Jubilo Iwata 10 1 1996 Jubilo Iwata 27 2 1997 Jubilo Iwata 21 4 1998 Jubilo Iwata 22 2 1999 Jubilo Iwata 27 10 2000 Jubilo Iwata 27 5 2001 Jubilo Iwata 29 4 2002 Jubilo Iwata 28 5 2003 Jubilo Iwata 26 5 2004 Jubilo Iwata 26 6 2005 Jubilo Iwata 23 2 2006 Jubilo Iwata 26 7 2007 FC Tokyo 28 6 TOTAL 320 59 Takashi Fukunishi is a hard-nosed, physically tough defensive midfielder whose extensive experience as a member of the Jubilo Iwata teams of the late 1990s has certainly taught him what it takes to be a winner. Though he may lack some of the technical flair and ball skills that most of the other NT midfielders on this team possess, he has always appealed to Zico on the basis of his physical -- and sometimes very cynical -- defensive play. Considering the wealth of technical prowess around him, Fukunishi does not need to be a brilliant ball handler, though he certainly can contribute in the build-up and knows how to find the net if the opportunity should present itself. His role on the team is to be the enforcer, closing down counterattacks and making sure that opponents do not "rough up" some of the less physical players, such as Ono and Nakamura. In this role, Fukunishi became an integral member of Zico Japan, receiving more caps than any other midfielder. We often complained that there are other players who might provide more dimensions to the team, if they were used in his place. But it is hard to deny that Fukunishi brings a collection of abilities that no other candidate possesses. Zico apparently believes that the team needs to have at least one "tough guy" in the lineup, and if this is the case, far better for it to be Fukunishi, rather than his Jubilo Iwata teammate Makoto Tanaka. At least Fukunishi is still fit, relatively swift, and capable of producing goals on occasion. Thus, it was no surprise that Fukunishi was in the lineup for Japan at WC2006. Unfortunately, Fukunishi's shortcomings at the international level were clearly visible, and the team's failure in Germany was an accurate reflection on the player, as well. In the J.League, though, he remains a solid contributor and a powerful physical presence. Thus, even as youngsters begin to take over the key roles at Jubilo, Fukunishi still sees quite a bit of action. At least at the moment, he is the most "rugged" player available to play in the defensive midfield role, and will continue to be valuable in hard-fought physical contests or as a unifying defensive presence in the late stages of a match. National Team Data & History NT Caps: 64 NT Goals: 7 Tournaments: Asia Cup (2004) Confederations Cup (2005) World Cup Germany (2006) Date Vs. Score Location Status Min. G 10-16-2002 Jamaica 1-1 Nat'l Stadium, Tokyo Sub 8 0 11-20-2002 Argentina 0-2 Saitama Stadium Start 90 0 3-28-2003 Uruguay 2-2 Nat'l Stadium, Tokyo U.R. -- -- 4-16-2003 Korea 1-0 Seoul, Korea Start 90 0 5-31-2003 Korea 0-1 Nat'l Stadium, Tokyo U.R. -- -- 6-8-2003 Argentina 1-4 Nagai Stadium, Osaka Sub 45 0 6-11-2003 Paraguay 0-0 Saitama Stadium Start 45 0 12-4-2003 China 2-0 Nat'l Stadium, Tokyo Start 90 0 12-7-2003 Hong Kong 1-0 Saitama Stadium, Start 90 0 12-10-2003 Korea 0-0 Yokohama Int'l Stadium Start 45 0 2-8-2004 Malaysia 4-0 Nat'l Stadium, Tokyo U.R. -- -- 2-12-2004 Iraq 2-0 Shizuoka Stadium Sub 78 0 4-24-2004 Hungary 2-3 Hungary Start 61 0 4-28-2004 Czech Rep. 1-0 Sparta Prague Stadium Sub 10 0 5-30-2004 Iceland 3-2 Manchester, England Sub 45 0 6-01-2004 England 1-1 Manchester, England Sub 5 0 6-09-2004 India 7-0 Saitama Stadium, Japan Start 90 1 7-10-2004 Slovakia 3-1 Oita Stadium, Japan Start 90 1 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 88 1 7-28-2004 Iran 0-0 Chongqing, China Start 90 0 7-31-2004 Jordan 1-1 (PK4-3) Chongqing, China Start 90 0 8-04-2004 Bahrain 4-3 (OT) Chengdu, China Start 45 0 8-07-2004 China 3-1 Beijing, China Start 90 1 8-18-2004 Argentina 1-2 Shizuoka Stadium, Japan Start 57 0 9-8-2004 India 4-0 Calcutta, India Start 90 1 10-13-2004 Oman 1-0 Oman Start 90 0 12-16-2004 Germany 0-3 Tokyo National Stadium Start 90 0 1-29-2005 Kazakhstan 4-0 Yokohama Intl Start 45 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 1 3-30-2005 Bahrain 1-0 Saitama Stadium Start 90 0 5-22-2005 Peru 0-1 Niigata Stadium Start 68 0 5-27-2005 UAE 0-1 National Std. Tokyo Start 83 0 6-4-2005 Bahrain 1-0 Manama, Bahrain Start 90 0 6-8-2005 North Korea 2-0 Bangkok Thailand Start 90 0 6-15-2005 Mexico 1-2 Hannover, Germany Start 90 0 6-19-2005 Greece 1-0 Frankfurt, Germany Start 90 0 6-22-2005 Brazil 2-2 Koln, Germany Start 90 0 7-31-2005 North Korea 0-1 Daejon, Korea Start 90 0 8-17-2005 Iran 2-1 Yokohama Stadium Start 90 0 2-10-2006 USA 2-3 San Francisco Start 55 0 2-18-2006 <Finland 2-0 Shizuoka Stadium Start 90 0 2-22-2006 <India 6-0 Yokohama Stadium Start 90 1 2-28-2006 <Bosnia 2-2 Westfahren Std.(Germany) Start 70 0 3-30-2006 <Ecuador 1-0 Oita "Big Eye" Std Start 90 0 5-09-2006 <Bulgaria 1-2 Nagai Std., Osaka Start 61 0 5-13-2006 <Scotland 0-0 Nagai Std., Osaka Start 90 0 6-3-2006 Germany 2-2 Kaiserslautern, Germany Start 90 0 6-6-2006 Malta 1-0 Frankenstadion, Germany Start 69 0 6-11-2006 Australia 1-3 Kaiserslautern, Germany Start 90 0 6-18-2006 Croatia 0-0 Frankfurt, Germany Start 45 0

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