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January 28, 2004
2004: A Look Ahead. . . (and a Look Back)

Despite the January lull, this year the football season will get off to a very busy start, with a host of events, national team matches and other tournament competitions overlapping the preseason training camps for J.League clubs. Both the full national team and the U-23 team are currently in training camp (the Olympic squad started their preparations last week with a mini-camp in Miyazaki prefecture, and have now moved to Australia for a five-day sojurn that will allow them to grow accustomed to the warm weather they may face in their Olympic qualifiers due to be held in the UAE, while the national team began their training in Miyazaki on Monday). The teams are preparing for a busy schedule of warm-up matches and qualifiers in February and March.

Meanwhile, J.League clubs are putting the finishing touches on their rosters as they get ready to enter their respective training camps for the 2004 season. Though there have been no major acquisitions over the past few days, those who have not checked our list of transfers and trades recently should check out the most recent updates to our report published earlier in January. As everyone begins getting in shape, working off the extra pounds gained during their New Year's vacation and studying their strategies for the upcoming year, we will take a quick look at some of the events that are scheduled over the next two months, as well as recapping the stories that emerged during our brief "housecleaning".

National Team Prepares for February Fiesta

Yoshito Okubo, who has already seen a fair amount of action for the full NT, remained in Miyazaki after the U-23 squad moved to Australia for a week, and joined the older players in their training camp. His presence in both squads is beginning to worry coaches at Cerezo Osaka, who do not want him to be overtaxed by national team duty, and be unable to perform for the club. Though a final decision has not been reached, there are indications that if Zico decides to keep Okubo in the lineup for the full NT past the start of the J.League season, Cerezo will ask the U-23 team to leave him off the squad for the remaining qualification matches. He would only be released to rejoin the U-23 squad for the Olympics themselves. Considering the busy schedule of both U-23 and full NT during 2004, this seems a reasonable request. We will be watching to see what the JFA's response will be.

This time, two other U-23 members who have not yet secured spots in the full NT remained behind in Miyazaki as well, after the rest of the Olympians left for Australia. These were central defender Teruaki Moniwa and right wing Naohiro Ishikawa, both of FC Tokyo. Moniwa, a 22-year-old who has been a regular starter at FC Tokyo for the past two seasons, got his first NT cap in the match against Tunisia, last summer, and performed reasonably well. However, following the return of Keisuke Tsuboi (who missed the Tunisia match due to club commitments), he was dropped and this is his first chance since then to make an impression on Zico. Ishikawa, on the other hand, has never appeared for the full NT, though he made a bench appearance at the East Asian Championships, at the end of last year. The speedy winger is a permanent and central fixture of both the U-23 squad and his club team, and as he gains more poise and experience, Zico may give him a chance to show what he can do at the older level, particularly if Shunsuke Nakamura and Shinji Ono opt out of the early stages of WC qualification due to their injuries.

Speaking of Ono and Nakamura, both have commented privately that they intend to be ready in time for the Oman match, but both have been sidelined from their club teams in recent weeks. Nakamura injured his lower back at the end of 2003, and is only now starting to practice with his teammates at Reggina, while Ono sprained his ankle mildly in the second week of January, and did not even suit up this past week. Nevertheless, the nature and sevearity of their injuries seems mild enough, and there is a good chance that they will indeed be ready to start on February 18. Another member of the overseas contingent, Atsushi Yanagisawa, hurt his lower back as well, during a practice, but the Sampdoria trainer indicates that his recuperations hould take only a week or two.

Below is the roster of players taking part in the Miyazaki camp

Olympians Looking Up, Down Under

Though it is probably a bit too soon to be talking about a position in the full NT, the 190cm youngster certainly seems to have all the raw talent to become the best striker Japan has ever produced, if he continues to make steady progress over the next few years. Based on his performance so far, in training camp, it looks like he probably will get a chance to start in one of the two warm-up matches that U-23 Japan will hold in early February. The team has scheduled three friendlies in the month of February -- against Iran on February 7, at Saitama Stadium, against Russia on February 11, at Ajinomoto Stadium, and against Korea on February 21 (probably at National Stadium). Naturally, Coach Yamamoto will be hoping that Hirayama can live up to the early expectations, since a strong performance by the youngster would allow him to release Yoshito Okubo to the full NT, with no regrets.

The Olympians also have added some other names to the roster since their first round of qualifiers, last year. Some have been called up from the U-20 squad, including goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, striker Diasuke Sakata, defender Naoya Kikuchi, midfielders Yasuyuki Konno, Shohei Tokunaga, Sho Naruoka and Norio Suzuki. Others are players who have emerged suddenly as stars in the J.League, despite being passed over as potential national team selections in the past. The three most prominent names in this category are Daiki Takamatsu, a striker with Oita Trinita, midfielder Takeshi Hamada, of Cerezo Osaka, and Yokohama Marinos defender Daisuke Nasu.

Takamatsu failed to attract much attention prior to this season, despite playing well for Oita for sevreal seasons. This is not terribly surprising, since his career has been entirely in the J2, up to this season, and since Trinita are not a very large or prominent club, even by J2 standards. Nevertheless, after scoring 15 goals in 55 matches in the J2, Takamatsu had several very strong performances in the J1 this past year, despite playing on a very defence-oriented team, and apparently won his first call to the U-23 squad as a result. Hamada and Nasu could be described as "late bloomers", though their failure to attract attention prior to this year also highlights some of the weaknesses of Japan's current youth programmes. Both players were selected by J.League clubs and installed as regular bench-warmers before they were able to attract attention through either a high school championship or some other youth event. Though coaches at their clubs may have touted their abilities without any visible game results, they failed to win selection. Yet both had outstanding seasons for their teams in 2003, after finally starting to win occasional playing time (Nasu played well enough to win Rookie of the Year honors. Though he was officially a member of the Marinos team in 2002, as well, he made only three appearances and thus was still categorised as a rookie in 2003).

The second biggest addition, though (after Hirayama "himself") is a 22-year-old naturalised Brazilian named Marcus Lyuji Tulio Tanaka. "Tulio" as he prefers to be called, is an ethnic Japanese youngster who was born in Brazil, but "returned" to Japan with his family while still in junior high school. He entered the J.League while still just 18, playing for Sanfrecce Hiroshima, and though he performed relatively well for a youngster, the fact that he held a Brazilian passport prevented him from attracting much attention from youth team coaches. But Tulio naturalised at the end of 2003, and his speed and size won him not only a call-up to the U-23 squad, but a huge contract offer from Urawa Reds, for the start of the 2004 season.

The squad will be whittled down to around 30 players after the sojourn in Australia is finished, and it will be very interesting to see how many of the new inclusions remain. Below is the full roster for the Miyazaki camp (shaded names are players who remained behind in Japan with the full NT, when the rest of the Olympiade team left for Australia).

New Threads for the NT

It is theoretically possible that the uniforms will look better when the players are actually wearing them than they do in the publicity shots. You can judge for yourselves. However, the general response from the Ultras, and other leading national team fan groups seems to be . . . . Yawwwwwnnnnn

Marinos Pout when Asked to Act like Champions

The issue that created this conflict was an admittedly horrible screw-up in the scheduling of league, AFC and national team events. Because the Marinos won the league title in 2003, they will represent Japan in both the Asian champions league and the new East-Asian championship tournament known as the "A3". Yokohama also must play in the traditional opening exhibition match -- the Xerox Cup -- and several of the team's players have national team commitments in February and early March. The result is a maddeningly hectic schedule, which would drive any coach to distraction. However, while one can understand Okada's annoyance at the inept scheduling, this has been the way things are done since time immemorial. It is just one of the burdens that the league champions are expected to bear -- and for the past decade, teams like Jubilo Iwata, Kashima Antlers and Verdy Kawasaki have managed to do so with a smile (well . . . perhaps a strained smile) on their face.

When Okada was informed that the A3 Nissan Champions Cup would overlap with the first round of the Asian Champions League, he responded in a most un-champion-like manner. The Marinos coach immediatelh called a press conference to berate the people arranging the schedule for these events. He dismissively declared that the organisers were kidding themselves if they thought the Marinos would put up with such a disorganized mess. "The Marinos are not going to take part in two matches on the same day", he vowed. "They will just have to find someone else to take part in the A3 event!"

Although one can certainly understand the feelings of a coach who is asked to field a team for two different events on the same day, Okada might have done a bit of research before declaring this sort of schedule "beyond belief". While the Marinos' schedule for the next two months does indeed look formidable, this sort of conflict has occurred many times in the past. In fact, the Marinos' conflict is by no means the most severe case of overscheduling on record. In early 1997, the Kashima Antlers were not only schedlued to play a J.League match in Tokyo and an Asian championship qualifier in Hong Kong on the same day; in addition, five members of the starting lineup were unavailable to play in EITHER match that weekend because they were in Kazakhstan, preparing for a national team qualifying match for the 1998 World Cup. The Antlers gritted their teeth, cobbled together a group of reserves and youth team players to send to Hong Kong (only two of whom had registered even a single start in either league or cup competition during the previous season), and played on.

Mr. Okada apparently wants to enjoy the glory of a championship without accepting the occasionally annoying responsibilities, as well. Regular readers of the Rising Sun News will know the high regard that we have for Mr. Okada's skills as a coach, a manager of players, and a tactician. However, we have to say that his performance as a "good sport", and a role model leave something to be desired. This is not the first time that Okada has complained about scheduling demands that he considered excessive (much less "beyond belief"). He also was quoted after a loss in the Emperor's Cup as saying that "the Emperor's Cup is not important because some players have no motivation and some players want to go back home." He then claimed to be "pleased" that his team had been eliminated, implying that he really did not want to take part, and thus attempting (whether deliberately, or just through unthinking arrogance) to cheapen the other team's victory.

Fortunately, this time around, the league, the regional federation, the sponsors and even his own team management spared no time in reminding Okada that football players are supposed to be professionals -- performing the job that they are paid to do without whining about brutal schedules. Those players (and coaches) who "have no motivation" and "want to go home" can do just that . . . and stay there.

You would think that before Okada opened his mouth, he might have taken the hint provided by the name of the competition he was planning to snub -- the "A3 Nissan Champions Cup". It is hard to believe that he might have overlooked the fact, but that big "Nissan" logo on the front of the Marinos uniforms happens to refer to the same "Nissan" that sponsors the A3 championship, and presumably has already pumped a large quantity of cash into promoting the competition. Within hours of Okada's "declaration", stating that the Marinos would not take part in the A3 competition, a Marinos spokesperson was loudly declaring that the comments by Okada had been "misunderstood" and that the Marinos were by no means backing out of the competition. Sizzling phone calls from the AFC and the JFA followed, and by the end of the day it was apparent that Okada had been speaking only for himself, and had not bothered to clear his press comments with anyone else before making them.

As one might well expect, under the circumstances, Okada emerged two days later with tail tucked firmly between legs, to confirm that the Marinos would indeed take part in both competitions. For obvious reasons, they would have to field an under-strength squad for one of them (specifically, the A3 competition), and thus might not have as good a chance of winning. To his surprise, nobody was overly dismayed by his admission that the Marinos might lose some or all of the A3 matches. Clearly the reporters have been down this road more times than Mr. Okada.

One certainly hopes that this will teach the Marinos coach the proper attitude for a champion team to display. Of course, the demands on a J.League championship team are sometimes unreasonable, and compromises often have to be made which will adversely affect the team's performance. This is one reason why it is so rare for teams to "repeat", as back-to-back champions in the J.League. The burden of scheduling makes it extremely difficult to take part in all of the events without falling prey to exhaustion. A true champion simply grits their teeth, smiles for the cameras, makes those compromises that seem to be in the team's best interest, and accepts that they will probably lose at least SOME of the competitions that they are forced to take part in. That is what is expected from a champion. It comes with the territory, and Okada has no reason to expect the rules to be changed, just for him.

Toda Trades Totenham for The Hague

At the end of the day, Toda probably has no one but himself to blame for his predicament. He left S-Pulse after a severe row with management, vowing that he would not play for S-Pulse again and demanding to be traded to Europe. He managed to attract some interest in the Premiership, but those familiar with his skills were justifiably concerned that he was aiming too high when the news was announced that Toda would be moving to Tottenham. Certainly, Toda has a fiercely competitive attitude, and isnt a total hack on the football field, either. However, even in the J.League he was never viewed as the most skillful player, and it was no surprise that he was unable to win a job at troubled Tottenham. It is anyone's guess whether or not he would have fared better at a smaller club. But the combination of Toda's mediocrity and Tottenham's severe management problems and pathetic performance in late 2003 made it a matter of course that Toda would soon be on the street.

Since Toda had insisted on a full transfer, rather than a loan deal, and had left Japan with some rather harsh words for S-Pulse management, he found himself in a bit of a jam. The J.League may be moving towards the upper end of the spectrum in terms of the competitiveness of the world's football leagues, but in management terms it remains a very conservative "gentleman's club", where teams hesitate to tread on one another's toes by snatching up a player who is having problem with his own club. In that sense, Toda was viewed as "damaged goods" back in Japan, and would have had difficulty getting an offer from any J.League club other than S-Pulse. Certainly, if he had come back on hands and knees and begged for another chance, some club would have accomodated him. But that sort of kowtowing is simply not a part of Toda's repertoire.

So after failing to find a spot on any of the teams he contacted initially, in England, Germany, France and Holland, Toda finally found hmself in the Hague, trying out for the local Eredivisie team Den Haag. According to the coaches, his performance was quite good, and the team was willing to sign him on the spot. However, the terms offered were apparently very meagre, and Toda was concerned that if he sold himself cheap, he would find himself stuck in a situation that he could never climb out of, however hard he tried. Nevertheless, Den Haag's interest was a useful bargaining chip, and Toda apparently recognised that S-Pulse -- a team in complete disarray, with all its top players deserting for greener pastures -- was in nearly ass weak a bargaining position as he was. The situation was ripe for a deal to be made.

Swallowing a bit of his pride, Toda informed the Dutch press that he had to go back to Japan "to straighten out some personal matters", and then hopped on a JAL flight back to Shizuoka. The exact content of the discussions which followed are unknown, but based on the outcome it is fairly easy to speculate on what happened. Toda approached S-Pulse with a compromise deal. He would rejoin the team, at least in name, allowing S-Pulse to win a certain moral victory for having reclaimed their wayward player. In turn, S-Pulse would immediately send Toda on a one-year loan to Den Haag, allowing Toda to claim, at least technically, that he was not breaking his vow never to return to S-Pulse. In addition, S-Pulse not only receives a small fee for the time being, but also could potential claim a transfer fee from Den Haag at a later date. In return, Toda has a bit more bargaining leverage in salary negotiations, and if things do not work out in the Hague, he is not bound to a Dutch team which may not look out for his best interests when selling him off to another club. In the final analysis, the situation seems to have been salvaged, for all concerned. Now, for his next magic trick, Toda can set his mind to producing results on the football pitch. We cewrtainly hope he will have better luck in Holland than he did in England.

Fukuda Plans to Play in Paraguay

Fukuda's story is in some ways connected to the fate of Japan's 1996 Olympiade team -- a group that is writing themselves into the history books as Japan's great "lost generation". As a group, these players almost defy logic, in having achieved a degree of failure and anonymity that few would have believed, if you had predicted such a fate back in the summer of 1996.After soaring to unprecedented fame, and enjoying a breif instant of stardom in the mid-1990s, this group was suddenly and completely eclipsed by another generation of stars, about two years younger, who came to be known as Japan's "golden generation", and quickly estabished themselves as the top stars in the J.League. As their star ascended, bringing both World Cup success and overseas fame, the "lost generation" faded into obscurity, and have never recovered.

Though Fukuda was two years behind the other players in the so-called "lost generation", there is a good chance that he will go down in the history books along with better-known burnouts like Masakiyo Maezono, Shoji Jo, Nobuyuki Zaizen, Teruyoshi Ito, Ryuji Michiki, Takafumi Ogura, Kenichi Uemura, Yoshika Matsubara and even, to some extent, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, as a group of players who tasted success before they were prepared for it, and then were whisked away into the shadow world of the "has-beens" before they even reached their prime.

Fukuda actually was not present when Japan's U-23 team defeated Brazil at the 1996 Olympics. He was two years younger, and participated only as a reserve in that team, being dropped from the squad before it left for Atlanta. Nevertheless, as a rookie with Nagoya Grampus, Fukuda was already viewed as a star, enjoying the same brief flirtation with fame as the Olympic team members. Dragan Stojkovic took the youngster under his wing and was lavish with his praise for the young striker, touting him as Japan's future scoring leader. He won several commercial endorsements, and seemed to be headed for a place in Japanese sports history as a star, rather than a spectacular failure.

But just slightly over two years later, the "lost generation" saw their stardom suddenly eclipsed by the U-20 team which finished second in the World Youth Championships in 1999. This group of players featured stars such as Shinji Ono, Junichi Inamoto, Naohiro Takahara, Shunsuke Nakamura, Koji Nakata, Mitsuo Ogasawara and Masashi Motoyama -- brilliant players and telegenic yet modest personalities, quickly drove their predecessors from the limelight, capturing both the attention of the media, and all the starting positions on both the national team and their J.League squads. The players from the "lost generation" suddenly seemed to lose their way as football players, as if they had been injured fatally when they were knocked from their pedestal. Though Fukuda had a brief chance to join the "golden generation", taking part in a few of the early Olympic qualifier matches for the 2000 games, he was dropped from the squad midway through the qualification round, and soon joined Jo, Maezono, Zaizen and the others, bouncing from team to team and relegated to roles as second-rate reserves. The only player from the '96 Olympic team who seems to have avoided this "curse" is Hidetoshi Nakata, who (like Fukuda) was two years younger than most of the other players on the team and took part in only one of the three matches in Atlanta, playing for less than 60 minutes.

It has never been entirely clear what happened to this generation, but it often seems that they have been living under a curse, ever since their star burned out at the end of the 1990s. Several had opportunities to play overseas at some point in their careers, but usually with no success. Several were felled by serious injury (Ogura and Uemura). Others (Maezono, Jo, Zaizen and Matsubara) jumped at the opportunity to play overseas , albeit at lesser clubs, and discovered by the time they returned to Japan that their fame -- and their skills -- had deserted them. Though he may not have played in Atlanta, Fukuda certainly fits the profile of his age-group peers. Though he has fairly good technical skills, his scoring ability seemed to desert him around the turn of the century. After scoring 31 goals in three seasons at Grampus, it took him another five years to record his next ten. He was traded to FC Tokyo in mid-2001 but failed to break the starting lineup there. By mid-2003, Tokyo cut him loose and he ended up as an occasional substitute at Vegalta Sendai. Like the rest of the "lost generation", he seems to have acquired the reputation as a has-been, even though he is still just 26 years of age. It will be very interesting to see if he can revive his career with A move to Paraguay. Unfortunately, a more likely possibility is that he will fade even further into obscurity, as a footnote in Japan's football history books.

Rumours and Rumblings

Fukuda Finds Net in Paraguay

S-Pulse Hold Russians at Bay

Undermanned Marinos Outman ACL Opponents

The unequal nature of this contest became clear, very early in this match, as 19-year-old Yuzo Kurihara (who failed to record even a single start during his rookie season in 2003) put the Marinos up 2-0 within the first 20 minutes. The first goal came less than 15 minutes into the match, on a free kick from the right flank by Yukihiko Sato. The Marinos midfielder placed a pinpoint cross onto the head of Kurihara, about six meters out. Just minutes later, Kurihara doubled the lead with another header, this time from a corner kick.

Thereafter, the match slowed down though Yokohama continued to dominate possession and field position. With 15 minutes remaining, Norihisa Shimizu closed out the scoring with a powerful shot from inside the box, completing the 3-0 rout. The next match in the ACL first round will pit the Marinos against Persik Kediri of Indonesia, at Mitsuzawa Stadium, on February 24.

Promotion/Relegation Format for 2004 Confirmed

As a first step, the league has decided to increase the number of teams in the J1 to 18, at the end of the 2004 season. This will leave some space in the J2 for additions to be made from the JFL to J2, without making the match schedule in J2 too burdensome. The J2 currently plays a four-cycle schedule, with each team playing each other team in the league four times. With12 teams in the J2, currently, that amounts to 44 league matches per year. However, if the number of teams is increased to 14, for example, the league schedule would call for an exhausting 52 matches per year! Therefore, at the end of the 2004 season, the top two teams from the J2 will automatically advance to the J1. In addition, the last-place finisher from J1 will play a promotion/relegation series against the third-place finisher from J2, with the victor claiming a spot in the J1 for the 2005 season. This will reduce the J2 to ten teams. In subsequent years, teams will be added from the JFL, and when the number again approaches an unweildy number (around 13 or 14), the league will again be reorganised and (presumably), the J2 will subsequently adopt a two-round format, playing each opponent only twice a year.

Ilhan Makes it Official

In his comments to the press, Ilhan noted that the J.League was rapidly becoming one of the top leagues in the world, and said he hopes to make a contribution to elevating the quality and profile of the league even further. If he can even approach the form that he demonstrated at the 2002 World Cup, where he led Turkey to a third-place finish, that should be a near certainty. And despite the fact that he is joining one of the league's weaker teams (Kobe will probably struggle to remain in the top half of the table, even WITH Ilhan's contributions), his presence alone should put backsides in the bleachers at Kobe home games and ensure that Vissel is an exciting club to watch in 2004.

How Do You Dudu?

Sound too bizarre to be true? Well, that is what the Rising Sun News thought when we first heard this rumour. But several major Russian newspapers, including this one, actually carried the story as "fact", nearly a week after Reysol had issued a press release confirming Dudu's transfer to Reysol. But before this all gets too confusing, lets back up and discuss the chronology of events:

As those who follow youth football closely will be aware, a 20-year-old Brazilian midfielder named Alexandro Silva de Souza, aka "Dudu Cearense", burst into the limelight at the 2003 World Youth Championships, held in the UAE, late last year. He finished the tournament tied for the golden boot title, and made a huge contribution to his team's progress to win the title. Following the event, he received a number of approaches from clubs in Europe, but in mid-January, Kashiwa Reysol trumped all offers by announcing unexpectedly that it had signed Dudu to a one-year rental contract. The news caught Japanese football reporters by surprise, since Reysol are not a particularly wealthy club. However, they do have good connections to Brazilian clubs, and apparently were able to use this leverage as a way to conclude a rental contract for Dudu.

Given the surprise nature of the deal, you can be sure that it was examined closely by the Japanese press, to ensure that it was not merely a rumour. But when Reysol issued its official press release (translation provided below), it was verified and reported not only in Japan but worldwide, on most major football news sites.

Text of Kashiwa Reysol news release dated January 20, 2004
Transfer Acquisition of Player Dudu:
We are pleased to announce that the acquisition of Alexandro Silva de Souza (20 years old, MF) is confirmed. He has concluded a rental transfer contract that runs from February 1, 2004 through January 1, 2005
(This is followed by biographical data on the player)

On the basis of that statement, one would think that this is a pretty clear-cut sutuation. Lending even greater weight to such a conclusion is the fact that Reysol have already set up an individual player page for their new Brazilian star, complete with a hotlink that allows fans to send a personal e-mail to Dudu.

So imagine our surprise when a RSN reader in Russia wrote to inform us that the president of Spartak Moscow, Andrey Chervichenko, had recently given an interview to a highly regarded Russian sports journal, insisting that he was engaged in intense negotiations with Vitoria regarding a full transfer and a four-year contract for Dudu. Sure enough, this claim has been reprinted by several Russian news services in the past week, including such details as the fact, according to Nevio Scala, that Spartak has set aside US$5 million to ensure the acquisition of Dudu.

To our ears, the story from Russia sounds like just an idle boast by a drunk football official, which may have inadverently been reprinted and reported far more widely than he had intended. And perhaps that is all this story really is. But a few aspects of the situation lead us to give the story at least some credence -- enough to hesitate in ruling out the possibility altogether. The first regards the clubs involved. Reysol, first of all, has a history of inept management and blunders that would fill an entire book. Most notably, the team managed to lose former Brazil NT striker Edilson, last season, even after having his name on a piece of paper. The full story of that deal has never been divulged, but apparently Edilson changed his mind about the deal after signing, refused to show up for training camp, and eventually convinced Reysol to release him from his contract responsibilities in return for a cash penalty, which was paid by Flamengo after they re-signed Edilson for the rest of the 2003 season. However, Edilson had a history of conflict with the club (there are rumours that he was once chased from the locker room, with threats of physical volence, by South Korean star Hwang Sun-Hong, after refusing to turn off his mobile), and nobody was truly surprised when Reysol and Edilson parted ways.

Meanwhile, both Vitoria and Spartak Moscow are clubs with a reputation for being willing to do just about anything if the money is right. Is it possible that the two are negotiating behind Reysol's back, and planning to pull out of the deal with Reysol even after a contract has been signed? And if it should come down to a decision of whether to take the deal with Spartak and make a pile of money, or maintain his reputation as an honest and trustworthy individual, what will Dudu do?

Whatever the case, this certainly is a rumour that bears further investigation. Stay tuned for updates in future weeks!