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Soccer: Oguro's move to Grenoble a mistake, says Buchwald+(Japan Economic Newswire)SAITAMA, Japan, Dec. 24_(Kyodo) _ Urawa Reds manager Guido Buchwald believes Japan striker Masashi Oguro has made the wrong decision by joining French second-division side Grenoble. The 25-year-old Oguro, who helped Gamba Osaka clinch their first J-League title earlier this month, sealed a multi-year deal with the Japanese-owned club on Saturday. But Buchwald, a former World Cup winner with Germany, says Oguro has done himself no favors by playing in a "low level" league just six months before the World Cup finals in Germany. "This is only for business. He is one of the best strikers in Japan so why is he going to the second division?" Buchwald said after Urawa's Emperor's Cup quarterfinal win over Kawasaki Frontale on Saturday. "The French first division is important but the second division is not such a high level and this is just half a year before the World Cup." "It's really bad timing. For a striker you need goals but he has to automatically get used to a new team. This is not good for him. But it's good for the Reds," he quipped. Midfielders Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, Shinji Ono and Junichi Inamoto have all made names for themselves in the European leagues. Daisuke Matsui also helped Le Mans win promotion to the French top flight last year but Japanese strikers have enjoyed limited success overseas. Kazuyoshi Miura, Shoji Jo, Akinori Nishizawa and Takayuki Suzuki all returned to Japan after failing to make an impact abroad. And Oguro's move comes at a time when his fellow Japan strikers are suffering in silence on the bench in Germany and Italy. Atsushi Yanagisawa looks set to return to Kashima Antlers after miserable spells at Sampdoria and Messina while Naohiro Takahara is reportedly looking for a move away from Hamburg SV to get more playing time in World Cup year. "For Japanese players they need time to get used to the different style of soccer," Buchwald said when asked why Japanese strikers have failed to make the grade in Europe. "Inside their heads they need to learn and know when to go forward and when to go back and it's not so easy." "Maybe as well in Europe defenders are strong guys and the back line has good positioning and support and it's very hard to score a lot of goals." Oguro made his national team debut in January in the 4-0 home win over Kazakhstan in a friendly and has scored five times in 15 matches for Japan, including crucial goals in Japan's successful qualifying campaign for the World Cup finals. Grenoble are owned by Japanese mobile content provider Index Corp., which bought the team in October last year, and are currently eighth in the 20-team second division. |