Naohiro Takahara

Naohiro Takahara

Personal information
Full name	Naohiro Takahara
Date of birth	(1979-06-04) June 4, 1979 (age 32)
Place of birth	Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Shimizu S-Pulse
Number	19
Youth career
1995–1997	Shimizu Higashi High School
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–2002	Júbilo Iwata	105	(58)
2001	→ Boca Juniors (loan)	7[1]	(1)
2003–2006	Hamburger SV	97	(13)
2004–2005	Hamburger SV II	3	(2)
2006–2007	Eintracht Frankfurt	38	(12)
2008–2010	Urawa Red Diamonds	59	(10)
2010	Suwon Bluewings	12	(4)
2011–	Shimizu S-Pulse	22	(8)
National team‡
1998–1999	Japan U-20	16	(16)
1998–2000	Japan U-23	11	(4)
2000–2008	Japan	57	(23)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 3, 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of February 23, 2010

Naohiro Takahara (高原 直泰, Takahara Naohiro^?, born June 4, 1979) is a Japanese footballer. He currently plays for J. League Division 1 side Shimizu S-Pulse as a striker

Takahara was born in Mishima, Shizuoka. He has previously played for Júbilo Iwata in Japan, Boca Juniors in Argentina, Hamburger SV and Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany. On December 3, 2006, he scored his first hat-trick in the German Bundesliga in a league game against Alemannia Aachen. In January 2008 he moved to Urawa Red Diamonds for a transfer fee of around ¥180 million (around $1.7 million).^[2]

Takahara had played for Japan in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney but missed the 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by his home country and South Korea, because of injury. He was a member of the Japan team for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup and played in all the six games involving Japan. He scored four goals and was a joint top scorer of the tournament.

Facts

• His goals and performances were celebrated by Eintracht supporters by singing to the melody of Gala's Freed from desire. After successful matches Takahara often joined the faithful to jump up and down the same way.
• Takahara was the first Japanese player to play in the Argentine First Division league.^[3]
• Takahara is the third Japanese to play in Fußball-Bundesliga after Yasuhiko Okudera and Kazuo Ozaki.

Asian Cup 2007

Takahara finished top scorer after an impressive performance at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. He scored against Qatar in the first match, who Japan tied 1-1. Japan won the next match, against United Arab Emirates and Takahara impressed coach Ivica Osim with two goals. In the quarterfinal match against rivals Australia, Takahara scored the tying goal and sent the game in PKs. Although Takahara missed his spot-kick, heroic saves from goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi sent Japan through into the semifinals, where they lost to Saudi Arabia 2-3.

National team

• 2000 Asian Cup (Champions)
• 2003 Confederations Cup
• 2006 FIFA World Cup
• 2007 Asian Cup

Honors and awards

Individual Honors

• AFC U-19 Championship Top Scorer: 1998
• AFC Asian Cup Best Eleven: 2000
• Selected to AFC All Star Team: 2000
• J. League Most Valuable Player: 2002
• J. League Top Scorer: 2002
• J. League Best Eleven: 2002
• AFC Asian Cup Top Scorer: 2007

Team Honors

• FIFA World Youth Championship runner-up: 1999
• AFC U-17 Championship Champions: 1994
• AFC Asian Cup Champions: 2000
• AFC Champions League Champions: 1999
• Asian Super Cup Champions: 1999
• J-League Champions: 1999, 2002
• DFB-Ligapokal Champions: 2003
• UEFA Intertoto Cup Champions: 2005

Club career stats

* Includes Intertoto Cup

National team stats

^[4]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	February 16, 2000	Macau, China	Brunei	9-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Qualification
2.	February 16, 2000	Macau, China	Brunei	9-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Qualification
3.	February 20, 2000	Macau, China	Macau	3-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Qualification
4.	October 14, 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Saudi Arabia	4-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
5.	October 17, 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Uzbekistan	8-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
6.	October 17, 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Uzbekistan	8-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
7.	October 17, 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Uzbekistan	8-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
8.	October 24, 2000	Beirut, Lebanon	Iraq	4-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Quarter-Finals
9.	March 27, 2002	Łódź, Poland	Poland	2-0	Won	Friendly
10.	August 20, 2003	Tokyo, Japan	Nigeria	3-0	Won	Friendly
11.	August 20, 2003	Tokyo, Japan	Nigeria	3-0	Won	Friendly
12.	March 31, 2004	Jalan Besar, Singapore	Singapore	2-1	Won	2006 FIFA World Cup Qualification
13.	September 7, 2005	Rifu, Japan	Honduras	5-4	Won	Friendly
14.	October 8, 2005	Riga, Latvia	Latvia	2-2	Draw	Friendly
15.	February 28, 2006	Dortmund, Germany	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2-2	Draw	Friendly
16.	May 30, 2006	Leverkusen, Germany	Germany	2-2	Draw	Friendly
17.	May 30, 2006	Leverkusen, Germany	Germany	2-2	Draw	Friendly
18.	March 24, 2007	Yokohama, Japan	Peru	2-0	Won	Friendly
19.	June 1, 2007	Fukuroi, Japan	Montenegro	2-0	Won	Friendly
20.	July 9, 2007	Hanoi, Vietnam	Qatar	1-1	Draw	2007 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
21.	July 13, 2007	Hanoi, Vietnam	United Arab Emirates	3-1	Won	2007 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
22.	July 13, 2007	Hanoi, Vietnam	United Arab Emirates	3-1	Won	2007 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
23.	July 21, 2007	Hanoi, Vietnam	Australia	1-1	Won	2007 AFC Asian Cup Quarter-Finals

References

External links

• Official Website
• footballdatabase.com
• Yahoo! Sports UK
• National Football Teams

Japan Squad v t e Japan squad – 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship 1 Nakamura 2 Koga 3 Yoshikawa 4 Kawaguchi 5 Sakai 6 Nakatani 7 Kobayashi 8 Araiba 9 Nishitani 10 Yamazaki 11 Tanaka 12 Tsujimoto 13 Inamoto 14 Ono 15 Ideguchi 16 Takahara 17 Itabashi 18 Nakagawa Coach: Matsuda v t e Japan squad – 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship Runners-Up 1 Enomoto 2 Teshima 3 Tsujimoto 4 Ishikawa 5 Kaji 6 Inamoto 7 Sakai 8 Ogasawara 9 Takahara 10 Motoyama 11 Endō 12 Nakata 13 Ono 14 Nagai 15 Takada 16 Bando 17 Ujiie 18 Minami Coach: Troussier v t e Japan squad – 2000 Summer Olympics 1 Narazaki 2 Nakazawa 3 Matsuda 4 Morioka 5 Miyamoto 6 Inamoto 7 H. Nakata 8 Myojin 9 Hirase 10 Nakamura 11 Miura 12 Sakai 13 Yanagisawa 14 Motoyama 15 Nishi 16 K. Nakata 17 Takahara 18 Tsuzuki Coach: Troussier v t e Japan squad – 2000 AFC Asian Cup Champions (2nd Title) 1 Kawaguchi 3 Matsuda 4 Morioka 6 Hattori 8 Mochizuki 9 Nishizawa 10 Nanami 11 Miura 12 Morishima 13 Yanagisawa 14 Nakamura 15 Oku 17 Inamoto 19 Kubo 20 Takakuwa 21 Shimoda 22 Nakazawa 24 Myojin 26 Kaimoto 27 Kitajima 29 Takahara 30 Ono Coach: Troussier v t e Japan squad – 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Narazaki 2 Narahashi 3 Akita 4 Morioka 5 Inamoto 6 Hattori 7 H. Nakata (c) 8 Ogasawara 9 Ōkubo 10 Nakamura 11 Matsui 12 Doi 13 Oku 14 Alex 15 Myojin 16 K. Nakata 17 Miyamoto 18 Nagai 19 Endō 20 Takahara 21 Tsuboi 22 Yamada 23 Kawaguchi Coach: Zico v t e Japan squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Narazaki 2 Moniwa 3 Komano 4 Endō 5 Miyamoto (c) 6 K. Nakata 7 H. Nakata 8 Ogasawara 9 Takahara 10 Nakamura 11 Maki 12 Doi 13 Yanagisawa 14 Alex 15 Fukunishi 16 Oguro 17 Inamoto 18 Ono 19 Tsuboi 20 Tamada 21 Kaji 22 Nakazawa 23 Kawaguchi Coach: Zico v t e Japan squad – 2007 AFC Asian Cup Fourth Place 1 Kawaguchi (c) 2 Konno 3 Komano 5 Tsuboi 6 Abe 7 Endō 8 Hanyu 9 Yamagishi 10 S. Nakamura 11 Satō 12 Maki 13 Suzuki 14 K. Nakamura 15 Mizuno 18 Narazaki 19 Takahara 20 Yano 21 Kaji 22 Nakazawa 23 Kawashima 24 Hashimoto 28 Ota 29 Inoha Coach: Osim

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