Nobuhiro Takeda

Nobuhiro Takeda (武田 修宏, Takeda Nobuhiro, born May 10, 1967) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. He was a forward and known as a superb opportunistic goal-scorer, making most of his quick thinking and canny positioning. He currently works at Nippon Television and belongs to an entertainment agency Horipro as a sportscaster.^[1]

Playing career

Club

He was educated at and played for Shimizu Higashi High School. He joined Japan Soccer League side Yomiuri in 1986. When Japan's first-ever professional league J1 League started in 1993, Yomiuri was transformed to Verdy Kawasaki for whom he continued to play. His partnership with Kazuyoshi Miura up front was one of the key elements that brought successes to the club in the late 80's and early 90's. He was transferred to Júbilo Iwata for the 1996 season but came back to Verdy (1997), then moved to Kyoto Purple Sanga (July 1997-December 1997), JEF United Ichihara (1998–1999), again Verdy (2000), Paraguayan side Sportivo Luqueño (June 2000-December 2000), and finished his playing career at Verdy (2001).

International

He played 18 times for the Japanese national team between 1987 and 1994. He made his international debut on April 8, 1987 in a 1988 Olympics qualifier against Indonesia at the Tokyo National Olympic Stadium. He scored his sole international goal in the match. He was a member of the Japan team that won the 1992 AFC Asian Cup but he did not play in the tournament.

Under national coach Hans Ooft, Japan reached the AFC final qualifying stage for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He was on the pitch, after replacing Masashi Nakayama in the 81st minute, when Japan's hope to play in the finals in the U.S.A. was dashed by an injury-time Iraqi equaliser in the last qualifier, the match that the Japanese fans now refer to as the Agony of Doha.

Club statistics

National team statistics

^[2]

Honors and awards

Team honors

• 1992 Asian Cup (Champions)

Video games

• Takeda Nobuhiro no Super Cup Soccer - Super Famicom videogame, released November 26, 1993
• Takeda Nobuhiro no Ace Striker - Game Boy videogame, released February 18, 1994
• Takeda Nobuhiro no Super League Soccer - Super Famicom videogame, released November 25, 1994

References

External links

• National Football Teams
• Japan National Football Team Database
• Player statistics at J.League Data Site (Japanese)
• Takeda's official website (Japanese)

Japan squad – 1992 AFC Asian Cup Winners (1st Title)
1 Matsunaga 2 Otake 3 Katsuya 4 Horiike 5 Hashiratani 6 Tsunami 7 Ihara 8 Fukuda 9 Takeda 10 Ramos 11 Miura 12 Yamada 13 Sakakura 14 Kitazawa 15 Yoshida 16 Nakayama 17 Moriyasu 18 Jinno 19 Maekawa 20 Takagi Coach: Ooft