Shinji Okazaki
Okazaki at VfB - Training 2011
Shinji Okazaki (Japanese冈 崎 慎 司Okazaki Shinji, born 16 April 1986 in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture) is a Japanese football player.
Career
Clubs
Born in Hyōgo Prefecture Okazaki played in the youth team for the second Takigawa High School. After graduating in 2004, he signed a professional contract with Shimizu S-Pulse. In his first two seasons Okazaki came only sporadically used, but he established himself soon as one of the most prolific strikers in the J. League.
On 30 January 2011 Okazaki moved to VfB Stuttgart. After his old club initially refused to release, was VfB granted eligibility to play for the striker on 17 February 2011 by FIFA. On the same day he made his debut for Stuttgart in the first leg of the sixteenth finals of the Europa League 2010/11 against Benfica. His Bundesliga debut, he played 20 February 2011 on 23 Gameday at the 2:4 defeat in the away match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. His first Bundesliga goal for intermediate 2-0, he scored 7 May 2011 at the 33rd match day 2-1 home win against Hannover 96
The bicycle kick, with the Okazaki 96 in the Bundesliga scoring 19 February 2012 in the away match VfB Stuttgart at Hanover his eighth Bundesliga, was elected as the goal of the month. He was by Yasuhiko Okudera the second Japanese man who was honored in Germany as a scorer of the month.
For the 2013/14 season changed Okazaki 1 FSV Mainz 05 in Mainz He received a three-year contract.
National
In 2008 he participated with the Japanese U -23 at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. There he played in all three games for the Japanese team, which was eliminated after three defeats in the group stage without winning point. In October of the same year he made his debut in the match against the United Arab Emirates in the senior team. As a result, he stood by the qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa several times in the starting lineup. With his 15 international goals achieved the particular well-known, despite his short stature for his heading ability Okazaki world top scorer in 2009 the International Federation of Football History & Statistics was. He scored his winning goal to make it 1-0 against Uzbekistan for early World Cup qualifiers in his country. At the World Cup finals he reached with Japan as the second in the group behind the Netherlands the second round, where you eliminated against Paraguay after a 0-0 on penalties. Okazaki came on at the World Championships in all four games of the Japanese team, scoring against Denmark in the final group game the goal for a 3-1 final score.
With the senior team, he qualified with only one defeat first qualifying Group A for the Asian Cup 2011 in Qatar. With only one defeat ( in the game against Bahrain), the Japanese were group winners of Group A. Of the 17 Japanese achieved in the qualifying goals scored six Okazaki and was leading scorer. On January 29, 2011, he was with his team's Asian champions after being defeated in the final of Australia 1-0 in extra time. Okazaki scored three goals in the tournament for Japan.
Achievements
- J. League Cup Finalist 2008 ( with Shimizu S-Pulse )
- DFB Cup finalists 2013 ( VfB Stuttgart)
- Asia Champion 2011
- Knockout stages of the World Cup 2010
- Scorer of the Month: February 2012
Awards
- World Top Scorers 2009
- J. League Best Eleven 2009