Junichi Inamoto was one of the major reasons for Japan’s journey to the second round. He even overshadowed his midfield teammate, Parma’s Hidetoshi Nakata, scoring twice, including the winner against Russia in a first round group game.
Inamoto signed for English Premier League outfit Arsenal, back in July 2001 for around six million dollars. His transfer created a lot of media interest, after three successful seasons with Japan’s Gamba Osaka. However, his time with the Galas hasn’t gone to plan, he started only four competitive games all season.
Inamoto: Playing for a big team, I knew from the beginning that I wouldn’t be playing first team games. I would be starting off on the reserves. This hasn’t affected my motivation at all. Playing in the reserves is a good experience and I hope it will help me to improve my game.
He’s obviously disappointed with Japan’s second round exit at the World Cup, but memories of Japan’s Asian Cup success in 2000 are far sweeter.
Inamoto: Winning the Asian Cup required a huge amount of effort, and helped us to realize how tough it is to play international football. From then on, we focused on playing not only Asian but World football.
稻本润一
稻本润一是日本队能进入第二轮比赛的主要功臣之一。他的光芒甚至盖过了队友—效力于帕尔玛俱乐部的中锋中田英寿，两次射门得分，其中包括在第一轮对俄罗斯的比赛中取得胜利的那一次得分。
稻本润一早在2001年七月就以六百万美元的身价与英超阿森纳俱乐部签约。在日本大阪钢巴俱乐部度过三个成功的赛季后，稻本润一转会的举动引起了媒体的极大兴趣。但他与大阪钢巴还没有签定时间，整个赛季仅仅参加了四场比赛。
稻本润一：在这样重要的队伍中踢球，从一开始我就知道，我不会是一线队员，而是作为替补队员。这根本不会影响我的情绪。作一名替补队员是一次很好的经历，我希望它有助于我比赛水平的提高。
很明显，他对日本第二轮被淘汰出世界杯感到十分失望，但对日本在2000年成功进入亚洲世界杯决赛还是记忆犹新。
稻本润一：赢得亚洲世界杯需要付出巨大的努力，这次经历帮助我们意识到参加国际足球赛是一项多么艰巨的任务。从那时起，我们踢的就不仅仅是亚洲足球，而是世界足球。
