Nagai learned early skills in Brazil

@cracaphat most of the Japanese boys show that drive and determination at 11 or 12 years old, if at all. It seems that with just three years exposure, at a tender age of five, this kid was committed/determined to pursuing soccer as a career. Win, lose, or draw he'll still be a player of the highest caliber. He has proven himself both in speed and skill on a stage as big as the Olympics (if you are truly a soccer fan, which I doubt). @Suzuki you're right about Nagai, but I can't comfirm or deny @cracaphat's grumpiness:)

good post Hide!

@cracaphat

Nagai has great skills and incredible speed. Save your typical grumpy negative talk until he makes a game losing mistake

Mexico will win that match for sure..

I wish they had written about "immersion" with the neighborhood kids. Why did he travel to Brazil? Portuguese language ability, etc. I use those examples to encourage the young ones who dream of becoming international athletes, but still think ESL or any foreign language is not important. Just for a second, I thought, why Ronaldo instead of Pelé? Wow! I'm dating myself.

WHAT? no news about Japan beating both Brazil (nadeshico) and Egypt? Comon JT wake up.

It was really sad to see Nagai leave the match early after he scored the goal vs Egypt. After that the whole teamplay of Japan seemed to collaps. They came back strong in the second half though.

Moderator: Wake yourself up. We carried stories on both those games in the Olympics section.

Yes, you see kids playing "street soccer" everywhere here, my neighboor's 11 y.o. son's delight is to play with his friends after school. Hope Nagai & Co. make it to the finals, against Brazil.