Frederic Bourigault

Veteran midfielder Junichi Inamoto hopes his time with Rennes will help him earn him a spot on Japan’s World Cup squad. (Photo: David Vincent, AP)

Inamoto Hopes End to Wandering Boosts His Hopes for South Africa

Rennes, France. Veteran Japanese midfielder Junichi Inamoto is hoping that his move to French First Division side Rennes will boost his chances of playing in a third World Cup finals next year.

The 29-year-old — capped 71 times with four international goals — was an iconic presence, aided by his dyed blond hair, when Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup finals with South Korea, which saw the Japanese go out in the second round.

Since then Inamoto — part of the Japanese squad that won the 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon — has, like many of his compatriots who have tried to make a career in European club football, earned the moniker of “much traveled,” with Rennes being his seventh club since he signed for Arsenal from Gamba Osaka in 2001.

However, Inamoto is insistent that being reunited with one of his former bosses, the fiery Frederic Antonetti, who coached him at Gamba Osaka, will get him to settle at last.

“Up until now, I have not stayed longer than two years at any one club in Europe,” said Inamoto, who scored two of his four international goals in the 2002 World Cup. “But that is not very important for me, nor that I am the Japanese player to have played abroad the longest.”

“What is important is that I have been able to acquire an enormous amount of experience, and if that can be put to good use at Rennes, that would be ideal,” Inamoto added.

Inamoto said that his first target with Rennes is to help steer the club into the European Cup so that Takeshi Okada, Japan’s national team coach, won’t overlook him for the World Cup squad.

“Of course I have a burning ambition to play in the World Cup, and in that sense playing in a top championship will make it easier for me to be selected,” he said. “If that is the case, then I want to play well in the World Cup.”

Inamoto, who only appeared in the League Cup for Arsenal before moving on to Fulham, with stops at Turkish giant Galatasaray, West Brom, Cardiff and German team Eintracht Frankfurt, said that Antonetti being coach of Rennes had helped him make up his mind.

“I was delighted the club was interested in me and came in for me when my contract with Eintracht was finished,” said Inamoto, who has not scored in 26 games for the national side since a 2003 friendly with Uruguay.

“When [Antonetti] got angry he would always express himself in French, but it is 10 years since I have not heard his voice and it gives me great pleasure to hear it once more,” Inamoto added. “Rennes is a good club with a nice atmosphere, so all that motivated me to come here.”

Inamoto conceded that he had a habit of playing under French coaches, having been with Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Philippe Troussier, know as “the white witch doctor”, for the national side in the 2000 Asian Cup and the 2002 World Cup.

“It is true that there have been a lot of French coaches who have appreciated my style of play,” Inamoto said. “Now I must show in France that these coaches were right and I am really happy to be able to play there.”

Agence France-Presse

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