Inamoto transformed into a superstar

13 April 2012

Junichi Inamato played about 150 minutes of competitive football for Arsenal last season - make that 20 minutes if you don't count the Worthington Cup which, of course, we don't - and cut a pretty forlorn, forgotten figure week in, week out as he waited patiently for his moment.

Yet it took him just 90 minutes here on one amazing World Cup night in Saitama on Tuesday to be elevated, amid near hysteria, into the sort of national idol that few of even the Premiership's most hyped superstars could ever dream of being.

Japan may not have exactly fallen in love with football this past week, but when it comes to its national team, its passion bows to no-one's.

And now Inamoto, derided back in England as some £4 million misfit who was supposedly only purchased to boost the Arsenal brand name, finds himself the heroic, youthful symbol of this extraordinary blue tide of enthusiasm.

What a story. One minute, looking sheepish about lifting the Premiership trophy alongside the rest of the boys amid more than a few guffaws from the stands because you never contributed a single minute to the triumph on the pitch; the next, feeling the glow of being worshipped by 50-odd thousand for playing the match of your life in the biggest game your country's ever played.

As he picked up the newspapers here with his photo emblazoned on every front page - not just for his marvellous goal which for a tantalising moment offered the promise of victory against Belgium but for another even better one in the dying minutes which was inexplicably ruled out - Inamoto could have been forgiven for indulging in a little rant about why Arsene Wenger had never given him a proper chance to prove his worth.

Yet that never was Ina's way. He could have walked away from Highbury but he never did. He's a proud man who stuck it through thin and thinner because he was sure that the education of training alongside the Vieiras and Henrys would one day benefit him.

"The goal and the performance was the product of a year's hard work in England," he said. "It was tough at times but I think I proved that I made the right decision.

"It's been a tough year for me but I have benefitted from the experience and that showed. I feel glad I did my best during the hard times."

Towards Wenger, there were no snide comments. His only dignified observation was: "I know he is in Japan and was probably watching, so I'm just glad to show him what I'm capable of."

And that's why on the night, which could one day be recalled as a watershed for football in this part of the world - what with Japan's ecstatically greeted 2-2 draw and the deafening wall of red which later greeted South Korea's breakthrough triumph over Poland in Busan - my abiding memory will always be the poignant personal triumph of a man who never gave up.

Watching Inamoto come surging through midfield to collect a return pass and finish expertly to give Japan a 2-1 lead, you couldn't help but contrast it with that night at Highbury when Grimsby came to town in the Worthington Cup and poor old Ina couldn't do a thing right.

Yet here he was quite unrecognisable. Wenger always maintained he'd bought Inamoto as a valuable addition to his squad yet he evidently never trusted him to shoulder the responsibility of a Premiership match.

Perhaps, though, he will have watched this and wondered if he should have given the 22-year-old more of a chance.

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