Japanese in Europe: Kagawa & Uchida play well in otherwise quiet weekend

With Eredivisie off for the weekend and many players in other countries resigned to watching from the bench, few Japanese were given a chance to shine in European play



In a rather quiet Easter weekend for the Japanese contingent across Europe‚ Borussia Dortmund's Shinji Kagawa's play wasn't spectacular but he still contributed to the away 3-1 win against Wolfsburg as it was his defence-splitting pass which was instrumental for his side's opener in the 22nd minute.

The 23-year-old saw a sitter go just wide in the 73rd minute and was substituted with 10 minutes to go. The champions go into the midweek clash against Bayern still keeping their three points advantage.After a poor game the week before and watching the end of his team's Europa League campaign from the bench in the midweek encounter with Spain's Athletic Bilbao‚ Schalke'sAtsuto Uchida found himself in the starting formation in the convincing 3-0 home win against Hannover on Sunday.The right-back put on a lively game‚ defending solidly and running forward on numerous occasions‚ even drawing fouls in dangerous positions. All three goals by the Knappen were created on the right side‚ and Uchida played a crucial role in the making of the third. Schalke boss Huub Stevens replaced him with fit-again German international Benedikt Howedes in the 83rd minute‚ but the Japanese earned the plaudits and leaves the Dutch manager with a difficult decision in regards to the starting formation for the match away to Nurnberg on Wednesday.

By sportsbookfanatic with No comments