Tsuneyasu Miyamoto

Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (宮本 恒靖, Miyamoto Tsuneyasu, born February 7, 1977) is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team.

A central defender, Miyamoto went on to make 71 international appearances and led the Japan national team in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups as well as the 2004 Asian Cup.^[1] Miyamoto also captained Gamba Osaka during their 2005 J1 League championship season.

He is also a graduate of the 13th edition of FIFA Master.^[2]

Club career

Miyamoto was born in Tondabayashi on February 7, 1977. He joined Gamba Osaka from youth team in 1995. He also continued to study at Doshisha University well into his professional career, graduating and finishing his studies. Miyamoto speaks fluent English, with a little French also in his canon, after spending time with Gamba team mates Claude Dambury and Patrick M'Boma in the past, as well as coach Frédéric Antonetti. While in Austria, he studied German.

Initially, Miyamoto had few opportunities to play as defender, he also played defensive midfielder. From late 1990's, he played as central defender. While he was the de facto team captain of Gamba Osaka in 2004, Gamba's coach was unhappy at the time spent with the national team by Miyamoto and handed the captaincy of Gamba to Satoshi Yamaguchi. Miyamoto continued to captain Japan for a while, ironically, often sitting on the bench for Gamba Osaka. But his professionalism shone through, and he took it all in stride. In 2005, the club won 2005 J1 League. With Ivica Osim taking over the national team from Zico in 2006, Japan saw a clean sweep and Miyamoto was one of many who had probably played his last game for the Japan national team.

In December 2006, Miyamoto signed for 1 season with Red Bull Salzburg with an option for another season.^[3] In December 2007, he signed a new deal with the Austrian club through 2009.^[4]

On, 15 January 2009, he signed for Vissel Kobe.^[5] In 2009, he became a captain and played as center-back and defensive midfielder. However his opportunity to play decreased from 2010. On 19 December 2011, Vissel Kobe centre-back Tsuneyasu Miyamoto confirmed his retirement in a press conference on Monday afternoon in Kobe, Japan.^[6]

National team career

Miyamoto played for Japan U-17 national team in the 1993 U-17 World Championship and Japan U-20 national team in the 1997 World Youth Championship. He played full time in all matches in both tournaments. In September 2000, he was also elected Japan U-23 national team for 2000 Summer Olympics.

On June 18, 2000, Miyamoto debuted for Japan national team against Bolivia. As a centre back, he served as captain for Japan in the 2002 World Cup, after an injury to Ryuzo Morioka, who had begun the tournament as captain. He then continued to captain his country through the 2004 Asian Cup and the 2006 World Cup.^[7] At 2004 Asian Cup, he played full time in all 6 matches and Japan won the champions. At 2006 World Cup, he played the first two group matches of the cup, but was suspended for the third and last match against Brazil after he received yellow cards against Australia and Croatia. Yuji Nakazawa wore the armband in his place. This competition was his last game for Japan. He played 71 games and scored 3 goals for Japan until 2006.^[8]

Coaching career

After retirement, Miyamoto started coaching career at Gamba Osaka in 2015. He became a manager for Gamba Osaka U-23 in 2017.

On 23 July 2018, Miyamoto was named as the caretaker manager of the top team of Gamba Osaka after the club sacked the head coach Levir Culpi.^[9]

Club statistics

National team statistics

^{[8] [10] [11]}

National team Career Stats

Honors and awards

References

External links

• Tsuneyasu Miyamoto – FIFA competition record (archive)
• Tsuneyasu Miyamoto at National-Football-Teams.com
• Japan National Football Team Database
• Player statistics at J.League (in Japanese)
• Manager statistics at J.League (in Japanese)