Yusuke Tasaka
By Pedro Iriondo

During the summer of 2012 Takashi Inui moved to Eintracht Frankfurt after a fantastic season at Vfl Bochum (30 apps, 7 goals). Bochum – experienced with J.League players (Shinji Ono 2007 to 2010, Chong Tese 2010 to 2012) – reacted quickly, signing Yusuke Tasaka. As with many other teams in the region, Bochum offers Japanese stars the chance to play at a traditional German club with a large fan-base while living close to Dusseldorf’s large Japanese community.
Tasaka started his career in Sanfrecce Hiroshima’s youth team and then spent six years at Kawasaki Frontale before moving to Europe. ‘Tasa’, as he is called in Germany, is a brilliant dribbler and arguably the most skilled and creative player in Bochum’s squad. As a result of his quality to assist and score, Tasaka bears the responsibility of wearing the number 10 on his back.

When Tasaka joined Bochum his dream was to lead the team to the 1.Bundesliga. The project looked promising. Since 1971, Bochum had been relegated eight times to the 2.Bundesliga but had always managed an instant return to the top flight. Two seasons after Tasaka’s arrival things look very different. Bochum has had three coaches in that time and last season the team struggled until the last game to avoid the relegation to the 3.Bundesliga.

Luckily for Tasaka, his situation has changed for the better since the arrival of the legendary trainer Peter Neuerer. From the very beginning of his tenure, Neuerer demonstrated full confidence in the Japanese player. While trying to avoid relegation last year, he defined Tasaka as his ‘secret weapon’ who ‘fights like a Samurai’ and ‘does not know how good he is’.

Tasaka’s quality did not go unnoticed and the German media linked him with 1.Bundesliga teams like Eintracht Braunschweig and Freiburg. In both cases Neurer rapidly announced that his player was not for sale. However, after such a troublesome season, the 29-year old attacking-midfielder considered the option of returning to the J.League.
In previous seasons, Tasaka was often shifted to the right wing where he had difficulties in displaying his skills. Some disappointing performances on this position earned him his first criticism from German fans. Neuerer has now brought him back to the centre of Bochum’s attack where he performs at his best. Since then, Tasaka has scored two goals and assisted for another in the first six games, and his team remains unbeaten.

This season the 2.Bundesliga will be harder to get out of than ever before. It seems that the rich and almighty RB Leipzig will likely secure a place in the top three. For the other two places Bochum will have to fight with strong candidates such as Kaiserslautern, Nurnberg and Greuther Fürth.

It will not be easy but Yusuke Tasaka can finally dream again of playing in the German top flight. For now, Japanese football fans should keep an eye on him.