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The story
Kaoru Ueda (28) of French Ligue 1 side Lille scored twice in a friendly against Venezuela on the 28th, keeping up his hot streak with 9 goals in 10 games for his club this season. French outlets “maxifoot” and “SOFOOT” both ran pieces praising Ueda in response, and the news sparked a thread on 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Express+ board. Most posters welcomed his form, but discussion split along two parallel tracks — a debate over how to rate Ligue 1’s level, and arguments over whether he now surpasses past national-team forwards like Shinji Okazaki and Yuya Osako — with no consensus reached.
Japan’s ace striker Kaoru Ueda (28), of French top-flight club Lille, scored twice in an international friendly against Venezuela (28th, Hiroshima), and his stock is soaring in France.
French outlet “maxifoot” reported: “Japanese player Ueda is putting up phenomenal numbers. Ueda proved his good form with the national team too. Lille’s new striker has kept up a scoring streak since the start of the season.” Fellow outlet “SOFOOT” likewise wrote: “Ueda is maintaining his form.
This Japanese player has covered a lot of ground — playing on North American pitches at the World Cup, briefly returning to the Netherlands, then signing with Lille late in the transfer window. But the 28-year-old striker’s finishing ability hasn’t changed one bit,” the outlet added.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Boom, roasted.
His MLS club just fired their manager, you know.
Yeah, even creaky and worn out, he'll probably still make the next World Cup squad since there's no one to replace him.
The Premier League is the strongest, hands down.
What about the Eredivisie?
Classic internet-brain, always nitpicking lol
Even at the bottom of the "big five," it's still way above the Eredivisie or the J.League, so the level's plenty high.
That's because Ao Tanaka is amazing but way underrated.
The guy dropped a Man of the Match performance right out of the gate in the Premier League, scored multiple goals against top clubs, and has one of the best starting-XI win rates around — that's insane.
You almost never see a Japanese player pull that off.
Kamada was a total non-factor his first year, and he's still sitting on zero Premier League goals after several seasons.
Dude… don't go summoning randoms into this, it's an Ueda thread.
If you want to grow as a player, Ligue 1's the place.
Actually it was Kofu (Ventforet Kofu) that produced Lightning Junya, not Ligue 1.
⚽ Japan National Team Schedule
9/30 (Wed) 19:30~
Aichi Asian Games, Men's Soccer Semifinal
U-21 Japan vs Uzbekistan🇺🇿
📺 TBS network
Kirin Cup
10/1 (Thu) 19:10~
Japan vs Ecuador🇪🇨
Yokohama International Stadium
📺 TBS network
Kirin Cup
10/5 (Mon) 19:30~
Japan vs Panama🇵🇦 or New Zealand🇳🇿
National Stadium
📺 TV Asahi network
Mizuho Bank Challenge
11/14 (Sat) 19:15~
Japan vs Brazil🇧🇷
📺 TV Asahi network
Mizuho Bank Challenge
11/17 (Tue) 22:10~
Japan vs Paraguay🇵🇾
📺 Nippon TV network
Plenty of guys also flop and get sent back.
And only the cream of the crop from Ligue 1 even make it to the Premier League, so that doesn't change the fact Ligue 1's overall level is lower.
Both leagues are full of physical players, so the styles mesh well.
Kazuma Okamoto: 33
Shohei Ohtani: 30
Kaoru Ueda: 9
And that's in a month.
By the end of the season he'll probably crack 50.
Don't go making people think otherwise.
Seriously, what a garbage article lol
He should've just gone to Everton.
The only offers he had were from Ligue 1 and Turkey though.
He's a player who won't get properly recognized unless he moves to the Premier League and actually delivers there.
Especially after he got scapegoated in a match where he had a goal and an assist lol
He's already comfortably surpassed them.
Re: #54
I think Ueda's doing well, but compared to Okazaki and Osako, his track record in official matches is still way behind.
No way, no way lol lol
Especially Osako — during his Bremen days he was only ever praised for being decent at hold-up play, lol lol
Go look up Osako's and Ueda's national-team goal counts.
Osako executed his hold-up play perfectly at the Russia World Cup and was hugely effective.
The Bundesliga is also way above Ligue 1 in level.
He hasn't surpassed him yet.
He's about to pass him though? Go check the numbers lol
Sure, sure.
"Soon," huh.
Osako's goal count is still higher for now.
He's definitely about to be overtaken, you know? lolol
Background and Points of Debate
Both “maxifoot” and “SOFOOT,” which praised Kaoru Ueda, are long-established French football outlets, so their assessments carry some weight as the views of reporters who follow the domestic league day to day. Where the thread split was over the “level of Ligue 1” — one side sees it as underrated compared to the Premier League and Bundesliga despite being one of Europe’s big five leagues, while the other points to how many Ligue 1 players go on to the Premier League. Both positions are partially true, and neither settles the debate. The other axis was the comparison with Shinji Okazaki and Yuya Osako, but since these are players from different eras with different leagues and roles, there isn’t much basis for a clear-cut verdict. One point readers can easily misread is that the article places his 2 goals in a single friendly side by side with his club record this season (9 goals in 10 games) — two figures from very different contexts.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Soccer] Japan National Team’s Kaoru Ueda (Lille) — 9 Goals in 10 Games This Season, Stock Soaring in France: “Phenomenal Numbers,” “A Smash Hit”.”
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