Takuya Takagi (高木 琢也,Takagi Takuya; born November 12, 1967) is a Japanesefootball manager and former player, who is currently the manager ofJ2 League clubV-Varen Nagasaki, He played forJapan national team. He was a physical forward and the Japanese media and fans dubbed him as theCannon of Asia.
Due to financial difficulties, Hiroshima was forced to release their key players including Takagi in 1998. He moved toVerdy Kawasaki. He was then transferred toJ2 League sideConsadole Sapporo in 2000 and retired there at the end of the season.
Takagi wascapped 44 times and scored 27 goals for theJapan national team.[1] He made his international debut in a friendly againstArgentina on May 31, 1992[1] at theTokyo National Stadium, the first match underHans Ooft's reign. He scored his first international goal in aDynasty Cup match againstChina on August 24, 1992 inBeijing.[1] He became the ace striker for Ooft's Japan national team.
He was a member of the Japan team that won the1992 AFC Asian Cup. He scored the lone goal in the final againstSaudi Arabia and even though he is said to be awarded the Most Valuable Player of the competition, this is not true. The honor went to his team mateKazuyoshi Miura. Takagi wasn't even elected into the Tournament Best Eleven.
He was also a member of the Japan squad who participated in the1994 FIFA World Cup qualification for the1994 FIFA World Cup. He was suspended for the crucial last match that the Japanese fans now refer to as theAgony of Doha, and watched from the bench a late Iraqi equaliser dashed Japan's hope to qualify for the finals in the USA.
He also took part in the1996 AFC Asian Cup hosted byUAE. He played three games and scored one goal againstSyria in the competition.[1]
After finishing his playing career, he worked as a soccer commentator on television. He also acquired the S-Class Coaching License that was a prerequisite to manage aJ.League club in 2004.
At the beginning of 2006, he was appointed an assistant coach atYokohama FC. He was unexpectedly promoted to the manager of the club to replace Yusuke Adachi who was sacked only after the team lost toEhime FC in the opening match of the season.[2] Takagi's lack of coaching experience and untimely dismissal of Adachi worried the fans who decided in protest to watch the second match of the season (the first match under Takagi) in silence.
However, Takagi quickly convinced the supporters as he guided the club unbeaten for the first fifteen matches under his reign. This was the record unbeaten run since appointment of a new manager in J.League. The club made another J.League record when they did not concede any goal for 770 consecutive minutes by breakingShimizu S-Pulse's 731 minutes recorded in 1993. They kept 7 consecutiveclean sheets which was also a tied J2 League record.
Yokohama FC, who had been languishing in the bottom half of the standing previous 5 seasons since their accession to J2, won the title and gained the first-ever promotion to J1 League.
The club made a drastic change in their squad before the beginning of the 2007 season in preparation for the fight in the top-flight. Eleven players left while another eleven joined the club. Those who left included the striking partnersShoji Jo andAlemão who scored 30 goals together out of club's 61 goals in the previous season. Long-serving Tomotaka Kitamura and Tsuyoshi Yoshitake also left. Takagi enhanced his squad by recruiting former Japanese internationalsTatsuhiko Kubo andDaisuke Oku (both fromYokohama F. Marinos), andGilmar Silva (fromTokyo Verdy).[3]
They beat Marinos in a Yokohama derby in the second match of the season, but otherwise the things didn't go well for Takagi.[4] New team leaders Oku and Kubo were sidelined due to injuries and the club was anchored at the bottom of the standing. The club signed high-profile former Japanese international midfielderAtsuhiro Miura in August. Apparently there was a conflict between the management and Takagi as he expressed disgruntlement on Miura's signing quoting that what the club needed at that point was a good defender or forward. He was sacked on August 27, 2007 and replaced by BrazilianJúlio César Leal.[5]
In 2008, Takagi signed withTokyo Verdy returned to J1 and he served as assistant coach under manager and his former international team mateTetsuji Hashiratani in 2008. However Verdy was relegated to J2 in a year and Hashiratani resigned end of the season. Takagi was promoted to the manager as Hashiratani successor. However he was sacked for poor performance in October.
On 20 December 2012, Takagi's local clubV-Varen Nagasaki made an announcement that they appointed Takagi as the manager of newly promoted club to the2013 J2 League.[6] In 2017 season, the club won the 2nd place and was promoted to J1 first time in the club history. In 2018, V-Varen gain several players who Takagi'sjunior at his high school,Yuhei Tokunaga,Hokuto Nakamura andKenta Tokushige. However the club finished at the bottom place and was relegated to J2, Takagi resigned end of the 2018 season.[7]
