Bargains

FC Imabari is an interesting project, isn’t it? In 2020, when they got promoted, we were really curious about how things would have looked for them. We talked with their former manager, Lluis Planagumà (who then briefly coached Vissel Kobe), and they surely got some results: if you exclude 2021 (when they came 11^th), they always reached the Top 7 and they got their best season this year (coming fourth).

If they have good results, it’s also because of two reasons. First: the financial backing, with Deloitte, and the experience at the top, with Takashi Okada and Ruy Ramos working for the club. And the second is having solid players, especially up front: Takuya Shibamura, Masamichi Hayashi, Jun Arima, Kanta Chiba. To them, Imabari opted to bring additional firepower this year.

Toyofumi Sakano, a veteran with many J2 goals, joined mid-season and found the net five times in 16 games (including a hat-trick). Once the beloved no. 9 of any dream team in J2, Vinicius Araujo signed for Imabari mid-season and promised to be a great add for 2024 with full preparation in his legs. And the return of Ralf Seuntjens – coming back with a goal from a long illness – was a nice story to tell.

But another player emerged in the last two years. He reminds us a bit of Carlinhos Jr. from Shimizu S-Pulse; he could play as a second striker, but he’s been adapted into a winger to make space for Sakano and Vinicius. He wears the no. 10 and he changed his name from last year, when we knew him as “Marcus Indio”. Now Marcus Vinicius emerged as the technical leader and he won “Best Foreign Player” in our awards.

Brazilian Globetrotter

Class ’98, Marcus Vinicius has done a lot of loans in his career. He went through Figueirense, but then ended up in a vortex of loans – which we think it’s not too strange within Brazilian football. Nevertheless, the number of clubs he’s already played for by the age of 23 is immense. I mean, in three months of 2020, he was released by Cabofriense, signed for Penapolense, and went on loan to Camboriù, only to come back two months later and then be loaned again.

So many changes couldn’t grant him a proper development. Once his adventure at Retrô FC wasn’t rising, Marcus decided to leave Brazil. No point in staying there – better try a new adventure in Japan. And FC Imabari were indeed a good place to start, since they’re one of the clubs with the biggest foreign penetration in the roster and other Brazilians already tried their luck at the Arigato Service Dream Stadium.

Dudù just joined last year, only to leave mid-season for JEF United Chiba when the chance of going back to J2 arose. And then you had Léo Mineiro, a legend at FC Gifu, who had an encouraging, but unfortunate stint with FC Imabari – mostly plagued by injury, and which ended up in 2021. But Imabari had also players from Panama, South Korea, Guinea-Bissau, and Poland.

A star in the making

In his first year, Marcus Indio – back at the time his official name within any line-up – struggled initially to find his right spot. He played always on the right, whether as a winger or wide midfielder. Under Kazuaki Hashikawa, though, the Brazilian found his first goal in July to never stop again. He even scored a hat-trick in a 4-3 away win in Kagoshima, before closing his rookie year with four goals in the last seven games (plus three assists).

2023 showed an improved player, whether he was coached by Riki Takagi or returning head coach Naoto Kudo (who was at the helm for half a season back in 2018). Imabari lost Takuya Shibamura and Vinicius found a new life first as a second striker, then playing on the left side, when Imabari saw both Dudù and Kazaki Nakagawa leaving for J2 sides (respectively JEF United Chiba and Fujieda MYFC).

The winger position suited him better, with more space to create – Vinicius scored a hat-trick to win against Kataller Toyama on April, but he found his real groove in the Summer. By the end of the season, he put together eight goals and ten assists, and started to play the full match under coach Kudo. 

Scouting is fundamental

J3 League is young, but if you look at the all-time records from foreigners in this division, Brazil is the key. Fernandinho, the former Gainare Tottori no. 10, is both the caps (128) and goals (39) all-time record-man. Brazilians, in general, are making up the numbers: Marcus Vinicius is already in the Top 10 for caps and goals, being respectively eighth and sixth in those rankings.

Brazilians scored a lot of goals in J3: Joao Gabriel is still second all-time in the foreigners table, Leonardo is fourth, Matheus Leiria is ninth. As we underlined in early 2020, good scouting is fundamental, and it’s even more important the more you go down the ladder of Japanese football. Speaking of Brazilians, stories like the ones of Rômulo in Sagamihara (2020) or Brenner with Morioka (2021) will prove that.

Now the question is: can Marcus Vinicius bring Imabari to J2? Or should he look for something up the ladder? Honestly, we feel Imabari have a really good chance of going up next season. If they keep the stars together and they don’t change manager mid-season another time, they might have a shot at promotion (given also how playoffs will be introduced for J3). All might come down to the magical foot of Marcus Vinicius.