Yuichiro Nagai

Yuichiro Nagai (永井雄一郎, Nagai Yūichiro, born 14 February 1979 in Shinjuku, Tokyo) is a Japanese football (soccer) player. He is a forward and currently plays for J. League side Urawa Red Diamonds.

Playing career

Club

He played his youth football at Mitsubishi Yowa Club. After graduating from high school in 1997, he joined Urawa. He made his professional debut on April 12 of that year in the opening league match against Yokohama Marinos at Urawa Komaba Stadium.

Nagai was loaned out to German second division Bundesliga side Karlsruher from 1998 to 1999. He played 21 league games and scored tow goals.

In 2003, he took over the number nine jersey from iconic Masahiro Fukuda after the latter retired from the game. He scored a hat trick against Tokyo Verdy 1969 on August 21, 2004. In the same match, his teammate Koji Yamase also scored three goals. On January 1, 2007, he was instrumental in Urawa defending the Emperor's Cup by scoring a late winner assisted by Masayuki Okano.

International

He was a member of the Japan team for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship hosted by Malaysia. He scored a goal against Costa Rica at the group stage. The team was eliminated at the quarterfinal. He also represented Japan at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship hosted by Nigeria. He scored a goal in the semi-final against Uruguay and contributed to the team finishing runners-up in the competition.

He made his full international debut for Japan on April 21, 2003 in a friendly against South Korea at Seoul World Cup Stadium. His first international goal was the winner in the same match. He is so far capped four times and scored one goal.