Chinese Super League side Hangzhou Greentown announced on Thursday evening the appointment of former Japan national team coach Takeshi Okada to fill their vacant managerial position.<\/p>\n
The decision was widely expected after Okada inspected the club’s stadium and facilities earlier this month. The two-time national team coach will return to the dugout for the first time since last year’s World Cup, where he took Japan to a round of 16 berth before losing to Paraguay on penalties.<\/p>\n
In addition to leading the Samurai Blue to their first World Cup appearance in 1998, Okada also managed J-League sides Consadole Sapporo and Yokohama F. Marinos, winning two J-League titles with the latter. Since resigning in 2010 he has worked as a La Liga commentator.<\/p>\n
Okada, who will be paid roughly \u20ac3.7 million by Hangzhou over two years, will bring a hand-picked staff of Japanese coaches and trainers. He is also said to have required that the team make a significant investment in signing both Chinese national team players and current and former J-League stars.<\/p>\n
One future signing for Greentown could be Brazilian striker Juninho, who recently parted ways with Kawasaki Frontale after scoring 170 goals in nine seasons.<\/p>\n
The club and Okada are expected to hold a press conference in Tokyo on Friday.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chinese Super League side Hangzhou Greentown announced on Thursday evening the appointment of former Japan national team coach Takeshi Okada to fill their vacant managerial position. The decision was widely expected after Okada inspected the club’s stadium and facilities earlier this month. The two-time national team coach will return to the dugout for the first time since last year’s World Cup, where he took Japan to a round of 16 berth before losing to Paraguay on penalties<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n