Shinji Okazaki

Shinji Okazakiimage:Shinji Okazaki |Shinji Okazaki is a Japanese football player who plays currently for the J. League team, Shimizu S-Pulse. After completing his graduation in 2004 from Takigawa Daini High School, he signed with S-Pulse team the next year. He is also a member of the Japanese football team, for the Summer Olympics team in 2008.

Having made his debut in the national team in 2008, against UAE, he scored his first ever hat trick in 2009 whilst playing against Hong Kong. He made another hat trick the same year against Togo six days later. Due to his talent and unmatched skills, he got named as the World’s top goal scorer in 2009 by the IFFHS for 15 goals with the national team.

The following year, in 2010, Shinji scored the final goal whilst playing against Denmark with a 3-1 victory as Japan got qualified for the second round of the World Cup. Till date, he has made 90 appearances and scored 29 goals for Shimizu S-Pulse and for the national team; he made 32 appearances scoring 17 goals so far.

=== Career Highlights ===

In 2009 itself, Shinji received J. League Best Eleven award and IFFHS The World’s Top Goal Scorer award too.