The Bedroom Soccer Scout

  Scotland's national football team has been on a depressing struggle in recent times. Despite qualifying for 2 consecutive Euro's, the feeling around Steve Clarke has been diminishing in recent months. No competive win in 400 days, one win in 15 games (against Gibraltar) and the general negative style of play has led to many fans to question if Clarke should lead the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.  But who should be the man to replace him, should the SFA pull the plug on the Clarke-ball tenure. A few names seem to regularly come up, with Kilmarnock's Derek McInnes and David Moyles being the names thrown up by fans, pundits and bookies alike. And whilst there are certainly arguments for and against these potenial new national team managers, there is one man who has yet to appear in the conversation to take over. That man is Japanese coach Toru Oniki. A foreign coach for Scotland? Well that hasn't happened since Berti Vogts, 22 years ago. This of course was a disaster appoin

  Date of birth: 4 September 2004 Country: Japan Position: Central Defender Height: 192cm Preferred foot: Right Club: Kawasaki Frontale It has been a great season for Kota Takai, really starting to make himself one of the first names on the Kwasaki Frontale team sheet. Starting 13 games out of his 14 appearances last season, he has already surpassed that, with 21 appearances currently. Kawasaki haven't been able to achieve their dominance this season like previous years, but with Kota Takai becoming another one of their growing academy graduates, the season hasn't been a total bust. The modern centre back needs to be a ball playing defender who can be comfortable on the ball as well as putting in the tackles. With 42 passes per game at a great 88% accuracy rate, including 2.1 long balls per game Kota can handle the ball at his feet. Even when under pressure he rarely panics and makes the best decision, even if it is to simply hook it clear.  One thing that stands out when watch

  Date of birth: 10 May 2002 Country: Argentina Position: Attacking Midfield Central Height: 168cm Preferred foot: Right  Club: Al-Ain The once common path for South American footballers was to play locally before heading to Europe in their early 20's and plying their trade for a decade before heading home to finish their career. That path has changed over the last few years with many players heading to the middle east. Matias Palacios made the move to Europe with FC Basel before heading to the U.A.E to play under fellow Argentinian Hernan Crespo. That move has proved to be a good choice for Palacios with regular game time, something he never got in Europe becoming more common for him. His stats are improving as well. His main strength is his passing with 4.4 long balls at a 76% success rate being very interesting, especially in the modern possession based style of play. His pass success rate of 90% at 50 passes per game is very appealing with the majority of them being in the oppo