Masami Ihara is a Japanese former footballer and manager.
13 Facts About Masami Ihara
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Masami Ihara was most recently the manager of J1 League club Kashiwa Reysol.
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Masami Ihara's long standing record of 122 national team appearances was surpassed by Yasuhito Endo on October 16,2012.
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Masami Ihara was rarely out of the spotlight in the emerging J1 League throughout the 1990s.
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Masami Ihara spent most of his career with Yokohama F Marinos and formed a key defensive partnership with the flamboyant Tsuyoshi Kitazawa at club level.
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Masami Ihara formed the backbone of the club and helped to bring on talented youngsters like Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and Shunsuke Nakamura.
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Masami Ihara played 341 games and scored 7 goals in the league.
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Masami Ihara was selected Best Eleven for six years in a row.
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On January 27,1988, when Masami Ihara was a University of Tsukuba student, he debuted for Japan national team against United Arab Emirates.
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Masami Ihara played 122 games and scored 5 goals for Japan until 1999.
11.
In 2006, Masami Ihara became the assistant coach for the Japan U-23 national team and spent two years.
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Masami Ihara then became the assistant coach for club Kashiwa Reysol in 2009, being the caretaker on two occasions.
13.
Masami Ihara resigned at the end of the 2018 season.