{{short description|Japanese football manager (born 1967)}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Masami Ihara<br/>井原 正巳 | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1967|9|18}} | birth_place = [[Koka, Shiga|Koka]], [[Shiga Prefecture|Shiga]], Japan | death_date = | death_place = | height = 1.82 m | position = [[Defender (association football)|Defender]] | currentclub = | youthyears1 = 1983–1985 | youthclubs1 = Moriyama High School | collegeyears1 = 1986–1989 | college1 = [[University of Tsukuba]] | years1 = 1990–1999 | clubs1 = [[Yokohama F. Marinos]] | caps1 = 267 | goals1 = 5 | years2 = 2000 | clubs2 = [[Júbilo Iwata]] | caps2 = 20 | goals2 = 1 | years3 = 2001–2002 | clubs3 = [[Urawa Reds]] | caps3 = 54 | goals3 = 1 | totalcaps = 341 | totalgoals = 7 | nationalyears1 = 1988–1999 | nationalteam1 = [[Japan national football team|Japan]] | nationalcaps1 = 122 | nationalgoals1 = 5 | manageryears1 = 2006–2008 | managerclubs1 = [[Japan national under-23 football team|Japan U-23]] (assistant) | manageryears2 = 2009–2014 | managerclubs2 = [[Kashiwa Reysol]] (assistant) | manageryears3 = 2015–2018 | managerclubs3 = [[Avispa Fukuoka]] | manageryears4 = 2019–2023 | managerclubs4 = [[Kashiwa Reysol]] (assistant) | manageryears5 = 2023–2024 | managerclubs5 = [[Kashiwa Reysol]] | medaltemplates = {{Medal|Team|[[Yokohama F. Marinos|Nissan Motors / Yokohama Marinos / Yokohama F. Marinos]]}} {{Medal|RU|[[Japan Soccer League]]|[[1990–91 Japan Soccer League|1990/91]]}} {{Medal|RU|[[Japan Soccer League]]|[[1991–92 Japan Soccer League|1991/92]]}} {{Medal|W|[[J1 League]]|[[1995 J.League|1995]]}} {{Medal|W|[[JSL Cup]]|[[1990 JSL Cup|1990]]}} {{Medal|W|[[Emperor's Cup]]|[[1991 Emperor's Cup|1991]]}} {{Medal|W|[[Emperor's Cup]]|[[1992 Emperor's Cup|1992]]}} {{Medal|RU|[[Emperor's Cup]]|[[1990 Emperor's Cup|1990]]}} {{Medal|Team|[[Urawa Reds]]}} {{Medal|RU|[[J.League Cup]]|[[2002 J.League Cup|2002]]}} {{Medal|Country|{{Fb|JPN}}}} {{Medal|Competition|[[AFC Asian Cup]]}} {{Medal|G|[[1992 AFC Asian Cup|1992 Japan]]|}} }}
{{Nihongo|'''Masami Ihara'''|井原 正巳|Ihara Masami|born September 18, 1967}} is a Japanese former [[association football|football]]er and manager. He was most recently the manager of [[J1 League]] club [[Kashiwa Reysol]].
A [[defender (association football)|defender]], Ihara was captain of the [[Japan national football team|Japan national team]] for more than a decade in the 1990s, together with striker [[Kazuyoshi Miura]] and Brazilian-born midfielder [[Ruy Ramos]]. Ihara's long standing record of [[List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps|122 national team appearances]] was surpassed by [[Yasuhito Endo]] on October 16, 2012.<ref name=nationalteam>{{cite web| url =http://www.japannationalfootballteam.com/en/players/ihara_masami.html| title =IHARA Masami| publisher =Japan National Football Team Database| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20130922175226/http://www.japannationalfootballteam.com/en/players/ihara_masami.html| archive-date =2013-09-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201210170253.html| title =SOCCER/ Endo's Japan record ruined by Brazil thumping| date = 18 October 2012 | access-date = 28 December 2012 | publisher =[[Asahi Shimbun]]}}</ref>
==Club career== Ihara was rarely out of the spotlight in the emerging [[J1 League]] throughout the 1990s. After graduating from [[University of Tsukuba]], he joined [[Yokohama F. Marinos|Nissan Motors]] (later ''Yokohama Marinos'') and rapidly rose through the Marinos youth ranks to become a key player. The long-serving Ihara was so important to his club that he was nicknamed ''Mister Marinos'' by many Japanese fans.<ref name="Jleaguehalloffame">{{cite web|title=Masami Ihara|publisher=J-League Hall of Fame|url=http://www.wldcup.com/Asia/fame/ihara.html|access-date=2007-09-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070322195129/http://www.wldcup.com/Asia/fame/ihara.html|archive-date=2007-03-22|url-status=dead}}</ref> He formed the backbone of the club and also helped to bring on talented youngsters like [[Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi]] and [[Shunsuke Nakamura]].
After leaving Marinos, Ihara also spent a season with [[Júbilo Iwata]] (2000) and his last two seasons with [[Urawa Reds]] (2001–2002). He retired in 2002. He played 341 games and scored 7 goals in the league. He was selected Best Eleven for six years in a row ([[1991–92 Japan Soccer League|1991–92]] to [[1997 J.League|1997]]). He also was selected as part of the 30th Anniversary J.League Best Eleven.
==International career== On January 27, 1988, when Ihara was a [[University of Tsukuba]] student, he debuted for [[Japan national football team|Japan national team]] against [[United Arab Emirates national football team|United Arab Emirates]]. After his debut, he became a regular player playing the [[1990 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)|1990 FIFA World Cup qualification]] and at the [[Football at the 1990 Asian Games|1990 Asian Games]]. In 1992, Japan won the [[AFC Asian Cup]] for the first time. However, at [[1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)|1994 FIFA World Cup qualification]], Japan failed to won for qualify to [[1994 FIFA World Cup]]. After that, Ihara became a captain for Japan and played at [[1995 King Fahd Cup]] and [[1996 AFC Asian Cup]]. In 1997, at [[1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)|1998 World Cup qualification]], Japan achieved qualification for the [[1998 FIFA World Cup]] for the first time. During the 1998 World Cup in France, the veteran sweeper's experience was crucial to Japan's survival in their first World Cup appearance, forming a flat back three defence with strong centre-back [[Yutaka Akita]] as well as speedy fullbacks [[Eisuke Nakanishi]] (or strong centre-back [[Norio Omura]]). Young Marinos [[Goalkeeper (association football)|goalkeeper]], [[Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi]] was Japan's first choice goalkeeper at the time. After 1998 World Cup, he played at [[1999 Copa América]]. This competition was his last game for Japan. He played 122 games and scored 5 goals for Japan until 1999.<ref name="JNFTD">[http://www.jfootball-db.com/en/players/ihara_masami.html Japan National Football Team Database]</ref>
==Coaching career== In 2006, Ihara became the assistant coach for the [[Japan national under-23 football team|Japan U-23 national team]] and spent two years.
He then became the assistant coach for club [[Kashiwa Reysol]] in 2009, being the caretaker on two occasions.
After a horrible three years of being at the bottom half of the table in the [[J2 League]], [[Avispa Fukuoka]] then hired Ihara as their coach, replacing the former [[Marijan Pušnik]]. Under Ihara, then club went on to win 24 games out of 42 and collected a total of 82 points, ending their regular season in third place. Avispa then went on to the playoffs, where they beat [[V-Varen Nagasaki]] 1–0, and then drew 1–1 against [[Cerezo Osaka]]. Avispa eventually ended up getting promoted to the [[J1 League]] as they were the higher-seeded team.
Ihara's first match in charge of Avispa in the 2016 J1 League was a 2–1 away loss against [[Sagan Tosu]]. The first win in the league was on their eighth match in a 1–0 away win in Tokyo against [[FC Tokyo]]. He resigned at the end of the 2018 season.<ref>[https://www.avispa.co.jp/news/post-21411 Avispa Fukuoka]{{in lang|ja}}</ref>
==Career statistics==
===Club=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition |- !rowspan="2"|Club !rowspan="2"|Season !colspan="3"|League !colspan="2"|[[Emperor's Cup]] !colspan="2"|[[J.League Cup]] !colspan="2"|Total |- !Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals |- |rowspan="11"|[[Yokohama F. Marinos]]{{efn|"Nissan Motors" until 1992, "Yokohama Marinos" until 1999}} |[[1990–91 Japan Soccer League|1990–91]] |rowspan="2"|[[Japan Soccer League|JSL Division 1]] |22||2||||||4||0||26||2 |- |[[1991–92 Japan Soccer League|1991–92]] |22||0||||||3||0||25||0 |- |[[1992 Yokohama Marinos season|1992]] |rowspan="7"|[[J1 League]] |colspan="2"|—||5||0||8||0||13||0 |- |[[1993 Yokohama Marinos season|1993]] |32||0||1||0||0||0||33||0 |- |[[1994 Yokohama Marinos season|1994]] |41||1||4||0||2||0||47||1 |- |[[1995 Yokohama Marinos season|1995]] |47||1||2||0||colspan="2"|—||49||1 |- |[[1996 Yokohama Marinos season|1996]] |29||1||1||0||13||0||43||1 |- |[[1997 Yokohama Marinos season|1997]] |22||0||2||0||0||0||24||0 |- |[[1998 Yokohama Marinos season|1998]] |27||0||1||0||0||0||28||0 |- |[[1999 Yokohama F. Marinos season|1999]] |J1 League |25||0||3||0||6||0||34||0 |- !colspan="2"|Total !267!!5!!19!!0!!36!!0!!322!!5 |- |[[Júbilo Iwata]] |[[2000 Júbilo Iwata season|2000]] |J1 League |20||1||0||0||3||0||23||1 |- |rowspan="3"|[[Urawa Reds]] |[[2001 Urawa Red Diamonds season|2001]] |rowspan="2"|J1 League |26||1||4||0||6||0||36||1 |- |[[2002 Urawa Red Diamonds season|2002]] |28||0||0||0||9||1||37||1 |- !colspan="2"|Total !54!!1!!4!!0!!15!!1!!73!!2 |- !colspan="3"|Career total !341!!7!!23!!0!!54!!1!!418!!8 |}
===International=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Appearances and goals by national team and year<ref name="JNFTD"/> |- !National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals |- |rowspan="12"|[[Japan national football team|Japan]] |[[1988 Japan national football team|1988]]||5||0 |- |[[1989 Japan national football team|1989]]||11||0 |- |[[1990 Japan national football team|1990]]||6||0 |- |[[1991 Japan national football team|1991]]||2||0 |- |[[1992 Japan national football team|1992]]||11||0 |- |[[1993 Japan national football team|1993]]||15||2 |- |[[1994 Japan national football team|1994]]||9||1 |- |[[1995 Japan national football team|1995]]||16||1 |- |[[1996 Japan national football team|1996]]||13||0 |- |[[1997 Japan national football team|1997]]||21||1 |- |[[1998 Japan national football team|1998]]||10||0 |- |[[1999 Japan national football team|1999]]||3||0 |- !colspan="2"|Total!!122!!5 |}
:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ihara goal.''
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ List of international goals scored by Masami Ihara |- !scope="col"|No. !scope="col"|Date !scope="col"|Venue !scope="col"|Opponent !scope="col"|Score !scope="col"|Result !scope="col"|Competition |- | align="center"|1 || rowspan="2"|5 May 1993 || rowspan="2"|[[Dubai]], United Arab Emirates || rowspan="2"|{{fb|SRI}} || align="center"|2–0 || rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|6–0 ||rowspan="2"|[[1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)|1994 FIFA World Cup qualification]] |- | align="center"|2 || align="center"|3–0 |- | align="center"|3 || 11 October 1994 || [[Hiroshima]], Japan || {{fb|KOR}} || align="center"|2–2 || align="center"|2–3 || [[Football at the 1994 Asian Games|1994 Asian Games]] |- | align="center"|4 || 3 June 1995 || [[London]], England || {{fb|ENG}} || align="center"|1–1 || align="center"|1–2 || [[Umbro Cup]] |- | align="center"|5 || 8 November 1997 || [[Tokyo]], Japan || {{fb|KAZ}} || align="center"|4–0 || align="center"|5–1 || [[1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)|1998 FIFA World Cup qualification]] |}
==Managerial statistics== <ref>[https://data.j-league.or.jp/SFIX07/?staff_id=3402 J.League Data Site]{{in lang|ja}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" !rowspan="2"|Team !rowspan="2"|From !rowspan="2"|To !colspan="5"|Record |- !G!!W!!D!!L!!Win % |- |align="left"|[[Kashiwa Reysol]] |align="left"|2009 |align="left"|2009 {{WDL|2|0|1|1}} |- |align="left"|[[Avispa Fukuoka]] |align="left"|2015 |align="left"|2018 {{WDL|181|77|47|57}} |- |align="left"|[[Kashiwa Reysol]] |align="left"|2023 |align="left"|2024 {{WDL|78|21|25|32}} |- !colspan="3"|Total {{WDLtot|261|98|73|90}} |}
==Honours== '''Nissan Motors / Yokohama F - Marinos''' * [[Emperor's Cup]]: [[1991 Emperor's Cup|1991]], [[1992 Emperor's Cup|1992]] * [[J1 League]]: [[1995 J.League|1995]] * [[Asian Cup Winners' Cup]]: [[1991–92 Asian Cup Winners' Cup|1991–92]], [[1992–93 Asian Cup Winners' Cup|1992–93]]
'''Júbilo Iwata''' * [[Japanese Super Cup]]: [[2000 Japanese Super Cup|2000]]
'''Japan''' * [[AFC Asian Cup]]: [[1992 AFC Asian Cup|1992]]
'''Individual''' * [[Asian Footballer of the Year]]: 1995 * [[J.League Best XI]]: [[1993 J.League|1993]], [[1994 J.League|1994]], [[1995 J.League|1995]], [[1996 J.League|1996]], [[1997 J.League|1997]] * [[World Team of the 20th Century|MasterCard Asian/Oceanian Team of the 20th Century]]: 1998<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soccertimes.com/international/1998/may15.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990221145250/http://www.soccertimes.com/international/1998/may15.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 February 1999 |title=Ramos, Balboa named to MasterCard CONCACAF 20th Century team. |work=Soccer Times|date=15 May 1998 |access-date=1 April 2020}}</ref> * [[J.League Best XI#J.League 20th Anniversary Team|J.League 20th Anniversary Team]] * [[J.League Best XI#J.League 30th Anniversary Team|J.League 30th Anniversary Team]]<ref>{{cite web |url= https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230515/p2g/00m/0sp/051000c|title= Yasuhito Endo named J-League 30-year MVP, Kazuyoshi Miura, Shunsuke Nakamura in best XI|access-date= May 16, 2023|work= Mainichi Shimbun}}</ref>
==See also== *[[List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps|List of footballers with 100 or more caps]]
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{FIFA player|51196}} * {{NFT player|13812}} * [http://www.jfootball-db.com/en/players/ihara_masami.html Japan National Football Team Database] * {{J.League player|name=Player statistics}} * {{J.League manager|name=Manager statistics}} * {{Official website|http://www.iharamasami.com/}} * [http://www.wldcup.com/Asia/fame/ihara.html Hall of Fame]
{{Navboxes |title= Awards for Masami Ihara |bg= gold |fg= navy |list1= {{1991–92 Japan Soccer League Team of the Year}} {{1993 J.League Team of the Year}} {{1994 J.League Team of the Year}} {{1995 J.League Team of the Year}} {{1996 J.League Team of the Year}} {{1997 J.League Team of the Year}} {{Asian Footballer of the Year}} }} {{Navboxes |title=Japan squads |bg=#0202FF |fg=#FFFFFF |list1= {{Japan squad 1988 AFC Asian Cup}} {{Japan squad 1992 AFC Asian Cup}} {{Japan squad 1995 King Fahd Cup}} {{Japan squad 1996 AFC Asian Cup}} {{Japan squad 1998 FIFA World Cup}} {{Japan squad 1999 Copa América}} }} {{Navboxes |title = Masami Ihara managerial positions |list1 = {{Kashiwa Reysol managers}} {{Avispa Fukuoka managers}} }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ihara, Masami}} [[Category:1967 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:University of Tsukuba alumni]] [[Category:Football people from Shiga Prefecture]] [[Category:Japanese men's footballers]] [[Category:Japan men's international footballers]] [[Category:Japan Soccer League players]] [[Category:J1 League players]] [[Category:Yokohama F. Marinos players]] [[Category:Júbilo Iwata players]] [[Category:Urawa Red Diamonds players]] [[Category:1988 AFC Asian Cup players]] [[Category:1992 AFC Asian Cup players]] [[Category:1996 AFC Asian Cup players]] [[Category:Footballers at the 1990 Asian Games]] [[Category:1995 King Fahd Cup players]] [[Category:1998 FIFA World Cup players]] [[Category:1999 Copa América players]] [[Category:AFC Asian Cup–winning players]] [[Category:FIFA Men's Century Club]] [[Category:Asian Footballer of the Year winners]] [[Category:Japanese football managers]] [[Category:J1 League managers]] [[Category:J2 League managers]] [[Category:Kashiwa Reysol managers]] [[Category:Avispa Fukuoka managers]] [[Category:Men's association football defenders]] [[Category:Asian Games footballers for Japan]] [[Category:Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games]] [[Category:Academic staff of Biwako Seikei Sport College]] [[Category:20th-century Japanese sportsmen]]