Go-getter Tsutomu Ogura: No shortcut to success for Japan or Lions

SINGAPORE – Tsutomu Ogura has been described by his Lions as a “go-getter” and a “coach who communicates his concepts clearly”.

These are attributes the Singapore national football coach developed after he accepted he was not going to be a top footballer who could play at the World Cup and the Olympics for Japan, who were also not powerhouses at the time. 

In 1990, he was just 23 when he set out to become a coach and went to great lengths to achieve his dream.

The only child bade farewell to his parents in his home town Osaka to pursue coaching education in Europe as he wanted to see the outside world and felt Germany had renowned coaches at the time. “I think they were crying when I first went to Germany because I was still young,” he said.

During his stint, he played for the Werder Bremen amateur team as a winger and taught sports on the side at a Japanese school.

Ogura himself received an education that would last him for life. 

Not only did he witness the reunification of Germany in 1990, he learnt English and German, as well as the best coaching practices at a time when the Germans were world champions.

He returned to Japan in 1992 and wound down his playing career as a central midfielder with Furukawa (now known as JEF United) in Chiba, where he settled down after marrying 45-cap Japan international midfielder and Women’s World Cup player Michiko Matsuda, whom he had earlier met at Tenri University.

It is little wonder their four sons inherited the couple’s sporting genes – their three older kids played lower-league football and two of them also went into coaching, while their youngest is a national Under-18 basketball player.

After hanging up his boots, Ogura became an assistant coach with JEF United for 10 years before he was recruited as Japan assistant national coach from 2006 to 2010 when he went to two World Cups with Bosnian Ivica Osim and then Takeshi Okada.

Describing the late Yugoslavia international as his mentor, the 58-year-old told The Straits Times: “Osim was the one who challenged me to develop my own coaching style. He questioned why we want to follow other coaches when those styles could be outdated soon?”

After the 2010 World Cup, where the Blue Samurai reached the last 16, Ogura was appointed assistant coach of the Japan Under-23 side who reached the semi-finals of the 2012 Olympics. 

More assistant coaching jobs at four J1 and J2 teams followed. In between, he coached then J1 club Omiya Ardija for 16 games in 2013, and was also Yokohama F. Marinos’ sporting director from 2018 to 2022, when he set them on the path to win the top tier in 2019 and 2022.

Working with current Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou for more than three seasons at Marinos whetted his appetite to return to the dugout, as Ogura said: “I saw again how one can become a good coach with his own philosophy, ideas and concepts. 

“I also learnt from his way of man management, and how he could get the best out of his players through his individual approach and good communication.”

He got his chance when he became an assistant coach again at Tokyo Verdy in 2022 and 2023 when he helped them to J1 promotion, before he was

offered the Lions post in 2024

to replace the sacked Takayuki Nishigaya.

There is also some sense of serendipity here, as Ogura had visited Singapore in 2006 as the assistant coach of the Japan Under-17 team who won the Asian title at the Jalan Besar Stadium, where his office is now.

He remembers the 1-1 group-stage draw with the hosts, as well as then Young Cubs Izwan Mahbud and Hariss Harun, who is now his skipper.

But while Japan have since gone on to become perennial World Cup qualifiers, beat world champions like Germany and Spain in 2022, and an exporter of players to the top European leagues, Singapore football has languished as it struggles to make it past the group stage of the Asean Football Federation Championship since its last title in 2012.

Not only that, the Lions have not had a positive identity in recent years.

Hence, it was a pleasant surprise to see the Lions take the game to higher-ranked opponents since Ogura’s appointment, coming back from 2-0 down

to draw 2-2 with China

in a World Cup qualifier at home in March in his first match in charge. While they lost 7-0 to South Korea in their next home game, they created goal threats instead of sitting back.

He advocates a high press but, instead of a high line, Ogura wants a “strong line”, his idea of a fluid pressing system that pushes up or holds back in a compact unit depending on the level of pressure in the opponent’s half. 

Explaining his rationale for attacking football, he said: “If we sit back with eight or nine players and attack with just one or two players, and we are down by one or two goals, we have no chance to score and win. But if we are committed to attack, it is possible to score and come back, like we showed against China.

“Since both sitting back and moving forward are risky, I choose to go forward.”

Ogura’s English is choppy but competent. More importantly, the bespectacled coach communicates the right messages and sees the bigger picture.

For example, he questioned why he was being congratulated for the draw against China when Singapore could have won. Then, he apologised for the thrashing by South Korea. 

In the recent training camp in Japan, where the Lions recorded one win (2-1 over Verdy) and two losses (4-0 to FC Tokyo and 7-1 to Marinos) in friendlies against J1 teams, he was frank about how they

could have lost by 10 or 20 goals

if they did not defend well or lost concentration, and it is refreshing to have a national coach who sets high standards publicly.

“Everything” has to improve, said Ogura, who believes that with Singapore’s small talent pool, it is essential for him to get the clubs’ buy-in as he meets club coaches to share his methodology.

“It is important for the players, especially the younger ones, and all the backroom staff, to see the difference and experience what is high quality, so they can be motivated to do better and reach a high international standard as one national team,” he added.

In Japan, Ogura’s home is a five-minute drive away from the Tokyo Disneyland in Chiba, but he has been to the theme park just once in his life. 

Perhaps he is not into fairy tales, although he believes dreams can come true with a willingness to learn and hard work, just like how Japan moved on from losing to Malaysia and Thailand to become world-beaters.

He said: “Japan worked hard to improve over the last 30 years. Even with the success now, we don’t stop because if we wait, another team will come and take our place.

“Our success did not come in a day, and so it is possible that Singapore football can get there if we work together in the right direction.”