Shoji Jo

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Shoji Jo (城彰二, Jō Shōji^?, born 17 June 1975) is a retired Japanese football (soccer) player.

He was born on the island of Hokkaido and began his footballing career with JEF United in 1994. He quickly established himself, scoring twelve goals in his first season; he scored his first goal on his debut against Gamba Osaka on 12 March. He made his international debut the following September in a friendly match against Paraguay.

After three seasons with JEF United, Jo moved to the Yokohama Marinos in 1997. His performances in the 1998-99 season led to a loan move to the Spanish Primera División team Real Valladolid. He failed to make an impact with the club, making just 15 appearances and scoring two goals before sustaining a knee injury. After his return to Japan, Jo struggled to reestablish himself as a regular goal scorer with the Marinos and Vissel Kobe, with whom he joined in 2002. He joined Yokohama FC in 2003, where he scored 12 goals in his first season with them. He brought up his club to be Champion of J2 2006 season and promote to J1, but he made himself to retire from playing after that season.

Jo made 36 caps and scored 6/7 goals for Japan from 1995 to 2001. He made his first appearance in an international competition with the under-23 team in the 1996 Olympic Games. He later played in the 1998 World Cup and the Copa America in 1999.

[edit] National team

[edit] References

Soccer in Japan, retrieved 11 October, 2005
FootballDatabase, retrieved 11 October, 2005

	Japan squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Kojima \| 2 Narahashi \| 3 Soma \| 4 Ihara \| 5 Omura \| 6 Yamaguchi \| 7 Ito \| 8 Nakata \| 9 Nakayama \| 10 Nanami \| 11 Ono \| 12 Lopes \| 13 Hattori \| 14 Okano \| 15 Morishima \| 16 Saito \| 17 Akita \| 18 Jo \| 19 Nakanishi \| 20 Kawaguchi \| 21 Narazaki \| 22 Hirano \| Coach: Okada