As national team manager Takeshi Okada runs the rule over the year gone by, he will have to face up to an uncomfortable but unavoidable truth — 2009 has not been kind to Shunsuke Nakamura.
With six months to go until the World Cup, there could hardly be a worse time for Okada's key man to go off the boil. But after a difficult start at a new club and a string of indifferent performances for his country, that is the reality both player and manager must address going into the new year.
Nakamura's slide has been gradual rather than dramatic. He began the year in good form, and underlined his importance to the national team with a ferociously dominating display in a March World Cup qualifier against Bahrain.