LU KUN-CHI

'Lu Kun-chi' (, born February 6 1985 in Tainan County, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese football goalkeeper who currently plays for Japanese Grulla Morioka. Nicknamed ''Taiwanese Buffon'' (台灣布馮), he is also the first choice goalkeeper in the Chinese Taipei national football team.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Chinese Taipei debut

Seeking opportunities in Japan

Grulla Morioka

Trivia

References

External links

Biography

Early years

Lu was born in Tainan, Taiwan. He has one brother and one sister, among whom he is the youngest. Lu started to play football at the age of 10 after his family moved to Jiali, another township in Tainan other than which he was born. He has played goalkeeper since age 11 in Jiali Primary School and Jiali Junior High School.
When he was 14, his height reached 180 cm (5 ft 11 in). It was thought he was likely to be included in the Chinese Taipei U-15 squad, but he was not. "At that time, I told myself I should enter the [Chinese Taipei] youth team in three years," he said to the press after years.^[1] Under the instruction of Pei Men goalkeeper coach Hung Chin-chang, he spent only two years to make his wish come true. He was called up to the Chinese Taipei U-21 at age 17, the U-23 at age 18, and eventually the senior team in 2004.

Chinese Taipei debut

Lu's Chinese Taipei senior team debut was on October 14, 2004 against Palestine in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification. His amazing performance soon earned him a regular place in the national team. Since then, he has been the first choice goalkeeper for Chinese Taipei. He also performed well in domestic league. He has been voted as the Best Goalkeeper in the Chinese Taipei National Football League 2005 season at the time he plays for National Taiwan College of Physical Education.^[2]

Seeking opportunities in Japan

In June, 2005, Masakazu Suzuki, former manager of J. League side Júbilo Iwata, was invited to Taiwan to give lectures and to provide selection tests to Taiwanese talented youngsters.^[3] Lu took the test but did not perform himself because he was too nervous to keep his pace.
One month later, supported by his professor Chao Jung-jui in Taiwan PE College, he went to Japan for the first time to accept the training tests provided by Yokohama FC and JEF United Ichihara Chiba.^[4] However, he failed to earn his position in both clubs.
In October, 2006, with the recommendation of then Chinese Taipei manager Toshiaki Imai, Lu flew to Japan again to join the trainings with Yokohama F. Marinos for 2 weeks along with his teammate Chen Po-liang.^[5]

Grulla Morioka

After two months of waiting, although there was no update from Yokohama, Lu received an invitation from Grulla Morioka of the Japanese regional Tohoku League.^[6][7] He became the first Taiwanese male footballer to join a Japanese professional football club.^[8] On March 4, 2007, a press conference was held, and Grulla Morioka formally announced their signings of Lu and his compatriot Chuang Wei-lun,^[9] albeit the latter suddenly returned to Taiwan and failed to contract with the club afterwards.^[10] Lu's contract was confirmed on March 9, and he was assigned the number 22 shirt.
On June 10, Lu made his debut for Grulla in the game against Fukukawa Battery F.C., of which he substituted Kazuya Obara after 83 minutes.^[11]

Trivia

★ Lu's favorite footballers are Gianluigi Buffon and Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.

★ Lu likes to watch movies and eat sushi, sashimi, ramen, and curry.

References

1. 寶島門神 角足東瀛
2. 男足聯賽最佳陣容之1》守門員篇－呂昆錡
3. 前日本冠軍隊教頭來台選才，呂昆錡有望前進J聯盟
4. 前進J聯盟，呂昆錡赴日測試
5. 戰畢伊朗呂昆錡、陳柏良赴日逐夢
6. 台灣第一門將呂昆錡將加盟日本盛岡仙鶴職業隊
7. グルージャに台湾GK　東北社会人サッカー
8. 台湾からの海外移籍第１号 ル・クンチ来日
9. ３/４（日）台湾からの選手2名の入団記者会見が行われました
10. 台湾選手緊急帰国のお知らせ
11. グルージャ盛岡　VS　古河電池ＳＣ　結果・詳細

External links

★ 台灣第一門神呂昆錡的部落格, Lu Kun-chi's official blog

★ 扭轉乾"昆錡"開得勝, Lu Kun-chi's personal website at Wretch

★ Lu's profile at Grulla Morioka official site