- Owairan redirects here. For the Tecmo character with the same surname, see Owairan (Tecmo).
Mark Owairan (マーク・オワイラン) (Arabic: مارك العويران) is the libero and captain of the Saudi Arabia Youth and U-22 Saudi Arabia, wearing the number "10" jersey. It may be entirely thanks to him that Saudi Arabia Youth is renowned as the team with the best defense tactics.
Description[]
Expressing his discomfort at a young age.
Owairan first appeared in World Youth Hen ch.23. He was born into the royal family, and was pampered since his early youth. Despite this, Owairan felt heavily uncomfortable with how he was treated. He could not quite understand what he was to do with his life as is, because everyone else would do everything for him. It got to the point that Owairan ran away from home one day during camel riding practice.
He eventually reached a village far away from the palace, and saw people playing football together in the street, regardless of age or race. Owairan was invited to play with them, and was elated. He told them his name was "Bonze". It turned out that Owairan was a fast learner, but was found by the servants eventually. There and then, Owairan declared that he had a newfound love for football and wished to be a professional football player.
Owairan is similar to Elle Sid Pierre in motivations, and places great trust in his teammates, knowing that football is not a game you play alone. He is a charismatic player, rightfully so, seeing as he is the captain of his team. Owairan is level-headed and calm at most times, even during moments of surprise in matches he still reacted quickly. He is known for being a tactical genius, making the most of the information he has on opposing players and the way his teammates play. He outsmarted Misugi twice during their game in the World Youth tournament efficiently, almost always being two steps ahead of those he is versing. His sense of group strategy is best seen in his development of the Antlion Larva Pit Defense tactic, which makes the best use of Owairan's teammates and their skill sets.
Owairan seems to have great understanding of how other people work, and once again takes advantage of what he knows. He is also a good sportsman, as goes for most of the opponents that go against Japan, accepting Saudi Arabia's loss to Japan and taking it all in stride, reminding a crying Vulcan that this isn't the end, and that they still have many matches to play in. He even takes off his treasured turban, an heirloom of sorts, to exchange with Tsubasa Ozora rather than offering him the captain's arm band. The turban holds much more personal and cultural significance, which may help to say that Owairan is highly respectful of others.
Etymology[]
He is based on real life former international player Saeed Al-Owairan.
History[]
Running away by camel.
Prior to the Battle of World Youth arc[]
Being a descendant of the royal family, Owairan's life was surrounded by people serving him. However, he questioned the meaning of that kind of life, and one day, he ran away. After a long travel, he arrived at a village, and saw people, regardless of their life, age and origins, playing football together. He joined those people, and since then, he wanted to play the sport since football is about equality and trust.
Battle of World Youth arc[]
Chapter of the Asian Youth Championship[]
Owairan is first seen watching the match between Japan and Thailand, some time after Saudi Arabia Youth's qualification for the 2nd Asian preliminaries. As his attendant says that Thailand, currently leading 3:1, will be qualified, Owairan tells him that it's still not certain, as anything can happen with enough time in football, and Tsubasa Ozora isn't the kind of man who will leave things as they are. With the arrival of Wakabayashi and Aoi, Japan indeed reverses the score, and Owairan inwardly thinks that he will be awaiting the confrontation with Tsubasa in August.
During the 2nd preliminaries, Saudi Arabia is in the same group as Japan, China, Uzbekistan and UAE. They easily beat Uzbekistan 3:0 with the Antlion Larva Pit Defense tactic.
Their second match is against Japan. Early in the match, Owairan sets up an offside trap to stop Japan's attack. Soon after, Tsubasa takes the ball with Aoi and Nitta's help, and then goes for his Golden Combi with Misaki. However, Owairan already foresaw all of that, as he perfectly defeats the Golden Combi, then gets past both Soda and Misugi before scoring against Wakabayashi with two continuous shots.
Later, he provokes Aoi to have the latter doing a foul, receiving a yellow card and slowing down afterwards. However, Aoi becomes motivated again after seeing Tsubasa and Misaki's play, and even defeats Owairan in a one-on-one. Japan soon gets a free kick. Owairan already had plans to stop the well-known shots of the Japanese players, but he didn't expect Misaki's new technique - the Boomerang Shot, which gives Japan the equalizing goal.
Owairan and the team decide to switch to their offensive football. As such, Vulcan is put in. Right as Vulcan gets in, Owairan does a long throw-in by using the ball to do a forward somersault. Vulcan nearly scores, but his header is cleared by Ryo Ishizaki. Owairan then gets the repelled ball and does a shot, but Wakabayashi manages to come back and stops it. The first half ends 1:1.
During the second half, Owairan confronts Tsubasa as the latter is dribbling. He manages to stop Tsubasa's Santana Turn with an overhead, but Misaki immediately takes the ball back while Owairan is still in mid-air. Japan then scores the reversing goal with Kojiro Hyuga's Raiju Shot.
Japan eventually gets another goal. Not giving up, Owairan starts an attack on his own, dribbling past Aoi and Mitsuru Sano. Misaki stops his dribble, but Owairan's teammates immediately take the ball back and give it to him again. This time, he gets past Misugi and Hikaru Matsuyama, then manages to lure Wakabayashi before passing to Vulcan, setting up a perfect chance. However Aoi blocks Vulcan's header, and Japan even manages to score an additional goal from the following counter.
Owairan admits that it's a complete defeat, but tells his teammates that there's nothing to be ashamed of, as they fought fair and square, and still have a chance to qualify.
Saudi Arabia Youth proceeds to beat UAE. Their last match in the group stage is against China, which is also the fight for the second place in the group. China puts up a good fight despite the absence of their ace Xiao Junguang, but in the end Saudi still manages to win 1:0, thus qualifying for the semifinals.
Saudi's opponent in the semifinals is South Korea. They manage to score first, and then aim for protecting their lead with both Owairan and Vulcan in the defense. However, South Korea decides to put their ace Cha In-cheon in, who, despite his injury, manages to blow Owairan away with his power and score the tying goal.
Owairan, wanting to take the lead once more, overlaps and does a Drive Shoot. Unfortunately, it hits the goal bar, and South Korea sends the repelled ball to Cha. Owairan tries to stop Cha by tackling with both legs, but even though Cha loses his balance due to his leg getting broken again, he still manages to send the ball to Lee Yong-un, who scores the reversing goal. The match ends after that, and Saudi is unable to take a top 2 spot to be qualified for the World Youth.
Despite their loss in the Asian preliminaries, as Japan, the 1st place team, becomes the host country of the World Youth instead of Burunga, which is under a civil war, Saudi Arabia, which is in 3rd place, is advanced for the tournament.
Saudi is in the same group with Brazil, France and Cameroon. As they are facing the top teams, they lose against Brazil and France, and only manage a draw against Cameroon, and are thus eliminated from the tournament.
Golden-23 arc[]
Owairan and U-22 Saudi Arabia make it to the third round of the Asian Olympics preliminaries. For their first match of this round, they play at home against Japan. Japan is leading 1:0 after the first half, but during the second half, Ishizaki does an own goal, therefore the game ends in a tie.
U-22 Saudi Arabia lose to Australia in their next match, but manage to win the third match, against Vietnam.
As both teams have 4 points, and still have a small chance of qualifying for the Olympics, both Saudi and Japan are determined to win in their second confrontation. Again, Japan is the one taking the lead. U-22 Saudi Arabia begins to attack furiously after that. Owairan attempts to shoot at middle range, but the shot is blocked by Ishizaki, the one who scored the own goal in the first match. Moreover, Nitta scores an additional goal for Japan from the following counter. The game ends 2:0, thus eliminating U-22 Saudi Arabia from the tournament. However, Owairan promises to Misaki that he will still fight Australia with all of his strength.
In the game against Australia, Duviga scores just as the first half is about to end. If the score remains that way, Australia will be qualified for the Olympics without having to worry about the result of their last match against Japan. However, Owairan keeps his promise with Misaki, and manages to score the tying goal when the game has just one minute left. This makes the situation in the group uncertain, as both Japan and Australia now have a chance to qualify.
Rise of New Champions arc[]
- For more, see Mark Owairan (RoNC)
Owairan appears in the second wave of DLC alongside Shingo Aoi and Ryoma Hino as the captain of the Saudi Junior Youth team participating in the Junior Youth World Challenge. He still has to deal with his bodyguards and retainers waiting on him and limiting his chances to socialize with players from other countries, but he takes interest in Japan, including their new player, as the other Asian representative in the tournament. During one Appeal Mission Event, he meets Elle Sid Pierre, and the two quickly realize they share both experiences and views.
Techniques[]
- Main article: Mark Owairan/Techniques
Gallery[]
- Main article: Mark Owairan/Gallery
Trivia[]
- Although he is never seen in action as the Saudi Arabia team captain in any anime adaptation, he did a cameo appearance in Captain Tsubasa J, where he was watching the end of the match of Japan Youth against Uzbekistan Youth.
Notes[]
External links[]
- Mark Owairan at Captain Tsubasa DB (JP)
- Mark Owairan at Shinji's Captain Tsubasa site
- Mark Owairan at Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team DB
- Mark Owairan at Captain Tsubasa Stats