 The relationship between the characters has been likened to that between Hidetoshi Nakata and Miura, though Tsubasa and Shingo are friendlier.In 2011, Takahashi had plans to finish Tsubasa's first year in Barcelona but also wanted to tell a story about the Japanese Olympic football team, from which Tsubasa was absent because the character Misaki Taro was taking the lead.Takahashi stated that he had no plans to end his story in 2012 because Tsubasa's dream is winning the FIFA World Cup.