"The journey is life, and life is a journey." These thought-provoking words came from the mouth of soccer superstar Hidetoshi Nakata in 2006, at the age of 30, when he chose to bid a surprise farewell to the green field.
Hidetoshi Nakata's career, as he likens it, is a journey that keeps on departing. We can't predict where he'll end up, but each landscape on the journey is a whetstone for him to sharpen himself, ultimately shaping the bright star of Asian soccer that he is today.
Looking back at 1993, it was a transformative year for Japanese soccer. The Japanese national team, with the players of the J-League as its cornerstone, embarked on its first journey outside the World Cup, and the formation of the J-League symbolized the dawn of the dream of professionalizing Japanese soccer, a dream that had become a national aspiration as they aspired to challenge the barriers of the World Cup outside the Asian region.
The Japanese team featured top strikers such as Chira Miura, as well as famous players such as Ramos, Hiroshi Kitazawa, Masashi Nakayama, and Masakatsu Ihara. They tried their best in the Asian tournament, but eventually suffered the famous "Doha Death". The tragedy was so devastating for Japanese fans that the audience, both on site and in front of the TV, broke down at that moment.
That same year, Hidetoshi Nakata was just a 16-year-old high school student. Although the young player had already been selected for the Japanese U15 team and played in the U17 tournament, the Japanese public did not yet know that this teenager would change the history of soccer.
In 1994, Hidetoshi Nakata was in his senior year at Nirasaki High School in his hometown of Yamanashi Prefecture, and as the centerpiece of the team's midfield, he led the team to a shocking victory in the national tournament in November, ultimately losing in a penalty kick shootout. At the time, Nakata was still an obscure high school student, but teams in the J-League already had their eyes on him. According to Nakata's teacher at the time, 11 J-League teams threw their arms around him. In the end, he chose to join the Hiratsuka Bima (now Shonan Bima).
Although the Hiratsuka Bima may look like a team that has just been upgraded from the Japan Football League (JFL), it actually existed in the early days of the J-League and only met the J-League's hardware and software requirements by the end of its first season. At the time, the Hiratsuka Bisons were financially strong, and Nakata was just a part of their team-building program. His roster of teammates included Japan's right back Ko Nara Hashi from the 98 World Cup, winger Ryu Bisu, backup goalkeeper Nobuyuki Kojima, and legendary South Korean defender Hong Myung-bo, who played on the same team as Nakata in '97 and '98.
The 18-year-old Hidetoshi Nakata joined the J-League for the 1995 season and quickly became the team's starter. Hiratsuka Bima's record in the J-League was mediocre, but Nakata's brilliance could not be overshadowed. During his time with the team, Hiratsuka Bima won the 1995 Asian Cup Winners' Cup (one of the predecessors of the current Asian Champions League), which was Nakata's highest honor for the team during his time with Hiratsuka Bima.
As many soccer pundits have commented, Hidetoshi Nakata's style of play was extremely forward-thinking in the 90s. At the time, attacking midfielders usually controlled the ball and waited for teammates to advance or attacked with the ball themselves, but Nakata's approach was very different. He excelled at passing the ball on the move at high speeds, usually just once or twice, before an opposing player made physical contact and shot with incredible speed. His explosiveness, physicality and bouncing are amazing, and he often plays the ball in a downward shoveling position and maintains the accuracy of his passes as the ball travels through the opposing defense at high speeds.
This style of passing was primarily used for high-speed side-to-side advances, and is actually similar to the modern way of utilizing wingbacks in the midfield where the center of the midfield is quickly split to the side. The wingers and wing-backs could directly impact deep into the opposing flanks, and Nakata's attacking speed of this kind was unprecedented in Japanese soccer at the time. As a result, he always stood out in the Japanese team, and this specialness became part of his career.
