Japan’s ‘King Kazu’ still playing at top level at 53 years of age – 1998 provides the clue to how
- Shocked by his omission from the World Cup team to play in France, Kazuyoshi Miura follows new dream of playing for as long as he can
- Passion for playing the game still trumps any number of cushy gigs he could take off the pitch, making a lot more money
Just weeks before he turns 54 years old, Kazuyoshi Miura has signed a new one-year contract with J. League first division side Yokohama FC, making him the oldest ever player in the league and, very possibly, the oldest still turning out for a top-flight team anywhere in the world.
As he has done in years gone by after agreeing a new deal, Miura – better known as “King Kazu” – said he simply wanted to continue playing. “Last season, due to the influence of coronavirus, the world was in a difficult situation but we are happy to be able to play soccer again,” he said.
“I was not satisfied with my performances, but my aspirations and passion for soccer are only increasing. I want to work hard and play more games.”
That might be true, says football journalist Yoichi Igawa, but he believes Kazu is driving himself to play on out of a lingering sense of resentment over an ambition that was shattered more than two decades ago.
“I think it can be traced back to 1998 and the run-up to the World Cup in France,” said Igawa, who covers football for the Japanese sports magazine Number.
“Kazu, who turns 54 on February 26, was the ace striker for the national team and a superstar in Japan, although his form had dropped slightly and he was not quite himself on the pitch,” he said.
There was absolutely no hint, however, that coach Takeshi Okada was not planning on having Kazu in the final 23-man squad when he flew to France for the final training camp.
“Nobody thought Kazu would not be in the squad; it was just not even mentioned,” said Igawa. Which made Okada’s announcement just before the tournament all the more shattering.
“It was a huge shock to Kazu, but also to all football fans in Japan,” he said. “Kazu had always said that his number one dream was to play in a World Cup for Japan and he was on the verge of having that dream come true when it was taken away from him.”
The blow must have been doubly hard to take as Kazu, already 30, realised that he would almost certainly be too old to play in the 2002 tournament in his homeland.
Okada, who later admitted that he had been “surprised” at how strongly Kazu objected to his omission, had a dismal tournament, with Japan losing all three group matches, against Argentina, Croatia and Jamaica, and only scoring a single goal. He resigned shortly afterwards.
“I think that when Kazu’s dream was gone, he just set himself the new dream of playing on for as long as he could,” Igawa said. “But because of what happened in France, I don’t think he is ever going to be completely satisfied with his career.”
Born in Shizuoka in 1967, Kazu has always been single-minded in his ambitions. He dropped out of high school after less than one year and, aged just 15, travelled to Brazil to sign up Clube Atletico Juventus. After impressing at the Sao Paolo youth club, he signed his first professional contract with local giants Santos FC.
After spells with a number of Brazilian teams, and coming to the attention of the Japanese media for his goalscoring exploits in South America, he returned home in 1990 to join Yomiuri SC in the Japan Soccer League.
Within three years, football became a professional sport in Japan and Yomiuri became Verdy Kawasaki, with whom he won the first two J, League titles. After eight years, Kazu got itchy feet once more and took the chance to become the first Japanese to play in Italy’s Serie A, playing 21 times for Genoa in the 1994-95 season. The single goal he scored in Italy was against city arch-rivals Sampdoria, earning him the adoration of Genoa fans.
After a brief spell with Croatia Zagreb in 1999 and a trial with Bournemouth in England, Kazu returned to Japan for stints with Kyoto Purple Sanga and Vissel Kobe, before signing for then J-2 side Yokohama FC in 2005. The club returned to the top flight of Japanese football in 2019 for the first time since 2007, with Kazu used sparingly.
“The coach tends to bring him on for the last 10 or 15 minutes where the result is already decided, but it is quite remarkable that he has been able to keep playing for this long, when some of the other players on the team could be his grandson,” said Sean Carroll, a journalist who covers the J. League.
“What makes it even more surprising is that he could take up any number of cushy gigs away from the pitch and probably make a lot more money, but he just doesn’t want to,” he said.
Kazu has a reputation for training every day and relocating to Guam in the off-season so that he can keep his conditioning up. He also rarely drives out of concern that he might pick up a back injury.
He was non-committal the last time Carroll asked him how long he planned to continue playing, saying that he has no interest in taking up a coaching role at a club and insisting that he has not set any retirement target.
Igawa believes he may have enough determination left for two or maybe three seasons, but Carroll reckons he might have slightly longer-term ambitions.
“Sixty would be the next landmark and while that would be simply impossible in Europe, due to the speed and physical demands of the game, it might be possible for him here,” he said. “He is in good shape, he still takes it very seriously and if he can avoid injury, then that might be what he’s aiming for.”
