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Introduction
of his career
Hide
Nakata is the best known Japanese soccer player in the world and is regarded by
many (including the author) as world-class. Nakata's move abroad follows a line
of other Japanese players to have played in a foreign (non-Japanese) club team
but at same time he has established himself as the one of the most successful
Japanese exports including being the first Japanese to win the converted Serie A
championship with AS Roma. Despite playing far in a foreign land, Nakata is
closely followed by his fans both in Japan and abroad, and is closely followed
by a team of reporters. As a player playing primarily in the playmaker/attacking
midfield role, Hide has consistently proven himself as a highly intelligent
player who has great vision and is quite capable of creating good scoring
opportunities for his teammates. His quick pinpoint passes often split the
opponent's defense and create mayhem in the penalty box. Hide's also a skillful
ball dribbler who can hold the ball well despite not being a speedy player. In
addition to creating goal scoring chances Nakata is also good at set piece
situations especially free kicks which he has demonstrated with his scoring on a
number of occasions. Hide also has some very positive leadership qualities which
make him a candidate for captaincy from time to time. Often brimming with lots
confidence Nakata's greatest weakness is perhaps his lack of physical strength
and height (Don't most Asian players do ?) but he has mellowed and learn to play
to his advantage. Though he has his critics, Nakata has enough skill and often
luck to silence them.
Nakata Hidetoshi grew up in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture and started playing
with a football when he was 8 years old. He represented his Junior High School
team in the prefectures football competition and later represented the U-15
Japanese national team. Then he joined the Nirasaki High School soccer team and
played in the Nationwide High School Soccer Championship. Hide continued to make
steady progress and was selected for the U-17 national team which was got top 8
in the world ranks. After completing high school he had to choose whether to
enter university or join a club and start his soccer career earlier. Nakata
chose the later. Of course Hide Nakata was by now one of the most highly rated
young players in Japan and almost all the clubs in the J.League attempted to
draft him into their squads. In the end Hide went to join then Tokyo area club
Bellmare Hiratsuka (Later Shonan Bellmare) which was a strong team back then
having finished in second place during the second stage of the 94 J.League
season and one of the successful clubs in the old JSL. Perhaps it was a wise
move because Nakata got to participate in the first team almost right after
joining. Nakata got his first J.League goal when Bellmare inflicted one of the
biggest defeats against the Kashima Antlers he would go on and score 8-his
highest J.League tally with Bellmare. But Bellmare's domestic form was poor
particularly during the second stage. Nevertheless Bellmare were successful in
the international stage and eventually went on to win the Asian Cup Winners' Cup
when the beat Al Talaba in the finals in which Hide scored the winning goal. In
1996 19 year old Nakata was chosen to participate with the U-23 squad that went
on to book their ticket to the Atlanta 96 Olympics. His bold game tactics helped
Japan gain a historic 1-0 win over Brazil (A Teroyoshi Ito header!). Back home
Bellmare Hiratsuka's performances in the next 2 years continue to decline
despite a few brilliant matches. The club was also beginning to suffer from
financial turmoil and by 1998 had to sell many of their top talented and more
highly-paid players like Hong Myung-Bo, Wagner Lopes, Daisuke Tonoike and
of-course Nakata. But Nakata's potential was not given a blind eye and after the
98 World Cup in France (described later) several clubs in Europe expressed an
interest in acquiring the Japanese superstar. So Nakata was signed by Serie A
club AC Perugia for 2 million pound. His debut for the Italian outfit was
stunning scoring twice as team lost 3-4 to Juventus. Nakata's Perugia career of
1 and half season was highly successful and most importantly he got to play
regular football. Nakata's next chapter in Serie A was when he was signed by
club giants AS Roma. Despite spending a great deal of time on the bench Nakata
soon proved his worth and was particularly instrumental during the 2000/2001
season whether he came on as a sub or was standing in for Francesco Totti
scoring some important goals as well as setting up his team mates. AS Roma
became the Serie A champions and Hide became the first Japanese ever to win the
converted title. Back home Nakata's former club now known as Shonan Bellmare was
in financial difficulty so Nakata decided to invest under his web company
nakata.net. Meanwhile Nakata's Serie A career takes another turn as he
transferred from the Italian Champions to AC Parma for a record 25 million
dollars. Nakata was widely expected to become an integral member of his new
squad taking the #10 shirt and the burden of creating play for the team. Despite
Nakata's best individual efforts to help the team win games, Parma were never
really an outstanding team to begin with being mostly midtable class at best.
Following a string of dismay performances, Parma soon found themselves being
sucked towards the relegation zone and many people were quick to put the blame
on Hide mainly due to the his huge transfer fee and sky-high expectations which
are impossible for any player to met. Parma went through 3 managers and Nakata
being benched for much of the season before returning to action after some
rationalization within the Parma management. Throughout this period there are
talks that clubs like Brescia, Chelsea and recently Athelico Madrid trying to
get the Japanese star who is likely to leave Parma after the WC. Hopefully
foreign clubs would stop taking Japanese players as ultra goldmines that can
single handedly win matches and bring in lots of money.
After gaining experience at very junior levels(U-15, U-17) of the Japanese
national team as well as U-23, Hide Nakata made his A-Team debut in the match
against South Korea and has been a regular member of the national side since.
Hide played an important role in Japan's qualifying for the 98 World Cup.
Despite a difficult path as well as a change of coach Japan eventually made it
to their first ever appearance in the finals. Unfortunately Japan were still not
experienced enough as a team and had little chance against the opposition which
included Argentina and Croatia. Despite this Japan only loss by a single goal
against these two although they conceded 2 but score 1 in their last match
against Jamaica. Without a single point Japan went home early. Nakata was later
named the Asian player of the year and he would get the title again in the
following year. Despite new Japan coach Troussier initially trying out new
players so Japan will not become "overly dependent" on Nakata alone,
Nakata's absence was only temporary and he still made appearances in key
matches. When Japan qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics Nakata was on his
second Olympic tour. Unfortunately for Hide it was probably one to forget as
Japan were eliminated in the second round after losing in a penalty shootout
with the USA in which Nakata missed. As Japan were gearing up for their 2002
world cup as co-host Nakata was occasionally involved in the various exhibition
matches played and despite his recent lack of form will remain one of the most
important players in the squad for years to come.
Career Teams:
1985-1989 Kofu Elementary Soccer Sport Boy Group
1989-1991 North Kofu Minucipal Junior High
1992-1994 Nirasaki High
1995-Jul, 1998 Bellmare Hiratsuka (J.League- Now Shonan Bellmare)
Jul, 1998-Jan, 2000 AC Perugia (Liga Calcio Serie A/Italy)
Jan, 2000-Jul, 2001 AS Roma (Liga Calcio Serie A/Italy)
Jul, 2001-Present AC Parma (Liga Calcio Serie A/Italy)
Career Goals:
J1-League: 13 Goals/75 Matches
Liga Calcio Serie A: 17 Goals/78 Matches
Liga Calcio Serie A: 18 Goals/92 Matches
Last updated March 28, 2002
International (A-Team): 8 Goals/41 Matches
International Highlights:
Japan National Team
1996 Atlanta Olympics at USA
1998 World Cup in France
2000 Sydney Olympics at Australia
2000 Kirin Cup
2000 King Hassan II Trophy at Spain (Runners-up)
2001 FIFA Confederations Cup (Runners-up)
2002 World Cup In Korea & Japan ( Second round lost to Turkey 1-0 )
Club Highlights:
Bellmare Hiratsuka :-
1995/96 Asian Cup Winners' Cup (Champions)
Achievements:
Best Asian Footballer 1997 ( Youngest winner ever! )
Best Asian Footballer 1998
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