A few weeks ago the J.League announced that it will award 12 former players who have been active in J.League for many years and have contributed greatly to the development of Japanese football at the “J.League Awards” to be held on December 5, and Shunsuke Nakamura was selected as one of them.
Naka played 408 games in the J1 League and scored 73 goals before retiring in 2022, but his achievements are not limited to his achievements.
This time, to commemorate the publication of ‘Majic, Stan and The King of Japan – Gordon Strachan’s first season at Celtic by Matt Corr’ by The Celtic Star, I’ll talk about the influence of Naka on Japanese football history, especially while introducing interviews of some players who were greatly influenced by him.
I’m confident that this article is definitely one of the best articles I have ever written, and I guarantee that it’s worth reading for you, but the sentences are quite long, so please read this article when you have the time.
1. Takefusa Kubo, who plays at Real Sociedad, learned the secret of free kick from Naka.
In August 2021, talk session between Takefusa Kubo and Naka was released in Japan. This talk session was realised when Take( Takefusa Kubo), who had already played for three seasons in La Liga at that time, wanted to improve his play for the club and the national team for the next season, asked Naka for advice, and Naka showed his intention to fulfil his promise to teach him the secret of free kick.
The talk session of the two genius lefties became a big topic among Japanese football fans at that time.
Take: “I remember that the first time we met in person was when you attended U17 Japan national team’s encouragement meeting.”
Naka: “Yes. And the first time I knew about you was when you were in elementary school. At that time, I saw that the topic of you joining FC Barcelona was featured in Japanese medias, and I was surprised that such a player finally started to appear in Japan.”
Take: “Actually, I first got to know you when I was childhood. I often watched videos of your free kick in football news, etc., and it was particularly impressive that you were taking free kick in the TV show.”
Naka: “Also, when you were playing at FC Tokyo, I clearly remember the first time I played against you on the pitch. After seeing your lovely touch at a glance during that game, I was convinced that you were brilliant talent who would immediately move on to different stage.”
Take: “From young age, I felt that La Liga was suitable for my playing style.”
Naka:: “I myself liked the style of La Liga. However, the quality of rondo during training was different from that of J.League, Scotland and Serie A. I felt that No.6 players in La Liga were especially better than ones of Japanese national team. In your case, you can overcome tough situation with your own strengths, but having multiple players like you on each team represents exactly the high level of La Liga.
“In addition, I have the impression that in La Liga, players are surprisingly highly evaluated that ones who can do something only with their own strengths than any players. I used to play for RCD Espanyol, and I realized that such a midfielder would be more evaluated in the team. Therefore, I think the key is to play while being aware of your own strengths.”
Take: “Certainly, I feel that it’s very important to appeal what each player can actually do with own strength on the pitch. In the competition in my team, I’m always thinking about how to beat my rivals who play the same position.
“On the other hand, at the same time, communication is also important. If I can communicate with my teammates smoothly, the number of times they send me the ball during the game tend to increase.”
Take: “I also understands the importance of free kick. I don’t want opponent players to think about me, “If we foul him, we can stop him easily, and there’s no threat to us.” In other words, I want to be a player who can make opponent teams feel threatened that opponent players doesn’t want me to take free kick. I recognize that you and Messi are that kind of player. I want to be that kind of player.”
Naka: “I naturally learned my skill of free kick by continuing to practice free kick. There is no absolute way to take free kick, and kick form also depends on the difference in body shape, so I think it’s good for each player to find method that suits them.
“Based on this, if I were to advise you, you should take free kick while being conscious of scooping up the ball from a little more below. I often watch scenes that free kick you took are blocked by the opposing team’s wall, but if you have strong awareness of hitting the ball strongly, it may affect quality of the ball. Your body characteristics are more similar to Messi than me, so maybe Messi’s free kick is good example for you.
“As for Messi’s kick, he’s not kicking particularly hard at the moment he hits the ball, and he flies the ball while devising to make the ball stay longer in the air, so the ball he kicks are rarely blocked by the opponent’s wall.
“And I would like to advise you on the psychological warfare against goal keeper. When warming up at stadiums on every Matchday, I always closely observe opponent’s goal keeper. By doing so, I can understand whether the goal keeper is one with characteristic of predicting the shooting course or one with characteristic of reacting after hitting a shot.
“And according to characteristics of goal keeper, I always try to do psychological warfare against the goal keeper when taking free kick in every game. The match against Manchester United in Champions League when I used to play for Celtic is the example.
“I knew in advance that Edwin van der Sar didn’t really understand what kind of characteristic player I was, and when I set the ball to take the free kick, I realised that he was intentionally trying to save the shot by making space on the near side and leading my shot there, so I took the free kick towards the near side at faster tempo than usual so that he couldn’t save my shot.”
Naka: “It’s treasure for me to had been able to play against great club in Champions League as Celtic’s player. After all, Champions League is a tournament with special atmosphere. At that time, Celtic lost 0-3 in away game to Manchester United and won 3-0 in home game, but there was something to learn from some differences between home games and away games, and experiences that I gained in games against teams from different leagues are very valuable.”
Take: “Yeah, and Champions League is the most talked in football tournaments. Many medias feature the tournament on large scale, and players who have been active in Champions League for more than one season have the impression that they have continued to succeed as footballers for about 5 seasons after that.”
Also Naka talked about his ideal image about the role of No.10 and looked back on his own career.
Naka: “No.10 is special number. Maybe the role and values of No.10 are gradually changing in modern times, but I really want you to wear No.10 in the national team.”
Take: “No.10 is my most favorite number. My second favorite number is No.7. I preferred to choose No.10 in the youth category in Barcelona. Since I became player of first team, I have many opportunities to play for other teams due to loan, and No.10 is already used by other players. Therefore, to be honest, I’m getting less and less particular about No.10 in clubs, but in the national team, I definitely want to develop into player worthy of No.10 and choose No.10.”
Naka: “I’m glad you love No.10.”
Take: “By the way, I felt that the role of No.10 was quite different between Barcelona and J.League teams. I needed to get used to it.”
Naka: “The role of No.10 has gradually changed with the times. No.10, which I used to like, was player like symbol of the club that exists proudly as the central player of the team. For example, Juan Riquelme, Pablo Aimar, Rui Costa, etc. But gradually, the role changed, and side half and second striker began to lead the team. I had many opportunities to play on side as No.10, but at that time, people wanted role to break tough situation to No.10. I couldn’t take on that role in La Liga. In other words, I couldn’t be good part for the team. However, I have no regrets because I have continued to play while pursuing the ideal image of No.10 that I envisioned.”
Naka “In my experience, in fact, working hard on individual practice without being satisfied with only team training is the most important trick to realize evolution. The results of those individual practice will always be reflected in your performance in games. I sometimes have opportunities to eat with various managers, but what a manager said to me at that time is impressive, so I will tell you that now. “In order for you to become super first-class, it’s important to have super first-class around you.” I want you to be active on higher level stage and show us the scenery that we Japanese have not seen yet.And please give your experience back to Japanese football one day.”
Take: “Thank you so much for your advice. I’ll do my best to do it. Please give me some advice on the pitch next time. Even if I just watch your performance next to you on the pitch, I will definitely be able to learn a lot.”
And in July this year, exactly 2 years after this talk session, they got the opportunity to have talk session again on that program. Naka praised Take’s performance in La Liga and the national team, and Take expressed his gratitude to Naka for being able to develop thanks to the advice from Naka 2 years ago. Naka praised Take for his free kick in the friendly match against El Salvador held on 15 June this year.
Naka: “That free kick was perfect. You succeeded in lating the goal keeper forward just before kicking the free kick, so the goal keeper delayed the reaction to the ball you kicked and the timing of going backwards. In addition, the goal keeper tends to try to save forward against ball that falls from like the top of the mountain, and you strategically used its characteristics. Also, the ball you sent made it easier for your farside teammates to jump.
“There were a lot of wonderful elements in your free kick. It was really great. By the way, just before this free kick, I witnessed you, who is lefty, having a conversation with Reo Hatate, right-hooted player, but I’m so interested in what you were talking about with Hatate at that time.”
Naka: “Interesting. Also, I think it meant a lot that you took that free kick early in the game. For goal keeper and defender, trajectory of the ball unconsciously remains as afterimage in their brain, so you could definitely make the opposing players wary of trajectory of the ball after that, and it worked effectively in psychological warfare against the opposing team. Once again, it was really great.”
Currently, Takefusa Kubo has developed into indispensable player in both Real Sociedad and Japan national team, but as Take said several times in Japanese medias, the influence from Naka was great for him, and Naka definitely led this young talent to the road to world-class footballer.
Take is trilingual who can speak Spanish and English fluently, has extremely high football IQ, and is one of the best talent in Japan since Naka, who has already show leadership in various football scenes, but he and Naka respect each other and they will continue to maintain good relationship in the future.
To be continued, Part 2 will be published later today.
Matt Corr’s new book Majic, Stan and the King of Japan is out now and Neil Lennon, the Celtic captain that season, has written the foreword for us.
You can get a signed copy of the hardback version direct from Celtic Star Books by clicking on the image below. It’s also available an an e-book via Amazon Kindle and please note that all colour photographs that appear in the beautifully presented printed hardback book are also available in the Kindle version of Majic, Stan and the King of Japan…
