At the ripe old age of 54, Japanese forward Kazuyoshi Miura is still playing at a top level, the Japanese first division the same league that Andreas Iniesta is still playing in. With 221 goals in 764 games, and counting, for club and a very impressive 55 goals in 89 games for Japan Miura is a true legend of the game and one who refuses to retire.
After leaving school in 1982, Miura travelled alone to Brazil at just 15 with an ambition to play professional football. He signed for Sao Paulo based youth academy Juventus-SP and played there for four years. He signed for Santos in 1986 and made his debut at 19 but only played twice and moved on to Palmeiras where he played 25 games and scored twice. He moved on often in Brazil playing for Matsubara, CRB, XV de Jau, Coritiba and back to Santos between 1986 and 1990.
That year he moved back to Japan and signed for then named Yomiuri SC than then became Verdy Kawasaki in 1993 with the formation of the J1 League in 1993. Now a massive name in Japanese football from his time in Brazil the first J1 League season he hit the ground running scoring 25 goals in 42 games winning the MVP in its inaugural season. In his first five seasons he won the league title and the latter four of them five he won the cup also.
With Japan he won the AFC Asia Cup in 1992, a great year for him personally as he won the MVP of that tournament and the IFFHS Asian player of the year.
For the 1994/95 season he moved to Genoa on loan, becoming the first Japanese player to play in Serie A. Pathing the way for the likes of Keisuke Honda and Hidetoshi Nakata to make a name for themselves in Italy. Miura played 21 times and scored once, in the Geona derby against Sampdoria. But he returned to japan and played for three more years - amassing 100 goals in 192 games in the league a fantastic turnaround.
Muira decided to have another crack in Europe with Dinamo Zagreb in 1999 but played just twelve games he did however win the league with them. He then had a trial in England with Bournemouth but that led to nothing and he returned to Japan playing two seasons with Kyoto Purple Sanga - scoring 24 goals in 51 games. He moved to Vissel Kobe who were famous in 2019 for having Andreas Iniesta, David Villa, Thomas Vermaelen and Lucas Podolski in their squad.
Now at 34, and for many players this is of retirement age but he went on to play for another twenty years! He played 127 games and scored 19 goals for Vissel Kobe in five seasons - his goal to game ratio decreasing with age. In 2005 he left for J2 League side Yokohama FC, still wanting to play on at 39 and he even joined Sydney FC on loan for the 2005/06 season in the A-League for six games. In 2006 he won the J2 league with Yokohama and earned promotion but that only lasted a season. From 2008 to 2019 he played in the J2 league, regularly now well into his 40's.
In 2012, Miura played for the Japan Futsal team, having been retired from Japan for twelve years at this point. He played at the 2012 Futsal world cup but failed to scored in all four games as Japan were knocked out by Ukraine.
On March 17 2017 he overtook Stanley Matthews' record of being the oldest player to play in a professional match at 50 years old and seven days. A week later he surpassed Matthews as the oldest goal scorer. In August 2020 he become the oldest player to play in a Japanese cup game at 53, beating the previous record by 11 years. In September 2020, after Yokohama's promotion to the top flight he became the oldest player to play in the J1 League and the oldest player to play top flight football currently in the world.
Turning 54 this season Kazu, the king, is still playing professional football, even though his games are limited in recent years. His desire to keep playing and his sheer ability to do so is something that is not found in the modern game. Stanley Matthews being the oldest player to do so previous to him and his last game was in 1965 - two years before Miura was born. The Kazu is not finished yet and we are all wondering when is he gonna retire?
Komentarze