Archive for the ‘Brazil’ Category
King Kaz – The Pioneer
Kazuyoshi Miura is the Stanley Matthews of Japanese football. He is still playing, after a nomadic career, at the age of 44. When he was 15 he left Japan and joined Pele’s former club Santos. He was not as successful an export as Yasuhiko Okuda, the first Japanese expat footballer who blazed a trail in Germany in the 70s and 80s, or the Nakata’s, Nakamura’s, Honda’s and Kagawa’s that followed his lead, but he did not disgrace himself.
In a career that visited Italy, Croatia and Australia it is in Brazil that his most powerful statement was made. For a 15 year old to go from Japan, where the level of football in the pre J.League 80s was rudimentary, on his own with no Portuguese and carve a professional career for himself is worthy of praise.
To still be playing in the J.League 2, where the standard is a long way above rudimentary, is a fitting footnote to this unique career.
