Japanese footballer (born 1978)
Yuji Nakazawa
(
中澤 佑二
,
Nakazawa Y?ji
, born 25 February 1978)
is a Japanese former professional
footballer
who played as a
centre back
for
J1 League
side
Tokyo Verdy
and
Yokohama F. Marinos
.
[2]
He was the formerly the
captain
of the
Japan national team
. His nickname is "Bomber" because of his distinctive hairstyle.
Nakazawa is one of only seven Japanese players to reach
100 caps
for his national team and he is the third
highest number of J.League all-time appearances in history
with 593 appearances. Nakazawa also played for 178 consecutive matches for
Yokohama F. Marinos
from July 2013 to August 2018
Club career
[
edit
]
Youth
[
edit
]
Nakazawa started playing football for his home country. He played for Yoshikawa Higashi Junior High School and Misato Technology High School, but attracted no scouts' eyes. Determined to be a pro, he left for Brazil to improve his football skills and trained with
America Mineiro
. During his time there, he won the
Campeonato Mineiro
in the junior category and played a key role in coach Ricardo Drubscky's squad.
Tokyo Verdy
[
edit
]
After a year, he returned to Japan and joined
Verdy Kawasaki
(later
Tokyo Verdy
) in 1998 as a trainee, which meant he received no compensation. He impressed the club enough to win a full professional contract the following year.
His first
J1 League
appearance came on 13 March 1999 against
Cerezo Osaka
at
Todoroki Athletics Stadium
. He scored his first league goal on 10 April 1999 against
Nagoya Grampus Eight
also at Todoroki. That year, he received the J.League Young Player of the Year award and was selected for the J.League Team of the Year.
Yokohama F. Marinos
[
edit
]
Nakazawa was transferred to
Yokohama F. Marinos
in 2002 and contributed to the club winning two consecutive J1 League championships in
2003
and
2004
.
[3]
He was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the league in 2004.
[4]
He played more than 30 games every season from 2007 except 2010 season.
[2]
He also played full time for 178 consecutive games from July 2013 to August 2018. This is a J.League record except goalkeeper.
[5]
[6]
However he could not play at all in the match from August 2018 except last match in 2018 season.
[7]
On 8 January 2019, Yokohama F. Marinos announced his retirement at 2018 season.
[8]
He was 40 years old.
International career
[
edit
]
Philippe Troussier
called him up for
Japan national team
. Nakazawa played in Olympic qualifiers as well as the finals in Sydney. Troussier promoted him to a full international. His first international appearance came on 8 September 1999 in a friendly against
Iran
at the
International Stadium Yokohama
.
[9]
He scored his first goal on 13 February 2000 in an Asian Cup qualifier against Singapore in Macau.
[9]
He was a member of the Japan team who won the
2000 AFC Asian Cup
in Lebanon.
[9]
He played three games in the competition.
[9]
However, he was not selected for the
2002 FIFA World Cup
finals as
Yutaka Akita
was preferred.
Under new national manager
Zico
, he partnered with
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
at the back line. He participated in the
2004 AFC Asian Cup
finals.
[9]
He played in all the Japan matches and scored three goals, one of which was a stoppage time equaliser in the semi-final against
Bahrain
, and Japan went on to win the title again.
He also played in the
2006 FIFA World Cup
in Germany but the team failed to proceed to the knockout stage. After the tournament, he announced his retirement from the international football at the age of 28.
[10]
However, six months later, he withdrew his decision and
Ivica Osim
played him in a friendly against Peru on 24 March 2007.
[11]
He played in the
2007 AFC Asian Cup
finals but this time the team failed to defend the title and finished 4th in the tournament.
On 14 February 2010, Nakazawa made his 100th appearance for the Japan national team against South Korea in the final match of the
2010 East Asian Football Championship
at
Tokyo National Stadium
. Nakazawa becomes only the third Japanese player, following
Masami Ihara
and
Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
, to reach 100 caps for his country. Later that year,
Yasuhito Endo
also reached 100 caps for Japan.
On 30 May 2010, Nakazawa scored an own-goal in a friendly match against
England
to give England the lead; his defensive partner
Marcus Tulio Tanaka
had already scored an own goal to draw England level with Japan. The match ended 2?1 to England.
In the
2010 FIFA World Cup
, Nakazawa played all four of Japan's games on their way to the round of 16 and knockout by penalties to
Paraguay
.
Career statistics
[
edit
]
Club
[
edit
]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
[12]
Club
|
Season
|
League
|
Emperor's Cup
|
J.League Cup
|
Asia
|
Other
[a]
|
Total
|
Division
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Tokyo Verdy
[b]
|
1999
|
J1 League
|
28
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
33
|
2
|
2000
|
29
|
4
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
34
|
4
|
2001
|
26
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
28
|
0
|
Total
|
83
|
5
|
5
|
1
|
7
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
95
|
6
|
Yokohama F. Marinos
|
2002
|
J1 League
|
27
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
29
|
1
|
2003
|
29
|
4
|
2
|
0
|
7
|
2
|
?
|
?
|
38
|
6
|
2004
|
27
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
33
|
1
|
2005
|
27
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
36
|
3
|
2006
|
23
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
28
|
1
|
2007
|
32
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
7
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
40
|
2
|
2008
|
33
|
4
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
39
|
5
|
2009
|
32
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
36
|
3
|
2010
|
22
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
?
|
?
|
24
|
1
|
2011
|
33
|
1
|
5
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
43
|
1
|
2012
|
33
|
3
|
5
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
41
|
3
|
2013
|
34
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
8
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
45
|
2
|
2014
|
34
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
39
|
3
|
2015
|
34
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
40
|
0
|
2016
|
34
|
3
|
5
|
0
|
6
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
45
|
3
|
2017
|
34
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
36
|
1
|
2018
|
22
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
?
|
?
|
25
|
1
|
Total
|
510
|
31
|
38
|
2
|
56
|
4
|
11
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
620
|
37
|
Career total
|
593
|
36
|
43
|
3
|
63
|
4
|
11
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
715
|
43
|
International
[
edit
]
- Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nakazawa goal.
List of international goals scored by Yuji Nakazawa
[9]
No.
|
Date
|
Venue
|
Opponent
|
Score
|
Result
|
Competition
|
1
|
13 February 2000
|
Macau
, China
|
Singapore
|
|
3?0
|
2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
|
2
|
|
3
|
9 June 2004
|
Saitama
, Japan
|
India
|
|
7?0
|
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
|
4
|
|
5
|
24 July 2004
|
Chongqing
, China
|
Thailand
|
|
4?1
|
2004 AFC Asian Cup
|
6
|
|
7
|
3 August 2004
|
Jinan
, China
|
Bahrain
|
|
4?3
|
2004 AFC Asian Cup
|
8
|
7 August 2005
|
Daegu
, South Korea
|
South Korea
|
|
1?0
|
2005 East Asian Football Championship
|
9
|
10 February 2006
|
San Francisco, United States
|
United States
|
|
2?3
|
Friendly
|
10
|
1 June 2007
|
Fukuroi
, Japan
|
Montenegro
|
|
2?0
|
2007 Kirin Cup
|
11
|
25 July 2007
|
Hanoi
, Vietnam
|
Saudi Arabia
|
|
2?3
|
2007 AFC Asian Cup
|
12
|
28 January 2008
|
Tokyo, Japan
|
Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
|
3?0
|
Friendly
|
13
|
6 February 2008
|
Saitama, Japan
|
Thailand
|
|
4?1
|
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
|
14
|
2 June 2008
|
Yokohama
, Japan
|
Oman
|
|
3?0
|
FIFA World Cup qualification
|
15
|
14 June 2008
|
Bangkok
, Thailand
|
Thailand
|
|
3?0
|
FIFA World Cup qualification
|
16
|
4 February 2009
|
Tokyo, Japan
|
Finland
|
|
5?1
|
Friendly
|
17
|
8 October 2009
|
Shizuoka
, Japan
|
Hong Kong
|
|
6?0
|
2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification
|
Honours
[
edit
]
Yokohama F. Marinos
Japan
Individual
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
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International
| |
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National
| |
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Academics
| |
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