Three goals in three matches for the national team! Japan’s Keito Nakamura says, “I feel like I’m riding a wave right now.
A direct interview with the "new generation attacker" of the second Moriyasu Japan team!
When you play for the Japanese national team, the response is incredible,” he said. I received many congratulatory messages from friends and acquaintances, as well as many messages on SNS. I scored three goals in three matches for the national team. In my debut game against Uruguay in March, I played less than five minutes, starting with one minute remaining, in the second half against El Salvador in June I played only 45 minutes, and in the first half against Turkey in September I played only 45 minutes, so that’s three goals in almost 90 minutes (laughs). (Laughs.) It gives me confidence, but the current national team is full of high-level players, and I am still one of the losers. I just have to do my best to make it in the national team.
The rising star, who scored 17 goals for LASK Linz of Austria’s first division last season and earned a transfer to Stade Reims of France’s first division this summer, rose to prominence in the Moriyasu Japan squad after the World Cup in Qatar and quickly lived up to expectations. The most outstanding performance came in an international friendly against Turkey on September 12.
Keito Nakamura (23) started as a left midfielder and scored once when he stuffed the ball past Kubo Takefusa (22) and again when he met Seiya Maikuma (25)’s right cross and slotted the ball past a defender for the second goal. Both goals were “right on target,” Nakamura recalls.
For the first goal, I saw the trajectory of Take’s (Kubo) shot, and I knew it was going to spill over, and for the second goal – aiming for the groin of the defender is one of my specialties.
Nakamura says that he became fascinated with the Japan national team after watching the World Cup in Germany in 2006, when he was in kindergarten. When he actually joined the team, he says with a laugh, “I am only looking forward to it.
I’ll be playing against Liverpool’s Wataru Endo (30), Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu (24), and Borussia MG’s Koh Itakura (26),” he says. Moreover, Kaoru Mitoma (26) is in the same position as me. Some people say they feel sorry for me because I play the same position as him (left midfielder), but I feel nothing but honored. Because I get to see Mr. Mitsuzumi, who is one of the top five left midfielders in the world at that position, play right in front of me, train with him, and even get advice from him. There is no better environment than that!
