Eiji Kawashima: Pride in Career Growth During Hiatus from Early 30s Condition

I hope I can bring a new wind to the team. ……

Jubilo Iwata, which will return to J1 this season, held a press conference on January 13 in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka, to announce its new team. Among the 15 new players joining the team was former Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima (40), who is returning to the J-League for the first time in 14 years.

The legend, who moved overseas from Kawasaki Frontale in the summer of 2010 to play for Strasbourg in the Ligue 1 (French first division) from 2018, said of his return to Jubilo, “Jubilo is a very attractive club. （It was also important to be able to work with people who share what I have been doing (such as goalkeeping coach and former Japan national team player Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi),” he said.

What is the reason for Kawashima, who will turn 41 in March, to keep running? How did he overcome the language barrier and build an unprecedented career playing overseas for more than 10 years as a foreign assistant goalkeeper? And what are his thoughts on Japan’s national team’s bid for the top eight?

In October last year, this magazine visited Kawashima, who was free after the 2010-2011 season, and interviewed him (December 1, 2011 issue). Kawashima and his personal trainer were sweating during practice at a ground in the suburbs of Strasbourg City. The following is a recounting of what happened at that time (some content has been corrected).

I have no intention of quitting.

In France’s Ligue 1 this season, the dynamic performances of Stade Reims’ Junya Ito (30) and Keito Nakamura (23), both of Japan, and Monaco’s Takumi Minamino (28), both of Monaco, have been the center of attention. Meanwhile–former Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima (40), who played in the same league until last season, was at a soccer field in a rural town on the outskirts of Strasbourg in northeastern France.

On the field, which is used by local amateur clubs for training and matches, Kawashima was working out with his personal trainer, stopping the ball with a sideways leap, punching a shot out of bounds, and practicing goalkeeping with his trainer.

Kawashima’s contract with Strasbourg, where he spent five seasons, expired in June of this year. Since then, he has been without a club.

He said, “I continue to practice one-on-one with my trainer and am looking for a new team. The training is very hard, but I am enjoying it, and I feel that I am in better condition than I was in my early thirties (when I was in my prime) (laughs).

Kawashima laughed and reiterated his denial of retirement, saying, “I have no intention of quitting at all.

How is it that this legendary player, who has represented Japan in four World Cups since the 2010 tournament in South Africa, is able to maintain his high level of motivation alone with his trainer at an idyllic provincial ground?

Why is that? (laugh) ……I am not obsessed with the past, and once the ’18 World Cup in Russia was over, I decided to throw away everything I had done. In order for me to grow, it doesn’t matter how many World Cups I have participated in or how many years I have played in Europe. What is important is what I want to do. I don’t really care how I look or what people think of me. More than that, for the past two years I have been unable to play in games for my club, so when I think about the rest of my career, I have a strong desire to play in games. …… I am 40 years old, but fortunately I have no physical aches and pains. When I practice, my desire to ‘get better and better’ keeps growing and growing.

Kawashima says that he is “willing to go to any country” as long as he can find a playing environment that he is satisfied with.

My family and I love the city of Strasbourg, where I live, but I am open to new challenges in other European countries, even in Japan.

Kawashima has long been a front-runner among Japanese goalkeepers in Europe. His path has not been smooth, and he has lost his club and his position once or twice along the way. Nevertheless, Kawashima stoically continued to work hard, and in the end, he was asked by his club to continue his career.

I want to change the prejudice against Japanese goalkeepers.

In Strasbourg, I was given two-year contracts for my 36th and 38th years, respectively. Frankly speaking, it is a miracle that I was able to survive to this age under the foreign (non-EU players) quota. Compared to Germany and Belgium, which have many foreign quotas, the French league has only three quotas, so the hurdle is not low at all.

If he had returned to Japan, he would have found a team that wanted him. However, he insisted on playing overseas because he wanted to overturn the label that “Japanese goalkeepers are of a low level and cannot play well overseas.

I was 18 years old when I studied abroad in Parma, Italy. (Laughs.) Ever since I studied in Parma, Italy, at the age of 18, I was absolutely convinced that even a Japanese goalkeeper could play at the forefront in Europe, and I wanted to prove it to myself. That kind of prejudice will never change unless someone, somewhere, changes it.

It is a well-known fact that Kawashima was eager to learn languages from his high school days in order to play overseas. Today, he speaks English, French, Italian, and Spanish on a daily basis without a problem, and he is even able to give instructions to his fellow players in Dutch and Portuguese on the pitch.

He is now at a level where he can give instructions to his teammates on the pitch in Dutch and Portuguese. What is equally important is to be yourself no matter where you are. In the end, I feel that a goalkeeper’s own character is connected to his/her play, and it is how he/she can express himself/herself on the pitch. So, no matter what advice is given to me by anyone, I feel that I need to remain committed to what I believe is right.

He has been away from the Japan national team since last year’s World Cup in Qatar. Kawashima says he feels he has made a break in his career, but how did he feel about the way Japan’s national team played in the past four World Cups? After the defeat in Qatar, where he was a reserve, Kawashima looked even more disappointed than Shuichi Gonda (34, Shimizu S-Pulse), who played as the regular goalkeeper.

The day before the match against Croatia (in the first round of the final tournament), I was thinking about how we could win the tournament, and I was really frustrated.

In 2010 and 2010, they lost to Paraguay and Croatia on penalty kicks, respectively, and in 2006, they led by two goals against Belgium but lost by three goals in the final minutes. The group league depends on how you play.

We can get out of the group leagues depending on how we play, but we can’t get out of the finals of the tournament without a shot at the final. But in the final tournament, where you have one shot to win, you have to have something more than that to win. It is difficult to express it in words, but it is also true that there is a high wall in front of you when you actually fight, even though it may not seem far away, and that may be what ″experience″ is all about. In that sense, I think that the frustrating experience of the young players in Qatar will be an asset that will lead to the next step.

Perhaps this experience was put to good use early on, as Japan’s national team won their European tour in September, beating Germany and Turkey, and in October they defeated Tunisia and Canada, two of the countries participating in the World Cup, in consecutive games.

When we beat Germany and Spain at the World Cup in Qatar, some people said we could only win once in 10 games with such a defensive style of play. But in the process of growth, the content is not important. Winning is important, and once you win, it becomes normal. In our time, it was a dream to play in Europe, but today’s young players are taking it for granted. The standard has definitely improved. The Japanese national team can still grow, and I think we can expect more from them in the future.

Even at 40 years of age, Kawashima says, “There is no end to what I can learn. I cannot wait to see the legendary goalkeeper’s growth along with that of Moriyasu Japan.

From the December 1, 2023 issue of FRIDAY