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Positions: Attacking Midfield
Preferred Shirt No: 7/8
Birthdate: Jan.22, 1977-->25years old
Birthplace: Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
Height/Weight: 175cm (5'7")/72kg
Data Accurate as of Jan.2, 2002
Nationality: Japanese
Zodiac Sign: Aquarius
Favoured Foot: Right
Boot Color: Black with yellow/blue shade
Blood Type: O
First J.League Appearence: Mar.25, 1995 J.League Suntory Series Sec1 JEF vs Bellmare at Ichihara
First J.League Goal: May.3(?), 1995 J.League Suntory Series Sec13 Bellmare vs Antlers at Hiratsuka
First Serie A Appearence: Sept.13, 1998 Serie A Rnd1 Perugia vs Juventus at R.Curi
First Serie A Goal: Sept.13, 1998 Serie A Rnd1 Perugia vs Juventus at R.Curi
First Japan-A Appearence: May.21, 1997 Japan vs ROK at Tokyo
First Japan-A Goal: Jun.22, 1997 Japan vs Macao at Tokyo
Introduction:
Hide Nakata is the best known Japanese soccer player in the world and is regarded by many (including the author) as world-class. Nakata's move abroad follows a line of other Japanese players to have played in a foreign(non-japanese) club team but at same time he has established himself as the one of the most successful Japanese exports including being the first Japanese to win the coverted Serie A championship with AS Roma. Despite playing far in a foreign land, Nakata is closely followed by his fans both in Japan and abroad, and is closely followed by a team of reporters. As a player playing primarily in the playmaker/attacking midfield role, Hide has consistently proven himself as a highly intelligent player who has great vision and is quite capable of creating good scoring opportunities for his teammates. His quick pinpoint passes often split the opponent's defence and create mayhem in the penalty box. Hide's also a skillfull ball dribbler who can hold the ball well despite not being a speedy player. In addition to creating goal scoring chances Nakata is also good at set piece situations especially freekicks which he has demonstrated with his scoring on a number of occasions. Hide also has some very positive leadership qualities which make him a candidate for captaincy from time to time. Often brimming with lots confidence Nakata's greatest weakness is perhaps his lack of physical strength and height(Don't most Asian players do ?) but he has mellowed and learn to play to his advantage. Though he has his critics, Nakata has enough skill and often luck to silence them.
Nakata Hidetoshi grew up in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture and started playing with a football when he was 8 years old. He represented his Junior High School team in the prefectures football competition and later represented the U-15 Japanese national team. Then he joined the Nirasaki High School soccer team and played in the Nationwide High School Soccer Championship. Hide continued to make steady progress and was selected for the U-17 national team which was got top 8 in the world ranks. After completing high school he had to choose whether to enter university or join a club and start his soccer career earlier. Nakata chose the later. Of course Hide Nakata was by now one of the most highly rated young players in Japan and almost all the clubs in the J.League attempted to draft him into their squads. In the end Hide went to join then Tokyo area club Bellmare Hiratsuka(Later Shonan Bellmare) which was a strong team back then having finished in second place during the second stage of the 94 J.League season and one of the successful clubs in the old JSL. Perhaps it was a wise move because Nakata got to participate in the first team almost right after joining. Nakata got his first J.League goal when Bellmare inflicted one of the biggest defeats against the Kashima Antlers he would go on and score 8-his highest J.League tally with Bellmare. But Bellmare's domestic form was poor particularly during the second stage. Nevertheless Bellmare were successful in the international stage and eventually went on to win the Asian Cup Winners' Cup when the beat Al Talaba in the finals in which Hide scored the winning goal. In 1996 19 year old Nakata was chosen to partipate with the U-23 squad that went on to book their ticket to the Atlanta 96 Olympics. His bold game tactics helped Japan gain a historic 1-0 win over Brazil(A Teroyoshi Ito header!). Back home Bellmare Hiratsuka's performances in the next 2 years continue to decline despite a few brilliant matches. The club was also beginning to suffer from financial turmoil and by 1998 had to sell many of their top talented and more highly-paid players like Hong Myung-Bo, Wagner Lopes, Daisuke Tonoike and of-course Nakata. But Nakata's potential was not given a blind eye and after the 98 World Cup in France(described later) several clubs in Europe expressed an interest in acquiring the Japanese superstar. So Nakata was signed by Serie A club AC Perugia for 2 million pound. His debut for the Italian outfit was stunning scoring twice as team lost 3-4 to Juventus. Nakata's Perugia career of 1 and half season was highly successful and most importantly he got to play regular football. Nakata's next chapter in Serie A was when he was signed by club giants AS Roma. Despite spending a great deal of time on the bench Nakata soon proved his worth and was particularly instrumental during the 2000/2001 season whether he came on as a sub or was standing in for Francesco Totti scoring some important goals as well as setting up his team mates. AS Roma became the Serie A champions and Hide became the first Japanese ever to win the coverted title. Back home Nakata's former club now known as Shonan Bellmare was in financial difficulty so Nakata decided to invest under his web company nakata.net. Meanwhile Nakata's Serie A career takes another turn as he transferred from the Italian Champions to AC Parma for a record 25 million dollars. Nakata was widely expected to become an integral member of his new squad taking the #10 shirt and the burden of creating play for the team. Despite Nakata's best individual efforts to help the team win games, Parma were never really an outstanding team to begin with being mostly midtable class at best. Following a string of dismay performances, Parma soon found themselves being sucked towards the relegation zone and many people were quick to put the blame on Hide mainly due to the his huge transfer fee and skyhigh expectations which are imppossible for any player to met. Parma went through 3 managers and Nakata being benched for much of the season before returning to action after some rationalisation within the Parma management. Throughout this period there are talks that clubs like Brescia, Chelsea and recently Athelico Madrid trying to get the Japenese star who is likely to leave Parma after the WC. Hopefully foreign clubs would stop taking Japanese players as ultra goldmines that can single handedly win matches and bring in lots of money.
After gaining experience at very junior levels(U-15, U-17) of the Japanese national team as well as U-23, Hide Nakata made his A-Team debut in the match against South Korea and has been a regular member of the national side since. Hide played an important role in Japan's qualifying for the 98 World Cup. Despite a difficult path as well as a change of coach Japan eventually made it to their first ever appearence in the finals. Unfortunately Japan were still not experienced enough as a team and had little chance against the opposition which included Argentina and Croatia. Despite this Japan only loss by a single goal against these two although they concedded 2 but score 1 in their last match against Jamaica. Without a single point Japan went home early. Nakata was later named the Asian player of the year and he would get the title again in the following year. Despite new Japan coach Troussier initially trying out new players so Japan will not become "overly dependent" on Nakata alone, Nakata's absence was only temporary and he still made appearences in key matches. When Japan qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics Nakata was on his second Olympic tour. Unfortunately for Hide it was probably one to forget as Japan were eliminated in the second round after losing in a penalty shootout with the USA in which Nakata missed. As Japan were gearing up for their 2002 world cup as co-host Nakata was occasionally involved in the various exhibition matches played and despite his recent lack of form will remain one of the most important players in the squad for years to come.
Career Teams:
Career Goals:
Last updated Mar.28, 2002
International Highlights:
Japan National Team
Bellmare Hiratsuka
AC Perugia
AS Roma
AC Parma
Club Highlights:
nakata.net
Hidetoshi Nakata's multi-language official website which has a fanclub(in Japanese only) as well.
http://www.nakata.net
-RECOMMENDED!