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Remembering former Japan international Naoki Matsuda - never one to go quietly
Goal.com looks back at the career of the 2002 World Cup star defender who passed away in hospital on Thursday after collapsing at training earlier this week aged just 34 years old
5 Aug 2011 10:48:00
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COMMENT
By Ken Matsushima
Naoki Matsuda was always destined to go out with a bang, he was that sort of a person. Somehow you just knew that he wouldn’t slip quietly into the shadows of retirement and old age.
Matsuda was a key figure in Japan's first Asian Cup title, in 2000, as well as the 2002 World Cup. He also took part in three J-League title campaigns for Yokohama F. Marinos.
One incident stands out among all the other memories of the defender, because it was such a clear expression of his intensely combative character and fierce - if sometimes misdirected - desire to win.
On September 1, 2002, the struggling Marinos were playing Gamba Osaka at Banpaku Stadium. The contest got off to a nightmare start for the visitors, as Matsuda's international team-mate Tsuneyasu Miyamoto scored an early opener with a header for Gamba, and just a few minutes later, Matsuda himself caused a second when he fouled Kota Yoshihara in the box to concede a penalty that the home side converted.
Just after the half-time break, though, Marinos pulled one back. With the game still hanging in the balance, defender Jose "Naza" de Lima, already booked, was beaten around the right flank, and pulled down his opponent by the shirt.
The referee walked up, with a clear intent to wave a card. Captain Matsuda rushed up trying to intercede, but in vein: a second yellow and then a red were shown to the Brazilian.
Matsuda snapped, and though he laughed off the incident in later years, the fire in his eyes left little doubt about how lethal his fury was at that instant. He began roaring in anger at the referee, who proceeded to show him a yellow card as well. At that point Naza - who had still not left the pitch - came back and said something to Matsuda, then turned his back and walked away.
The Marinos captain closed the distance between him and Naza in three steps, and launched a powerful kick right into the Brazilan’s backside. He then returned to the referee, and with spittle flying from his lips he launched into a full-scale tirade.
First he tore off his captain's armband and threw it on the ground, and then he took off his jersey and threw it in the referee's face. The astonished official stared blankly for a few seconds, then raised the red card and pointed Matsuda towards the changing room.
As he stormed from the pitch Matsuda tore off first his boots - which he threw back in the direction of the referee one at a time - then his socks, which he balled up and launched towards the crowd before stomping down the changing room hallway stripped to his skivvies.
Intensity was the quality that earned him his highest profile - as the right anchor of Phillippe Troussier's "Flat Three" defensive line.
Matsuda was already an established J-League starter when Troussier took over the national team in late 1998 - he had broken into the Yokohama F. Marinos squad as a rookie, in 1995, with a bang.
After graduating from Maebashi High School, the youngster joined a Marinos team that already contained two national team stalwart centre-backs - Masami Ihara and Norio Omura - and immediately demanded playing time.
An injury to Omura that season certainly opened the door for him to capture attention, but Matsuda's 33 appearances in 1995 were remarkable for a recent high school graduate, at that stage of the league's development. Matsuda was on the pitch as the final whistle sounded and Yokohama claimed their first J-League title.
Fast-forward a decade and a half, his final battle began during a jog with team-mates at his current club, Matsumoto Yamaga. He suddenly stumbled and called out "Yabai... Yabai!" (this isn’t good!). He fell on his side, clenched his teeth, and lost consciousness, never to awaken.
By the time he was transported to hospital his heart and lungs had been stopped for too long, and after being on life support for two days, he finally passed away on August 4, 2011.
There isn’t much more that anyone can say. Naoki Matsuda's actions throughout his career said it all. He never compromised, and never settled for anything less than victory. Rather than hear people say a lot of nice things about him, surely Naoki would prefer to have them just go out on the pitch, and think of him as a source of inspiration, when they prepared to expend every ounce of effort in a contest of athletic and artistic expression.
If you are one of those people who miss him, and you need to find some solace from your tears, just understand that tonight, on those beautifully trimmed green fields of Elysium, God's team is playing a Flat Three.
By Ken Matsushima
Naoki Matsuda was always destined to go out with a bang, he was that sort of a person. Somehow you just knew that he wouldn’t slip quietly into the shadows of retirement and old age.
Matsuda was a key figure in Japan's first Asian Cup title, in 2000, as well as the 2002 World Cup. He also took part in three J-League title campaigns for Yokohama F. Marinos.
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One incident stands out among all the other memories of the defender, because it was such a clear expression of his intensely combative character and fierce - if sometimes misdirected - desire to win.
On September 1, 2002, the struggling Marinos were playing Gamba Osaka at Banpaku Stadium. The contest got off to a nightmare start for the visitors, as Matsuda's international team-mate Tsuneyasu Miyamoto scored an early opener with a header for Gamba, and just a few minutes later, Matsuda himself caused a second when he fouled Kota Yoshihara in the box to concede a penalty that the home side converted.
Just after the half-time break, though, Marinos pulled one back. With the game still hanging in the balance, defender Jose "Naza" de Lima, already booked, was beaten around the right flank, and pulled down his opponent by the shirt.
The referee walked up, with a clear intent to wave a card. Captain Matsuda rushed up trying to intercede, but in vein: a second yellow and then a red were shown to the Brazilian.
Matsuda snapped, and though he laughed off the incident in later years, the fire in his eyes left little doubt about how lethal his fury was at that instant. He began roaring in anger at the referee, who proceeded to show him a yellow card as well. At that point Naza - who had still not left the pitch - came back and said something to Matsuda, then turned his back and walked away.
The Marinos captain closed the distance between him and Naza in three steps, and launched a powerful kick right into the Brazilan’s backside. He then returned to the referee, and with spittle flying from his lips he launched into a full-scale tirade.
First he tore off his captain's armband and threw it on the ground, and then he took off his jersey and threw it in the referee's face. The astonished official stared blankly for a few seconds, then raised the red card and pointed Matsuda towards the changing room.
| "As he stormed from the pitch Matsuda tore off first his boots - which he threw back in the direction of the referee - then his socks, which he balled up and launched towards the crowd before stomping down the changing room hallway stripped to his skivvies." |  |
As he stormed from the pitch Matsuda tore off first his boots - which he threw back in the direction of the referee one at a time - then his socks, which he balled up and launched towards the crowd before stomping down the changing room hallway stripped to his skivvies.
Intensity was the quality that earned him his highest profile - as the right anchor of Phillippe Troussier's "Flat Three" defensive line.
Matsuda was already an established J-League starter when Troussier took over the national team in late 1998 - he had broken into the Yokohama F. Marinos squad as a rookie, in 1995, with a bang.
After graduating from Maebashi High School, the youngster joined a Marinos team that already contained two national team stalwart centre-backs - Masami Ihara and Norio Omura - and immediately demanded playing time.
An injury to Omura that season certainly opened the door for him to capture attention, but Matsuda's 33 appearances in 1995 were remarkable for a recent high school graduate, at that stage of the league's development. Matsuda was on the pitch as the final whistle sounded and Yokohama claimed their first J-League title.
Fast-forward a decade and a half, his final battle began during a jog with team-mates at his current club, Matsumoto Yamaga. He suddenly stumbled and called out "Yabai... Yabai!" (this isn’t good!). He fell on his side, clenched his teeth, and lost consciousness, never to awaken.
By the time he was transported to hospital his heart and lungs had been stopped for too long, and after being on life support for two days, he finally passed away on August 4, 2011.
There isn’t much more that anyone can say. Naoki Matsuda's actions throughout his career said it all. He never compromised, and never settled for anything less than victory. Rather than hear people say a lot of nice things about him, surely Naoki would prefer to have them just go out on the pitch, and think of him as a source of inspiration, when they prepared to expend every ounce of effort in a contest of athletic and artistic expression.
If you are one of those people who miss him, and you need to find some solace from your tears, just understand that tonight, on those beautifully trimmed green fields of Elysium, God's team is playing a Flat Three.
Ken Matsushima has blogged about Japanese football for over 10 years at the Rising Sun News.
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