World Cup 2010 Comment: Keisuke Honda Will Be Japan's Main Man In South Africa

Last September, Japan were in the Netherlands and in the middle of losing a friendly 3-0 when they were awarded a free-kick. Keisuke Honda wanted to take it. Shunsuke Nakamura had other ideas and took it himself, only to fire it into the arms of the Dutch goalkeeper.

A few words were exchanged but it wasn’t seen as a big deal. Honda was a second half substitute and yet to play a full match for the Asian team. Nakamura was, well, Nakamura – the face of Japanese football in Europe since the retirement of Hidetoshi Nakata in 2006.

But as the Samurai Blue meet the Oranje in June in South Africa when it really matters, it may just be that the elder statesman that steps aside to allow the new star of Japanese football to do what he does best – make things happen.

Shunsuke Nakamura’s troubles have been well-documented this season. Since leaving Celtic after four successful Scottish years, the midfielder headed to Espanyol. His Spanish spell was much less happy and after struggling for playing time with the Barca-based team, the 31 year-old is now back in Japan with Yokohama F Marinos as he gets some playing time under his belt before the World Cup.

It had become so serious that former Japan coach Philippe Troussier had suggested that the playmaker should lose his place in the Samurai Blue’s starting eleven.

Not even the contrary Frenchman would say anything of the sort when it comes to Keisuke Honda. The 23 year-old is having a season that surpasses any of Nakamura's European campaigns.

Playing the starring role in VVV Venlo’s promotion season in 2009 and earning the nickname 'Keizer (Emperor) Keisuke', Honda didn’t find the step up to the Eredivisie to be a problem and was the club’s standout player. He started in the top flight where he left off in the second, by scoring goals. He was on target five times in the first four games of the season.

In truth, Venlo are no great shakes but that only made Honda’s creative and attacking prowess stand out all the more. His 18 months in Holland before promotion suggested he had the talent and his start in the top flight all but confirmed it.

Inevitably, the rumours and reports started. First came the big Dutch clubs and the names of PSV Eindhoven, Ajax and Feyenoord. The domestic suitors were soon elbowed out of the headlines by the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs.

As 2009 drew to a close, it was apparent that Honda was going sooner rather than later. His choice of destination in the mid-winter break was a surprise to many and wasn’t quite the move that Japanese fans had hoped for.

CSKA Moscow are little known in East Asia though the fact that the Russian club paid almost ten million euros for the player was noted with some pride. Already though, Honda has demonstrated that his sense of timing isn’t limited to arriving in the box late to grab another vital goal.

In just three games for Moscow he has impressed and is already linking up well with the highly-rated Tomas Necid. Honda's league debut in March saw him score the winning goal in the last minute. That game was sandwiched between two Champions League matches that will live long in the Moscow memory.

At home to Sevilla in the first leg, Honda was sublime. His all-round play troubled the Spanish all night with the one disappointment that he didn’t manage to get the goal he deserved. And the La Liga team took a 1-1 draw back home.

It was expected to be enough but Honda’s intervention at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan ensured that Russia has a representative in the last eight of the Europe’s premier competition for the first time since 1991.

Honda’s late strike may have been fortunate as his free-kick was helped into his own net by Andres Palop but it was no more than he deserved for his contribution over 180 minutes of football.

Japan coach Takeshi Okada has been criticized for not introducing the star to the national team earlier – Honda only made his full debut on March 3 against Bahrain – but that won’t bother the boss. He now has a genuine European star on his hands, one who has momentum, energy and huge desire to perform on the global stage and now the confidence to do so.

Some reports in Japan have cast doubt on Honda’s ability to play for the good of the team, wondering whether his supposed ego could get in the way. The player himself merely says that “in Europe they tell me to shoot more, in Japan they tell me to defend.”

Okada knows what he needs to tell Honda this summer. It is the youngster and not Nakamura who will play the greater part in determining how far Japan go this summer. It is not only his set pieces, Honda is a more complete player with a fantastic goalscoring record for a midfielder, he has the ability to make chances for others and is as industrious as he is intelligent - his defending from the front against Bahrain drew praise from Okada.

What is just as impressive is the fact that the blond bombshell has the ability to shine no matter what level of football he plays at.

For both club and country, that level is going to be the highest possible over the next few months and few doubt that Honda is capable of rising to the challenge.

John Duerden, Asia Editor, john.duerden@goal.com

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