Japan: Shunsuke Nakamura's Spectacular Strike Sends Yokohama F Marinos To Victory

Shunsuke Nakamura didn’t take long to make his mark on the J-League with his first goal in Japan for eight years.

The 31 year-old, playing his second match after returning to Japan from Espanyol in Spain, opened the scoring for Yokohama F Marinos in their 4-0 thrashing of Kawasaki Frontale on Saturday.

It was a spectacular 30-yard strike from the former Celtic man that brought the fans at Nissan Stadium to their feet.

The opener came after just eight minutes and it was followed by a brace from Koji Yamase and the win was sealed by Yuzo Kurihara.

"We've had the right results, fortunately, but I've still got a lot of catching up to do," said Nakamura according to the Daily Yomuiri.

"I'd been working on shooting from a distance in training. With these new balls that don't spin, it can be pretty effective. "

"I'm probably at about 65 percent now. I'm still in the process of figuring out how I can get the most out of everyone else and getting myself in shape at the same time.

"I've been with the team for two weeks now, but we've got tons of quality; the guys know how to play."

It was a shocking result for last season’s runners-up who were missing a number of their regular first-teamers.

"We gave up two goals inside the first 15 minutes and that hurt," Kawasaki coach Tsutomu Takahata said.

"We never recovered from that and couldn't play our game for the entire 90 minutes."

Elsewhere, champions Kashima Antlers picked up a 1-0 win at Omiya Ardija thanks to a Yuya Osaka goal seven minutes from time.

Gamba Osaka drew 0-0 with Albirex Niigata while Vegalta Sendai lost 2-1 at Kyoto Sanga.

Shimizu S-Pulse are top on goal difference thanks to a 1-0 win over Vissel Kobe.