Nakamura Shunsuke
Shunsuke Nakamura is a Japanese former professional footballer. He is the only person to have been named J.League Most Valuable Player more than once, receiving the award in 2000 and 2013. Renowned as one of the best free kick takers ever and one of the greatest Japanese footballers of all time, Steve Perryman once remarked that Nakamura “could open a tin of beans with his left foot”. Nakamura began his professional career with J1 League club Yokohama Marinos in 1997, eventually making 338 league appearances during two spells at the club totalling just over twelve seasons. In between his spells at Marinos, Nakamura played in Europe with Espanyol, Celtic, and Reggina. During his time at Celtic, he became one of the best Asian players to have ever played in Europe; he was nominated for the 2007 Ballon d’Or, was named Scottish Player of the Year and SFWA Footballer of the Year[10] in 2007, and became the first Japanese player to score in the UEFA Champions League. His team accomplishments at Celtic include winning the Scottish Premier League in 2006, 2007, and 2008, the Scottish League Cup in 2006 and 2009, and the Scottish Cup in 2007. Nakamura has 98 caps and 24 goals for the Japan national football team, including appearances in the FIFA World Cup finals in 2006 and 2010 and winning the AFC Asian Cup in 2000 and 2004; he was named Most Valuable Player of the 2004 competition. He also appeared in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship as a member of the Japan under-20 team and the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of the Japan under-23 team.
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Nakamura had come to the attention of Reggina scouts after an international match against Honduras during the 2002 Kirin Cup in which Nakamura had a standout performance and scored two goals. Reggina gained promotion to Serie A after the 2001–02 season and had already been looking to sign a marquee player for some time. It is said that, on the day Reggina secured promotion, then-Chairman Pasquale Foti had already called the Marinos to inquire about a Nakamura transfer while Reggina’s players were still on the pitch celebrating. Expectations for Nakamura were very high; the prestigious number 10 shirt was even taken from teammate Francesco Cozza and given to Nakamura, and the club sold 25,000 Nakamura shirts in the first five months he was at the club. Nakamura responded by scoring in three consecutive matches early in the season; in league play, Nakamura finished the season with 32 appearances and tied for the team lead with 7 goals, helping Reggina narrowly avoid relegation (Reggina defeated Atalanta in the relegation playoff). Nakamura struggled with injuries in 2003 and was limited to just 18 appearances in the 2003–04 season (these injuries also caused him to miss a 2003 Confederations Cup game against Colombia and national team duty in November 2003). Additionally, Reggina underwent four managerial changes in just Nakamura’s first two years at the club; Walter Mazzarri, hired in the summer of 2004, would already be Nakamura’s fifth manager at Reggina. The frequent changes resulted in Nakamura mostly coming off the bench during the 2003–04 season and not fitting in well under Mazzarri in 2004–05 when Reggina only scored 36 goals in their entire league campaign, with Nakamura only managing to contribute two goals (although each came in crucial 1–0 league victories in a season where Reggina finished only 2 points clear of the relegation zone). Coupled with Reggina’s struggle to avoid relegation every season that he had been at the club, Nakamura became concerned he was regressing from top level football[40] and decided it was time to move on.
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Born and raised in Yokohama, Japan, Nakamura began playing football competitively at age 5 with local junior club side Misono FC, where his playmaking abilities already garnered attention from locals. In fifth grade, he was selected for Yokohama’s city junior all-star team’s tour of the Soviet Union, even though the team was only meant to include sixth graders. At age 12 in 1991, Nakamura joined the youth setup of Nissan Motors F.C., one of the predecessors of the club known today as Yokohama F. Marinos. While training at the youth setup, Nakamura was already honing his dead-ball technique, practising free kicks for an hour every day outside of team practice; his coaches also acknowledged he had good ball skills and technique. However, at that time Nakamura was physically underdeveloped compared to his teammates and struggled to transition to the youth level, and eventually was not chosen for the youth team. Rather than continue on the fringes of Nissan’s youth setup, Nakamura instead decided to enroll at Tōkō Gakuen High School in Kawasaki, despite the school being a two-and-a-half-hour commute each way. Nakamura led Tōkō Gakuen to Japan’s national high school football tournament in 1995 and to the tournament final in 1996. It was his performance there that earned him a call-up to the Japan under-20 team for the 1996 AFC Youth Championship and subsequently for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. By his graduation from Tōkō Gakuen in 1997, Nakamura had attracted interest from several top-flight Japanese clubs, including offers from Júbilo Iwata, Verdy Kawasaki, and Gamba Osaka. A versatile playmaker, with good feet, Nakamura was capable of playing in several midfield positions, including in the centre of the pitch or out wide, although he normally played as an attacking midfielder behind the forwards. A left-footed player, Nakamura was renowned for his creativity and long range passing ability, as well as his accuracy from free kicks, making a name for himself as a set-piece specialist. Nakamura married a former Japanese celebrity[clarification needed] in 2004. That same year, his first son was born. His second son was born on 15 January 2008 in Glasgow, Scotland. According to the Evening Times, he is a fan of the Grand Theft Auto and Gran Turismo video game series. He has appeared on the front cover (some of them with Zico) of the Japanese releases of Konami’s Winning Eleven video game series (WE 5, WE 9, WE 9: Ubiquitous Evolution and WE 10) in 2001, 2005 and 2006. He also appeared on the front cover of Namco’s Football Kingdom Trial Edition in 2004. He is the paid promoter of the Yamada electronics chain. His current boot sponsor is Adidas. Nakamura has illustrated the precision of his free kicks with novelty performances on television, including knocking ornaments off the top of a wedding cake without affecting the cake itself and striking a ball through the window of a moving bus.
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These boots were worn by Shunsuke Nakamura during the season 2003/2004 with U.S.Reggina. Nakamura was a versatile playmaker, with good feet, Nakamura was capable of playing in several midfield positions, including in the centre of the pitch or out wide, although he normally played as an attacking midfielder behind the forwards. A left-footed player, Nakamura was renowned for his creativity and long range passing ability, as well as his accuracy from free kicks, making a name for himself as a set-piece specialist.
