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1 Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
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| Position: GK
| | Born: 15-Aug-1975
| | Height/Weight: 179/78
| | Birthplace: Shizuoka |
| Previous Teams: Tokai No.1 Jr. HS; Shimizu Shogyo HS, Yokohama Marinos, Portsmouth (England), Nordskjelland (Denmark), Jubilo Iwata |
| Matches (J1/J2): 288/0 |
| First Appearance: 26-Apr-1995 Yokohama Marinos vs Kashiwa Reysol (at National Stadium) |
| Year | Team | Appearances | Goals |
|---|
| 1995 | Yokohama Marinos | 41 | - |
| 1996 | Yokohama Marinos | 15 | - |
| 1997 | Yokohama Marinos | 22 | - |
| 1998 | Yokohama Marinos | 34 | - |
| 1999 | Yokohama Marinos | 28 | - |
| 2000 | Yokohama Marinos | 28 | - |
| 2001 | Yokohama Marinos | 25 | - |
| 2002 | Portsmouth | -- | -- |
| 2003 | Portsmouth | -- | -- |
| 2004 | Nordskjelland | -- | -- |
| 2005 | Jubilo Iwata | 29 | - |
| 2006 | Jubilo Iwata | 34 | - |
| 2007 | Jubilo Iwata | 32 | - |
| TOTAL | 288 | - |
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In the late 1990s, as a relative youngster, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi established himself as one of Japan's top goalkeepers, despite pressure from several top-rate rivals. After breaking into the lineup just prior to the 1998 World Cup, Kawaguchi impressed then-manager Takeshi Okada enough that he got the call over a more experienced net-minder, Nobuyuki Kojima, for all three of Japan's World Cup matches. Kawaguchi earned the trust of Phillippe Troussier over the first two years of the French coach's tenure, and remained one of the top candidates to play between the posts in the 2002 World Cup until a fateful career move in early 2001 dealt him a severe setback.
 | At a time when several of his teammates were moving to Europe, Kawaguchi accepted an offer to move to England and play for Portsmouth, then in the English First Division. Unfortunately, as soon as Kawaguchi arrived in England it became clear that the club never bothered to really "scout" him, and had not given any thought to his suitability as a starting keeper in England Division I. Portsmouth obviously was interested in signing Kawaguchi as a marketing ploy, and once they discovered what sort of a player they had signed, they were not at all eager to give him opportunities to play.
Kawaguchi is a quick and mobile keeper, and in both the J.League and international play, he has been able to make up for what he lacks in size by reacting well and reaching the ball early. However, that can not change the fact that he stands just 179cm, and does not have either a long reach or good jumping ability. Even in the J.League, he has been known to be a bit too agressive, and get caught out of his net on occasion. But his weakness in the air has generally been minimised by the use of defensive adjustments which limit the number of high balls to the middle that he needs to cover. |
Since Kawaguchi's weakness in the air is rarely exploited effectively in either the J.League or on the National Team, one has to conclude that this "shortcoming" could have been minimised, if Kawaguchi had been more careful in selecting a team. But Kawaguchi's move to Portsmouth seemed to be doomed from the outset. For one thing, the long ball to the wing and high cross to the middle is a staple of offensive strategy in England's Division 1. Once Kawaguchi's weakness on high balls became well known, opponents began to deliberately target him. To make matters worse, Portsmouth had no really powerful defenders to help him out, and the coaching staff were not about to adjust their team strategy just to addresss the weaknesses of their keeper. This quickly rendered Kawaguchi useless to the team -- an outcome that anyone with the least bit of foresight could have predicted (indeed, the Rising Sun News' immediate initial response to the news of Kawaguchi's move to Portsmouth was that both player and club would quickly find reason regret it).
For Portmouth, the move was just as big a blunder. Back in 2001, many clubs in Europe still had the illusion that Japanese players were instant money-spinners, and that a club could make a fortune on marketing, simply by signing such a player. As Portsmouth quickly discovered, the flood of merchandising money that accompanied players like Hide Nakata at Perugia, Shunsuke Nakamura at Reggina and Shinji Ono at Feyenoord will only materialize if the player gets regular starting time, and the matches are carried on TV back home in Japan. In Kawaguchi's case, neither of these prerequesites were met, and rather than making Portsmouth rich while turning Kawaguchi into a star, the deal turned into a marketing disaster for the club, and a career-damaging detour for Kawaguchi. For two years, rumours surfaced from time to time that Kawaguchi would soon be headed back to Japan, but each time Kawaguchi himself turned down the deal, insisting that he wanted to struggle on, and make his best effort to succeed in Europe. Instead, he dropped off the map completely as far as Japanese football fans were concerned.
In mid-2003, Kawaguchi finally escaped from Portsmouth in a deal that sent him to Nordsjaelland, in Denmark. This allowed him to see occasional action, but it did little to revive his profile or earn him a return to the national team. Between the time that Zico took over the national team and July 2004 -- a period of almost two years -- Kawaguchi received starting opportunities just twice, and on both occasions he committed a handling error which cost Japan victory. Perhaps recognising that his career was going nowhere, Kawaguchi accepted a return to Japan in 2005, joining Jubilo Iwata.
At about the same time Kawaguchi received a bit of good fortune that would reverse the disappointment of the previous two years and revive his career. Seigo Narazaki (who took over the starting keeper spot fopr the first two years under Zico) was injured ahead of the Asian Cup in China, in 2005, and Kawaguchi was pressed into service as a replacement. His performances in China immediately revived his fortunes and allowed him to reclaim the spotlight. Two brilliant saves in the penalty kick shootout against Jordan rescued Japan from being knocked out of the cup, and carried the team to the Asian Cup title. Zico's well-known tendency to remain loyal to players who come through for him in "clutch" situations did the rest. Since his performance in China, in 2005, Kawaguchi has remained Zico's top choice in net, and barring injury, there is no question that he will start all three of Japan's World Cup matches.
Naturally, the use of Kawaguchi in net means that his team (whether the NT of Jubilo) has to adjust their defensive play somewhat, to limit the risk of high balls to the middle. However, coaches often consider this to be worth the price, based on Kawaguchi's excellent reflexes and ability to direct the defence from the goal line. Though he has occasional lapses, and can sometimes commit embarassing blunders when coming out of net, Kawaguchi is what could be called a "momentum" player: He may look unimpressive, and even mediocre on occasion, but every now and then he will find himself "in the zone", and suddenly he becomes virtually unbeatable. On such a day, his work in net can be breathtaking to watch, making acrobatic dives and turning away everything the opponent can throw at him.
National Team Data & History |
 | NT Caps: 110 |
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| Goals Allowed: -102 |
Tournaments:
Asia Youth (1992)
Atlanta Olympics (1996)
World Cup Qualifiers (1997)
France World Cup (1998)
Copa America (1999)
Asia Cup (2000)
Confederations Cup (2001)
World Cup Korea/Japan (2002)
Confederations Cup (2003)
Asian Cup (2004)
World Cup Germany (2006)
Asian Cup (2007) |
| | Date | Vs. | Score | Location | Status | Min. | G |
|---|
| 10-28-1998 | Egypt | 1-0 | Nagai Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-3-1999 | Belgium | 0-0 | Nat'l Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 9-8-1999 | Iran | 1-1 | Yokohama Int'l | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 2-13-2000 | Singapore | 3-0 | Macao Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 2-16-2000 | Brunei | 9-0 | Macao Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-6-2000 | Jamaica | 4-0 | Rabat, Morocco | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 10-14-2000 | Saudi Arabia | 4-1 | Sidon, Lebanon | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 10-17-2000 | Uzbekistan | 8-1 | Sidon, Lebanon | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 10-20-2000 | Qatar | 1-1 | Sidon, Lebanon | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 10-23-2000 | Iraq | 4-1 | Beirut, Lebanon | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 10-26-2000 | China | 3-2 | Beirut, Lebanon | Start | 90 | -2 |
| 10-29-2000 | Saudi Arabia | 1-0 | Beirut, Lebanon | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 4-25-2001 | Spain | 0-1 | Cordoba, Spain | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 5-31-2001 | Canada | 3-0 | Niigata Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-2-2001 | Cameroon | 2-0 | Niigata Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-7-2001 | Australia | 1-0 | Yokohama Int'l | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-10-2001 | France | 0-1 | Yokohama Int'l | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 7-1-2001 | Paraguay | 1-0 | Sapporo Dome | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 7-4-2001 | Yugoslavia | 1-0 | Oita "Big Eye" | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 8-15-2001 | Australia | 3-0 | Shizuoka Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 10-4-2001 | Nigeria | 2-2 | Southampton, England | Start | 90 | -2 |
| 3-27-2002 | Poland | 1-0 | Lodz, Poland | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 5-14-2002 | Norway | 0-3 | Oslo, Norway | Start | 90 | -3 |
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| 3-28-2003 | Uruguay | 2-2 | Nat'l Stadium, Tokyo | Start | 90 | -2 |
| 10-11-2003 | Romania | 1-1 | Bucharest, Romania | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 6-09-2004 | India | 7-0 | Saitama Stadium, Japan | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 7-10-2004 | Slovakia | 3-1 | Oita Stadium, Japan | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 7-13-2004 | Serbia | 1-0 | Yokohama Int'l Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 7-20-2004 | Oman | 1-0 | Chongqing, China | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 7-25-2004 | Thailand | 4-1 | Chongqing, China | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 7-28-2004 | Iran | 0-0 | Chongqing, China | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 7-31-2004 | Jordan | 1-1 (PK4-3) | Chongqing, China | Start | 120 | -1 |
| 8-04-2004 | Bahrain | 4-3 (OT) | Chengdu, China | Start | 120 | -3 |
| 8-07-2004 | China | 3-1 | Beijing, China | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 1-29-2005 | Kazakhstan | 4-0 | Yokohama Intl | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 2-2-2005 | Syria | 3-0 | Saitama Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 2-9-2005 | North Korea | 2-1 | Saitama Stadium | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 5-22-2005 | Peru | 0-1 | Niigata Stadium | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 5-27-2005 | UAE | 0-1 | National Std. Tokyo | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 6-8-2005 | North Korea | 2-0 | Bangkok Thailand | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-15-2005 | Mexico | 1-2 | Hannover, Germany | Start | 90 | -2 |
| 6-19-2005 | Greece | 1-0 | Frankfurt, Germany | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-22-2005 | Brazil | 2-2 | Koln, Germany | Start | 90 | -2 |
| 7-31-2005 | North Korea | 0-1 | Daejon, Korea | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 8-17-2005 | Iran | 2-1 | Yokohama Stadium | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 9-07-2005 | Honduras | 5-4 | Miyagi Stadium | Start | 90 | -4 |
| 10-12-2005 | Ukraine | 0-1 | Ukraine | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 11-12-2005 | Angola | 1-0 | Natl Stadium, Tokyo | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 2-10-2006 | USA | 2-3 | San Francisco | Start | 90 | -3 |
| 2-18-2006 | <Finland | 2-0 | Shizuoka Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 2-22-2006 | <India | 6-0 | Yokohama Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 2-28-2006 | <Bosnia | 2-2 | Westfahren Std.(Germany) | Start | 90 | -2 |
| 3-30-2006 | <Ecuador | 1-0 | Oita "Big Eye" Std | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 5-09-2006 | <Bulgaria | 1-2 | Nagai Std., Osaka | Start | 90 | -2 |
| 5-13-2006 | <Scotland | 0-0 | Nagai Std., Osaka | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-3-2006 | Germany | 2-2 | Kaiserslautern, Germany | Start | 90 | -2 |
| 6-6-2006 | Malta | 1-0 | Frankenstadion, Germany | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-11-2006 | Australia | 1-3 | Kaiserslautern, Germany | Start | 90 | -3 |
| 6-18-2006 | Croatia | 0-0 | Frankfurt, Germany | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-22-2006 | Brazil | 1-4 | Dortmund, Germany | Start | 90 | -4 |
| 8-9-2006 | Trinidad&Tobago | 2-0 | Tokyo, National Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 8-18-2006 | Yemen | 2-0 | Niigata Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 9-1-2006 | Saudi Arabia | 0-1 | Saudi Arabia | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 9-6-2006 | Yemen | 1-0 | Sanaa, Yemen | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 10-11-2006 | India | 3-0 | Katarnaka, India | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 11-15-2006 | Saudi Arabia | 3-0 | Sapporo Dome | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 3-24-2007 | Peru | 2-0 | Yokohama Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 6-05-2007 | Colombia | 0-0 | Saitama Stadium | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 7-09-2007 | Qatar | 1-1 | Hanoi, Vietnam | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 7-13-2007 | UAE | 3-1 | Hanoi, Vietnam | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 7-16-2007 | Vietnam | 4-1 | Hanoi, Vietnam | Start | 90 | -1 |
| 7-21-2007 | Australia | 1-1 | Hanoi, Vietnam | Start | 120 | -1 |
| 7-25-2007 | Saudi Arabia | 2-3 | Bangkok, Thailand | Start | 90 | -3 |
| 7-28-2007 | South Korea | 0-0 | Bangkok, Thailand | Start | 120 | 0 |
| 8-22-2007 | Cameroon | 2-0 | Oita "Big Eye" Std | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 9-07-2007 | Switzerland | 4-3 | Klagenfurt, Austria | Start | 90 | -3 |
| 9-11-2007 | Austria | 0-0 | Klagenfurt, Austria | Start | 90 | 0 |
| 10-17-2007 | Egypt | 4-1 | Nagai Stadium, Osaka | Start | 90 | -1 |
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| 1-26-2007 | Chile | 0-0 | Natl Stadium, Tokyo | Start | 90 | 0 |
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