Le Mans: Daisuke Matsui

22 Daisuke Matsui

Position: MF
Born:11-May-1981
Height/Weight:175/64
Birthplace:Kyoto

Previous Teams:Oyake Jr.High, Fujinomori Jr.High, Kagoshima Jitsugyo High, Kyoto Purple Sanga

Appearances (J1/J2):72/37 Goals: 7/7

First Appearance: 18-Mar-2000 Kyoto Purple Sanga - vs - Cerezo Osaka (at Nishikyogoku Stadium)

First Goal : 15-Apr-2000 Kyoto Purple Sanga - vs - Kawasaki Frontale (at Todoroki Stadium)

J.League Statistics

Year Team Matches Goals

2000 Kyoto Purple Sanga 22 1

2001 Kyoto Purple Sanga 37 7

2002 Kyoto Purple Sanga 23 4

2003 Kyoto Purple Sanga 27 2

2004- Kyoto Purple Sanga 17 2

TOTAL 126 16

France Ligue

2004/05 Le Mans 17 2

2005/06 Le Mans 33 3

2006/07 Le Mans 27 4

TOTAL 77 9

Daisuke Matsui first emerged as a promising midfielder with Japan's U-20 team, in the run-up to the World Youth Championships in Argentina, in 1999. Before long, he had also won a starting spot at the playmaker position for Kyoto Purple Sanga. But despite showing tremendous promise, early in his career, he failed to really break out as a star, either for the youth national team or for his club. Matsui's strengths are not in dispute. He has silky-smooth dribbling technique, excellent anticipation of a defender's moves, and deceptive quickness which allows him to leave prospective tacklers sprawling on the turf, wondering where he went. He also has good passing technique. Though he may lack the anticipation and "vision" of defence-splitting passers like Shinji Ono, Shunsuke Nakamura and Hidetoshi Nakata, the added dimension that his dribbling skills contribute makes him a very dangerous offensive player.

Unfortunately, Matsui's weaknesses were also very apparent. Though there is a bit more dispute about these failings, most would agree that he was both physically frail, and mentally averse to taking physical contact. Even in the J.League, opponents quickly learned that they could silence Matsui completely with just a few hard challenges. After just a few hard knocks, Matsui would shy away from further attempts to penetrate on the dribble, and often becomes flustered, rushing his passes and making poor mental decisions. Every coach that has dealt with him has commented, at one time or another, than he desperately needs to "toughen up".
Considering this background, it came as quite a surprise when, in mid-August 2004, Matsui's agent announced that he would be moving to France Division 2 club, Le Mans. Matsui may possess considerable raw talent, particularly in terms of his dribbling and passing technique, but we worried that his well-known weaknesses in terms of physical presence, power, and ability to stand up to heavy tackling by the opposition would be a problem in France, where hard contact is taken as a matter of course. While Matsui certainly has the technical ability to succeed in Europe, and in a league like France Division 2 he was possibly even level above most of his teammates in terms of pure "skill", that would all be useless if he was unable to stand up to the physical pressure.

Nevertheless, once the agreement went through, these misgivings and concerns were no longer really relevant, and we looked forward to seeing what good might come of it. The positive side of the deal was that it put Matsui in a do-or-die situation. The French league -- particularly division 2 -- is ferociously physical, and in order to get any playing time at all, Matsui would have to learn how to stand up to physical pressure. Either he would toughen up, and learn to deal with the physical side of the game, or he might disappear from view forever.

As it turned out, Matsui surpassed even our most optimistic hopes. Though he still struggles with the physical side of the game, and opposing teams will often try to "rough him up" to limit his contributions, Matsui gritted his teeth and got to work. Over the first six months, he gradually earned the respect of his coaches and the trust of his teammates, and by the end of 2004 he was starting to see regular action. As 2005 got under way, Matsui finally began to blossom as a player, putting his obvious talents to use in an effective way which benefitted Le Mans greatly. The playmaking capabilities of Matsui, teamed up with the power and excellent finishing skills of teammates like Desiree Periatambee and James Fanchone, carried the team to a second-place finish in division two, and earned Le Mans promotion to the top division in France

Though some may dismiss results in the second division of a less "famous" European footballing nation, one should not underestimate the importance that Matsui's success at Le Mans could have on the future of Japanese football and, in particular, the prevalence of Japanese players in Europe. Prior to Matsui's success, it was a well accepted principle that unless a Japanese player could get an offer from a top European team, or at least a small team in a top European League, the economics would not make the move worthwhile. Clubs in the French second division, Serie B, England's Division 1, or small leagues like Switzerland, Scotland, Belgium, Czech Republic, and the like, would not be willing to pay the sort of transfer fee that clubs demanded for a top Japanese player, but they would not consider a lesser-known Japanese player as worth signing in the first place. Matsui's success showed that even when a Japanese player is not "national team calibre", he could still be talented enough to make a strong contribution in Europe. This may open the market up for talented, but less well-known players from Japan to get an opportunity to play in Europe, even if it is in a less "glamorous" league. As Matsui has shown, this could be the first step towards a higher profile, and thus a useful career move for a young player.

Since LeMans joined the Ligue 1, Matsui's career has grown in step with that of his team. Le Mans is now one of the stronger clubs in France, and Matsui a well regarded player with a strong fan following. Other players have followed in his footsteps, and no longer is it necessary for a Japanese youngster to gain world-class prominence before he can make a move overseas. In this sense, Matsui was as much of a trailblazer as Hidetoshi Nakata, charting a course that many others have followed.