Kawasaki's Nakamura relishing Ono meeting
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 19, 2014
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Kengo Nakamura (right) and his Kawasaki Frontale team-mates travel to Australia's to face Western Sydney Wanderers at Parramatta Stadium in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday. |
Kengo Nakamura is so in awe of Shinji Ono, the Kawasaki Frontale star will not even ask for the former Japan midfielder's phone number; but it's with great expectation the 33-year-old is relishing his club's trip to Australia this week.
Frontale travel to take on Ono's Western Sydney Wanderers at Parramatta Stadium on Wednesday evening on Matchday Three of the AFC Champions League with the two clubs locked together on three points from their first two matches in Group H of the 2014 edition of the continental championship.
The game will be the first time Ono has faced Japanese opposition in continental competition as a professional having played most of his career either in Japan – including with Urawa Reds, where he won the title in 2007 – or in Europe.
And it is a meeting Nakamura has been anticipating since the draw was made in Kuala Lumpur back in December.
"Personally, I am looking forward to playing against Sydney, because Shinji-san is there," says Nakamura. "He is my idol, even though we only have a year difference in age.
"But I can't ask for his number, he is too great to me."
Ono is midway through his second season with Western Sydney and he was instrumental in the club's success in qualifying for the AFC Champions League in their first season in existence.
As a result, the 34-year-old former Feyenoord and Shimizu S-Pulse midfielder has proven to be a big hit Down Under, a fact that comes as no surprise to Nakamura.
"Unfortunately, I don't watch the match videos, but sometimes I see him on YouTube," says Nakamura. "And I still think he is really as good as ever.
"I'm not surprised at all that he's so popular in Australia. He is a great player. He was very popular in Japan too.
"His basic technique is of a very high quality; he has a great deal of ideas; he has technique that surprises people. There are not a lot of players who have both that technique and those ideas, not only in Japan, but also in world football."
Nakamura is no slouch himself, having represented Japan on 68 occasions as well as featuring in the Kawasaki side that reached the AFC Champions League quarter-finals on two occasions, in 2007 and 2009.
He was named in the J.League's Best XI on no fewer than five occasions and represented Japan at the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals, with his sublime touch, vision and passing from midfield earning comparisons with the very best playmakers Japan has produced over the last two decades.
"The first time I played in the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League was in 2007 which was against an Iranian team called Sepahan," says Nakamura. "We drew both legs, and lost on penalties. And in 2009, we lost against Nagoya Grampus.
"I realise we have had our failures but, honestly speaking, I think we couldn't get through because we didn't have the strength. So back then, my impression towards the AFC Champions League was that we still had a chance.
"Of course the playing style is different, obviously the physical contact, and the referees. But what I think most is how the teams play home and away matches totally differently compared to J.League teams. The mentality is totally different."
Nakamura's playmaking skills were key to Frontale's re-emergence as a J.League force last season, but he also possesses a toughness that is not immediately apparent.
Belying his slight build, Nakamura once played through the majority of an AFC Champions League clash with a broken jaw, only realising the severity of the injury after being taken to hospital.
"That was the first match in 2010, against Seongnam," he says. "My jaw was fractured in the first 15 minutes. I knew something was wrong, because the blood just wouldn't stop.
"But I couldn't get out of the match so I just kept playing. After going to the hospital right after the match, I was told it was fractured in two places and that's when I got really scared. I probably shouldn't have continued playing.
"Am I famous for that? Wow. I'll try not to have injuries like that this year."
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