Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi

Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
	Kawaguchi with Júbilo Iwata in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
Date of birth	15 August 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth	Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1991–1993	Shimizu Shogyo High School
Senior career*
Years	Team
1994–2001	Yokohama F. Marinos
2001–2003	Portsmouth
2003–2005	Nordsjælland
2005–2013	Júbilo Iwata
2014–2015	Gifu
2016–2018	Sagamihara
Total
International career
1995–1996	Japan U23
1997–2010	Japan
Medal record
Men's football
Representing Japan
AFC Asian Cup
FIFA Confederations Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (川口能活, Kawaguchi Yoshikatsu, born 15 August 1975), also known as Yoshi Kawaguchi, is a retired Japanese footballer who played as a goalkeeper.^[2]

Kawaguchi spent most of his professional career in the Japanese J1 League, with brief spells in Europe as a reserve goalkeeper. He has earned 116 international caps for Japan, making him one of the ten most capped players in the history of the team. He additionally served as captain from 2006 to 2008. He was part of the Japanese squads at the 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 editions of the FIFA World Cups, the 2004 and 2007 editions of the AFC Asian Cups, as well as the 1999 Copa América.

Career

Early career

Born in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, Kawaguchi studied at Shimizu Commercial High School and was a member of the football team there. After finishing high school, he joined the professional football team Yokohama Marinos (later Yokohama F. Marinos).

Portsmouth

Following impressive performances for both club and country, he moved to English club Portsmouth,^[3] signing for a club record £1.8m.^[4] However, he struggled to adapt to life in the English Football League, and struggled with the physical side of the First Division, notably in a 3–1 away defeat to Grimsby Town. Kawaguchi lost his place to veteran Dave Beasant after being held responsible for Portsmouth's 4–1 home defeat to underdogs Leyton Orient in the FA Cup. Despite his poor performances for Pompey he remained something of a cult hero with the fans, on account of his cheerful demeanour, and his insistence that he would work hard to regain his place. After a season of playing reserve team football, he made his final appearance for Portsmouth in the final game of the 2002–03 Football League First Division championship winning season, coming on at half time to a standing ovation in the 5–0 win against Bradford City.

Nordsjælland

Despite this brief reappearance, he realised that his future lay elsewhere, and moved on to Nordsjælland of the Danish league.

Júbilo Iwata

Prior to the 2005 Japanese football season, Kawaguchi returned to his home country when he signed with then-perennial title-contenders Júbilo Iwata.^[5]

International career

Early career (1996–2001)

Kawaguchi was called up to the Japan national team and played in the Atlanta Olympic games. He kept a clean sheet against Brazil in the first game. He played in Japan's first ever World Cup game in 1998 in a 1–0 defeat to Argentina, and throughout the tournament, his stellar performance prevented Japan from being scored more than one, with all three Japanese defeats were just one-goal margin. In 2001, Kawaguchi was Japan's first-choice goalkeeper as the team finished runner-up in the Confederations Cup.

Captain (2004–2006)

Kawaguchi is a noted penalty stopper, making two saves in the shootout against Jordan in the 2004 Asian Cup quarter-final and also saving from Croatia's Darijo Srna in the 2006 World Cup. During the 2007 Asian Cup he was instrumental in Japan's quarter-final win against Australia making two saves from Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill in the penalty shootout, thus making him the Man of the Match.

In August 2006, it was revealed that he would wear the captain's armband, as new Japan manager Ivica Osim believed that former captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto was not getting enough playing time at his domestic club, Gamba Osaka.

Marginal role (2008–2010)

Kawaguchi is his country's most-capped goalkeeper and overall third most-capped player with 116 caps for Japan, six behind second-placed Masami Ihara with 122 caps, but an injury in 2008 had since sidelined him from action.^[6] Long-time rival Seigo Narazaki had since been playing as first-choice keeper for Japan.

A broken leg sustained in a J1 League clash against Kyoto Sanga appeared to have sidelined him for the rest of the season, thus ruling him out of the 2010 World Cup. However, after making a full and quick recovery, Japanese head coach Takeshi Okada decided to include him in the final squad announced on 10 May 2010. Kawaguchi was one of two Japanese players (the other being Seigo Narazaki) to be named for their national team's fourth consecutive World Cup. Despite his period of inactivity, and having fallen to third in the pecking order, Okada selected him in the hope that his leadership and experience would aid the team's progress. Kawaguchi was appointed captain of the national team during team training on 21 May 2010.^[7]

Kawaguchi was not picked to play for the national team under coach Alberto Zaccheroni, and with youngster Eiji Kawashima impressing in Japan's 2011 Asian Cup success, Kawaguchi's international career was effectively over.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[8]^[9]
Club	Season	League			National Cup^[a]		League Cup^[b]		Continental		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Yokohama F. Marinos^[c]	1994	J1 League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	1995	J1 League	41	0	2	0	—		—		43	0
	1996	J1 League	15	0	0	0	13	0	—		28	0
	1997	J1 League	22	0	2	0	0	0	—		24	0
	1998	J1 League	34	0	1	0	0	0	—		35	0
	1999	J1 League	28	0	2	0	6	0	—		36	0
	2000	J1 League	28	0	3	0	5	0	—		36	0
	2001	J1 League	25	0	0	0	7	0	—		32	0
	Total		193	0	10	0	31	0	0	0	234	0
Portsmouth	2001–02	First Division	11	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	0
	2002–03	First Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	2003–04	Premier League	0	0	—		—		—		0	0
	Total		12	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	13	0
Júbilo Iwata	2005	J1 League	29	0	3	0	1	0	1	0	34	0
	2006	J1 League	34	0	1	0	3	0	—		38	0
	2007	J1 League	32	0	1	0	3	0	—		36	0
	2008	J1 League	33	0	0	0	1	0	—		34	0
	2009	J1 League	26	0	0	0	4	0	—		30	0
	2010	J1 League	17	0	1	0	4	0	—		22	0
	2011	J1 League	34	0	1	0	3	0	—		38	0
	2012	J1 League	2	0	1	0	0	0	—		3	0
	2013	J1 League	21	0	1	0	1	0	—		23	0
	Total		228	0	9	0	20	0	1	0	258	0
Gifu	2014	J2 League	37	0	0	0	—		—		37	0
	2015	J2 League	6	0	0	0	—		—		6	0
	Total		43	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	43	0
Sagamihara	2016	J3 League	19	0	0	0	—		—		19	0
	2017	J3 League	18	0	—		—		—		18	0
	2018	J3 League	6	0	—		—		—		6	0
	Total		43	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	43	0
Career total			519	0	20	0	51	0	1	0	591	0