FUKUSHIMA, Japan – Kazuyoshi Miura set his sights on his first J-League appearance in five years after the 58-year-old trained for the first time with his new third-division club Fukushima United on Saturday.
“I’ll look to keep this refreshed mindset. I’ll have serious preparation to play in matches and give all I have in front of the people of Fukushima,” Miura said after a two-hour training session, where the ground was partially covered in snow.
The veteran’s last J-League appearance came in 2021 in the top-tier J1 with Yokohama FC, from whom the veteran has since been loaned out to Atletico Suzuka in the fourth-tier Japan Football League, as well as Oliveirense in the Portuguese second division.
“I thought the only way to return to the J-League was by winning promotion (with Suzuka) when I received the offer. As one would expect, my desire to play in the J-League grew,” Miura, joining Fukushima on a six-month loan from Yokohama FC, told Friday’s press conference.
“The passion gets bigger the more I play. I’m turning 59 in February, but I feel it’s more than before.”
Japan’s second-highest goal scorer with 55 goals in 89 games, behind only the late Kunishige Kamamoto, acknowledged the tough challenge ahead but said he remains as zealous as ever about the sport he played a major role in taking root in the country.
“I think it’d be really hard to play at a level higher than the JFL,” said Miura, the MVP award winner in the J-League’s inaugural season in 1993 while at Verdy Kawasaki, now Tokyo Verdy, whose controversial omission from Japan’s 1998 World Cup squad divides opinions to this day.
“(But) I’m harboring an even bigger hope that the team would bring the best out of me, and I’m also hopeful of myself developing, playing in games and helping the team win.”
Miura, who last scored in 2022 with two goals for Suzuka, went without a goal last campaign in seven JFL appearances. While not specific in numbers, he is after tangible results in his 41st professional season.
“I want to get a goal or an assist. I’d like to run up the left flank and send in a good cross,” said Miura, who made his professional debut with Brazilian club Santos in 1986 and became the first Japanese player in Italy’s Serie A with Genoa in the 1994-1995 season.
“I had lots of injuries last season and was only involved for a really short period in games. I honestly wondered whether I could meet expectations (after the Fukushima offer), but felt my physical condition was better after my month-long training camp.”
One of Miura’s iconic goals came during a charity match for the J-League selection side against the Japan national team in March 2011, held in the aftermath of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan and triggered the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
“People from the affected region enjoyed that goal, and I was grateful to receive many messages saying they were heartened,” Miura said. “It turned out to be a memorable, unforgettable goal, and it’d be great if I could share a new goal with people of Fukushima again.”
