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Kennedy to stand tall in J-League competition

Roar Guru
1st July, 2009
9
Australia's Joshua Kennedy celebrates with team-mate David Carney - AAP Image/Joe Castro

Australia's Joshua Kennedy celebrates with team-mate David Carney - AAP Image/Joe Castro

It’s an interesting time for Japanese football and, as a football lover, I’m glad to be in the country. On Monday night, as I headed towards the terminal to catch my flight out of Australia, I was greeted by two tall but rather recognisable figures.

They were Australian basketball player Jacinta Hamilton and her partner, Socceroo Joshua Kennedy.

Along with their two young children, they were embarking on a journey to start their new life in Nagoya.

Speaking to the couple after we arrived at Narita I got a real sense that they felt like they were walking into the unknown. Hesitantly, the word ‘adventure’ was used.

It’s something I can understand.

I love Japan and it’s a true joy to be able to spend some more time in the country but, even if I was to live here for the next twenty years I doubt I’d feel truly at home.

It’s a sentiment that every non-Japanese who’s lived here that I know agrees with. For a westerner, there is probably no more foreign a country then Nippon.

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So on a personal level, it could be a difficult time for Kennedy and his family (just ask Nicky Carle what it’s like bringing up a family in a foreign country), but on the pitch, it could be difficult for Jesus as well.

Since the lanky forward signed with Nagoya, I’ve read comments from some quarters of the Australian football community that he’ll just keep ‘banging the goals in’ as he has been for the Socceroos recently.

But I’m not so sure.

While the Japanese population might not be the tallest one on average, there are still some monster centre-backs playing in the J-League. When Tulio Tanka fires up, he makes Socceroo captain Lucas Neill look like a catalogue model.

In Japan, Kennedy’s game on the deck will also be challenged, and it’s going to be interesting to see how he works with incumbent striker Davi, who is leading the J1 scoring charts.

The game at large in Japan is also going through a delicate time.

No sooner had I set foot in Tokyo, FIFA released it’s latest international rankings and knocked Japan down a peg (or nine) to 40th while Australia skyrocketed to a record sixteenth.

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Despite a couple close results, J-League teams are far ahead of their Australian counterparts. Off the field, by all criteria, the J-League is still running superior to the A-League, as well.

Clearly this isn’t news and it’s a perfectly reasonable state of affairs considering the difference in age between the two leagues, Japan’s co-hosting of the 2002 World Cup, and the sheer size of Japan’s domestic economy.

Now, like most people, I don’t put too much stock into these FIFA rankings, but it’s made me wonder what makes Australia capable of being ‘superior’ internationally when our national league (the foundation of any national team) is still trailing behind Japan?

The answer can be found in the J-League’s financial strength.

Coupled with historical social issues within Japan and the still expanding profile of the country as a football nation, the money on offer in Japan enables clubs to keep local players at home for longer.

While this money helps keep most of the best players at home, it also draws in the best foreign players in the region. The J-League is home to Asia’s best attacking Brazilian players as well as a number of Korean internationals.

Time and time again, foreigners, most of whom are Brazilians, make up the top ten list of goal scorers in both J1 and 2 (currently there are only three locals in the top ten of the first division).

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Historically in Japan local forwards have been pushed out for glamour players and the Japanese national team’s attacking stocks have suffered for it. By signing Kennedy, Nagoya are simply following recent tradition.

There is hope on the horizon for Japan with the likes of young forwards Yuya Osaka from Kashima and Urawa’s Genki Haraguchi. But they are hardly sure things.

While the simple answer is for J-League teams to stop importing so many Brazilian forwards, that’s hardly likely. So, paradoxically the J-League’s financial strength is partially holding the national team back.

This challenge facing Japanese football seems to be a direct opposite of that in Australia.

While Australian footballers leave for Europe in droves, Japan’s stay at home. So Japan’s domestic league prospers while Australia’s national team strengthens, thanks to Socceroos gaining invaluable experience playing at a higher level then is offered at home.

By moving to Japan instead of returning home, Joshua Kennedy’s move has brought things even clearer into focus for both countries.

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