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Melbourne Victory marquee star Keisuke Honda isn’t feeling pressure, but wants to overcome the challenges of Australian football, heading into Saturday’s A-League debut.
The classy Japanese international is one of the best-quality imports in recent times to hit Australia.
He will be pitched straight into the cauldron of a derby match against Melbourne City at Marvel Stadium, where he played for Japan against Australia two years ago in a World Cup qualifier.
‘We’re getting better as a team and still we need to fix some issues as a team,” Honda said at Monday’s A-League season launch in Sydney.
Having played almost 100 times for his country and for clubs in Japan, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia and Mexico, the versatile 32-year-old attacker is no stranger to high expectations.
“I’ve got used to this pressure many times, in the national team, in Italy and in Russia. I made people disappointed and also I’ve made people happy,” Honda said on Monday.
‘I don’t have any magic. I just have to do my best every day, not only training, eating, sleeping … and communicate with the team.
“I know what I should do for improvement so I shouldn’t feel pressure.
Honda has some inkling of what to expect from the A-League having played a number of internationals against Australia.
“Obviously, I haven’t seen a lot of (A-League) games so far, but I know how the Australian team is strong physically,” Honda said.
“Especially, we were struggling when we played against Australia, so I’m really excited how to overcome Australian soccer this year.”
Honda has followed compatriots Shinji Ono and Kazuyoshi Miura, who had A-League stints with Western Sydney and Sydney respectively.
He compared the A-League to Japan’s J-League as developing competitions, attracting more quality players from established football strongholds like Europe and South America.
“We learn a lot of things from them. I think the same thing is happening in the A-League,” Honda said.
“So I must put my experience as much as I can in this season, so hope I affect the next generations.”
Honda feels comfortable in his new environment but has quickly discovered Australia is one country where the world’s most-popular sport sits lower in the pecking order.
“Aussie football and rugby, I’ve never seen many sports so popular and soccer is not top,” he said.
“But I think soccer is getting famous every year. It’s like the US, so I think it’s very important to watch A-League now.”
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