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Keisuke Honda is the monster the A-League needs

19th October, 2018
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19th October, 2018
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I keep having this dream – or perhaps it’s a recurring nightmare – of a bleach-blonde behemoth wheeling away to celebrate in front of a bunch of stunned away fans.

The A-League won’t quite know what has hit it once Keisuke Honda runs out at Marvel Stadium tomorrow night.

Whatever your expectations of the Japanese superstar, he’s likely to confound them.

We’ve seen it already in his interviews. There’s a myth that Asian players can’t speak English, but Honda has set about improving his language skills like he does everything else – with a stubborn single-mindedness bordering on obsession.

What else would you expect from a player whose travels have taken him to countries as disparate as the Netherlands, Russia, the heights of Serie A in Italy, then to Mexico?

Honda has always been different. A talented high school footballer who played with future Japan international Yohei Toyoda, he was overlooked by a Gamba Osaka youth team intent on pursuing his close friend Akihiro Ienaga instead.

It’s a snub that always seemed to fuel Honda.

And his first goal as a professional for Nagoya Grampus while still a fresh-faced 18-year-old was a precursor of things to come, as he skipped past a defender on the goal line before charging into the box and smashing a left-foot piledriver past a startled keeper.

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It’s the sort of strike anyone who has followed Honda’s career has seen time and time again.

And it’s the sort of goal Aussie fans should get used to seeing this season, because Honda will take to the A-League like a proverbial duck to water.

This isn’t some timid, temperamental artist trembling in the face of a foreign culture.

Keisuke Honda celebrates after scoring a goal

Keisuke Honda is now a Melbourne Victory player. (Photo by Kaz Photography/Getty Images)

This is a battering ram of a player I once watched trample over the top of a smaller opponent who had earlier had the temerity to try and tackle him.

The highlight reel from Honda’s stint with Mexican side Pachuca alone demonstrates exactly what Melbourne Victory’s opponents are in for.

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And having lost Besart Berisha to Japanese football, Victory officials deserve plaudits for replacing him with a player who will become just as much of a talisman.

That said, anyone who thinks Honda has been signed specifically to bring Japanese fans through the gates doesn’t quite understand the market.

Honda might be a Samurai Blue legend, but there aren’t necessarily thousands of Melbourne-based Japanese football lovers lurking in the shadows.

And if there were, they’d be more likely to turn up at a solitary training session than buy a season ticket.

More instructive is the fact that Honda boasts more than half-a-million followers on Instagram alone. His hilarious “Who Wants To Be An Australian” video has been viewed more than 300,000 times.

And when he tweets, his 643,000 Twitter followers across the globe pay attention.

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This is a guy who puts plenty of thought into his use of social media.

You want metrics? Honda generates them.

And we shouldn’t be put off by his involvement with the Cambodian national team either. Once again, this is an individual who can open doors for the A-League.

But the best part of Honda’s move to Australia is well and truly yet to come.

Keisuke Honda of Japan celebrates after scoring

Keisuke Honda is exactly the type of player the A-League needs. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)

Because he will be one of the best players A-League fans have ever seen. He’ll score long-range thunderbolts. He’ll smash home free-kicks. He’ll flatten opponents.

He’ll celebrate every goal with his teammates as if it was the championship winner, then give wonderful post-game interviews on Fox Sports in his idiosyncratic English.

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Then he’ll back up and do it all again the following weekend.

Not since Alessandro Del Piero has a player of such singular talent graced our shores.

Like a larger-than-life Godzilla, Keisuke Honda is the monster the A-League needs.

So grab the remote and get ready to be blown away. The finest Japanese player of his generation is about to be unleashed.

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