One-of-a-Kind

Early June 2019. Hajime Moriyasu has been clear: Japan accepted the invitation towards the Copa América in Brazil, but they can’t afford to call the main squad for a tournament where the Samurai Blue are just an invitee. Moriyasu opts then for an almost completely U-23 side, with just Eiji Kawashima and Shinji Okazaki as the “senators” and Gaku Shibasaki completing the three over-aged players involved.

Japan played the FIFA World Cup 12 months earlier, and the AFC Asian Cup in January 2019. The players need rest, so onto the U-24. 16 out of the 23 players never played a minute with the national team, while three more have less than 10 caps. The names are interesting: Shoya Nakajima, Keisuke Osako, Tomoki Iwata, Daiki Sugioka, Hiroki Abe, and also Takefusa Kubo.

Moriyasu took a chance anywhere: there were players from abroad, a J2 player (Kota Watanabe, back then with Tokyo Verdy), and he even called two university kids. One of them is Ayase Ueda, who was attending the Hosei University and was about to debut for Kashima Antlers (as reminded in this piece, the young striker will miss a decent amount of chances, attracting many doubts about his progress. Time is funny, uh?).

The other player from the university actually won’t see the pitch. Keisuke Osako plays the first match (a 4-0 loss against Chile), Eiji Kawashima is between the posts for the other two. But the third keeper is a shy kid who just signed for Oita Trinita from Waseda University that year, although he featured just in the J.League Cup. Four years later, Ryosuke Kojima has become a hot commodity in the keepers’ market of Japanese football.

University struggles, Japanese successes

Like many, Kojima – born in 1997, in the Aichi Prefecture – fell in love with football because of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Kojima’s father was into basketball, and the young Ryosuke played baseball, but the latter option would have become available later in Kojima’s life. So he opted for soccer. Initially, Ryosuke played in the field, but then he was recommended to switch between the posts.

Kojima was associated with Nagoya Grampus and their youth ranks, and even briefly hoped to join the first team, but he decided instead to enrol at the Waseda University. He felt the dedication of the participants to the program, and he wanted to improve. Incredibly, he couldn’t take the starting spot right away, since Masaaki Goto – today at Montedio Yamagata – was the no. 1 at that time.

Kojima took it as a hint to improve his game, and he made some splash – indeed, he was called to play first the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship (won by Japan with him between the posts), then to the 2017 U-20 FIFA World Cup (where Japan reached the Round of 16). He also won the 2017 Universiade football tournament, so Kojima had an excellent resume with the national team, but less flashy with the university.

Back at the time, Kojima clearly defined his goals: “I’d love to play a World Cup as a starter. It’d be nice to be at the Tokyo Olympics since Japan is hosting, and I want to do my best to get a call from the national team”. Unfortunately, that short-term goal will be missed by Kojima, who will go through a strange career in his first phase – starting from signing for Oita Trinita in 2019.

From the Kyushu to the mountains

As mentioned Kojima got called for both the 2019 Copa América and the 2019 EAFF E-1 Asian Cup but never got the chance to play. Oita Trinita made the same choice in the end: with the Kyushu-bound side, Kojima couldn’t find some pitch time, since Katanosaka’s game plan heavily relied on Shun Takagi’s form and ability to play with his feet to build up the play from behind.

Kojima featured with Oita just twice in J.League Cup, then William Popp took his back-up spot, and Trinita decided to let him go on loan to gain experience. Albirex Niigata were chosen as the spot for his rebirth, but the first two years were a rollercoaster (both for the player and the club). Albirex had a big amount of talent between the posts – with Koto Abe (class ’97) and Kazuki Fujita (class 2001!) as options.

Albert Puig just joined the club and opted to use Kojima as a starting option, then switched to Fujita (who was maybe too young at the time and made several mistakes), then picked Koto Abe for 2021 before leaving the dugout for FC Tokyo. When Rikizo Matsuhashi became the head coach, he did two things: he pushed for transforming Kojima’s two years-loan into a permanent deal and gifted him the starting spot once it for all.

Not only did Matshuhashi turn Albirex into a fun team to watch, but gave some stability to the defence. And Kojima was part of it, keeping 18 clean sheets in J2 and playing all 42 games from a Champions campaign. It’s not an accident if Kojima ended up in the “Best XI” of the 2022 J2 League, with certain expectations for him and Albirex for the return to J1 after six years.

“Dura Rex, sed (Albi)rex”

Once the squad revolved around, Kojima proved his value in J1: another 10 clean sheets (33,3% of the 30 games in which he featured), only 34 goals allowed, which is an excellent record for a side that came tenth in the end. It’s not an accident if there were already some rumours around Kojima linked to Urawa Red Diamonds, who recently lost Zion Suzuki and a succession plan for Shusaku Nishikawa.

Even on Transfermarkt, from Jan. 1st 2023, Kojima is the only keeper alongside Keisuke Osako from Sanfrecce Hiroshima to have seen his market value grow (from 250k to 550k). A rise of 83% for a guy who looks up to Gianluigi Buffon as a model and had the chance to train with a goalkeeping legend like Seigo Narazaki in Nagoya: “I remember him training with me while recovering from injury. A great human being, he encouraged me to give my 110%”.

And beyond Niigata, his dream of defending Japan’s posts is still open. After Shuichi Gonda at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Keisuke Osako seems the starting goalkeeper, but the field is pretty open for experiments at the moment. And Kojima finally got a call-up for the national team: when Daiya Maekawa was injured in October, Moriyasu called him for two friendlies, although he didn’t debut. 

Kojima already renewed his contract with Albirex for 2024: “I think this is a good place to continue my development. Supporters are always there, and I want to fight for them. The club can go even higher”. Although it’ll be important to keep the pieces together – Takahiro Ko already left for FC Tokyo -, keeping the no. 1 is a good start. Kojima looks like a solid piece for the Japanese national team soon.