The J.League is becoming full of potential young stars who have struggled to shine in Europe and now they are back in the country. The list is becoming startling long – Shion Homma, a favorite of ours, didn’t manage to find a spot at Club Brugge. Hiroki Abe is another name who suddenly disappeared from our radar and now he’s at Urawa Red Diamonds, where you can find also Shoya Nakajima. Or Ryotaro Meshino, who turned into a no. 8 after trying Europe.
That’s why some of them might actually opt to stay, even if they would have the technical skills to make it in Europe – we can discuss the level (some Japanese players picked Poland or the Scandinavian countries as a first hurdle). There are kids who have actually a good standing about their strengths and know what they want. One of them is now featuring at Shimizu S-Pulse.
He’s so rational that the club started a column about him analyzing his plays in depth: “At first, I was just reviewing the matches, or talking about football overseas, without the intention on turning into something public. Then I thought – why not? When I was in junior high school, I always watched many matches – for example, I watched a lot of Manchester City’s games because of David Silva”.
As revealed to footballista, Kai Matsuzaki is a brainy player, someone who likes to analyze games through the scope. But his football looks very spontaneous, and his career seemed stagnated at a certain point. The winger, though, proved he can be in the top-flight of Japanese football, and he’s helping Shimizu S-Pulse to find their way into the J1 League in their first campaign back.
The Most Known Commodity in Japanese Football
Offensive players – specifically wingers, offensive midfielders, and good central midfielders – are what Japan can produce best. The national team is so stacked that their B-team could probably have a shot at winning the Asian Cup, at least from the holding midfielders onwards. And that makes no exception for the J.League, where many talents have been flourished in the championship.
Born in 1997, Matsuzaki made no difference. Originally from Saitama Prefecture, the young no. 10 blossomed at Toyo University after some time spent in the Omiya Ardija youth ranks. Flown under the radar, Matsuzaki signed for Mito HollyHock in 2020, where Tadahiro Akiba was already shaping his rollercoaster rides, with a fun brand of football and many youngsters or loanees.
Matsuzaki had a first quiet year, playing a lot, but not shining yet. The sophomore season was the one where he completely stole the show – eight goals in 41 matches, and Mito HollyHock easily in the mid-table, far away from relegation fears. Matsuzaki reminded me a lot of Koji Miyoshi – both lefties playing on the right side of the pitch, almost same hair, and a speedy pace to burn defenses down.
It seemed like it was going a question of “when” – not “if” – a J1 giant would have signed him. And that’s where Urawa Red Diamonds intervened, with head coach Ricardo Rodriguez liking a lot what he saw. Matsuzaki signed for the Saitama-bound club, with the idea of conquering the next step. Little did he know about the problems he was going to face.
The Struggles
The Spanish head coach initially trusted Matsuzaki – fielding him already in the Japanese Super Cup, won against Kawasaki Frontale, and giving him serious time on the pitch in the J1 League. Actually, the winger even scored on his second-ever J1 game against Vissel Kobe, but that wasn’t enough in the long run. Matsuzaki had less and less time on the pitch, closing with just 11 matches in J1.
Things didn’t change when Urawa Reds let Rodriguez go to replace him with Maciej Skorza, who gave just 129 minutes to Matsuzaki, preferring other players. It was time to try a different setting – and that’s when Reds decided to loan the winger to Vegalta Sendai, a giant, but back in J2. Unfortunately, also that stint didn’t work out so well for the young winger.
Sendai were having a dreadful season, the first one back in J2 after a long time. And it showed, with Matsuzaki playing way more (11 games), but not showing at all the flashes seen at Mito HollyHock. Were we talking about a lost cause? In three years between Saitama and Sendai, he barely played more league minutes that his whole rookie season at Mito. He needed to look back, to an old friend.
That’s why Matsuzaki picked Shimizu S-Pulse as the next step. S-Pulse just lost the play-off final against Tokyo Verdy in a dreadful way, but they were going to keep their head coach. By accident, that coach was the same who initiated Matsuzaki to pro-football: Tadahiro Akiba. Who had a blast of a squad last season, but he clearly felt Matsuzaki could bring something to the table.
Finding Your Spot
It wasn’t a loan – Matsuzaki was going to leaver Urawa Reds for good. His words were clear when presented to the fans in Shizuoka: “I’ll do my best to help the club being promoted back to J1. Personally, I’d like to play in a way in which I can excite the supporters, wanting to be there for every match. I look forward to this experience”. And boy if Matsuzaki kept his word.
We’re not talking about the “messiah mode”-seasons we’ve seen in J2 in recent years from Shion Homma or Ryotaro Ito, but it was definitely comfy to have Matsuzaki in your roster. He didn’t start that much – actually, he entered a lot of matches from the bench (18 out of 26) –, but he gave that spark needed in certain games. He won a tough game away at JEF by himself, and then injuries played a part.
But the winger must have learned from his first J1 experience. When S-Pulse got promoted easily to J1, several players left – Carlinhos Junior went to JEF United Chiba, Ryohei Shirasaki left for good to join Machida Zelvia, and historic wunderkind Kenta Nishizawa departed for Sagan Tosu. Also Lucas Braga wasn’t retained and he went back to Brazil. With not so many arrivals, who was going to step it up?
Matsuzaki did – he started already more league matches this year than the whole 2024. He’s doing particularly well at Nihondaira – where all his four goals came in crucial relegation games against Albirex Niigata, Shonan Bellmare, and Avispa Fukuoka. Even in the recent win at home against Vissel Kobe, he didn’t score, but he provided two assists, seemingly feeding off the crowd’s excitement he was hoping to see at the stadium.
He’s second for league goals and first in league assists in the roster, he’s co-existing with a legend like Takashi Inui, and S-Pulse are (for now) easily out of the drop zone. At 27 years old, Matsuzaki seems finally to have found his place.
