Soul of the team, skipper, leader – there are many ways to name a captain in football. Nonetheless, I found the Japanese way to be a bit more romantic: “Shushō” (主将). The most common use of the term refers to a prime minister, or to a commander-in-chief, but isn’t a captain in football, especially in a national team playing the FIFA World Cup, kinda that?
In their FIFA World Cup participations, Japan had just four captains over seven tournaments – and while Wataru Endo will be the fifth, we would be blind not to look at the previous ones. What makes them special? How did they end up leading the Samurai Blue in the first place? What kind of legacy did they cement in Japanese football after leaving the national team? And we have to start with the first one, who was the captain for just one tournament.
At France ’98, of course, the responsibility lied on the shoulders of Masami Ihara. Among the profiles we’re gonna talk about in this column, he’s probably the one you don’t know about. But Ihara has been part of the Japanese football development, being the face of the rise of football within the country. And he’s been around even after leaving the national team, so we have to start with this “Shushō”.
The Story
We’re not just talking about a national team captain, but of a club legend. Born in 1967 in Koga City, Shiga Prefecture – not exactly the most famous place when it comes to Japanese football –, Ihara started playing the sport in the 70s, when Japanese football was a long way from having any professional resemblance. He attended Moriyama High School and enrolled on Tsukuba University, and to think he wasn’t even playing as a defender.
Yeah, because that’s a proposal that happened when he joined Tsukuba Soccer Club: someone pitched him to switch from forward to defender. Ihara himself told the story to a podcast with former midfielder Keita Suzuki: “I was playing with Junji Koizumi when I joined Marinos. He went for a moment to the toilet. When he came back, he found me playing in his position, and it went well. If he didn’t go to the toilet, who knows if I would have switched to defender…”.
Furthermore, he shared that moment with Masashi Nakayama – he was also a centre-back before being converted into a forward. They even worked part-time at the same place! Incredible stuff. Several clubs came forward in 1990 to sign him, but he decided to join Nissan Motors, which would have become Yokohama Marinos a few years later.
He was Rookie of the Year (even defeating Kazu Miura for that), contributed to Marinos winning three cups, and he was even invited to play in Brazil by the Marinos head coach Oscar, who was leaving Japan. Ihara stayed put and became the captain of Marinos, winning a J1 title in 1995. Ihara played for Marinos until 1999, before finishing his career with two stints at Júbilo Iwata and Urawa Red Diamonds.
The Personality
Ihara was often known as an impenetrable defender, calm and steady in protecting the squad from enemy lines. He was also pretty correct: he rarely picked up yellow cards in his career, despite engaging in some fierce battles against opponents. And even in tough times – like the “Joy of Johor Bahru”, the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying play-off between Japan and Iran –, the no. 4 was defined as a key player for the national team.
Takashi Mizunuma, the TV commentator who wrote about that on “Number Web”, said: “If I had to name a key player throughout the qualifiers, I still believe it was Masami Ihara. […] Ihara often gives off a cool impression because he plays with little change in expression, but he’s more of a fighter type. He didn’t receive many yellow cards, but he was a nasty defender who played aggressively when no one was looking.”
Even Yuki Abe, one of the great holding midfielders in Japanese football history, quoted Ihara as a role model to follow in his younger days: “When I was a kid, I liked Ihara. Everyone else liked attacking players, but I thought the defenders were great. What I thought was amazing about Ihara was his side changes. He would kick the ball in a straight line with a liner. I wanted to be able to kick like that too, so I practised a lot.”
The Role in the NT
It’s not an accident if they called Ihara the “Asian Wall”. Ihara started playing for Japan in 1988, when he was called up despite still being involved with the Tsukuba University – something that would be almost impossible today. He featured in three AFC Asian Cups, the first three Japan ever played, winning the 1992 edition hosted by Japan. He suffered the “Agony of Doha”, he featured in the first Confederations Cup for Japan, and even played at the 1999 Copa América.
Ihara was so impactful that he played 122 games with the Samurai Blue in the span of just 12 years. He was as well the man who scored against England at the old Wembley in a friendly game from 1995. When Tetsuji Hashiritani – the previous captain for the national team – decided to retire from the national team, back-then head coach Shu Kamo had no doubts: Ihara was going to be the next skipper for the Samurai Blue.
From there, Ihara acted as a captain from 1995 to 1999. His form was declining, but new head coach Philippe Troussier made him part of the squad travelling to Paraguay. Japan lost the first two matches, and then Ihara was sent off in the final one against Bolivia. He was supposed to come back to play again for the national team, but he wasn’t called up by Troussier, who quoted his suspension due to the red card as the reason. In reality, that red card against Bolivia was his final act as a Japanese national team member.
The Tournament
Despite being the designated captain for France ’98, Ihara even had a say in the choice of players. When Okada left home, both Kazu Miura and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa, the coach asked the captain about it: “I was very sad for them. I even tried to visit them in their rooms, but they were already gone. I remember talking with Masashi (Nakayama) and thinking about what to do next. But there was only one possible answer: I needed to stand up and lead the group”.
And to think that… Ihara almost missed that tournament. Right after head coach Takeshi Okada announced the squad, the defender was diagnosed with a medial collateral ligament injury. It could have been the end, but after painkillers and some rest, the training went as expected, and Ihara could take part in the tournament. Ihara remembers vividly the feeling of stepping out on the pitch as captain for the first-ever FIFA World Cup match for his country.
“I got goosebumps, and my tear ducts welled up. Rather than nervousness, I felt a sense of fulfilment, and I was able to fit smoothly into the game”. In the end, as witnessed in our Substack newsletter “Pitch-Term Memory”, Japan did put up a decent fight against Argentina in Toulouse, but lost 1-0. Ihara was also the captain in the other two matches, losses against Croatia and Jamaica, but it was still a major milestone for the Samurai Blue.
The Legacy
Once he stepped out of the Japanese national team and retired, Ihara became a commentator for the NHK, an ambassador for the Japan Football Association, and a visiting professor at the Biwako Seikei Sports University. He was a popular figure in commercials and started coaching as well in 2006. He’s been mostly known for his four-year tenure at Avispa Fukuoka, and the occasional appearances as head coach of Kashiwa Reysol, where he was a part of the staff for a long time.
His legacy is cemented on the fact that he was both in the J.League 20th Anniversary and 30th Anniversary Team. Who knows if he’ll make it for the 40th Anniversary Team, but in the meantime, he’s been elected for the “J. League Best Eleven” five times, plus awarded the “Asian Player of the Year” in 1995. A clever, tactical-aware, and sharp defender who wrote a lot of pages in the history books of Japanese football.
To this day, Masami Ihara is still the fourth-most-capped player for the national team (behind Yasuhito Endo, Yuto Nagatomo, and Maya Yoshida), and he still fondly remembers the joy of having been the first captain ever for Japan at the FIFA World Cup: “Being chosen was a real honour. I’m sure each of us is thinking about what the best way to behave is for us. It’s difficult to lead a group of strong personalities, but every player who has served as captain after me has been truly suited for the role.”
Well, that’s a start of another FIFA World Cup column for our coverage of the tournament. “Shushō” will be back on Spotify for three more episodes, and you can find our channel here.
