The Miracle Man

Many of our readers probably knew which side we actually tipped to win the 2019 season of J3 League. It wasn’t neither of the two relegated teams nor a sleeping giant of the tier: we thought Thespakusatsu Gunma would have rose after coming fifth in 2018. They kept the same manager, they had a bigger roster and most of all they had an incredible campaign of empowerment on the forwards department.

Just look at the names they brought in: Masao Tsuji, wonder-legend of J3 and favorite of the fans at YSCC Yokohama; Junya Kato, interesting winger from Gainare Tottori; Shota Aoki, who shone at Azul Claro Numazu; Shunta Nakamura, on loan from Montedio Yamagata. All of this was added after keeping Shohei Okada as a no. 9, even by selling Shunta Takahashi to Kataller Toyama. Tetsuya Okubo and Ryuichi Hiroshige retired.

There was another signing, but… I mean, young Yuya Takazawa would have probably just served the purpose of rotation, you know. The kid is a class ’97, coming out from Ryutsu Keizai University. Who started as the fourth-fifth striker of the team became instead the MVP of the season in an incredible turn of events. Manager Keiichiro Nuno probably didn’t expect it himself either.

Rising up

Takazawa, though, wasn’t a new name at this level. Attending Ryutsu Keizai University means also you can play in JFL, which the striker did for three seasons. He didn’t play too many matches – he didn’t go further than 14 in a season –, but he scored two, four and four goals. He put a seed in some scouts, even featuring in the short run of RKU in the 2018 Emperor’s Cup, where they knocked-out Grulla Morioka.

So Thespa were the first to catch him and initially Takazawa wasn’t tipped to play that much. More expert players were ready for the task of bringing the club back to J2 after a disastrous year in 2017. The management failed massively fans and even the league probably, with Gunma falling to J3 like a person on a waterslide. All of this despite producing talents like Ataru Esaka and Yusuke Segawa.

As we said, Takazawa started as a reserve. He featured in eight of the first nine matches of this J3 season, but at the same time he played all of them coming from the bench. And for a pure coincidence, Gunma won only two of the first nine matches, even losing at home against Vanraure Hachinohe and away against Cerezo Osaka. The expert players didn’t seem to be enough to keep the pace.

Meanwhile, the youngster showed himself as much as he could. He served an assist in a 2-1 home win against SC Sagamihara, but it wasn’t enough to convince Nuno to field him from the start. After starting for the first time in J3 against Fujieda MYFC and deciding an Emperor’s Cup match against Tokyo University with a goal of his own – the first in pro-world –, he became a fixed started for Gunma.

An absolute beast

In the other 19 games where he featured for Thespa – despite a small injury kept him away for a month (and Gunma won just one of those six games) –, Takazawa was a blast. From June 1stto October 5th, the no. 17 started 100% of the 16 games, scoring 15 goals: Thespa won 12 games, losing just once in Kumamoto and collecting 39 points. A massive step ahead, probably the essential one to win promotion.

Not only Takazawa scored a lot, but he was fundamental to seal the victory in some key-matches. He scored the winning goal against Azul Claro Numazu, Kamatamare Sanuki and YSCC Yokohama, without forgetting an absurd brace in injury time against Nagano Parceiro. On that day, Gunma grabbed a first hold of the top of the table, which though the club wasn’t able to keep in their hands.

After he came back from his injury, Takazawa was again fundamental to clinch nine points in the last three games, the ones Thespa needed to end this purgatory in J3. Not only that, because Takazawa scored the two goals sealing victory both at home against Iwate Grulla Morioka – again, in the last 10 minutes of the match! – and away at Fukushima United, where a penalty by him closed the deal for a 2-1 win.

We don’t know if Yuya Takazawa is going to stay in Gunma. We think many clubs are looking out for him, but certainly we are in front of an absolute beast. The hope is that we’re witnessing a case like Leonardo faced with Gainare Tottori and his move to Albirex Niigata: maybe he’ll be as striking in J2 as he was in J3, with Gunma or not.