A light in the dark

Lukas Podolski. Rakuten. Andrés Iniesta. Hiroshi Mikitani and his company on Barcelona’s and Golden State Warriors’ shirts. David Villa. Sergi Samper. And you might have also to add more stars and names in the near future for Vissel Kobe, but this won’t change the fact that turmoil is in full action at Noevir Stadium.

In one of the darkest times for Kansai soccer – Gamba Osaka aren’t exactly shining (though they showed some glimpses of great football) and Cerezo Osaka… are mildly surviving, without a real perspective on future –, Vissel Kobe were supposed to represent the winning project of the area for the 2019 season. And things might still change, but let’s just say that Japanese football real followers had a point. And that point is showing in all of its reality.

Names don’t buy you success. This is not Chinese football, which is somehow way more shapeable with a certain market transfer campaign (e.g. Guangzhou Evergrande). And money can’t buy a winning culture, especially if you have an impatient owner and your best result in your J1 history is a seventh place (with a manager you forced out for projects already abandoned).

So… what’s left for Vissel Kobe? You would say a lot, since money are still there, the Spanish colony is still there (I smell a third Podolski-stint in Cologne after this Summer…) and other players might come into the picture. But the best news is actually coming from a player unknown to most followers until 18 months ago. And now he could (and should) be in the conversation to have a chance with Japan national team.

That player is Kyogo Furuhashi.

Surprise, surprise

Born in 1995 in the city of Ikoma (in Nara Prefecture), Furuhashi attended Chuo University before coming into pro-world. FC Gifu chose him to represent the squad in J2 League for 2017 season. His rise in his rookie season has been slow, but steady. The manager at FC Gifu, Takeshi Oki, launched him into the starting XI, but without putting too much pressure on him.

Furuhashi had the chance of improving his skills in a quiet environment, despite that particular season hasn’t been the easiest for the club, just surviving in J2. While FC Gifu came 18th on the table, he formed – alongside Hiroaki Namba and Paulo Junichi Tanaka – a good trio on the forwards’ line, managing six goals and nine assists. With his work-rate and speedy pace, he was a perfect fit as a left winger.

All of this changed a little in 2018, when FC Gifu had to say goodbye to both Sisinio and Yoshihiro Shoji, two great sources of plays for the club and the metronomes of the midfield. With the Spaniard going to Tokushima and Shoji moving to Sendai (only to sign on loan and then stay in Kyoto for 2019 season), Oki had to rely on someone else to bring creativity to FC Gifu’s offensive schemes.

And that’s where Furuhashi came into play, polishing his game from a raw start to a definitive jump in quality. The first months of his sophomore season were excellent, even pushing FC Gifu way ahead in the table, linking the club to the thought of a quiet season, away from relegation zone. That didn’t happen in the end (FC Gifu had to fight to stay in J2) but the bright start put Furuhashi on the spotlight.

Despite the slump which hit the club mid-season, the winger scored 11 goals and Gifu were on 7th place after a streak of six consecutive games with a goal for Furuhashi. Then, someone understood how this talent might be already good for a J1 gig.

A star in a (complex) galaxy

When Vissel Kobe opted to buy Furuhashi in August 2018, I was a little perplexed. I was asking myself why the class ’95 should have left Gifu, given the shape he was in and the confused status of Vissel. Yes, there was excitement due to the arrival of Iniesta and the hiring of Lillo, while the club was 5th at that time… but the Rakuten galaxy seemed a complex structure to fit in.

Instead, Furuhashi needed only two games to score the first goal with Vissel Kobe. While Andrés Iniesta also scored his first goal with the club, Furuhashi put his mark on the 2-0, good enough to close the deal against Jubilo Iwata. From then, the season of Vissel partially collapsed, with the squad closing only 11th on the table.

But the real news was the form of Furuhashi with the new shirt.

While Lillo’s army didn’t deliver, the striker shone, scoring five keague goals in half a season. The same amount of Lukas Podolski and Wellington, just a goal behind the squad’s top-scorer, that Hirotaka Mita always mistreated (did you already forgot he had to change his number twice in seven months?). In the end, Furuhashi has been one of the few silver linings of a terrible season.

This hasn’t changed in 2019: while Vissel are struggling – they have five defeats on a row, they changed already their manager and there are winds of chaos within the locker –, Furuhashi showed up for the job. He has been involved in seven of the 14 goals realized until now, with three goals and four assists. Actually, he seems the only player who could live up to the fading greatness of champions such Iniesta and Villa.

Should he stay or should he go?

All of this, though, opens a question: should Furuhashi take the leap and try to look out for a European move?

I’d say ending this season is important for him. Despite Vissel Kobe have already dismantled the (small) hype generated in pre-season more quickly than I thought possible, the no. 16 is one of the few players capable of changing things for the club. Staying would grant him also the possibility to take as much notion as possible from Villa and Iniesta (you don’t have such chance every day).

At the end of 2019, you might argue it’d be a good time to try such move. If you think about it, even if Copa América wouldn’t see him involved, Japan will play EAFF Asian Cup in December and surely Furuhashi might be among the names called up for that competition. On the long wave of performances with Vissel, that surely has to be a chance: I don’t think Moriyasu is unaware of his displays at the Noevir Stadium.

So, let’s hope for the best for him. Furuhashi is among the many offensive players J. League is capable to produce and deliver all over the world, but his fast rise to the top – 18 months ago he just ended his rookie season in Gifu – is admirable and we should root for him. Even if he’s part of one of the wackiest projects I’ve ever seen happening in J. League in recent times.