Kuala Lumpur: The path to the 2017 AFC Champions League Final for both Al Hilal and Urawa Red Diamonds has been punctuated by outstanding team performances with several key players rising to the fore. For Japan’s Urawa, we focus on playmaker Yosuke Kashiwagi.
Read our profile of Al Hilal and Syria striker Omar Khribin HERE.
In 2015 Yosuke Kashiwagi and Urawa Red Diamonds finished bottom of their group in the AFC Champions League, only mustering a solitary win on the final matchday after their fate had long since been decided.
The following season the Saitama side were back in the competition and dealt another intimidating group, being drawn alongside Sydney FC, Pohang Steelers, and reigning champions Guangzhou Evergrande – who had recently smashed the Asian transfer record by signing Colombian international Jackson Martinez from Atletico Madrid.
Most players would have been ruing their bad luck in such circumstances, but not Kashiwagi, who held no fear of his upcoming opponents – and in fact had a frank admission to make.
“To be honest I don’t know who that player is, although I hear he’s very good,” the Hyogo native said ahead of Urawa’s reunion against Guangzhou, who they had also clashed with in 2013.
“Last time, too, they had many good foreign players in attack but we beat them at home. Anyway, I don’t personally have to concern myself with those kinds of players; that’s for the defenders to worry about. For my part I’ll just focus on contributing to the team going forwards.”
That claim, offered with a characteristically cheeky grin, was typical of Kashiwagi, who had developed into one of the J.League’s most stylish performers since making his debut a decade earlier. However, such self-assuredness hadn’t always come so easily.
Born in Kobe in 1987, Kashiwagi impressed as a youngster and was scouted by Sanfrecce Hiroshima at 16. A slight player with a wand of a left foot, he started as an attack-minded midfielder before being converted to a deeper lying role and establishing himself as a regular in the youth team. He made his first team debut as a raw 17-year-old in a League Cup match in 2005, before being promoted to the top team squad the following season.
So far so good, but Kashiwagi’s progression was not to continue quite so smoothly and his first start for the club was one to forget as he was substituted before half time in a 2-1 League Cup defeat in March 2006. The youngster headed straight to the changing rooms in tears after that humbling, describing himself as ‘useless’.
The following few months passed without even a spot on the bench, but Kashiwagi’s career received the trigger it needed when Mihailo ‘Misha’ Petrovic arrived as manager that summer.
The former Sturm Graz midfielder took an instant liking to the technically gifted playmaker lurking on the fringes of his squad, and in just his second game in charge the Serbian handed him his league debut as a second half substitute.
The trust of the new man in charge worked wonders for Kashiwagi’s confidence – Misha described him as “Hiroshima’s Diamond” – and the youngster went on to make 17 appearances over the remainder of the campaign as well as starring for Japan as they finished as runners-up to DPR Korea at the AFC Youth Championship 2006.
Kashiwagi scored his side’s equaliser with his third goal of the competition in the final – which Japan ultimately lost on penalties – before playing in every game at the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup, converting Japan’s last penalty of another shoot-out defeat as they were eliminated by the Czech Republic in the Round of 16.
There was to be heartache with his club in 2007 as well as Sanfrecce were relegated, but despite offers from several top tier sides Kashiwagi resolved to stay in Hiroshima and helped them romp to the second division title in 2008.
It was in 2009 that he truly announced himself as a top level talent though, missing just one game as Sanfrecce soared up J1 to finish fourth and secure a spot in the following season’s AFC Champions League.
The 22-year-old wouldn’t be joining the Purple Archers on their maiden continental adventure, however, as he signed for Urawa ahead of the 2010 campaign.
Kashiwagi was an ever-present and found the net four times in the league in a steady first year in Saitama – earning himself a place in the Japan squad at the AFC Asian Cup 2011, where he made one appearance (the 5-0 group stage drubbing of Saudi Arabia) as the Samurai Blue became champions – but after Volker Finke was replaced by Zeljko Petrovic at Urawa in 2011 things took a turn for the worse at club level.
Reds suffered a stunning dip in form under the Macedonian, and with two games left to play there was still a very real danger of the 2007 AFC Champions League winners being relegated.
Kashiwagi wasn’t about to spend another 12 months playing in the second division though, and he scored the eqauliser in a vital 2-1 win on the penultimate weekend of the season that all-but confirmed the side would avoid the drop.
The next year Kashiwagi was reunited with his former mentor from Hiroshima, as Misha took the reins from his namesake and joined his erstwhile prodigy in becoming a Red Diamond.
Once again Kashiwagi blossomed under the tutelage of a coach who trusted in and encouraged his creative instincts, and Reds’ resurgence began in earnest as they rose back up the table and into the AFC Champions League for the first time since their semi-final defeat to Gamba Osaka in 2008. Kashiwagi was on hand with a vital goal again, registering in a 2-0 win on the final day of the season to rubber-stamp participation in Asia’s premier competition.
Urawa narrowly failed to get out of the group stage that time around, going out by way of their head-to-head record against two-time champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, but Kashiwagi adapted well – scoring his first goal in the competition and also playing a key role in the aforementioned victory over Guangzhou.
“From the very beginning I enjoyed the ACL,” he said earlier this year. “I always want to appear in the competition, and having that desire enables me to adapt and makes things easier. I think that is all tied up with this year’s positive results.”
The 29-year-old has certainly grown into the tournament, and while the 2015 campaign ended in disappointment Urawa progressed to the knockout round in 2016 – going toe-to-toe with Martinez and Evergrande en route, as Kashiwagi had forecasted, with a 2-2 draw in Guangzhou and 1-0 win in Saitama.
There was more penalty shoot-out pain in the Round of 16 though, as they were edged 7-6 by FC Seoul after a 3-3 aggregate draw, but that set-back only served to embolden the side coming into this year’s edition.
Group stage winners, a pair of sensational comebacks in the Round of 16 against Jeju United and quarter-finals over Kawasaki Frontale, and a controlled, professional triumph in the semi-final against Shanghai SIPG have delivered Urawa and Kashiwagi to the verge of greatness.
The team’s No.10 has played a pivotal role with one goal and five assists so far – his strike in Shanghai and the corner for Rafael Silva’s header in Saitama accounting for both Reds’ efforts in the 2-1 aggregate win over SIPG – and now the jewel in Urawa’s crown has the chance to shine on the biggest stage of all.
“We always try to play with enjoyment and with smiles on our faces when the big games come around, but maybe sometimes it would actually be better for us to let the mood drop a little and embrace that feeling of tension,” he has said of Reds’ recent near misses when it comes to securing the biggest trophies.
“Of course, winning by playing good football is the absolute ideal, but if you don’t win then it doesn’t mean anything,”
Urawa have done both this season; scoring the most goals in the competition and beating every team they have faced. With Kashiwagi pulling the strings they are now just one step away from the promised land.
Photos: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com