47 years old Legendary Striker "Gon" Nakayama Ready to Return After 3 years
Retired previous Japanese national footballer, Masashi Nakayama prepared himself for return 3 years after his retiring. He joined the training of Azul Claro Numazu who belongs to Japan Football League (JFL) which is fourth-level of Japanese Football League club on Saturday. The 47-year-old legendary striker is ready to be back in the game.
Nakayama, who holds the record of top-flight J-league 1 goals of 157 goals. He has scored Japan's first-ever World Cup goal in a 2-1 thrashing to Jamaica amid the country's competition debut in France 1998. He has retirement at the end of 2012 season in Cansadole Sapporo at the age of 45 due to his knee injuries to both of knees.
"There's no open opportunity like this to train my players with such a great player. He has full of motivation and desire to play even though he is a lot older than all of my players. I believe that my players can learn a lot from the veteran as the influence of his existence is huge. It will bring a great effect towards the whole team." Yoshida, the head coach of the club said on press interviews.
The club is based in Shizuoka prefecture and now the club is seeking for promotion spot to J3 for the next season. Shizuoka is Nakayama's native prefecture and football is extremely popular in this area.
Nakayama is known as "Gon" by Japanese football fans, Nakayama joined Jubilo Iwata back in 1990 and was a piece of a brilliant time in which the Shizuoka-based club won the J. Class title three times.
Nakayama won the J. Class Player of the Year in 1998, has been the Golden Boot victor twice and named in the alliance's "Best Eleven" group four times. The two-time World Cup striker left Jubilo in 2009 and joined Consadole Sapporo in J2 in 2010, showing up with the club back in J1 in 2012 preceding hanging up his boot
He is the man with great spirit loved by all Japanese. The return of the legend means a lot for many Japanese. Playing football professionally is almost impossible at the age of 50. He is challenging his limit and he never stop giving us courage and inspiration. All the best to him as many fans are waiting to see him again shining in the stadium.