Japan Soccer Legend Homare Sawa gets Married

Those of you who've ever watched the women's soccer team "Nadeshiko Japan" play ought to know Homare Sawa, that versatile midfielder who scored that deadly goal that stunned all Americans "that day" in 2011. That goal marked a painful turning point in the history of US women's soccer. Sawa had played in the States for some time and won plenty of respect and friends among the Americans.

Now, Homare Sawa is getting married, so reported her home team INAC Kobe, August 11. The lucky guy is, according to Sawa, a "commoner" in his thirties, her intimate friend over a decade. "We sort of started talking about marriage early this year and here we are!" confided Sawa. She said her husband understands "every fiber" of hers and hopes to create together with him a home full of joys.

Japan's women's soccer has evolved with and around Homare Sawa all these years and there is no doubt that her presence itself is the history of women's soccer in Japan. Sawa began kicking the ball at age 6 and had hardly turned a second-grader in Fuchu, Tokyo, when she begged her mother to let her join a local boys' soccer club with her brother. The team rejected her on account of her being a girl, but her mother had her way of convincing the manager that "she would do". What's astounding is that in the very first game she was handpicked to play she scored a goal. That made a headline in local papers and ever since then Sawa was no longer a girl.

So, that's the kind of girl she was in her teens and now she is quietly fading into a "normal life".

The All Japan "Nadeshiko" goes on kicking the ball with or without Homare Sawa. And yet, her departure would certainly make "some" difference in the style of play by her younger teammates most of whom have learned to kick the ball in the image of Homare Sawa. Well, Sawa will probably leave the field but still remain neck deep in the culture of women's soccer in Japan. Junior footballers have a good chance of having a woman head coach by the name of Homare Sawa soon enough. But then, a silent rumor has it that there still is a slight possibility she stays on to boost the morale of her junior teammates.