Former Japan national football team player Yoichiro Kakitani appeared on the popular variety show "Shikujiri Sensei: Don't Be Like Me!!" (TV Asahi) which aired on May 22nd. He revealed numerous stories of mistakes he made because of his genius.
Kakitani started playing soccer at the age of four and signed a professional contract with Cerezo Osaka, a leading club in Osaka, at the youngest age ever of 16. At the time, he was quite conceited, thinking, "Is there anyone in this world who is better at soccer than me? I'm invincible!"
In contrast to Kakitani, who lost playing time due to his playing style of "not caring about winning or losing," "not listening to the coach," and "skipping physical training," his teammate Shinji Kagawa, who joined the team as a high school student, won the league's top scorer title. He has been outstanding, becoming the first player born in the Heisei era to be selected for the Japanese national team at the age of 19, and has quickly pulled ahead of Kakitani.
Kakitani became disillusioned, saying, "Even if I practice diligently, Kagawa will still play in the matches..." and began oversleeping and being late repeatedly. He recalled, "Sleeping in two or three times was normal. At most, I slept in seven or eight times." The fine for the first time being late was 10,000 yen, but that doubled over, and he once had to pay a maximum of 800,000 yen for oversleeping. Furthermore, he said that he became addicted to pachinko and medal games at arcades, and that he himself felt that his contract could be terminated at any time.
Amidst all this, Kakitani was given the opportunity to play in a match for the first time in a while, and he scored two goals, contributing to the victory. That night, he swore to himself that he would never be late again, but the next morning he overslept again. The staff, whose patience had run out, told him, "You shouldn't be on this team. Get out," and he packed his belongings in his locker and transferred to Tokushima Vortis in J2. Meanwhile, Kagawa transferred to the prestigious German team Borussia Dortmund and became a superstar. Kakitani says that at the time he intentionally avoided watching Kagawa's success.
Having completely changed his mindset at his new club, Tokushima Vortis, Kakitani evolved into a player who fights with all his might for the team, and returned to Cerezo Osaka after about three years. Since then, he has won the J.League Best Goal Award and has also been selected for the Japanese national football team for the FIFA World Cup, where he played alongside Kagawa. Kakitani recalled, "I felt like I had finally caught up to (Kagawa), and that I could stand shoulder to shoulder with him."
