China international Li Lei joined the Swiss Premier League Grasshoppers, which is a good news in this cold winter of Chinese football. Judging from his big show dewen in the video, Li Lei's transfer this time should be brewing for a long time. However, Li Lei is not the only Asian player in the Grasshoppers.
Japan international Jun Kawabe, who joined from Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the summer of 2021, has become the team's main force, is there any hope that he and Li Lei will meet as club teammates in the Round of 12 in January?
The core of Hiroshima
Born in Hiroshima, Kawabe was influenced by his elder brother and has been involved in football since the age of 4. In 2008, at the age of 13, he joined the Hiroshima Three Arrows Echelon.
In the six years since, he has improved the fastest in the Hiroshima echelon, helping the team achieve two consecutive Gao Yuangong Cup (U18 League) titles in 2011 and 2012, and was promoted to the first team in 2013, and was selected for the big list in the second round of the AFC Champions League group stage in the same year against Beijing Guoan.
In 2014, he signed a professional contract with Hiroshima and in October of the same year, he represented the Japanese U19 team in that year's U19 Asian Cup.
It is worth mentioning that in the first round of the group stage, that is, Wei Shihao's second victory over Japan, Kawabe Jun made his debut as the starting back.
The young players inevitably suffered from loan, and before the start of the 2015 season, Japanese football star Hiroshi called him to his coaching Iwata Joy. He spent a total of 3 years with Iwata Joy, during which time his technical abilities improved.
From the second half of the 2015 season, he secured the team's main position and helped Iwata to upgrade back to the J1 League at the end of that season.
The 2016 season was a pivotal year for Kawabe, as in August, when Iwata's midfield core Yuki Kobayashi left the team, Kawabe's position was even earlier, advancing from the back to the front and performing happily. In 2017, veteran Shunsuke Nakamura joined Iwata, and at the side of the set-piece master, Kawabe can be said to have benefited a lot.
Nakamura spoke highly of him, saying bluntly: "If Jun Kawabe can play at a normal level, I am not surprised that he is selected for the Japanese team." At the end of the season, Kawabe was named to the U23 All-N Team in the J-League and decided to return to Hiroshima.
Returning to Hiroshima's career has not been smooth sailing, and since the beginning of the 2018 season, he has been placed in the right wing forward position by then-manager Fukuhiro Shiro, which is very different from the position he has played in the past, and because of this, Kawabe Jun's performance this season has not been as expected, and he has gradually become a substitute.
In one season, although I played 33 league games, 2/3 of the games were substitutes. This season' results in Hiroshima have been erratic, and his position on the field has been constantly changing.
But after the start of the 2019 season, everything became different, with coach Seong Fukuhiro fixing it in the position of central defender, And Kawabe returning to the familiar position, and the ability was suddenly stimulated.
After that, he played all the games for Hiroshima for two consecutive seasons, and also put on the team's no. 8 shirt of the famous Kazema Yahiro, and became the new ace of Hiroshima Sanjuma in just over a year.
The match against Tosu Sandstone ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics was a farewell match for Kawabe on behalf of Hiroshima, after which he decided to move to the Swiss Super League's Grasshoppers.
Grasshoppers take off
Jun Kawabe has played almost every position in the midfield, but he is best at the back. Later in Hiroshima, he partnered with Toshihiro Aoyama and became a key link in the team's 4-2-3-1 system. However, he can adapt to the characteristics of multiple positions in this way, which has benefited him a lot after joining the Grasshoppers.
Team coach Contini has given him a number of positions over the past half season, from the back to the full-back to the front, which can be said to have been tried.
After the time entered December, Contini chose to fix Kawabe's position in the front and exert his offensive talents as much as possible, scoring 2 goals in the last 3 league games, which has a lot to do with the premise of the position.
Kawabe's body is not very strong, but his ability to fight is not bad. He is a player who plays with wisdom on the field, as the hub of the team's offensive and defensive conversion, Kawabe jun is good at grasping the timing, or attacking, or defending, and can hold it just right.
Passing is his forte, and he is always able to spot the opponent's defensive area and pass threatening balls to his teammates. In addition, his shooting ability, long-range shooting, in front of the goal to grab points are what he is good at.
In the 14th round of the Swiss Super League 2-3 defeat to Severt, Jun Kawabe scored a long-range shot that became the focus of discussion in the Swiss media after the game. And just last weekend's round of 18.
Jun Kawabe broke through Basel's goal again, helping the team take away one point away from home, this time with a back-plugged goal.
It can be said that the performance is very good. This goal mode also proves from the side that Jun Kawabe is a player who does not hesitate to run physically on the field and actively participates in the attack.
However, does Jun Kawabe have the opportunity to compete with Li Lei at the national team level? This depends on the choice of Japanese coach Mori Hoichi, the current Japanese midfielder Endo's main position is not moving, Tanaka Bi and Hidemasa Morita's position is also very stable.
Jun Kawabe has not had many opportunities at present, he has only participated in 2 round of 40 matches, against Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, these 2 games are very meaningful, but Kawabe jun still seized the opportunity to score his debut goal of the national team against Tajikistan.
After the start of the round of 12, he was not called up for the time being. However, with the current excellent state of Jun Kawabe, he may not be without the possibility of being selected for the big list.