Today is a fast-paced era, especially in the metropolis, people are walking in a hurry every day, so busy that they forget the existence of time. 66 days, for people there is so much to go and play with. On December 19, 2021, at the New National Stadium in Tokyo, Tomoaki Makino, who made his last appearance for Urawa, scored a dramatic header in the final stage of the match to help the team win the Emperor's Cup. After scoring the goal, he celebrated wildly, ending his 10-year Career in Urawa.
On February 23, 66 days later, at the familiar Saitama 2002 World Cup stadium, Tomoaki Makino, who was already wearing a Kobe jersey, shocked urawa fans with his head again. He was still celebrating wildly after the goal, but when the game blew at the end of the game, he chose to go to the sidelines to thank the fans who had supported him for the past 10 years. Life is like a play, and a play is like life. Tomoaki Makino, as a court "drama master", every minute of his game is worth looking forward to, even if he already has multiple identities, but the most difficult thing to give up is still football.
Old friends see each other, and their eyes are extremely red
Perhaps, when Tomoaki Makino scored a deadside goal against Oita 66 days ago, he did not expect that he would return to the Saitama World Cup stadium as an opponent so soon. Urawa let go of the brilliant local veteran because he wanted to choose to rebuild, while Tomoaki Makino chose the Kobe Victory Ship, which is unique in Japanese football and has a very generous boss. Coupled with Kobe's need to deal with the need for the next concentrated AFC Champions League, this midweek tournament is actually the ninth round of the game ahead of schedule. In this way, by the coincidence of fate, Makino tomoaki returned to Urawa in a very dramatic way and gave a big gift to the old owner.
There is a Chinese saying that "enemies are extremely red when they meet each other", but the old friends and the deceased can also be red-eyed when they meet. However, the redness of the eyes at this time was brought about by the tears that were strongly held back.
Tomoaki Makino is not a person who likes to cry in public, but he cried last time he played at the Saitama World Cup as a Urawa player last year. He said goodbye to the fans who had always supported him with a short speech. Although there have been joys, controversies, losses, and helplessness in the past 10 years, he has persevered. From a young defender who failed in the Bundesliga, he grew into the best local defender in the Japanese league and became a standing player of the Japanese national team.
After The Peace of The Great, Makino chose to celebrate. Fans who know him well don't blame him, but instead say, "It's worth it." "Because everyone knows that if you don't celebrate after scoring a goal, you will no longer be Tomoaki Makino. The passionate celebration after the goal is not only the respect of the new owner fans, but also an oath to the old club - after all, this is the field where every goal must be fought. Therefore, on the evening of the 23rd, the messages we saw on the players' social media were overwhelmingly the blessings and feelings of the fans. For example, the fan in the picture below left a message saying: "As a Urawa fan, I have mixed feelings when I see you score, but from the perspective of a Makino Tomoaki fan, this is really a super wonderful and handsome goal." At the end, you can come to the stage and say hello to everyone, so happy. "This bond between the players and the fans is irreplaceable and irreplaceable.
In the opening game of this season's J-League, Kobe lost away to Nagoya. Tomoaki Makino, who made his debut at the new club, was placed by coach Junhiro Miura in an unfamiliar position – right-back. This game was also his 400th appearance in the J-League, which was quite memorable. In the official pictures produced by the Kobe Club, the picture of him celebrating with passion on behalf of Urawa is very eye-catching. It can be seen that everyone knows what Urawa means to him.
Multiple identities, moving towards the future
In May this year, Makino will turn 35 years old. There is no doubt that this age has reached the end of their careers for professional players, even if the Japanese league is a veteran's paradise. After deciding to leave Urawa, the player briefly thought about retiring, but eventually his wife Takanashi's words led him to decide to stay on the beloved court. However, the identity and title of Tomoaki Makino are now far from being a "professional player". YouTube bloggers, entertainers, operators... No matter how much he is defined, he cannot be overstated. In the Japanese sports world, if you want to say that there are both powerful and topical and entertaining characters, I am afraid that only the first person who has always been known for being funny, and now serving as the coach of The Hokkaido Japanese Ham, the self-proclaimed "BIG BOSS", can make Makino Tomoaki Gan bow down.
It is worth mentioning that before leaving Urawa last year, Makino tomoaki said at the last press conference: "I think my next goal is to become a coach and then come back here." Just like Coach Shinjo, he can make a splash in baseball, because a lot of people go to the stadium to watch the game and go to him. And in football, I also want fans to come to the stadium because they want to see a coach. I want to be the one to come back here later. ”
At present, it is very popular to shoot YouTube videos and share your own bits and pieces in Japan. As the trend king of the stadium, Tomoaki Makino will not be absent. He has been working as a YouTube blogger for more than a year, and the number of fans is not very large, only 62,700, and the number of video views is also more or less, but he has always insisted on sharing his content with fans. There are old friends Suzuki Keita talking about the new season, there are also kobe fans to say hello, there are more conversations with J League Chairman Murai Man, and even cross-border golf. Of course, the most played video is the farewell video to Urawa.
Interestingly, Tomoaki Makino is also a contract artist under the large-scale firm Horipro, which owns Haruka Ayase, Kyoko Fukada, Rimi Ishihara, Kenichi Matsuyama, and Ryohei Suzuki, among many of Japan's powerful actors and artists. With the help of the firm, Makino designs perfumes, brands, and shows some variety shows on weekdays, and last year he started making music across borders. In addition to the above, Makino tomoaki also invests in some companies and projects, and actively expands his business scope.
However, for this powerful defender, his favorite is his professional player status, if he has no attachment to the stadium, he can choose to retire. On the pitch he is a "drama master", and his every move off the pitch is enough to "attract attention", but supporting him all the way to become a first-line player in Japan is ultimately a love for football and a day-to-day effort off the pitch. As he himself said, one day in the future, he will eventually return to Urawa in another capacity, back to that familiar place.
Text/Supine Braces - Yangyuan Zhang