August 5, 2020, was another record-breaking day for Miura. In the second round of the Japan League Cup, Yokohama FC beat Tosu Shayan 1-0 away, while he started for 62 minutes as captain and nearly scored with a header in the first half. At the age of 53 years, 5 months and 10 days, Miura became the oldest player to play in the Japan United Cup.
The record for the oldest appearance before the Japan League belongs to another veteran international, Seio Tsuchiya, who set a record of 42 years and 10 months old when he played for Wind Forest Kofu in 2017. I just didn't expect that Miura Chira brushed so "fiercely" this time, directly raising the record by more than 10 years.
In fact, the day before the match, the media already knew in advance that Miura would start in this match against Tosu to set a record, but hoped that he could break the oldest appearance of Seio Tsuchiya and the goal record. Unfortunately, Miura did not seize the opportunity. In the 30th minute of the first half, he received a cross from his teammate on the right inside the penalty area and headed the goal, but was unfortunately held by Tosu goalkeeper Tatsumi Morita.
In the 62nd minute of the game, Yokohama once again crossed from the right, Miura Chiryo wrapped up the ball slightly higher, and his teammates behind him could not top the part. Miura got up looking rather regretful, and when he looked at the bench, Japanese Olympic age-appropriate center Kazumi Kazunari, who was 30 years younger than himself, was ready to play, and Miura knew his task for this game and it was over.
In the 63rd minute, Miura was replaced by Kazunari Kazumi, and after coming off the field, he looked very happy and greeted all his teammates. In addition to setting a new record, this has been his first single appearance for more than 60 minutes in 3 years. And after the final team won the game, the 53-year-old uncle smiled even brighter.
Although the Japanese League Cup is considered to be a gap between the level and the J League, due to its cup nature, most of the time it will become a stage for young people to train. That is to say, playing in the Japan League Cup actually requires a certain amount of exercise, after all, young players can run well. Therefore, being able to play more than 60 minutes in such intensity is definitely not an easy and celebratory thing for the 53-year-old Miura Chiryo.
Of course, another layer of significance of this game has to do with China. Just on the morning of the game, news came from the Japanese side that Chinese defender Wang Jiannan, who joined Tosu this season, will usher in his official debut in Japan.
Wang Jiannan debuted in the Youth Training System of Henan Jianye and entered the first team of Henan Jianye in 2011. He joined Guangzhou R&F in the 2015 season and became R&F's main right-back in the 2016 season. Unfortunately, in April 2016, in the fifth round of the Chinese Super League against SIPG, Wang Jiannan was injured by Conca and was eventually diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. After the injury, Wang Jiannan was unable to gain a foothold in the team again, leaving only a record of 20 times in the middle and beyond. At the beginning of this year, Wang Jiannan went to Japan for trial training, and was officially joined by Tosu Sandstone coach Jin Minghui.
Wang Jianan was born in 1993, that year is the first year of the Japanese J-League, and the current Chinese women's football coach Jia Xiuquan plays for Gamba Osaka in the J-League, and Jia Xiuquan, who made 25 appearances, became one of the best central defenders in the Japanese Professional League that year, and was selected as the All-Star team of the All-Japan Professional League. Wang Jiannan's debut is also the second time in 27 years that Chinese players have represented the J1 team in the official competition in Japan.
With multiple main players this season and the club wanting to train new players, Shayan Tosu's main right-back this season is 23-year-old Ryuya Morishita, who scored in the last round and was selected for the Best Team. However, because Wang Jiannan performed well in training and warm-up matches, and had several assists, he was given a rotational start in the Sun Union Cup after the epidemic.
However, Wang Jiannan's debut can be said to be quite unsmooth. Just 16 seconds into the opening, he was knocked down by 53-year-old Chiryo Miura with a tackle from the back of the side as he burst forward with the ball at the back.
In the following games, Wang Jiannan pressed on the right side more frequently, and his teammates had no barrier with him, sending the ball to his right side many times. Wang Jiannan also had 2-3 more reliable crosses, and even had an ultra-long-range right foot instep over the top long pass, but unfortunately his teammates were offside in the penalty area.
However everything changed in the 32nd minute of the game. Yokohama FC attacked on the left side, Wang Jiannan injured his foot during a 1/2 goal fight with Ann Yong Lingyang, and his leg was suspected of being pinned. Although he returned to the court after treatment, he was replaced by Nobuya Nakano due to injury in the 36th minute. Just before being replaced, Wang Jiannan and Miura Zhiliang also had an indirect battle of wits and courage. At that time, Miura Chiryo withdrew from the front line to take the ball and wanted to split the side, Wang Jiannan returned to the defense and fell to the ground to shovel, miura Chiryo passed the ball out of bounds. After this ball was out of bounds, Wang Canaan was replaced, ending his debut in Japan.
In the 36-minute competition between Wang Jiannan and Miura Chira, the attack and defense were decent. However, this confrontation has actually spanned 20 years. The last time Miura played against a Chinese player in an official match dates back to the Kirin Cup on March 15, 2000. [Of course, this is according to my statistics, if there is something wrong, you can give me a message in the background to correct, thank you]
At that time, trucifer's Japanese team faced the Chinese team that Milu had just taken over, and Trussier led the team to recall Miura Chira, who had been abandoned by Takeshi Okada before the 1998 World Cup. In this Kirin Cup match with china, Trussier deliberately recalled the three major players who stayed in the west in Serie A, Hidetoshi Nakata, Nabaho and Akiji Shiro in La Liga.
The two sides played quite fiercely and openly in the game, and the Japanese team had three excellent chances to be defused by the national goalkeeper Ezzu, especially Ezu who saved a close-range header from Mochizuki Shigeyoshi. Japanese goalkeeper Masatsuru Kajizaki also defused the threat of attacks including Fan Zhiyi, Su Maozhen and others.
Just as the game entered the 85th minute, Trussier, who was unable to open the situation for a long time, called Miura Chiryo on the bench to warm up. In the 88th minute of the match, when he kicked the ball out of bounds with Nawa Hiroshi on Li Ming, the 33-year-old Miura replaced Akira Shiro and continued to partner with Masashi Nakayama.
Miura obviously took the command after playing, and the first time he took the ball, he forced the national football right-back Chen Gang. In that game, Chen Gang was the main right-back Xie Feng in the second half, and many fans may remember that Chen Gang, who was the captain of the relegation team Qingdao Manatee, was selected for the national team of Milu was quite controversial.
That breakthrough was unsuccessful, and Miura swept the ball out of the bottom line. He then quickly ran to the outside of the field to pick up the ball and placed it in front of the national football goal, signaling Jiang Jin to hurry up and drive out in front of the goal. In the only few minutes that followed, Miura had been suppressing Chen Gang from the left side of the front.
In the 47th minute of stoppage time, Nakata Hidetoshi shifted widely out of the left side of the sideline, miura Chiryo ran outside the boundary again to pick up the ball and wanted to throw it to Chen Gang, but the Qingdao captain did not directly receive the ball, but let the ball bounce away. Miura was quite dissatisfied with this and shouted to the referee, but the time was delayed for a few seconds, and the referee finally blew the end of the game whistle.
Miura Chiryo was reluctant to go to his teammates, Nakata Hidetoshi shook his head vigorously, Naba Hiroshi, who had returned from a long journey, even gasped for breath after the game, while The newcomers Toshisuke Nakamura and Junichi Inamoto, who only entered the Japanese national team in February 2000, were confused, which showed the difficulty of the game.
However, Miura Chiryo was still a big brother after the game, he first communicated with his old partner Masashi Nakayama, and then kept patting Hidetoshi Nakata on the shoulder when he left the game, which also flattered the Japanese genius who was only 23 years old at the time.
Now, 20 years later, Chinese players are once again competing with Miura Chira. But 20 years of things are not human, at least then, the national football team can still fight against Japan.
How nostalgic.