Kenta Hasegawa

Football player infobox| playername= Kenta Hasegawa
fullname = Kenta Hasegawa
nickname =


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1965|9|25
cityofbirth = Shimizu, Shizuoka
countryofbirth = Japan
height = height|m=1.77
currentclub =
position = Forward
youthyears = 1981-1984
1984-1988
youthclubs = Shimizu Higashi High School
University of Tsukuba
years = 1988-1991
1991-1999
clubs = Nissan Motors
Shimizu S-Pulse
caps(goals) = 033 00(9)
207 0(45)
nationalyears = 1989-1995
nationalteam = Japan
nationalcaps(goals) = 027 00(4)
manageryears = 2005-
managerclubs = Shimizu S-Pulsenihongo|Kenta Hasegawa|長谷川 健太|Hasegawa Kenta|born September 25, 1965 in Shimizu, Shizuoka is a former Japanese international football player. He was a right-footed forward. He currently manages J. League side Shimizu S-Pulse.

Playing career

Club

He was educated at and played for Shimizu Higashi High School. He won the national high school championship with his teammates including Katsumi Oenoki and Takumi Horiike. He continued his study and football at University of Tsukuba where he won the Kanto University League title in 1987.

After graduating from the university in 1988, he joined Japan Soccer League side Nissan Motor F.C. (current Yokohama F. Marinos). He contributed to the club winning the Emperor's Cup twice in 1988 and 1989. When Japan's first-ever professional league J. League started, Shimizu S-Pulse was founded in his local city. He joined the club in 1992 and re-united with his high school teammates Oenoki and Horiike. He helped the club to win the J. League Cup in 1996. He retired as a Shimizu player after the club won the second stage of the J. League 1999 season. He played 207 league matches and scored 45 league goals in 7 seasons at Shimizu.

International

He was capped 27 times and scored 4 goals for the Japanese national team between 1989 and 1995. His first international appearance came on January 20, 1989 in a friendly against Iran in Teheran. He scored for the first time for his country on June 11, 1989 in a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Indonesia at Nishigaoka Soccer Stadium in Tokyo. He was a member of the Japan squad who participated in the AFC final qualifying stage for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. In the crucial last match, Hasegawa was substituted in the 59th minute by Masahiro Fukuda and watched from the bench a late Iraqi equaliser dashed Japan's hope to qualify for the finals in the U.S.A.

Managerial career

After retiring from the game, he started working as a pundit for national television NHK. He was also installed as the general manager of two university clubs, Hamamatsu University S.C. and Fuji Tokoha University F.C. (2000-2001). He became the manager of Hamamatsu University S.C. and lead them to win the Tokai University League title and the Shizuoka Prefectual qualification for the Emperor's Cup. He acquired the S-class coaching license that was required to manage a J. League club in 2004 and became the manager of his old club S-Pulse in 2005. The club struggled and narrowly escaped relegation in the 2005 season but they fought back strongly in the 2006 season and finished 4th in the league; a position equaled in 2007. [ [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sj20070303g5.html Shimizu S-Pulse | The Japan Times Online ] ]

In popular culture

In popular manga and anime series "Chibi Maruko-chan", a boy called Kenta kun occasionally makes an appearance. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0882758/ Chibi Maruko-chan (2006) (TV) ] ] He loves football and is a classmate of title character Chibi Maruko. Momoko Sakura, the author of the manga, created this character after Hasegawa. Sakura and Hasegawa attended the same primary school during the same period.

References