Player Profile – Yoshikatsu ‘Yoshi’ Kawaguchi

Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi was born on August 15, 1975, Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecuture. He is sometimes referred as ‘Yoshi Kawaguchi’.

He is a goalkeeper and a member of the Japanese national football team and has captained the Japanese national team in the past.

He studied at Shimizu Commercial High School and was a member of the football team there. After finishing high school, he joined the professional football team Yokohama Marinos (now known as Yokohama F. Marinos). He was called up to the Japanese national team and played in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games.

Following impressive performances for both club and country, he moved to English club Portsmouth F.C. However, he struggled to adapt to life in the English Football League and was rather unfairly made the scapegoat after Portsmouth lost 4-1 at home to Leyton Orient in the FA cup on his debut. It turned out that the club was more interested in Kawaguchi as a marketing ploy, and were not all that eager to give him opportunities to play

He soon moved on to Nordsjælland of the Danish league.

Prior to the 2005 Japanese football season, Kawaguchi returned to his home country when he signed with perennial title-contenders Júbilo Iwata.

Returning home should give the shot-stopper a chance to reclaim the spotlight and perhaps capture the national team starting spot once again.