In collaboration with Goal, Voetbalzone regularly highlights young players who can go far in the future or who are already earning their spurs in (inter)national top football. This time, the focus is on 19-year-old attacking midfielder Ryotaro Araki, who aims to become the second teenager in Japan’s J1 League history to score at least 10 league goals in a single season.
Japanese football always thrives when a very exceptional talent emerges to build a team around. (Former) football players such as Hidetoshi Nakata and Keisuke Honda are examples from the past, while Takefusa Kubo is currently the eye-catcher of the national football team. Despite his mixed first years in LaLiga, the Real Madrid forward’s performance at the 2020 Olympics domestically offered a glimpse of what the 20-year-old Japanese has to offer the national team over the next decade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eenlfoBY1o
There is a chance that Kubo will not have to carry the national team alone in the future. Someone who is also seen as a future star of Japan is 19-year-old Ryotaro Araki. The attacking midfielder broke through in the J-League this season with Kashima Antlers. The youngster has scored eleven goals and eight assists in all competitions. Araki has five more days in the J-League to further increase his goal production.
With nine goals in the league, the top talent can still follow in the footsteps of former Japan international Shoji Jo. If Araki manages to find the net one more time in the remaining league games, he will become the second teenager in J-League history to reach double figures in a single season. Jo scored 12 goals in 33 games in 1994. Four years later, the former professional football player was partly responsible for Japan’s debut at a World Cup. In addition, he got the chance to play in the shirt of Real Valladolid in LaLiga.
Araki hopes to follow a similar path by becoming a star in the national team while competing in one of Europe’s biggest leagues. While Kubo was known as a growth brilliant in his homeland when he was admitted to the world-famous youth academy in Barcelona at the age of ten, Araki first tried a number of sports before finally opting for football. “I’m very happy when I score a goal,” the Japanese told Goal as the main reason why he chose football. That great joy can still be seen when he manages to find the net.
Araki started his football education in his hometown of Kumamoto. He first attracted attention in 2018 when he scored twice in Japan’s opening match against Thailand (5-2 win) in the Under-16 Asian Championship. The youngster was named man for his good play in this game. of the match. He ended up playing five of the six matches at the youth tournament in Malaysia, where Japan also crowned the winner. Over a year later, Araki was picked up by Kashima Antlers; a club he has been following closely for many years.
“I started watching Kashima Antlers games and I felt a connection with Atsuto Uchida,” Araki said of the Japan international, who made his professional debut with the club just a few months out of high school. “I was inspired and impressed by the way he played football.” Araki’s first season with Kashima would be Uchida’s last as the right-back retired from football in 2020. The 74-time international of Japan returned to his childhood sweetheart after playing for both Schalke 04 and 1. FC Union Berlin in Germany.
GOALL! Ryotaro Araki scores for Kashima Antlers in the 55th minute! – Kashima Antlers [4] – 1 Yokohama F?Marinos – © J.LEAGUE – All Rights Reserved #JLEAGUE pic.twitter.com/bVl1nWTC1q
— J.LEAGUE Official EN (@J_League_En) May 15, 2021
Araki was mainly used as a winger during his first season at the pro level. He scored 2 goals in 26 games in the J-League, including an equalizer against Vissel Kobe in stoppage time. It marked the teenager’s first professional goal of his career. Since coming down as second striker or number ten this calendar year, he’s been able to provide some great stats. The four goals he scored in the first three games of the season were a clear signal that the opponents were suddenly struggling to stop him.
“He is always approachable to receive the ball from his teammates and then give a good pass himself,” said Araki’s team-mate and contemporaneous Yuta Matsumura about the top talent. “Taro is the heart of the team when he plays behind the striker.” Confidence radiates from Araki. The fact that he is taking Kashima by the hand as a 19-year-old with goals and assists this season proves that he has a lot of potential. It seems that besides Kubo, Japanese football still has a talent it can build on in the coming years.