Keisuke Honda
 |
| Personal information |
| Full name | Keisuke Honda |
| Date of birth | 13 June 1986 (1986-06-13) (age 25) |
| Place of birth | Settsu, Japan |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Playing position | Attacking midfielder |
| Club information |
| Current club | CSKA Moscow |
| Number | 7 |
| Youth career |
| Settsu FC |
| 1999–2001 | Gamba Osaka |
| 2002–2004 | Seiryō High School |
| Senior career* |
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2005–2007 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 90 | (11) |
| 2008–2009 | VVV-Venlo | 68 | (24) |
| 2009– | CSKA Moscow | 46 | (13) |
| National team‡ |
| 2005 | Japan U-20 | 1 | (0) |
| 2006–2008 | Japan U-23 | ? | (5) |
| 2008– | Japan | 31 | (8) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:24, 29 August 2011 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 June 2011 |
Keisuke Honda (本田 圭佑, Honda Keisuke?, born 13 June 1986) is a
Japanese footballer who currently plays for Russian
CSKA Moscow and the
Japan national football team. His current position is as a deep-lying playmaker, but he can equally play as an attacking midfielder or second striker. He is also a very skilled free kick taker scoring one in the
FIFA World Cup 2010 in
South Africa.
[edit] Club career
[edit] Early career
Born in
Settsu,
Osaka Prefecture,
[1] Honda started playing football with Settsu FC, the local club, when he was a second-grader at primary school. He joined
Gamba Osaka's junior youth team but the club did not promote him to their youth team. He entered Seiryō High School (
ja:星稜高等学校) in
Ishikawa Prefecture and started playing for the school. He was one of the key players when Seiryō advanced to the semi-final stage of the
All Japan High School Soccer Tournament for the first time as a representative of Ishikawa Prefecture. He was chosen as one of the Designated Players for Development by
J. League Division 1 and
JFA in 2004.
[edit] Nagoya Grampus Eight
Because of this status, Honda was able to register as a
Nagoya Grampus Eight player while he was still eligible to play for his high school. He played one
J. League Cup match for Nagoya while he was still a boy student.
After his graduation, he officially joined Nagoya in 2005. He started the first match of the season and recorded an assist. In 2006, he became a regular in the club.
[edit] VVV-Venlo
Honda celebrates his goal against FC Groningen at the De Koel stadium on August 22, 2009
On 16 January 2008, Honda signed a two and half year deal with
Eredivisie side
VVV-Venlo. The team was relegated to
Eerste Divisie, the second division after 07-08 season and was in the division for 08-09 season. In 08-09 season, He scored 16 goals in 36 league appearances to help the team to be promoted to
Eredivisie for 09-10 season. He became known as 'Keizer Keisuke' (Emperor Keisuke) among the fans of VVV-Venlo.
[2]
[edit] CSKA Moscow
At the end of December 2009 Honda transferred to the Russian CSKA Moscow.
[3] Honda signed a 4 year contract.
[4] The transfer fee was undisclosed, but VVV-Venlo was said to be very content with the fee as it almost matched their asking price, it is believed to be in the region of 6 million euros.
[2]
Honda made his debut for CSKA in the
UEFA Champions League-match against
Sevilla.
[5] In the second leg in Seville, he scored the winning goal through a
direct free kick for CSKA after having set up the first goal for
Tomáš Necid. This secured a 2–1 (3–2 aggregate) victory to send the club to the quarterfinals, making Honda the first Japanese player to be in the quarterfinals as well as the first to score in the knock-out stages.
Honda scored his first
league goal on 12 March 2010, in the home match against
Amkar Perm. He scored the goal in the third minute of injury time, slotting home a pass from Necid with his left. With the goal, he secured the win for CSKA Moscow.
[6]
[edit] International career
He was a member of the
Japan team for
2005 FIFA World Youth Championship and played for U-23 national team, that qualified for
2008 Summer Olympics football tournament finals. He made a full international debut for
Japan on June 22, 2008 in a FIFA World Cup qualifier against
Bahrain. On 14 July 2008, he was formally named as one of the midfielders of the Japanese U-23 national football team for the Beijing Olympics football competition.
[7] He scored his first goal for senior national team on 27 May 2009 in a friendly match against
Chile at
Nagai Stadium in
Osaka.
[edit] 2010 World Cup
Honda scored
Japan's winning goal in their first
2010 World Cup match against
Cameroon, finishing off
Daisuke Matsui's cross into the top left corner of the net and this was the only goal in the match. His performance in the game gained him the Man of the Match Award from
FIFA. In the final group-stage game against
Denmark, he scored a free kick in the 17th minute from 30 yards out before turning provider for
Shinji Okazaki after making his way into the penalty area, with a
Cruyff Turn that beat a Denmark player, in the 88th minute to make the score 3–1 to Japan, a performance that earned him the man of the match award once more and Japan qualified for the
second round where they were eliminated by
Paraguay after 0–0 a.e.t. and 4–5 at penalties (Honda scored his penalty).
[8] Jonathan Wilson of
The Guardian cited him as a 'false nine': a player superficially employed as a centre forward but moving deeper to pull the opposition defence around the pitch.
[9]
[edit] 2011 AFC Asian Cup
Honda was included in the
2011 AFC Asian Cup by coach
Alberto Zaccheroni. In the game against
Syria he scored a penalty kick making the score 2–1, for
Japan. He earned player of the match for that game. In the
semi-finals against
Korea Republic, he shot a penalty kick, but was blocked by
Jung Sung-Ryong. But in the penalty shoot outs of that game, he scored. Again he earned player of the match.
Honda was awarded the
most valuable player of the
2011 AFC Asian Cup.
[edit] Personal life
Honda's elder brother was also a footballer. Honda's uncle Daizaburo Honda was a canoeist who represented Japan in the
1964 Tokyo Olympics. Daizaburo's son and Keisuke's cousin
Tamon Honda participated in three Olympic Games in
freestyle wrestling in 1984, 1988, and 1992 and is now a professional wrestler.
[10]
[edit] Career statistics
- As of March 17, 2011
| Club | Season | League and Division | League | Cup | League Cup | Champions League | Other* | Total |
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Nagoya Grampus Eight | 2004 | J. League Div 1 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| 2005 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 35 | 2 |
| 2006 | 29 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | - | - | 34 | 8 |
| 2007 | 30 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | - | 35 | 3 |
| Total | 90 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 2 | - | - | 105 | 13 |
| VVV-Venlo | 2007–08 | Eredivisie | 14 | 2 | - | - | - | 3 | 0 | 17 | 2 |
| 2008–09 | Eerste Divisie | 36 | 16 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | 37 | 16 |
| 2009–10 | Eredivisie | 18 | 6 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | 20 | 8 |
| Total | 68 | 24 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 3 | 0 | 74 | 26 |
| CSKA Moscow | 2010 | Russian Premier League | 28 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | 4 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 42 | 6 |
| 2011–12 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 0 | - |
|
| 1 | 0 | 19 | 7 |
| Total | 45 | 11 | 2 | 0 | - | 4 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 61 | 13 |
| Career total | 203 | 46 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 240 | 52 |
*Includes other competitive competitions, including the Eredivisie/Eerste Divisie Relegation, Russian Super Cup and UEFA Europa League.
[edit] International
Honda in training (August 21, 2009)
[edit] International goals
- Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.
[edit] Under-23
[edit] Senior team
[edit] Appearances in major competitions
[edit] Awards and honours
-
- 2011
-
- 2007, 2009, 2011
- VVV-Venlo
-
- 2008–09
- CSKA Moscow
-
- 2010
-
- 2010–11
[edit] Individual
-
- 2011
- Japanese Footballer of the Year: 1
-
- 2010
