Philosopher, writer & role model ...why The Boss is big in Japan!
BELGIUM v JAPAN
NOT many footballers read the works of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche – but Makoto Hasebe is not your ordinary player.
Nor do they write their own deep-thinking book called The Order Of The Soul – 56 Habits To Reach Victory, which is a bestseller in his homeland Japan.
For the Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder is a rare breed in the modern game – a star not driven by the material possessions or wealth modern-day football offers.
Hasebe has another motivation altogether – and it’s why at 34 he’s aiming to captain his country into the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a last-16 clash with Belgium in Rostov tomorrow.
Says Hasebe: “Football is my life and since I was young I have devoted myself to being the very best I can be.
“Football is the backbone of my life. This sport comes before anything else in my life. I pay close attention to what I eat, how I sleep, how I train and how I recover.”
Idolised
The experienced star is idolised in Japan, seen as the perfect role model and a naturalborn leader.
All that, despite being written off by his school coach Yasuo Hattori as not being good enough to make the grade as a professional when Urawa Red Diamonds tried to give him a contract as a teenager.
Said Hattori: “He wasn’t the best footballer as a kid. A lot of them had flashy skills and tricks. Hasebe didn’t.
“But he was dependable, rarely made mistakes and had an aura about him. Other players followed him.
“When the Red Diamonds coach came to watch him and wanted to offer him a contract I said I didn’t think he had what it would take to be a pro.”
Hattori – who kept the contract offer a secret from young Hasebe – did tell him the next time the Diamonds scout came calling and the schoolboy was on his way to stardom, moving to Tokyo at 18.
Hasebe won the J League and moved to Wolfsburg in 2008 and under former Fulham coach Felix Magath he won the Bundesliga in 2009 – but it wasn’t an easy ride.
“I’d heard he had a bit of a reputation as a tough trainer but it was worse than I could ever have imagined. It was murderous. But then just a year later we won the Bundesliga.
“I couldn’t believe it and now looking back I can say it was a truly special time.”
Shinji Kagawa, Shinji Okazaki and Maya Yoshida are better known in English football but Hasebe is The Boss with Japan.
After three World Cups this will be the last for Hasebe and a quiet life beckons.
“I don’t know what the future holds. Maybe more writing. When I come back home to Japan I try to stay incognito.
“For me it’s enough to have a couple of nice, quiet days with my family, especially my grandmother.”