If soccer is the corner of optimism for Peruvians, the national team is its maximum expression. In this enthusiastic scenario, every young footballer knows a mysterious word: promise. Anthony Tadashi Aoki Nakama is 17 years old and was captain of the under 17 team that played in the South American this year, a young man who has seen his life change because of the sport that moves the masses and in which he hopes to forge a profession.
Tadashi, who played in the AELU internal championship defending the colors of Carper, received an offer from Sporting Cristal in 2015, when the head of the Rimese club's Technical Unit, Telmo de Andrés, came to AELU asking about him. That's how he arrived at one of the most important Peruvian clubs in the minor categories. By then, he already had experience as a national team.
CAPTAIN NIKKEI
His first call to the national team was for the under 13 category, with Juan José Oré. He then joined the under 15 team with another Nikkei player, Mauricio Matzuda Gusukuda, with whom he joined the under 17 team. It was Daniel Ahmed who valued his qualities as a central midfielder and chose him as captain, an experience he had already had at AELU. “There were five of us from the under 15 who were like the leaders and they chose me because I had more time in the group and because I like to talk on the field,” he confesses.
Playing for Peru has involved pleasures and sacrifices, especially for travel. “As I missed a lot of classes due to the friendly match tours, I left La Unión (school), now I study remotely at the Naval High School,” says Tadashi, who believes that Peru's level in minor categories is on par with the rest of the countries in the region, with the exception of Brazil. “They are taller, they are very fast and technical,” he says, as they saw in this year's South American Championship, in which the Brazilians were champions.
“There was a lot of expectation because we had won our friendly matches (against Bolivia and Chile), but Brazil surprised us because we had never played against them, let alone a full stadium.” In the same tournament, Peru lost to Argentina, Venezuela and Paraguay, being eliminated. But the challenges continue and the next one is the Bolivariano sub 18 at the end of the year.
THE AGE OF FOOTBALL
The years in football are very different from those in reality. At 17 years old, Tadashi Aoki is no longer so young in an environment in which many teenagers from other countries have already signed agreements to play in Europe and finish their physical and sports training. However, he is not old enough to play for Sporting Cristal's seniors either, although he sometimes trains with the first team, alongside players he admires like Carlos Lobatón.
“The pool of minutes counts from the 1996 category and I am in the 2000 category, so there are other players who have more opportunities to play,” says Tadashi, although he is not discouraged because with coach José 'Chemo' del Solar he feels that there are possibilities to continue growing (currently there are two boys from the 1999 category who already make up the professional roster). Another factor is the good treatment he receives at the club, which gives him remuneration in addition to other benefits.
“There is housing for kids who come from the provinces, they give us bonuses and incentives. In the national team they also take great care of us, in food and rest. There I also had the opportunity to train with the elders. Playing in Cristal is special because everyone wants to be a professional,” says Tadashi, who, although he does not know if he will continue studies of any kind, is clear that his biggest dream is the same as that of his teammates: to become a professional soccer player with the support from his family.
BIGGER DREAMS
In the Centenario tournament, which is played by all first division teams in minor categories, Sporting Cristal has been playing a good role. They debuted by beating Alianza Lima 5-1 and Tadashi was on the field as captain, a distinction that is already familiar to him. He knows that if he wants to play for the reserve team of the light blue team, and then for the first team, standing out in this tournament is the best way to achieve it.
He also knows that the great players he admires in world football, such as Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández who play in a position similar to the one he has chosen, took this sport seriously from a young age. “It is not enough to have skills, you have to make an effort and do your part to improve them day by day,” he said in one of his latest interviews.
The attention Tadashi receives, both among the sports media and the Nikkei press, is similar to the popularity he still has at AELU, where his former classmates and teammates greet him when they see him arrive. His height of 1.78 m makes him somewhat noticeable, but even more so is his identification with the club and with the national team shirt, which means that everyone always has a voice of encouragement for him.
OPINIONS: “ANTHONY HAS A LOT OF PROJECTION ”
“I had Anthony in the under 15 and under 17 teams, and because of his efforts in international matches he stayed. He has earned a space because he reads the games well, he has a good long pass and between the lines. In the position you have, you have to have a good reaction, be aggressive, in the good sense of the word, and have a lot of experience. Anthony knows how to cover that position and I think he has a lot of projection. It will depend on him whether he can debut in the first team, in fact we have already invited him to the under 18 pre-selection for his leadership and seriousness. “He is an accomplished and responsible boy.” (Juan José Oré, technical director of the under 17 team)
“Anthony Aoki has many qualities, there is a reason he has been considered the captain of the national team and of Sporting Cristal, one of the clubs that invest in minors. He has good work on the field, technical qualities and a vision of the game landscape. I think he is a regular player in any youth team because he has experience and a lot of confidence, he is not a player who has just appeared, he is going through stages in his training and I think that if he is well guided, he can be a promise.” (Javier Padilla, sports journalist, founder of the youth soccer magazine Toque &Gol)
* This article is published thanks to the agreement between the Peruvian Japanese Association (APJ) and the Discover Nikkei Project. Article originally published in Kaikan magazine No. 110, and adapted for Discover Nikkei.
© 2017 Texto y fotos: Asociación Peruano Japonesa
