5 minute read
Yuma suzuki #9
Who is Yuma Suzuki?
Yuma Suzuki was born and raised in Choshi City, Chiba Prefecture. Suzuki was influenced by his older brother, Shota (Iwaki FC), and since he was in elementary school, he trained with the youth of Kashima Antlers, the most successful Japanese club. It is an hour drive by car from Choshi to Kashima City in the Ibaraki Prefecture. His grandfather drove him up and down to the training complex every day. Thanks to his efforts, Suzuki grew up to be one of Japan’s leading strikers.
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Watching football in Europe, where the time difference is seven hours in the summer and eight hours in the winter, is quite difficult for the Japanese. “I want to get more wins for my grandfather. I want him to see more goals.” Despite this, STVV has failed to get results this season, and Suzuki has failed to deliver with three goals in nine games.
He said: “For my grandfather, me playing football is his reason to live. So, if we don’t win, it makes me sad too. It doesn’t matter if I can’t score. I still want to win. In any way, I want to win.”
Yuma Suzuki scored the opener of the current season on 9th of August 2020 against KAA Gent.
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The game against Beerschot
As he talked about how he wanted to give back to his family and grandfather, Suzuki began to talk about the loss against Beerschot on the 17th of October. Here is his appreciation for the people who work behind the scenes.
“The other day, I was sad to see my team lose 6-3, but the kit man didn’t complain about anything, they just cleaned up as usual. I felt really bad about it. Then, one of my teammates hit something and kicked it with a bang. It should have been Valere (Stevens) or Benny (Liebens) who wanted to do that. I know there’s a lot of stress on us players, but we can play on the pitch. But there must be a lot of stress for the staff too. So, I said, ‘You don’t hit things. Don’t let them see you like that,’ I said it in Japanese, and it looked like they understood. That’s the kind of thing that can be understood even if you don’t speak the same language.”
One of the bright spots in the heavy defeat against Beerschot was the goals scored by strikers Suzuki, Filipov and Nazon? “They thought they won (after going 5-1 up in the first half) and they conceded three goals. But for me, any goal is a confidence booster. I haven’t scored a goal lately, so I think it’s a good boost.
The Rebound King
Since coming to Belgium, Suzuki has been trying to make sure that when his teammates take a shot, he will always be able to jam the rebound.
He said: “What I’m better at than others are my positioning in the penalty area and my nose for goal, but I’m not particularly good at shooting and I’m not super fast. By fighting against the opponent, you can say, ‘Hey, he’s working hard. He looks physically strong” because I have been playing in a way that makes people say “He’s fighting” but if you look at the game carefully, the African CBs are much stronger. But because they’re more physical, they don’t move as well as they should after the shot is taken. I have no choice but to exploit that weakness and repeatedly sniff the rebound, and it’s tough because it doesn’t come in front of me that often in a game, but I won’t stop and I’ll keep going for it. I want you to see this. I think I’m the best in the Belgian league in terms of the number of times I chase rebounds.
He doesn’t have a specific target of how many goals he can score in a season, but as many as he can get, that’s his goal. “Football is a sport that is well-developed and you won’t always score even if you only think “I’m going to score a goal’. If you try to make the most of your team and do your best for the team, the ball spills over and the goal comes in, like in the recent game against Beerschot. It’s strange, isn’t it? I think there’s a god of football out there. There is an element of chance in football. Depending on whether a shot hits the inside of the post or the outside, it can be the borderline between a shot being made or not, and it can make or score a winner. ‘I feel like those millimetres are a big inevitability for me. I don’t think of my shot hitting the outside of the post as ‘unlucky’, but as ‘I’m lacking in some way’. I always try to find out why. That single point can make the difference between a player’s leap forward or fall back. That’s why I don’t think I can just say ‘unlucky’.
At the time of this interview, STVV were 16th in the table. They had been away from a winning record for a long time after winning their opening game against Ghent. “Our captain, Steve (De Ridder), was on in the opening game. Steve (De Ridder) was in the opening game, and he made the team tighter. Maybe he will be able to play from the next game against Standard, so I think the team will move in a good direction. At Kashima, we won the championship because we focused on what was in front of us. So, my goal now is to do my best to win the one game that is in front of me.
It was like a prophecy from Suzuki, as STVVV dominated Standard offensively and defensively on the 25th of october and won 2-0. De Ridder brilliantly scored his team’s second goal to make his return to the team.
Suzuki had mentioned the proverb “Win and tighten the umbilical cord” in this interview. Even if a samurai defeats the enemy in front of him, he must keep his helmet on his head and be wary of the next enemy that comes his way. To use a soccer analogy, it is important to prepare for the next game without worrying about winning.
When you win, everyone is happy. That’s when you can say ‘We won today, but this wasn’t good. I think this team has a lot of high potential players. So, we’re hoping to win and turn the tide quickly. One win in the pocket and STVV will get better.
