Title: Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa Emerges as Breakout Star in Women’s Football World Cup
Date: Thu 10 Aug 2023 10.49 BST
By: Alex Bishop in Tokyo
If this World Cup has taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected. No player exemplifies this better than Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa. The 23-year-old has been the star of the team that has taken the tournament by storm, raising the question of how she arrived in Australia and New Zealand so unnoticed.
Her story began in a small coastal town, an hour’s drive south of Tokyo. For Miyazawa, football started at home with her older brother Keita, an amateur player, introducing her to the game at the age of three.
“I sometimes feel disappointed I was never selected for the national team,” he says, “so I’m happy she’s doing what she does best: scoring goals.” Her elder sibling’s influence remains intact. Miyazawa consults Keita after matches in search of a reliable evaluation of her performance. “I always appreciate an objective opinion,” she says.
Since stepping into the limelight, Miyazawa, whose Japan face Sweden in the quarter-finals on Friday, has displayed nothing but modesty when asked about her recent run of form. “I was happy to score two goals but this was a team effort,” she said after Japan’s remarkable 4-0 win over Spain. “The defence did its job and I was given the right pass at just the right time. This is what enabled me to put the ball in the net.”
True to her humble beginnings, Miyazawa avoided the elite academy route. She is one of just six members of the Nadeshiko squad to have stayed committed to her junior high and high school throughout the crucial early-teenage development years.
A standout performer at school, her first call-up to the Japan national side came at 15. The Japan Under-16s, affectionately named “Little Nadeshiko,” did well to reach the final of the 2015 edition of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship, with Miyazawa scoring five goals. She moved up through the age groups before playing a crucial role in Japan’s triumph at the 2018 Under-20 World Cup in France, a campaign overseen by the current Nadeshiko coach, Futoshi Ikeda.
By this point, Miyazawa had found her preferred position as an attacking midfielder, and a predictable offer came upon high school graduation in 2018. She signed with the then-reigning Nadeshiko League champions, Tokyo Verdy Beleza, but not without an important condition.
This was still the amateur age of women’s football in Japan, and career prospects were at the forefront of her thinking. Aged 18, she decided to pursue an academic career alongside football. The prestigious faculty of sports and health science at the renowned Hosei University in Tokyo became her base, outside football, from then on. “At university, everyone does their own thing, but we all study together in the same faculty,” she said. “It’s interesting to hear stories from people of various backgrounds. I made a lot of friends, and I’m glad I decided to enroll.”
After two prosperous seasons with Beleza, the time had come for a new challenge. Once again, Miyazawa would take a separate path from other teammates, many of whom secured moves to elite teams around the world. The inception of Japan’s first professional women’s league was at hand. Enticed by an intriguing new project and an exciting new style of play under then-manager Takeo Matsuda, she accepted an offer from little-known Mynavi Sendai in the north of Japan. Online classes were the norm after the pandemic, and the student-cum-professional footballer completed her studies 360km from the classroom. “I still don’t see myself as a ‘pro’,” she said. “I’m also a student, but I realize the responsibilities I now carry are different than before [turning professional].”
Ikeda’s faith in Miyazawa has been unwavering, and he has involved the dynamic playmaker in most iterations of his Japan side. Possession-based football is the first order of business, and he has found an optimal role for this technically gifted player. Japan has opted to drop the central striker into a deeper, chance-creating role with the wide forwards playing a little higher than before. Occupying the left side of attack, Miyazawa has flourished as a result. She finds herself with ample space and time to showcase her talents with devastating results.
Japan has also added a counterattacking element to their gameplan with Miyazawa as the focal point. This has uncovered previously unseen attributes of pace and composure in one-on-ones.
Her remarkable run of form at this tournament will no doubt draw interest from the world’s top sides. With a tendency to shy away from stardom and prestige, it is difficult to predict the path she will take. Perhaps the one thing we can bank on, however, is that her motivations will ring true to her love of the game and, indeed, herself.