We welcome the competition for fixed positions!
Ambition Shown by the "Fighting Man"
DF 3 Masato MORISHIGE
A special content introducing all the blue and red warriors challenging the 2024 season. What are the players, who are about to start the season, thinking and what determination are they bringing into the year? The stories of the players who hold in their hearts club love, a thirst for titles, aspirations for performance, and the roles they must fulfill──. Masato MORISHIGE, who is entering his 37th season. While players of the same generation are choosing new careers one after another, he continues to show an unwavering presence. And in the 2024 season, he is determined to welcome the intensifying competition for the center-back position and continue to be a fighting man.
How many times have I gone around already──. After enduring the winter with clenched teeth, spring arrives once again. I have kicked the ball as naturally as breathing. I have spent more than half of my life as a professional soccer player. While my peers are gradually hanging up their boots, I continue to chase the ball, still wearing blue and red.
I come to the clubhouse early every morning and leave last. I've been living this way for years. I don't call it hard work; rather, I say it's "really a happy thing."
"At this age, I feel happy again. What I think in my late twenties is somewhat different from what I think now. In my twenties, playing soccer was just a given, and I couldn't see the end. But after turning 30, I started to become aware of the end. When that happens, I really feel the gratitude for it. I understand it in my head, but when that time actually comes, various emotions start to arise."
This year I turn 37. It's been a while since I've been called a veteran. Still, I played in 29 matches in last season's Meiji Yasuda J1 League. A result of my stoic days... I realized that I was trying to convince myself of this.
"It's amazing that people around me are playing at 36 years old." But I wonder if they were satisfied within that framework. But this is just the beginning!"
Saying that, he rewound the screw and started to say, 'Maybe I should train again.' It's just his nature. He has enjoyed taking on challenges. That is shown by the path he has walked so far.
"The era has already moved on to the next generation"
The expression on his face when he said that didn't look lonely at all. This season, there will be fierce competition for starting positions from the very first day. Yasuki KIMOTO, Henrique TREVISAN, and the young players' challenge is something he said he welcomes with open arms, laughing happily.
I wonder how many times I've been around this already. But every time I stand at that entrance again, I realize the excitement and depth of soccer. The reason I've been so engrossed is because of that thrilling competition. Masato MORISHIGE, who has fought wearing blue and red more than anyone else, is still here this season. Deepening the hollows of his cheeks, freshly picked ambition spills out like this.
"It's not interesting to just sit back. I still want to be a fighting man. That's the answer I've come to after all this time."
Text by Kohei Baba (Freelance Writer)
