Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi

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Personal information
Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
Full name	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
Date of birth	August 15, 1975
Place of birth	Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan
Height	179 cm
Position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Júbilo Iwata
Youth clubs
1991-1994	Shimizu Commercial H.S.
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1994-1998 1999-2001 2001-2003 2003-2004 2005-	Yokohama Marinos Yokohama F. Marinos Portsmouth F.C. Nordsjælland Júbilo Iwata	130 (0) 104 (0) 30 (0) 10(0) 48 (0)
National team**
1997-	Japan	94 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. ** National team caps and goals correct as of August 17, 2006.

Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (川口能活, Kawaguchi Yoshikatsu^?, born August 15, 1975), sometimes referred to as Yoshi Kawaguchi, is a Japanese footballer. He is a goalkeeper and a member of the Japanese national football team.

[edit] Biography

Born in Fuji, Shizuoka, he studied at Shimizu Commercial High School and was a member of the football team there. After finishing high school, he joined the professional football team Yokohama Marinos (now known as Yokohama F. Marinos). He was called up to the Japanese national team and played in the Atlanta Olympic games. He kept a clean sheet against Brazil in the first game.

Following impressive performances for both club and country, he moved to English club Portsmouth F.C., signing for a club record £1.8m. However, he struggled to adapt to life in the English Football League, and struggled with the physical side of the First Division, notably in a 3-1 away defeat to Grimsby Town. Kawaguchi lost his place to veteran Dave Beasant after being held responsible for Portsmouth's 4-1 home defeat to lowly Leyton Orient in the FA Cup. Despite his poor performances for Pompey he remained something of a cult hero with the fans, on account of his cheerful demeanour, and his insistence that he would work hard to regain his place. After a season of playing reserve team football, he made his final appearance for Portsmouth in the final game of the 2002/3 Football League First Division championship winning season, coming on at half time to a standing ovation in the 5-0 win against Bradford City. Despite this brief reappearance, he realised that his future lay elsewhere, and moved on to Nordsjælland of the Danish league. Prior to the 2005 Japanese football season, Kawaguchi returned to his home country when he signed with perennial title-contenders Júbilo Iwata.

Kawaguchi is a renowned penalty stopper, making two saves in the shootout against Jordan in the 2004 Asian Cup quarter final and also saving from Croatia's Darijo Srna in the 2006 World Cup.

In August of 2006, it was revealed that he would wear the captain's armband, as new Japan manager Ivica Osim believed that former captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto was not getting enough playing time at his domestic club, Gamba Osaka.

[edit] Honors

Personal:

J.League
- J-League Young Player of the Year: 1995
AFC
- AFC the Best Player of the month: June 2001
- Asian Cup the Best 11: 2004
FIFA Condederation Cup
- The Best 11: 2001

With the Japanese national football team:

FIFA World Cup
- Match Appearance: 1998, 2006
- Finals Roster: 2002
AFC Asian Cup
- Appearance: 2000, 2004
- Winner: 2000, 2004

With the Yokohama Marinos and Yokohama F. Marinos :

J. League:: 1995, 2000-1st

[edit] National team

Preceded by Kazuaki Tasaka	J-League Young Player of the Year 1995	Succeeded by Toshihide Saito

Júbilo Iwata - Current Squad
1 Kawaguchi \| 2 Suzuki \| 3 Chano \| 4 Ohi \| 5 Tanaka \| 6 Hattori \| 7 Nanami \| 8 Kikuchi \| 9 Nakayama \| 10 Naruoka \| 11 Nishi \| 13 Morishita \| 14 Murai \| 15 Nishino \| 16 Okamoto \| 17 Ohta \| 18 Maeda \| 19 Fujii \| 20 Kim \| 21 Sato \| 22 Cullen \| 23 Fukunishi \| 24 Matsushita \| 25 Fabricio \| 26 Nakamura \| 27 Ueda \| 28 Funatani \| 29 Morino \| 30 Hatta \| 31 Matsui \| 32 Yamamoto \| 33 Inuzuka

	Japan squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Kojima \| 2 Narahashi \| 3 Soma \| 4 Ihara \| 5 Omura \| 6 Yamaguchi \| 7 Ito \| 8 Nakata \| 9 Nakayama \| 10 Nanami \| 11 Ono \| 12 Lopes \| 13 Hattori \| 14 Okano \| 15 Morishima \| 16 Saito \| 17 Akita \| 18 Jo \| 19 Nakanishi \| 20 Kawaguchi \| 21 Narazaki \| 22 Hirano \| Coach: Okada

	Japan squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Kawaguchi \| 2 Akita \| 3 Matsuda \| 4 Morioka \| 5 Inamoto \| 6 Hattori \| 7 H. Nakata \| 8 Morishima \| 9 Nishizawa \| 10 Nakayama \| 11 Suzuki \| 12 Narazaki \| 13 Yanagisawa \| 14 Santos \| 15 Fukunishi \| 16 K. Nakata \| 17 Miyamoto \| 18 Ono \| 19 Ogasawara \| 20 Myojin \| 21 Toda \| 22 Ichikawa \| 23 Sogahata \| Coach: Troussier

	Japan squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Narazaki \| 2 Moniwa \| 3 Komano \| 4 Endo \| 5 Miyamoto \| 6 K. Nakata \| 7 H. Nakata \| 8 Ogasawara \| 9 Takahara \| 10 Nakamura \| 11 Maki \| 12 Doi \| 13 Yanagisawa \| 14 Santos \| 15 Fukunishi \| 16 Oguro \| 17 Inamoto \| 18 Ono \| 19 Tsuboi \| 20 Tamada \| 21 Kaji \| 22 Nakazawa \| 23 Kawaguchi \| Coach: Zico