Kosuke Kimura

Kosuke Kimura

Kimura playing with the Colorado Rapids (MLS) 2011
Personal information
Date of birth	(1984-05-14) May 14, 1984
Place of birth	Kobe, Japan
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	New York Red Bulls
Number	27
Youth career
1998–2002	Kawasaki Frontale
2003–2006	Western Illinois Leathernecks
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004	Thunder Bay Chill	13	(0)
2007–2012	Colorado Rapids	117	(4)
2012	Portland Timbers	17	(1)
2013–	New York Red Bulls	24	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Kosuke Kimura (木村光佑, Kimura Kōsuke) (born May 14, 1984 in Kobe) is a Japanese footballer who currently plays for New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer. He was the first player in the league's history who was born in Japan.^[1]

Career

Kimura with Colorado Rapids in 2012

College and amateur

Kimura's career in organized soccer began with the youth team of Kawasaki Frontale. By the age of 15, he played for the Kawasaki Frontale reserve team. A foot injury at age of 17 hampered his opportunity to sign a professional contract with the club.^[2] Despite this, he would eventually earn an athletic scholarship to play college soccer at Western Illinois University after moving to the United States, where he took an intensive English-language course and the SAT, on which he achieved a near-perfect score on its mathematics section.^[1] A four-year letterman with the Leathernecks from 2003 to 2006,^[3] he also played with the Thunder Bay Chill of the USL Premier Development League.^[4]

Professional

Kimura was drafted by Colorado Rapids in the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft,^[5] and in doing so became first Japanese-born player in the history of Major League Soccer.^[6] He was a bit-part player for much of his first two seasons, playing four games in his rookie season, and featuring in 18 games in 2008, 17 as a starter. He scored his first career goal on May 2, 2009, in a game against Real Salt Lake.^[7] On November 13, 2010, he scored the game-winning goal against San Jose that sent the Colorado Rapids to MLS Cup 2010. On November 21, 2010, Kimura played for a full 90 minutes (plus 30 minutes of extra time) to help the Colorado Rapids capture the MLS Cup against FC Dallas with a 2-1 victory in Toronto, Ontario. While with Colorado Kimura appeared in 117 league matches and scored 4 goals.

Kimura was traded to Portland Timbers in exchange for allocation money and an international roster slot on July 5, 2012.^[8] Five months later, Kimura was traded to New York Red Bulls along with a second-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft in exchange for Home Grown Player rights to Bryan Gallego and allocation money.^[9] On March 3, 2013 Kimura made his official debut for New York starting for his new club in a 3-3 draw against his former club Portland Timbers.^[10]

Honours

Colorado Rapids

• Major League Soccer Eastern Conference Championship (1): 2010
• Major League Soccer MLS Cup (1): 2010

New York Red Bulls

• MLS Supporters' Shield(1): 2013

References

External links

• MLS player profile
• Kosuke Kimura at Yahoo! Sports