Honda: We'll have to wait decades for another Messi
Ex-Japan star says we will have to wait "five or six decades" for another Messi
Remembers his goals in three separate World Cup tournaments
Gives his reflections on Qatar 2022 from his view as a TV analyst
Keisuke Honda has a lovely way of summing up the genius of Lionel Messi. “How is it possible?” asks the former Japan playmaker. “He’s not big but no-one can stop him.”
Honda is speaking from personal experience, having faced the Argentina captain in a friendly match in 2010. Japan won 1-0 that day but Messi’s brilliance left its mark. “He did many things himself alone that were incredible,” he recalled.
"That was my memory of him when I played against him – two, three, four players just wanted to stop him and he still didn’t pass, he kept the ball and tried to dribble. He changed football, I think.
“We have to wait maybe at least five or six decades if we want to see anything like Messi,” added Honda of a 35-year-old who stands just one game away now from reaching the one unscaled peak of his extraordinary career. “Obviously Messi just needs the World Cup trophy,” he remarks. “I want him to win the cup.”
Honda is here in Qatar working as an analyst for Abema, a new experience for the former CSKA Moscow and AC Milan player who represented Japan at three FIFA World Cups™ – in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
He scored the winning goal against Cameroon on his tournament debut and followed that up with a magnificent free-kick strike against Denmark in Japan's last group game as they advanced to the knockout rounds for the first time in foreign soil. “The World Cup was a dream come true for me," he said, looking back with FIFA+.
"I was playing as a striker, yet I’d never played as a striker. The manager [Takeshi Okada] decided a couple of days before the first game I would play there."
Of his free-kick in the 3-1 win over Denmark, the 36-year-old added: “When I went back to Japan after the World Cup, I was surprised that everyone recognised me on the street. Everything changed in my life for just that one goal and that’s the World Cup’s power.” With subsequent goals against Côte d’Ivoire in 2014 and Senegal in 2018 he became the first Japan player to score in three separate World Cups. There was heartache against Belgium when Japan lost a two goal-lead in the round of 16 at Russia 2018 – “sometimes I still remember the last moment when they counter-attacked and we lost the game" – yet he also carries with him so many lessons learned.
“I learned a lot of things regarding how to manage the team as an experienced player,” remarked the 36-year-old of his last tournament.
"These three World Cups gave me amazing times. I can't have those experiences forever because I can’t come back as a player. I've already found my next target, but it was a precious time, a great time."
That next target is an ambitious one. "I want to win the World Cup as a coach. It's my new dream," he said, hoping to mine the rich seam of lessons from a varied club career that took in ten different countries.
Back to the present, though, and his reflections on this World Cup, starting with his delight in Japan’s efforts in winning their group ahead of Spain and Germany. “Of course, the best moment was when we won against Germany and Spain, that was fantastic,” he said.
He goes on to single out the efforts of one man in particular, defender Maya Yoshida. In his early days at VV Venlo in the Netherlands, Honda opened the door for Yoshida to join him there. “I’ve known him for a long time even before he became a professional player. He was very smart and already he has his own philosophy. "Sometimes he can’t be convinced [of things]. He's flexible but on the other hand he is stubborn and that’s a good mix to have both. I recommended he came to Holland.”
Other players to have caught his eye include Morocco’s Sofyan Amrabat – "he is a box-to-box player who surprised me a lot" – and this leads him to comment on what he regards as a lack of No10s in this tournament.
"Messi is not a typical No10 for me," he said. "For me it is like Mesut Ozil or Francesco Totti and Zinedine Zidane, who played always behind the striker. That for me is the No10. I don’t think I can find a typical No10 in this World Cup.
"Today’s football world has been changing a lot, everyone has to run box to box. It’s not like before and the No10 has to help in a lot of different situations. Maybe the head coaches don’t think it is necessary to have a No 10 anymore but it is a pity.”
As for man who will wear the ten on his back for France on Sunday, Kylian Mbappe, he added: “We shouldn’t compare Messi and him because Mbappe is more like Thierry Henry. That is [a] closer [comparison]. He can be like him. So far, no-one can be like Messi.”
As for which of the two will end up with the trophy, Honda would like that to be Messi but believes it will not be easy. “It is going to be a very difficult game for Argentina, for sure. France are very balanced with experienced players and young players. They have a lot of options to score goals from any direction. Argentina are the opposite. Most likely Messi has to do something himself or other young players on the counterattack.
"I saw France against Morocco and also I saw Argentina against Croatia and to be honest France is stronger, that’s what I believe. But of course in football nobody knows what is going to happen. I want Messi to win.”
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