Hotaru Yamaguchi (山口 蛍, Yamaguchi Hotaru, born 6 October 1990) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Vissel Kobe. He is also a member of the Japan national team.[2]
 Yamaguchi lining up for Japan at the 2018 FIFA World Cup | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Hotaru Yamaguchi | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 6 October 1990 | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Nabari, Mie, Japan | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | |||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | |||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||
Current team | Vissel Kobe | |||||||||||||
| Number | 96 | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| 2000–2002 | Minowa West SC | |||||||||||||
| 2003–2008 | Cerezo Osaka | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 2009–2015 | Cerezo Osaka | 140 | (11) | |||||||||||
| 2016 | Hannover 96 | 6 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Cerezo Osaka | 84 | (3) | |||||||||||
| 2019– | Vissel Kobe | 165 | (20) | |||||||||||
| International career‡ | ||||||||||||||
| 2010–2012 | Japan U23 | 29 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 2013–2019 | Japan | 48 | (3) | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 3 December 2023 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2019 | ||||||||||||||
Club career
editEarly career
editYamaguchi began playing football in the third grade, playing mostly as an attacking midfielder. Upon entering junior high, he participated in trials with the Cerezo Osaka, Gamba Osaka and Kyoto Purple Sanga youth academies and ultimately joined the Cerezo Under-15 team, from whom he received an invitation on the spot. He enjoyed steady progress at the club, being selected to be part of the first entering class of the Japan Football Association Elite Program at the end of his first year. In 2006 Yamaguchi was promoted to the Cerezo Under-18 team, which later won the JFA Prince League U-18 in the 2008 season, in which he served as captain and was named league MVP.
Cerezo Osaka
editAlong with academy teammate Yusuke Maruhashi, Yamaguchi was promoted to the senior team in 2009, spending three months of the season training with the Palmeiras Under-21 academy. He was named to the Japan Under-21 team in his second season and played in all of the matches in a gold medal campaign at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.
Yamaguchi began to receive substantial playing time with Cerezo in 2011, scoring his first league goal on Matchday 24 against Urawa Reds. The addition of Fábio Simplício resulted in Yamaguchi being increasingly deployed as an attacking midfielder toward the latter part of the season, which he finished with 30 appearances. He followed up by winning a regular position in the Cerezo side in 2012, combining with Takahiro Ogihara in central midfield for both club and country, being named to the Under-23 team.
Hannover 96
editOn 21 December 2015, Hannover 96 announced that they signed Yamaguchi.[3] Yamaguchi played for Hannover 96 in 2016, however returned to Cerezo Osaka mid-season.
International career
editYamaguchi represent the U-23 national side under Takashi Sekizuka in Japan's successful qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was included in the final squad at the 2012 Summer Olympics, contributing to a fourth-place finish at the tournament.
In July 2013, Yamaguchi received his first call up to the senior Japan side by Alberto Zaccheroni for the 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup, where he played in all three matches and was named tournament MVP.
In May 2018, he was named in Japan's preliminary squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[4]
Career statistics
editClub
edit- As of 17 March 2021[5]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Continental | Other[a] | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Cerezo Osaka | 2009 | J2 League | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 3 | 0 | |||
| 2010 | J1 League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 4 | 0 | |||
| 2011 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 23 | 1 | |||
| 2012 | 30 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | – | – | 40 | 4 | ||||
| 2013 | 34 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | – | – | 42 | 7 | ||||
| 2014 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | – | 28 | 1 | |||
| 2015 | J2 League | 35 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 37 | 1 | |||
| 2016 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 22 | 1 | ||||
| 2017 | J1 League | 32 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 39 | 3 | |||
| 2018 | 33 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 39 | 0 | |||
| Total | 226 | 14 | 16 | 3 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 279 | 18 | ||
| Hannover 96 | 2015–16 | Bundesliga | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 6 | 0 | |||
| Vissel Kobe | 2019 | J1 League | 34 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 41 | 6 | ||
| 2020 | 34 | 6 | – | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | – | 42 | 7 | ||||
| 2021 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 6 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 73 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 89 | 13 | ||
| Career total | 305 | 21 | 21 | 5 | 23 | 2 | 21 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 374 | 31 | ||
- ^ Appearances in J2 Play-offs
International
edit- As of 19 November 2019[6]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 2013 | 8 | 0 |
| 2014 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 9 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 6 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 3 | 1 | |
| Total | 48 | 3 | |
- Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Yamaguchi goal.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 August 2015 | Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, Wuhan, China |  South Korea |
1–1 | 1–1 | 2015 EAFF East Asian Cup |
| 2 | 6 October 2016 | Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan |  Iraq |
2–1 | 2–1 | 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 3 | 19 November 2019 | Panasonic Stadium Suita, Suita, Japan |  Venezuela |
1–4 | 1–4 | 2019 Kirin Challenge Cup |
Honours
editCerezo Osaka
Vissel Kobe
Japan
Japan U-23
Individual
References
edit- ^ "National Team Squad". jfa.or.jp. Japan Football Association. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
- ^ "Stats Centre: Hotaru Yamaguchi Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
- ^ "96 verpflichtet japanischen Nationalspieler Yamaguchi". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ "World Cup 2018: All the confirmed squads for this summer's finals in Russia".
- ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 145 out of 289)
- ^ Japan National Football Team Database(in Japanese)
- ^ "Yamaguchi, Hotaru". National Football Teams. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
- ^ "神戸が悲願の初優勝！井出、武藤のゴールで名古屋に競り勝つ【速報：明治安田J1第33節】". J.League. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
- ^ "Andrés Iniesta skippers Vissel Kobe to first trophy in David Villa's final match". AS. 1 January 2020. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ "Andres Iniesta lifts Japan Super Cup after nine straight pen misses". ESPN. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ "2023年Jリーグベスト11は神戸と浦和が最多タイ4名！ 大迫勇也や西川周作ら". Goal.com. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
External links
edit
- Hotaru Yamaguchi – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Hotaru Yamaguchi at National-Football-Teams.com
- Hotaru Yamaguchi at J.League (archive) (in Japanese)
- Profile at Cerezo Osaka
- Hotaru Yamaguchi at Soccerway
