![]() ![]() Pain impacts the daily lives of so many people. Japan will need that.By Charlotte Myers September is Pain Awareness Month Not being afraid to take a shot or take a chance. “Compared to Japanese in general, other players in other countries tend to take their chance and take a big swing at it. “Individual players have to pick up the intensity, have that added hunger to score goals or to win that 50-50 ball,” she said. The Japanese are famous for their ball skills, but she said the team might need more aggression despite often being smaller than the opposition. To take a chance, which she suggested Japan’s women will have to do to compete. Both finals were against Spain.Įndo repeated several times her growing confidence to express herself on the field. The under-20 team in 2018 won the world title, and the 2022 squad was the runner-up. Roughly a dozen players on Japan’s team this time - Endo included - played for Ikeda when he coached national under-20 teams. Endo watched on television in 2011 as Japan beat the United States on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the title game. Her family lived inland and the impact was not as great, but she has said in interviews that she was not allowed to go outside for a year. She was a child in 2011 when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and the meltdown of three nuclear reactors took the lives of thousands. ![]() She grew up in northeastern Fukushima prefecture. Her only setback has been an injured left knee, which she said is almost back to full strength.Įndo’s childhood was marred by upheaval. In Angel City’s first game - a 2-1 victory over the North Carolina Courage - she had an assist and a goal. But there is also something about becoming more mature and thinking how I can support my teammates as a leader.”Įndo was a hit from the start. “Compared with how I played in Japan, I am enjoying it more. But now I’m often told I play like I’m having fun, and I’m enjoying it. “I didn’t think of myself when I arrived at Angel City as the Energizer-Bunny kind of player. I’m into fashion, hairstyle,” the 23-year-old Endo said. “I simply like making changes and having fun. The hair she said was more of a fashion statement, but it transitioned to the soccer field. The hair and her untiring style of play turned her into a near-celebrity player in Los Angeles, which she said she didn’t intend or foresee. That doesn’t mean I disrespect anybody in a different culture, but I love expressing myself.” “Japanese society on the whole is not like that. “When I came to Los Angeles and started looking, walking on the streets, I saw that freedom to be yourself without being looked at,” Endo said. “Deru kugi wa utareru.” Roughly translated, it means the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. She may have been referring to an expression in Japanese that sums up the issue. She said it’s more difficult to stick out in Japan, which often values conformity over creativity. She played previously in Japan’s new WE League. I want to be an example to the younger players.”Įndo said she has learned to express herself - on and off the field - playing two seasons with Angel City. “This time I feel I have to show more of the experience I have gained over four years. “I picked up some minutes but I really didn’t show as well as I wished,” she said. In an interview with the AP, Endo described herself as “rookie” on that 2019 team. “She is a player who is trying new things in search of her own development in the league in the United States.”Įndo played on Japan’s 2019 World Cup team, which was knocked out in the round of 16 a disappointment for a country that won the 2011 Women’s World Cup and was the runner-up in 2015. “She creates an expectation that something will happen when she has the ball,” Japan coach Futoshi Ikeda told The Associated Press. Spain and Costa Rica are also in the New Zealand-based group. Look for her to get similar attention when Japan opens in the Women’s World Cup in Group C against Zambia. These have made her a fan favorite at California club Angel City FC. Next, her quick moves, agility and the curling left-foot crosses. ![]() First, it’s the Japan winger’s pink hair. ![]()
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