Keita Suzuki

Keita Suzuki
Personal information
Full name	Keita Suzuki
Date of birth	July 8, 1981 (age 30)
Place of birth	Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club	Urawa Red Diamonds
Number	13
Youth career
1997–1999	Tōkai University Fuzoku Shōyō H.S.
Senior career*
National team‡
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 August 2011.; † Appearances (Goals).; ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 January 2011

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Keita Suzuki (鈴木啓太, Suzuki Keita^?, born July 8, 1981) is a Japanese football (soccer) player. He is a defensive midfielder and currently plays for Urawa Red Diamonds. He is a cousin of Koki Mizuno.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Career

After graduating from Tōkai University Fuzoku Shōyō High School, he joined J. League side Urawa Red Diamonds in 2000. His first professional appearance came in an Emperor's Cup match against Honda Lock S.C. on December 3, 2000. He broke into Urawa's first team in 2001 and became a mainstay in the midfield. He contributed to the club winning the J. League championship in 2006 and was chosen as one of the J. League Best Eleven 2006.

He was a captain for the Japan's Olympic team through the final qualifying stage to Athne 2004. However, he was not included in the final squad for the Olympic as coach Masakuni Yamamoto favoured overage player Shinji Ono.

Japan's former national coach Ivica Osim rated Suzuki highly and handed him his first senior cap on August 9, 2006, in a friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago. He is the only player who started all of the 20 matches under Osim's reign. Osim once referred to him as the Japanese answer to Claude Makélélé.^[1]

[edit] Career statistics

As of 28 August 2011

[edit] Club

Club	Season	League		Emperor's Cup		J. League Cup		Champions League		Other¹		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Urawa Red Diamonds	2000	0	0	2	1	0	0	-		-		2	1
	2001	15	1	4	0	2	0	-		-		21	1
	2002	26	1	1	0	4	1	-		-		31	2
	2003	29	1	1	0	10	1	-		-		40	2
	2004	25	0	4	0	8	0	-		2	0	39	0
	2005	29	0	4	0	6	2	-		-		39	2
	2006	31	1	5	0	6	0	-		1	0	43	1
	2007	33	1	1	0	0	0	12	0	5	0	51	1
	2008	23	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	-		27	0
	2009	32	1	1	0	7	0	-		-		40	1
	2010	17	0	3	0	5	0	-		-		25	0
	2011	19	1			2	0	-		-		21	1
Career total		279	7	28	1	51	4	13	0	8	0	379	12

¹Includes J. League Championship, Japanese Super Cup, A3 Champions Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

[edit] International

^[2]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Japan U-23
	2002	6	1
	2003	8	0
	2004	12	1
	Total	26	2
Japan
	2006	7	0
	2007	13	0
	2008	8	0
	Total	28	0

[edit] Appearances in major competitions

Team	Competition	Category	Appearances		Goals	Team Record
Team	Competition	Category	Start	Sub	Goals	Team Record
Japan	2004 Summer Olympics Qualification	U-22~23	6	1	1	Qualified
Japan	2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification	Senior	5	0	0	Qualified
Japan	2007 AFC Asian Cup	Senior	6	0	0	4th place
Japan	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Senior	2	0	0	Qualified

[edit] International goals

Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.

[edit] Under-23

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	10 October 2002	Munsu Cup Stadium, Ulsan	Thailand	2–0	3–0	2002 Asian Games
2.	3 March 2004	Al Jazira Stadium, Abu Dhabi	Lebanon	2–0	4–0	2004 Summer Olympics Qualification