'Never lost heart': Japan back-up goalkeeper plays again after nine-year wait

The 34-year-old is now in his 17th season as a professional and had made only 24 career appearances until he got the nod for Kawasaki Frontale's Asian Champions League home game against Australia's Central Coast Mariners on Tuesday.

His previous outing came in May 2016 but Ando showed no signs of rust in an assured performance as Kawasaki, who had already qualified for the next round, won 2-0. Ando has spent all but one season at J. League first-division side Kawasaki and he told AFP he had no regrets about the way his career has panned out.

"Goalkeeper is a special position and it's not easy to change them about, but I always thought I would get my chance and I train so that I am able to perform when it comes," he said. "I've never really lost confidence and I've never lost heart. Of course there is frustration but my motivation has never dropped."

Ando came through Kawasaki's youth system and turned professional in 2009, making his debut two years later. He struggled to dislodge the club's regular goalkeeper and went out on loan, making 15 appearances for Shonan Bellmare before returning to his parent club the following season.

But he found his path to the Kawasaki first team still blocked, and until Tuesday night he had played just once in more than 11 years.

Team player

Ando says moving to another club crossed his mind earlier in his career before deciding that playing for Kawasaki was "the most important thing". "Getting to play the other night was a really happy moment for me," he said.

"If I were to move to a different club I think my passion would drop." Ando is not the only goalkeeper in world football to have spent most of his career on the bench or in the stands.

Spain's Albert Jorquera made seven league appearances in six years at Barcelona in the 2000s, while England's Stuart Taylor, once of Arsenal and Aston Villa, played fewer than 100 games in a career that lasted 21 years.

Ando says he has never thought of himself as a back-up, and he trains every day as if he is going to be picked for the next game. If he does not make the cut, he tries to motivate the other players and lend a sympathetic ear to those left out of the team.

Ando says he also plays an important role by keeping the club's other goalkeepers on their toes in training. "If you have four goalkeepers at your club and they're all competing well in training, they all improve and it's good for the team," he said.

"Everyone has to be confident, give everything in training and prepare for games together, and then you find out who's playing, who's on the bench and who's in the stands. If you slack off, that all falls apart."

Renewed hunger

Kawasaki are one of Japan's most successful teams and won four J. League titles in five seasons from 2017 to 2021. Ando joined in the celebrations but admits that his non-playing role left him lacking "a feeling of satisfaction".

There have been difficult times, not least last season, where he was named in Kawasaki's matchday squad for only two games and was not registered for the Asian Champions League.

But his surprise return to the starting line-up this week has lit a new fire in him, even if he did not have to make any real saves against a toothless Central Coast. "I want to play again, it just makes my hunger grow," he said.

"I don't want it to be just one game - I want what comes next and then what comes after that and after that. I kept a clean sheet and that gives me confidence. It's proof that what I've been doing hasn't been wrong."