(Moriyasu's World Cup Squad) The two pieces of paper that changed defender Itakura Ko's life when he was a Tigers-crazed kid

Source Article: https://hochi.news/articles/20221114-OHT1T51155.html?page=1

Defender Itakura Ko (Borussia MG) spent his youth near the Hanshin Tigers Koshien Baseball ground. At the age of 1 he received a toy glove from his parents, at 3 a leather glove, and at four a wooden bat. He was pretty skillful at playing catch ball. However, he was let into the world of football thanks to two pieces of paper. 

The first piece was a 'certificate of participation'. During Golden Week of his first year of elementary school, he received the certificate for participating in a football tournament held by his school, which read an encouraging "Let's play football together!" From just playing that one time, he was taken captive by the sport. 

The second piece was a leaflet. It was the winter of his first year of elementary school, right after he had moved to Kanagawa prefecture. He was given a leaflet in school that said "Let's go watch Kawasaki Frontale". He and his family went to see the game at Todoroki Athletics Field, and Itakura was entranced by professional football. He started frequently attending the home games of Kawasaki, who at that time were in J2. He also visited to training grounds, and received signatures from the players. When he reached 4th grade, he joined the U-12 squad. From then on, alongside midfielder Miyoshi Koji (who was the same age as Itakura) and one-year junior Mitoma, he polished his skills, and graduated to the top team through the youth system. 

After tearing his left knee ligment, he thought "Maybe I won't be able to go to the world cup." But the diagnosis showed it wasn't as bad as he'd thought, and it took two months for a complete recovery. He gave all his strength to recover, and on the 11th of November he played his first game in almost two months. "I thought, wow the human body is amazing!" laughs Itakura. "From now on I want to prepare to do my best without losing any focus." 

That 4 year old boy, clutching a leather baseball glove and a wooden bat is now 25, and his dream of going to the world cup is becoming more real every day.