Kosuke Kimura

Kosuke Kimura (木村光佑, Kimura Kōsuke) (born May 14, 1984) is a Japanese footballer and a coach. A long-time veteran of Major League Soccer, he has also played in Poland. He was the first player in MLS history who was born in Japan.[1]

Kosuke Kimura
Kimura playing with the Colorado Rapids (MLS) 2011
Personal information
Date of birth (1984-05-14) May 14, 1984
Place of birth Kobe, Japan
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1998–2002 Kawasaki Frontale
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2006 Western Illinois Leathernecks
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004 Thunder Bay Chill 13 (0)
2007–2012 Colorado Rapids 117 (4)
2012 Portland Timbers 17 (1)
2013–2014 New York Red Bulls 37 (0)
2015 Widzew Łódź 12 (0)
2015 Atlanta Silverbacks 19 (0)
2016 Rayo OKC 33 (0)
2017 Tulsa Roughnecks 24 (0)
2018–2019 Nashville SC 47 (1)
Managerial career
2022– Nashville SC (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23 October 2019

Career
Kimura with Colorado Rapids in 2012

College and amateur

Kimura's career in organized soccer began with the youth team of Kawasaki Frontale. By the age of 15, he played for the Kawasaki Frontale reserve team. A foot injury aged 17 hampered his opportunity to sign a professional contract with the club.[2] Despite this, he would eventually earn an athletic scholarship to play college soccer at Western Illinois University after moving to the United States, where he took an intensive English-language course and the SAT, on which he achieved a near-perfect score on its mathematics section.[1] A four-year letterman with the Leathernecks from 2003 to 2006,[3] he also played with the Thunder Bay Chill of the USL Premier Development League.[4]

Professional

Kimura was drafted by Colorado Rapids in the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft,[5] and in doing so became first Japanese-born player in the history of Major League Soccer.[6] He was a bit-part player for much of his first two seasons, playing four games in his rookie season, and featuring in 18 games in 2008, 17 as a starter. He scored his first career goal on May 2, 2009, in a game against Real Salt Lake.[7] During the 2010 playoffs, he scored the game-winning goal against San Jose that sent the Colorado Rapids to MLS Cup 2010. Kimura then played for a full 90 minutes (plus 30 minutes of extra time) to help the Colorado Rapids capture the MLS Cup against FC Dallas with a 2–1 victory in Toronto, Ontario. While with Colorado Kimura appeared in 117 league matches and scored 4 goals.

Kimura was traded to Portland Timbers in exchange for allocation money and an international roster slot in July 2012.[8] Five months later, Kimura was traded to New York Red Bulls along with a second-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft in exchange for Home Grown Player rights to Bryan Gallego and allocation money.[9] On March 3, 2013, Kimura made his official debut for New York starting for his new club in a 3–3 draw against his former club Portland Timbers.[10]

Following the 2014 season, New York announced that it would not exercise its 2015 contract option on Kimura.[11]

In February 2015, Kimura signed with Polish side Widzew Łódź.

In July 2015, Kimura signed with Atlanta Silverbacks of the North American Soccer League.[12]

In January 2016, he signed with expansion Rayo OKC.[13]

On December 7, 2017, Nashville SC announced Kimura as a new signing.[14]

Personal life

Kimura holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.[15]

Honours

Colorado Rapids

New York Red Bulls

References
  1. Bell, Jack. "Determination and Hard Work Distinguish Defender for Rapids," The New York Times, Tuesday, September 14, 2010.
  2. "Rapids' Kimura's dream takes him halfway around world". asiaxpress.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  3. Kosuke Kimura (profile) – Western Illinois University Athletics.
  4. Thunder Bay Chill highlights. Archived 2011-01-20 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Stats Centre: Kosuke Kimura Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  6. Nguyen, Joe (2009-05-15). "Rapids' Kimura's dream takes him halfway around world". AsiaXpress.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  7. "Major League Soccer: Box Score: Main". Archived from the original on 2010-01-19. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  8. "Rapids acquire allocation money, international slot from Portland for Kimura". MLS. July 5, 2012. Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  9. "Timbers send Kimura, draft pick to Red Bulls for allocation, Homegrown rights". MLS. December 3, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  10. "Portland Timbers 3 New York Red Bulls 3". mlssoccer.com. 3 March 2013.
  11. "Red Bulls announce contract options not being exercised for 2015 season". MLS. December 2, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  12. "Silverbacks Sign Defender Kosuke Kimura". NASL. July 2, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  13. "Rayo OKC Adds Veteran Presence With Michel, Kimura Signings". NASL. January 21, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  14. "Nashville SC Signs Another MLS Cup Champion, Defender Kosuke Kimura". Nashvillesc.com. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  15. German Sferra (January 17, 2012). "Rapids have four International roster slots available". Colorado Rapids. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
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