Enigma with a memory like a sieve: meet Victory marquee Keisuke Honda

Perhaps it's no surprise that Keisuke Honda has the memory of a goldfish. Melbourne Victory's marquee superstar has played before at the newly-rebadged Marvel Stadium, where he'll make his A-League debut in Saturday night's derby.

It was a World Cup qualifier against the Socceroos in October 2016. Honda set up the opening goal for Japan in just the fifth minute before a Mile Jedinak penalty salvaged the hosts a 1-1 draw. Not that he can remember.

Diverse: Melbourne Victory's marquee signing has his fingers in many pies, in and out of football.

Diverse: Melbourne Victory’s marquee signing has his fingers in many pies, in and out of football.Credit:AAP

"Oh yeah?" he exclaims with surprise when a reporter fills him in on his history at the venue. "Personally, I forget everything. That's me. Everyone in my family, they say 'you forget very important things'. But I forget even the many great goals I've scored as well. So I'm fair."

There's a lot going on inside Honda's head, underneath those bleached blonde tips. First, he's trying to decipher the ocker accents of the journalists interrogating him during a roundtable chat at the A-League season launch. "This is weird," he says. "I have never taken these kind of interviews in Japan."

His mind is still trying to wrap itself around Australian culture and the many eccentricities of soccer in this country. He can't seem to get over the fact that Victory's training sessions at Gosch's Paddock in Melbourne are open to the public. "That's weird, really weird," Honda says. "Where are the secrets? All managers who I worked with, they really hate someone watching training when we are doing tactics day. But here, everyone is welcome."

Then there's his many and varied business commitments. When there’s no ball at his feet, that’s what hogs his mental energy. The website for one of his companies, Honda Estilo, describes him as the "thought leader and visionary of Japan’s new generation". He runs soccer schools and academies around the world. He has an ownership stake in four clubs – SV Horn of Austria, Soltilo Angkor in Cambodia, American second-tier side Orange County and Ugandan outfit Bright Stars. He's also an angel investor. Earlier this year, he launched a $100 million venture capital fund with Hollywood actor Will Smith to back American start-ups.

Honda is also the general manager of the Cambodian national team, for good measure. He works via Skype and will fly out to Phnom Penh during international breaks to get more hands-on with his players and staff. It’s his passion project. Somewhere in amongst all those priorities is the Melbourne derby. So you can excuse him the odd memory failure.

"Always I'm looking at now and in the future," Honda says when asked why he is so forgetful. "And I'm quite busy every day. I don't think you know – I also have 140 employees in my company. Everyone wants to make appointments every day and I always refuse. You can see, all this season, how I'm crazy."

It took a while but the 32-year-old says he can now easily switch his focus from one thing to another and not let his football suffer. That's good news for Melbourne Victory, who have canned their usual policy of avoiding big-name signings to link up with the 98-time Japanese international. Football Federation Australia chipped in with a reported $1.6 million from their centralised marquee fund, and so Honda will be the face of the A-League this season.

Forgettable: Honda doesn't recall his last match at what is now Marvel Stadium, against the Socceroos in 2016.

Forgettable: Honda doesn’t recall his last match at what is now Marvel Stadium, against the Socceroos in 2016.Credit:AP

Honda's profile isn't quite up there with the likes of Alessandro Del Piero – at least not here – but he should have a bigger impact on the park. If not still in his prime, then he's only just come out of it. Fresh from scoring at the World Cup in Russia (he remembers that), Honda spent last season starring in the Mexican Liga MX with Pachuca. Before that was a four-year spell at Italian heavyweights AC Milan.

In Japan, Honda enjoys rock-star status. He hasn't played club football there since 2007, his last year in the J.League with Nagoya Grampus. When he moved to Dutch club VVV-Venlo the following season, he resolved to never play for a Japanese club again. "I like Japan, as a country and a culture," Honda says. "But I'm not so comfortable to live in Japan. (There's) a lot of rules. I was frustrated when I was a kid at school. The teachers, many others told me 'don't do that, don't do that'. I always was thinking, why? It's not freedom. I like freedom. I like the US – they don't care about others. Maybe it has pros and cons."

Honda tries to head home once or twice a year, preferably after Christmas. Whenever he can, he makes a pilgrimage to Japan's famous onsens, the communal hot springs where visitors bathe naked. "I'm crazy about hot springs," he says. "Do you know Hakone? It's one hour from Tokyo and it's very convenient to go there. It's nice. Very expensive. You can take sake in hot water … it's nice, right?"

Victory's grand final win last season means there's every chance Honda will be playing in his native country at some stage next year, should they draw a Japanese club in the AFC Champions League. "I didn't expect to play against a Japanese team," he says. "If I go to Japan to play soccer, wow … you can see how difficult it is (for me) to walk on the street. It's awesome."

Still got it: Although he may be in the twilight of his career, Honda still struck for his country in the World Cup.

Still got it: Although he may be in the twilight of his career, Honda still struck for his country in the World Cup.Credit:AP

Honda has retired from senior international football and was going to call his club career quits, too, before Victory coach Kevin Muscat convinced him otherwise. But Honda has set his sights on playing for Japan again at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, as one of the three permitted overage players in the under-23s tournament. He will present a strong case for selection if he dominates the A-League as most expect him to do.

Honda is still coming to terms with the more physical and aggressive nature of soccer here compared to Japan. "I can't say which one is (better)," Honda says. "It's a totally different soccer style. I think a lot of Australian soccer players are learning from Aussie (rules) football and rugby teams. When I watch TV, they are fighting very aggressively … usually, soccer is not like that. I know some great players in the world, they are crying on the field, they fall down. I don't think Australian people like it. That's a good thing because I also like the strong spirit."

But he thinks Australian soccer's priorities in that respect might be misplaced. "There are a lot of great players without physical (strength), like Iniesta, David Villa," Honda says. "I met David Villa when I had an operation in Barcelona, when I got knee injuries. I talked with him. 'How often do you train like physical work, without soccer practice?' He said he never done that – zero. Zero power training, but he was one of the best players in the world. But as a person, as a man … a hero doesn't cry easily. Some of our very best Japanese comics, like Dragonball Z, they don't cry. They have a strong spirit. And I got it when I was young. (But) soccer players, they don't need it a lot."

Honda is confident he will handle whatever the A-League throws at him. Some have tipped him to win the Johnny Warren Medal. If he plays to form, and his combination with fellow recruit Ola Toivonen flourishes, his new team will be competing for silverware once again. One more grand final win and Melbourne Victory will become the most successful Australian team in domestic football history, surpassing giants of the NSL era like Marconi, Sydney City and South Melbourne. Now that would be something to remember.

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