Japan captain Makoto Hasebe has announced his retiring from international football following his team’s elimiation from the FIFA World Cup 2018 finals in Russia.
Japan on Monday night had lost to the strong Belgium 3-2, after squandering an early lead.
Hasebe had announced his retirement on social media. He shared the new on his Instagram page announcing the “end (of) my time with the national team”.
“Playing for the national team is different from club teams in that the players don’t know when or who will be selected. So I understand I’m being self-centred by announcing this,” the 34-year-old who finishes his career with 114 matches in Japan colours said, Japanese national news agency Kyodo has reported.
Just a day earlier, Hasebe led Japan in a hear-tbreaking 3-2 round-of-16 loss to Belgium. The team gave up a two-goal second-half lead before allowing Belgian substitute Nacer Chadli to net the winner in the 94th minute.
Speaking directly to the fans, Hasebe extended thanks for the support the team received at the World Cup, saying it “gave us the power to keep moving forward”.
The Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder thanked all the teammates who joined him in battle over the more than 12 years since he made his national team debut in February 2006.
Hasebe was Japan’s on-field captain at the 2010 World Cup and was handed the coveted armband by three consecutive national team managers, including Akira Nishino in Russia.
His appearance in the loss to Belgium at Rostov-on-Don on Monday was the 11th of his World Cup career, equal most for any Japanese player. He scored twice for Japan, but never at the World Cup.
In closing the social media post, Hasebe said he always played with pride when representing Japan and that he “would not give the time I spent in the national team up for the world.”
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