![]() ![]() "To win the league now relies on other teams, so we're not too sure what will happen, but we need to keep winning all of our games and score as many goals as possible as a minimum." "At the moment I'd love to be in a Champions League position and winning the title with this team. "Last year I wasn't even involved in a title race so being part of it this year is very good," she said. The weather certainly wasn't one of the main things which attracted Hasegawa to Manchester last summer - though she was expecting even more rain - but the possibility of securing a Champions League spot has lived up to expectations so far - with an outside chance of an even bigger prize still alluring in the final weeks of the season. I could see that watching them, and when I played against them for the first time it really made me realise that I wanted to come to this club," she said.Ĭhelsea may prove City's biggest rival in the WSL title race, and Blues boss Emma Hayes says their Champions League exit will teach them lessons in the run-in "I like the way the Man City men's team play and knew the women's team try to model that same style. That shared style across the club's teams was one of the key reasons that attracted Hasegawa to City in the first place, and has allowed her - and her new team - to flourish this season. Hasegawa's relationship with left-back Alex Greenwood, in an inverted full-back role championed by both men's and women's teams at City, has drawn praise for allowing Taylor's side to dictate games in a way they couldn't before. I'm very used to it, and I played a a number six in Japan so it's a position I know very well." "I've never been worried about playing with older players, and when I first started playing for the senior team I thought the most important thing was to enjoy myself. "At Menina there were only a few players selected each year, and when I joined at 13 I was straight into playing with bigger, older girls. "I was already very good on the ball so even though I was small, it never caused any issues. ![]() "There weren't any girls' teams when I first started playing so me and another girl played with the boys," she told Sky Sports. Watch free highlights from Man City's thumping 4-1 win over Reading Hasegawa's earliest footballing memories were spent playing in boys' teams, before moving on to face older girls at the renowned Menina academy in Tokyo.Įven her early steps in the professional game came as a 16-year-old with Tokyo Verdy Beleza against older, more physically developed opponents. Overcoming physically larger opponents was probably never the issue it might have seemed. Only Katie Zelem has won the ball back in the middle third more regularly across the entire WSL this season, while only three players have completed more passes in last third of the pitch. ![]() "I may be small, but I am strong, and I want to show that." "People see me as an attacking player, but I also want to be known for my defending and unpredictability," she said in her first interview the same day she signed. The 5'2'' Hasegawa is similarly unlikely to win too many towering headers either but even before she first laced up her boots at City, she made known her intentions to dispel those same misconceptions. Short at 5'7'' and never particularly quick, his genius with the ball, reading of the game and positional awareness flew in the face of the esteemed wisdom that dynamism and physical strength ruled over all. Her performances in the north west this season show how deep that inspiration runs.Ī generational talent, Iniesta rewrote the rulebook on the profile of an elite midfielder. A midfielder since a child, the young Hasegawa would watch the dazzling feet of Ronaldinho in awe, beholden to the men's game without a professional Japanese women's league of her own to watch on television.Īs time went on, the understated class of Ronaldinho's Barcelona team-mate Iniesta began to pique her interest over the Brazilian's mesmerising showmanship. The 26-year-old's changing position over the last 12 months has mirrored that of her own footballing idols. The best WSL title race ever: All you need to know ![]()
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