Tsuyoshi Kitazawa

is a Japanese former football player who played for the Japan national team. He currently works on television as a football commentator.

Club career When Kitazawa was a junior high school student, he joined Yomiuri Club Junior Youth after a one-week trial. After graduating from junior high school, he chose to attend Shutoku High School, where he played for the school football club. He was the league's joint top scorer in the 1990–91 season.

He moved to Yomiuri (later Verdy Kawasaki, now Tokyo Verdy) in 1991. Kitazawa, together with his teammates Kazuyoshi Miura, Ruy Ramos, Nobuhiro Takeda, Tetsuji Hashiratani and Bismarck made in the early 1990s the golden era of Verdy who won the J1 League championship (1993 and 1994) and J.League Cup (1992, 1993, and 1994). He finished his playing career with Verdy in 2002.

National team career Kitazawa was capped 58 times and scored 3 goals for the Japan national team between 1991 and 1999. He made his international debut on 2 June 1991 in a friendly against Thailand in Yamagata Park Stadium, under national coach Kenzo Yokoyama. He was a member of the Japan team that won the 1992 Asian Cup. He scored his first international goal on 6 November 1992 in the semifinal against China at Hiroshima Stadium.

He took part in Japan's unsuccessful campaign to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. He was a member of the Asian final qualification stage, which was held centrally in Qatar and featured two games. He was on the bench when the Iraqis' injury-time equaliser dashed Japan's qualification hopes in the last qualifier, in the match that Japanese fans now remember as the Agony of Doha.

Kitazawa was short-listed for the 1998 World Cup, but national coach Takeshi Okada dropped him along with Kazuyoshi Miura and Daisuke Ichikawa at the final training camp in Nyon, Switzerland.

Futsal career Kitazawa represented Japan national futsal team in the 1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship finals hosted by the Netherlands.

Career statistics Club

International

Honours Japan national team AFC Asian Cup: 1992

Individual Japan Soccer League top goalscorer: 1990–91