Encouraged by brother Yuichi, Kawaguchi began to play football with his school team and his gifts were quickly spotted as he became their goalkeeper, denying older players the number one jersey. In 1991, he made his first national mark as he captained his team Shimizu Shogyo to the Japan High Schools Championship.
When he graduated in 1994, he had his pick of clubs and chose Yokohama Marinos, where the famous Shigetatsu Matsunaga, who was widely regarded as the best goalkeeper in Japan at the time, was to be his tutor. After serving his apprenticeship, he was voted the rookie of the year after helping his team win the league title in 1995.
Always looking to start counter attacks with his quick distribution, his heroic efforts at the 1996 Olympics helped Japan to a shock 1-0 win over Brazil. Kawaguchi was to prove successful as Japan won the AFC Asian Games in 2004, and recorded good results against European champions Greece (1-0) and Brazil (2-2) at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany.
Despite these achievements, the previous two FIFA World Cups™ have not been happy for Kawaguchi as he played Japan’s three defeats at France 98 and lost his place in goal for Korea\/Japan 2002 after a short and unhappy spell with English side Portsmouth. Now fully fit and back to form, Kawaguchi is looking to make it third time lucky at Germany 2006.
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