As cameo debuts go, they don’t get much better. It took just three minutes and three touches for Yuta Sasaki to make history on the double. The winger came off the bench on Friday against Wexford FC to become the first Japanese outfield player to p
As cameo debuts go, they don’t get much better. It took just three minutes and three touches for Yuta Sasaki to make history on the double. The winger came off the bench on Friday against Wexford FC to become the first Japanese outfield player to play in the SSE Airtricity League. Just a few minutes later when the final whistle went, the 23-year-old winger had become the first Japanese player to score in the League of Ireland. “I’m very happy. It’s too good to be true,” remarked Sasaki after registering Cabo’s second goal in the 2-0 success at Stradbrook. It even earned him the home teams’ man of the match award. “It was a great through ball by Keith (Dalton). I took a good first touch then was able to shoot past the goalkeeper,” he added on his historic score. From Chiba - were the Republic of Ireland trained at the 2002 World Cup – the winger has attracted significant media interest, especially on social media, since signing with the South Dublin club last week. He has taken the long route to Ireland via South America and Europe having played in the land of the rising sun with Vertfee Taita. Spells in Paraguay with Independiente F.B.C followed on from 2013 then in Germany with VfR Mannheim and 1.FC Bruchsal. He landed in Ireland in 2018 featuring with both Dublin Bus and lately with Cherry Orchard in the Leinster Senior League. “After the announcement, I have been very busy. I can’t believe the interest. People responding to me on social media; messaging about me – it’s unbelievable. Even people back in Japan. It’s really nice.” Sasaki hopes that this is only the beginning. He wants to help Cabinteely push back up the First Division table into the play-off reckoning. “I want to play more. The support from (Director of Football) Pat Devlin, coaches Eddie Gormley and Graham O’Hanlon as well as all the lads has been fantastic. They believe in me.” He went on to stress, “Hopefully I can score more goals. Even if I don’t score, I will try my best to help the team.”
