To see Sydney training...

 

After emerging from out of the blue following some eye-catching performances in the NSW Premier League with Leichhardt Tigers, 25-year-old "Hiro" has got every right to be happy with life.

Arriving as an unknown backpacker and with an ambition of making it into the A-League, his plan worked a treat.

Tigers president Tony Raciti – a father figure to Moriyasu - suggested the Sky Blues have a look. They did, he trialled, they liked what they saw and signed the former Shimzu S-Pulse junior on a one-year deal.

Months later, an impressed Vitezslav Lavicka offered Moriyasu two further years on his contract. And in recent weeks, emboldened by their confidence, the Japanese player forced his way into the Sky Blues’ starting XI.

With the team in the midst of a mini revival – 11 points from a possible 18 including three clean sheets out of the last four –confidence is slowly seeping back for the reigning champions after a horrendous opening few months.

But the quietly spoken Japanese who speaks with a slight American accent (he spent some years in the US and played for Dallas Texans) said he’s got it all to prove as he looks ahead to tomorrow’s crucial clash with Wellington Phoenix at the SFS.

“This is what I wanted... to be a professional football player. I got two more years and I haven’t showed anything yet for Sydney FC and the fans. But hopefully I get a goal soon or something else and show them that I can play,” he told au.fourfourtwo.com after Monday’s session on the SFS.

Moriyasu is getting better each week – an upturn mirroring Sydney FC’s fortunes, after their winless start to the season condemning them to bottom spot was finally snapped in late October with a 3-0 victory in Perth.

Moriyasu, like many other FC players, feel the bounce of the ball didn’t go their way during their horror start. But now things may be changing and an incident involving Moriyasu in a recent home match against Newcastle a good example.

His electric pace found a way past Jets defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley who tried to shield the ball out of play but despite the ball clearly going over the goal-line Moriyasu was able to whip in a low ball for striker Bruno Cazarine to score a valuable goal in a crucial 1-0 victory.

“I don’t think there is much difference between the first game of the season and last weekend. We’re getting better as a team and to be honest there were some lucky goals against us in the first few weeks,” said Moriyasu.

“Against Newcastle there was a lucky goal for us, that makes us turn around the season now.”

Moriyasu provides the Sky Blue midfield with a terrific work-rate, commitment and pace. While he’s no Nicky Carle on the ball, his slide-rule through ball for Alex Brosque in the side’s recent clash at Parramatta Stadium was perhaps a pointer of things to come.

“When I signed I wasn’t in the squad but I’ve been training hard and the coaching staff saw me train hard and gave me a chance,” he said.

“Everyone’s fighting for a position. And I’m fighting as well.”

With Brisbane, Adelaide, Gold Coast and Central Coast all good bets for a finals finish, the last two spots in the six are still very much up for grabs.

A win tomorrow for tenth-placed Sydney FC would put them on 18 points and one win out of the six. Three points for the seventh placed visitor and they’d be comfortably back in the six on 22 points, leapfrogging Melbourne Victory currently in sixth.

Aside from the A-League the Sky Blues have a 2011 Asian Champions League campaign to look toward. According to Moriyasu he’s slipped under the Japanese media radar - in sharp contrast to Sydney FC's previous Japanese player "King" Kazu Miura.

But if Moriyasu maintains his current form, he’s likely to be in the mix for starting berths against some big J-League clubs in a fairytale homecoming for a player who came here with little fanfare.

One ACL opponent potentially is Socceroo Josh Kennedy’s J-League champions Nagoya Grampus. “It’ll be very big for me. Hopefully I’ll be doing all the press conferences and answering in Japanese perhaps much better than my English,” he said.

And a trip back home might give him the added bonus of time with his family. And with a smile, Moriyasu said his girlfriend of three years was due in Sydney in around a month. “I think I will take her to Darling Harbour,” he said.

Wednesday night’s clash against Wellington will be the first on the SFS’s newly re-laid turf and on first inspection yesterday, it’s clearly not at its peak yet. It’s very sandy, dry. It's playable but hardly ideal - in sharp contrast to AAMI Park which the Sydney FC players were raving about after the weekend clash with Heart. 

Sydney's left-sided defender Scott Jamieson and stopper Stephan Keller are set to return for the Wellington clash. Striker Bruno Cazarine (back) and defender Rhyan Grant (knee) missed yesterday’s training session with their availability unclear ahead of the Wednesday night's fixture.Moriyasu is set to start with Carle out for at least another month.

*In other news, Greek giant Olympiakos are rumoured to be in talks about playing in the 2011 Sydney Festival of Football. This year’s inaugural event in July was won by AEK Athens and also featured Sydney FC Glasgow Rangers and Blackburn Rovers.

To see Sydney training...