Mitsuru Nagata

Nagata in the jersey of Albirex (2010)

Mitsuru Nagata (Japanese永田 充, Mitsuru Nagata; born April 6, 1983 in Shizuoka Prefecture ) is a Japanese football player at the position of the defender.

Club career

Mitsuru Nagata began playing football at the age of 4 years. He visited the Shizuoka Gakuen High School that came in his first year in 1999 the national high school tournament to the quarterfinals.

He then moved in 2002 to Kashiwa Reysol. For Kashiwa Reysol, he played his first game in the J-League on 18 September 2002 against Urawa Red Diamonds. The game ended 1-1.

In 2006 he then moved to Albirex Niigata. His first game for Albirex graduated Mitsuru 3 March 2007 in a 1-1 draw against Oita Trinita.

National

Nagata participated with the Japanese junior national team at the FIFA World Youth Championship in 2003 in the United Arab Emirates. A year later he was nominated for the first time for the national team, but was not used.

On 7 September 2010 he played his first match for Japan in a friendly match against Guatemala. He came on in the 46th minute for Takashi Inui. Originally, he was not considered for the AFC Asian Cup 2011. By the Tomoaki Makino of injury just before the start of the tournament, he was re-nominated.