Tensions between Blue Eagles and Campbelltown City at an highest for South Australia’s 2020 NPL opening match
Adelaide Blue Eagles’ Japanese signing Yohei Matsumoto is one of the more interesting characters of the NPL game in South Australia.
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About 50 years ago Campbelltown City and Blue Eagles – named Eastern Districts Azzurri until 1993 – were briefly married but now tensions are at a premium after a strange off season.
The rivalry could peak when SA’s reigning NPL champion and premier host Blue Eagles in the opening match of the 2020 SA NPL season at Newton on Friday.
Campbelltown’s Japanese forward Yohei Matsumoto move to the Azzurri and his frank assessment as to why he didn’t stay on could be a catalyst for a blistering opening.
The other is sure to be a sorry sore point as 20-year-old McCabe twins Liam and Hamish have been forced to sit out the clash.
Trouble was brewing when the pair wanted to return to the Blue Eagles after spending the off-season with Campbelltown.
The McCabe twins weren’t registered in time and must sit out all NPL games at least until April, said Blue Eagles’ general secretary Paul Giordano.
Matsumoto, 26, said he also left the Red Devils on uneasy terms as the NPL will be robbed of seeing one of its finest talents for weeks after Hamish was second in the Sergio Melta medal count last year.
He was also named in SA’s NPL All Star team.
“I want to be honest I couldn’t agree with the offer from Campbelltown,’’ Matsumoto said.
“Then I had some problems with the chairman of Campbelltown, I wanted to stay there and play with the guys but now I’m very happy here.”
Matsumoto says he is expecting to be hounded by his former Campbelltown City teammates after making the move from the Kansai League’s FC Easy02 in the nation’s fifth tier to his first SA club Birkalla.
The Japanese 2020 SA NPL All Star also claimed he was paid for the first time for a football match when he landed in SA.
The pint sized attacker has been playing as a No. 10 for the Blue Eagles but is also very comfortable on the wing where he was ultra dangerous for Campbelltown.
He is one of the NPL’s most exciting talents but said he had no chance to become a professional in Japan.
“To play J-League 1 or J-2 you needed luck and I didn’t have luck and I didn’t have enough skills in Japan to try out for those clubs,” said the Vissel Kobe fan.
The Japanese business student at Australian Ideal College is also one of the more interesting characters of the game.
Matsumoto is covered from neck to toe for personal reasons.
One is to block out tan lines and sunburn.
“I don’t like the leg burns from the grass of the synthetic and also I don’t want to touch wet or sweaty players,’’ he said.
“It’s stresses me.”
Campbelltown chairman Don Leombruno was contacted for comment.