APIA Leichhardt hero Tasuku Sekiya back at work day after historic FFA Cup win over Melbourne Victory
HOURS after helping orchestrate an FFA Cup upset for the ages, APIA Leichhardt’s new cult hero was back at work as an Opera House kitchen hand.
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HOURS after helping orchestrate an FFA Cup upset for the ages, APIA Leichhardt’s new cult hero was back at work as an Opera House kitchen hand.
The zealous changeroom celebrations of Tuesday night’s 3-2 defeat of Melbourne Victory were still ringing in Tasuku Sekiya’s ears when he arrived for his 10am shift on Wednesday.
The Japanese forward couldn’t swing two days off his part-time job for his football giant-killing operation, and it was something of a miracle his boss had afforded him the day of the game to prepare.
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A good move, as it turned out.
Sekiya stole the show in exhilarating fashion, scoring a brace to propel the NPL side into the quarter-finals at the expense of the A-League champions.
Beforehand, though, he’d been feeling all kinds of anxious.
“I was nervous,” he said.
“I have a kind of game-day routine, just talk to myself and tell myself ‘don’t be too nervous, don’t be too excited, you can do it, just calm down’.
“But actually I was kind of panicked.”
His ninth-minute opener - an acute-angled finish - helped with that.
The dread dissolved and his “mind was clear”, ready to bury a second ball of thunder that gave Victory goalkeeper Matt Acton no chance.
And as Sekiya manned the kitchen at Circular Quay on Wednesday, the realisation of what had gone down at Leichhardt Oval was still sinking in.
His lunch break was spent sifting through congratulatory messages from friends and family back in Japan who’d watched the highlights and read of his exploits in the local press.
All had followed the progress of the 25-year-old who earned a university degree in law while on a football scholarship before moving to Australia to learn English and attempt to carve out a professional career.
“How do I describe it? Just happy. Enormous happy,” Sekiya said.
“Best winning celebration I have ever had in the changing room. It was really, really nice.”
The only disappointment was the absence of his nation’s idol, legendary Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda, who didn’t travel to make his Victory debut.
That was offset by hope that his head-turning display might crane the necks of potential A-League suitors.
“I hope they contact me,” Sekiya said.
“I want to play A-League. I just wait, it’s out of my control.
“I have to ask work to take a day off for the next game.”
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