Hikaru Matsuyama

Template:Infobox player Hikaru Matsuyama (松山光, matsuyama hikaru) is a major character in Captain Tsubasa. He is one of Japan's best players. Though Matsuyama isn't a genius, he is persistent and hard-working. Thanks to his hard work, he has many good skills.

Profile

Matsuyama and the Furano team played with Misaki when he was in Hokkaido with his father. Furano's qualification to the national tournament was the occasion for them to meet again. At the canteen of the national tournament, an incident occured between Matsuyama and Hyuga, resulting in their rivalry in the semi-finals between them. With Hyuga being tired, and Matsuyama injured during the game, the outcome was uncertain, until Wakashimazu came in to stop a penalty kick from Matsuyama, allowing Hyuga to then score the victorious goal. Though Hyuga won the game, he learned the importance of teamwork, and Matsuyama respected Hyuga as he fought with all of his strength.

Like every Japanese player, Matsuyama's objective was to defeat Tsubasa and Nankatsu in the middle school national tournament. Furano encountered some problems in the quarter-final against Minamiuwa, because of various circumstances. However, with Matsuyama's fighting spirit and his utmost trust in his teammates, Furano managed to win and ended up encountering Nankatsu in the semi-final. Matsuyama put up a good fight and was extremely fair play. When the match was about to end, Tsubasa did a Drive Shoot, scoring Nankatsu's victory goal. This shot untied the hachimaki Matsuyama was wearing, made by Furano's manager Yoshiko Fujisawa, allowing Matsuyama to read the words that were written on it: "I LOVE YOU - YOSHIKO". As Yoshiko was forced to go to America as soon as Furano lost because of her father's work, Matsuyama tried to catch up with her, despite the tiring match he just made, and injured himself in the process. He made it on time to the airport however, and the two of them shared their feelings.

Matsuyama was selected in the All Japan Jr. Youth team. With his leadership skills, he became the vice captain of the team, then the captain after Japan's defeat against Hamburg. However, he eventually gave the captain mark to Tsubasa, feeling that it's the right choice. During the critical PK shootout against France, he wore Yoshiko's hachimaki that he had been keeping again. After the International Jr. Youth Tournament, Matsuyama took the exam for Furano High school. At that time, Yoshiko returned to Japan. The two of them met again and started their relationship.

In the World Youth series, Matsuyama was selected to be a member of All Japan Youth. Unlike Hyuga, Misaki, Nitta, Soda, Jito and the Tachibana twins, he wasn't cast aside by Gamo. Being the only one finding the truth about the R.J.7, he even forced Hyuga to leave the team in order to progress. Matsuyama tried his best to tell a depressed All Japan not to count on the R.J.7 for the preliminaries. Gamo considered that Matsuyama was the one who contributed the most to the team, by using his captainship so that the team wouldn't crumble during Gamo's harsh training while Tsubasa and Hyuga weren't here, and acquired their trust as well. He also considered Matsuyama the indispensable captain of the team during the training camp, which is why he revealed the true purpose of the R.J.7 to him. Even Tsubasa thought that Matsuyama should wear the captain mark. Matsuyama was absent for most of the time in the quarter-final against Sweden, since Yoshiko was involved in a traffic accident, and Matsuyama had put his love for Yoshiko above everything else. He came back for extra time however, giving Japan the key to victory.

In Road to 2002, Matsuyama became a pro by joining Consadole Sapporo. In a match against FC Tokyo, Matsuyama admitted that Misugi is a genius. The match ended up being a tie, 1-1.

In Golden 23, Matsuyama was selected in the Japanese Olympics team as the captain. Kira put a lot of trust in him, Misaki and Misugi, allowing them to handle the team's balance. He believed that Matsuyama's leadership would be important during the Asian preliminaries.