Teen in Nashville cheers for Japan at World Cup while dreaming of joining women’s squad

A 16-year-old Japanese girl living in Nashville, Tennessee, the training base for the Japanese men’s national soccer team for the ongoing FIFA World Cup, aspires to join the women’s national team, dubbed Nadeshiko Japan.

“I want to stand on a stage like the World Cup in the future,” said Izumi Wakatsuki, who attends a high school in Nashville. She is currently cheering on the men’s national team in its World Cup matches.

Born in Shiga Prefecture, Wakatsuki and her family moved to Nashville when she was 3 years old, due to her father’s job relocation. Influenced by her older siblings, she began playing soccer around the age of 9.

After joining a local powerhouse club six years ago, she was promoted to the top squad in just three years.

In August 2024, Wakatsuki sent the Japan Football Association clips of her playing to pursue her goal of joining the Japanese national team.

As the JFA evaluated her skills, Wakatsuki was able to make her national team debut with the U-16 squad at a tournament in France in April last year, and was chosen for the U-17 team’s tour of Portugal in January.

She has also previously been selected for the U-16 U.S. women’s national team. She plans to play at Yale University, which has a strong soccer team, after she enrolls in August 2027.

Wakatsuki watched the Samurai Blue practice in Nashville on June 8, cheering on 25-year-old Yukinari Sugawara, who plays the same position of wingback as she does and is a player she looks up to.

She said that Sugawara offered words of encouragement when she told him that she has played for the women’s national teams for minors.

“I have to work hard,” she said with a smile.

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