(born May 14, 1984) is a Japanese footballer and a coach. A long-time veteran of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, he has also played in Poland. He was the first player in MLS history who was born in Japan.Bell, Jack. "Determination and Hard Work Distinguish Defender for Rapids," ''The New York Times'', Tuesday, September 14, 2010.
/ref>

Career

College and amateur

Kimura's career in organized soccer began with the youth team of Kawasaki Frontale. By the age of 15, he played for the Kawasaki Frontale reserve team. A foot injury aged 17 hampered his opportunity to sign a professional contract with the club. Despite this, he would eventually earn an athletic scholarship to play college soccer at Western Illinois University after moving to the United States, where he took an intensive English-language course and the SAT, on which he achieved a near-perfect score on its

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

section. A four-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

with the Leathernecks from 2003 to 2006, he also played with the Thunder Bay Chill of the USL Premier Development League.

Professional

Kimura was drafted by Colorado Rapids in the

2007 MLS Supplemental Draft The 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft was held on January 18, 2007, following the SuperDraft (held on January 12, 2007), as teams filled out their developmental rosters. Changes from 2006 * 2007 expansion club Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (co ...

, and in doing so became first Japanese-born player in the history of Major League Soccer. He was a bit-part player for much of his first two seasons, playing four games in his rookie season, and featuring in 18 games in 2008, 17 as a starter. He scored his first career goal on May 2, 2009, in a game against Real Salt Lake. During the 2010 playoffs, he scored the game-winning goal against San Jose that sent the Colorado Rapids to MLS Cup 2010. Kimura then played for a full 90 minutes (plus 30 minutes of extra time) to help the Colorado Rapids capture the MLS Cup against FC Dallas with a 2–1 victory in Toronto, Ontario. While with Colorado Kimura appeared in 117 league matches and scored 4 goals. Kimura was traded to

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

in exchange for allocation money and an international roster slot in July 2012. Five months later, Kimura was traded to New York Red Bulls along with a second-round pick in the

2013 MLS SuperDraft The 2013 MLS SuperDraft was the fourteenth SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. The draft took place on January 17, 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Indiana Convention Center. The Colorado Rapids enjoyed returns from the 2013 draft, ...

in exchange for Home Grown Player rights to Bryan Gallego and allocation money. On March 3, 2013, Kimura made his official debut for New York starting for his new club in a 3–3 draw against his former club

. Following the 2014 season, New York announced that it would not exercise its 2015 contract option on Kimura. In February 2015, Kimura signed with Polish side Widzew Łódź. In July 2015, Kimura signed with

Atlanta Silverbacks The Atlanta Silverbacks FC were an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1998 as Atlanta Ruckus, the club played in many leagues over the years before folding after the 2015 season. The team played its home game ...

of the North American Soccer League. In January 2016, he signed with expansion Rayo OKC. On December 7, 2017, Nashville SC announced Kimura as a new signing.

Personal

Kimura holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Honours

Colorado Rapids

Eastern Conference Championship (1):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

MLS Cup (1):

New York Red Bulls

* MLS Supporters' Shield (1):

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kimura, Kosuke 1984 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Atlanta Silverbacks FC players Colorado Rapids draft picks Colorado Rapids players Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate soccer players in the United States Japanese footballers Japanese expatriate footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players Portland Timbers players USL League Two players Rayo OKC players Sportspeople from Kobe Thunder Bay Chill players FC Tulsa players USL Championship players Western Illinois Leathernecks men's soccer players Widzew Łódź players Nashville SC (2018–19) players Nashville SC non-playing staff