32nd game, May 23
Hide successfully goaled a PK.
It's his 10th goal this season.
Nevertheless his team lost to AC Milan 1 to 2.
However, Perugia exceeded Salernitana by just a point to
remain in Serie A in the coming season.
The season ended for Hide with this game.
He was against selected best Asian player.
31st game, May 16
For the first time, Perugia won outside of its home field.
The happy result was achieved against Udinese.
Nakata clearly was a major player in 2 goals. He even aimed at a goal in a free kick, but was blocked by Udinese goalie.
All in all, Perugia won 2 to 1.
30th game, May 9
The game was played at home against Bari.
But it was not Perugia that scored. It was Bari and only Bari.
Although Hide aimed a middle shoot at the goal towards the end of the game,
it did not make it. With only 2 more games to go, Perugia is a shaky position in the top league.
29th game, May 2
Fiorentina's Gabriel Batistuta completed 2 goals in a row.
Hide attempted to charge for the goal, but could not quite make it.
In the end, it was a whooping loss for Perugia.
Fiorentina won 5 to 1.
The result of the game dropped Perugia to 13th place in Serie A.
It's on the verge of whether it can remain in the top Italian league.
28th game, Apr. 25
Perugia fought away from home against Cagliari.
It was the first to score, but was caught up with a successful free kick by Patrick Mboma--a former J.leaguer.
Hide tried to attack the goal but failed. Perugia finished the game a 2 to 2 draw.
27th game, Apr. 18
At home, Perugia placed AS Rome.
It was a see saw game which Hide helped Milan Rapajc a game winning goal.
Perugia clinched the game 3 to 2.
It's the team's 5th straight win at home.
26th game, Apr. 11
It's the first game for Hide since his return from a national game against Brazil in Tokyo.
He may have been tired, because he played poorly.
His team lost 2 goals to Piancenza, and that loss marked the teams record consecutive defeat on the road.
25th game, Mar. 21
Hide had a tough time, because the opposing team would interfere with his play from time to time.
But in the later half because Hide was fouled, Perugia was given a penalty kick.
Milan Rapjac kicked in the ball straight into the goal to defeat Salernitana 1 to 0.
Next week, there's no game. Hide will be in Japan to play with the national team against Brazil.
24th game, Mar. 14
Perugia faced Piacenza.
Perugia again prove its weakness on the road.
It already lost 2 goals in the first half.
The game finished 0 to 3.
23th game, Mar. 7
At home, Perugia played against Empoli.
Empoli scored first. Perugia not only caught up,
but completed 3 goals. Hide had contributed passes that
led to all goals. Most eyecatching was for the 3rd goal.
He took the ball from midfield, all the way down, near the goal.
He was so close, he could have scored himself, but instead, passed it to
Christian Bucchi who kicked it in.
With this win Perugia kept the team from falling to last place in Serie A.
22th game, Feb. 28
Perugia lost again in a game on the road.
This time against Parma.
21th game, Feb. 21
In the later half of the game, Hide struggled hard to take the ball
to the goal. His effort did not bear fruit.
Perugia lost to Venezia 1 to 2.
20th game, Feb. 14
Japanese fans came in a tour to view this game amid threats from
local fans. That is, many Perugia locals believed that
some of them were there to cheer on Inter Milan players
such as Ronaldo and Roberto Baggio instead of Hide.
The 2 Inter Milan stars were absent after all.
Hide did not support any goals but played well.
Perugia, for the first time defeated Inter Milan at home.
In the 18th minute, Ivan Kaviedes of Ecuador kicked in a goal for the lead.
Soon after the later half took off, Perugia's Renato Olive was
sent off the game. However, Milan Rapajc added another goal.
Perugia won 2 to 1.
19th game, Feb. 7
It was a terrible game for Perugia.
The team lost 0-3 to Lazio.
18th game, Jan. 31
Hide shot a fantastic ball from a difficult position from the left side of the goal
in the first 25 minute.
It was blocked by the goalie which dropped in front, and kicked in by his teammate
to mark the 2nd goal for his team.
When Hide was about to aim for the goal in a PK
before the game came to an end,
the spectators rooted out loud for him.
His kick, however, was caught by the goalie.
At any rate, it was a victory for Perugia-- 2 to 0 against Sampdoria.
17th game, Jan. 24
Perugia's new player, Kabiedes kicked in a goal in the 20th minute, but
in the later half, Juventus completed 2 goals.
Hide's birthday wish was not granted.
Perugia lost 1-2 to Juventus.
It was the team's 4th straight defeat.
16th game, Jan. 17
AC Milan kicked in 2 goals already in the 1st half of the game.
Just before the end of the game, Perugia was given a chance for a penalty goal.
The kicker was Hide. He blasted the ball in.
Still, Perugia lost 1 to 2 even though Nakata's national team colleague, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
and Hiroshi Nanami who are both training in Europe came along to cheer him on.
15th game, Jan. 10
Nakata kicked in his first goal for 1999 at home against Udinese.
It happened in the later half when Perugia was, however, behind 0 to 2.
Udinese then scored again.
The 1 to 3 loss has demoted Perugia to 12th place.
It is said that the flu which attacked many of Perugia's players
kept the players from giving their best.
14th game, Jan. 6
Serie A resumed after a 17 day Christmas break.
Perugia faced Bari. Bari scored first. 2 minutes into the later half,
Nakato caught the ball with his head, passed it to Christian Bucchi,
and Tedesco kicked it in to catch up.
Bari, however, in the 15 minutes later scored again.
Perugia could not win another game away from home--losing 1 to 2.
13th game, Dec. 20
As the game against Fiorentina took off, Milan Rapjac dashed toward the goal
and banged in the first point of the game.
In the 11th minute, Fiorentina's Anselmo Robiatti's free kick tied the game.
29 minutes into the later half, Gabriel Batistuta headed in a goal.
It was during loss time that Hide brought the game to a draw with a penalty kick.
Japanese flags, although few, were seeing waving in the stands packed with a crowd of 25,000
in response to Hide's goal. The game finished 2 to 2.
12th game, Dec. 13
Another team that has been promoted to the Serie A level this season, Cagliari, faced Perugia.
On Cagliari, one of its team members was Patrick Mboma who played with Gamba Osaka
until the World Cup in France.
In the first 38th minute, .
The 2nd half went by with neither teams able to score until loss time.
In the 46th minute, Cagliari's Daniele Berreta kicked in a goal to catch up with Perugia.
Then, 2 minutes later, Nakata's pass near the goal was headed in by Maspero.
Perugia won 2 to 1 against Cagliari at home.
11th game, Dec. 5
Perugia appeared to take off to a good start against Roma.
Hide too controlled the ball well. In the 33rd minute,
Hide's pass led to a goal by Milan Rapjac.
However, just before the end of the first half,
Perugia lost a player to a red card.
Disaster struck Perguia. In the later half of the game,
Perguia lost 5 goals. The game finished 1 to 5.
10th game, Nov. 29
It was no doubt, Nakata day in Perugia.
In the 19th minute, he successfully attempted an overhead kick in front of the goal.
Then 4th minute into the later half, Hide ran towards the goal at the right time to receive a pass.
He kicked another goal in. Perugia won 2 to 0 over Piacenza.
Thanks to Hide, the team has surged to 9th place.
9th game, Nov. 21
Hide moved swifly in the game against Bologna.
Perugia was the one to take the lead with a goal by Milan Rapajc in the 38th minute.
But Bologna caught up before the end of the 1st half.
The game ended a draw.
8th game, Nov. 15
Perugia lost 0-2 to Salernitana.
Hide had no chance to contribute in this game.
After the game, Hide was given good news.
He was chosen to play among the world select in a Dec. 16 game against the Italian all stars in Rome.
He teammates as announced will include Ronaldo and Batistuta.
7th game, Nov.8
Hide was absent from the previous game at Empoli.
That's because the head coach decided the he needed to take a break having
had to travel all the way to Japan and back for a national team match.
Hide was in full power all right against Vicenza.
Perugia scored 3 goals. Hide had contributed to all of them.
He even scored one himself in the 50th minute.
It's his 4th goal with Perugia.
The final score was 3 to 1.
Perugia clinched its 4th victory placing the team 10th out of 18 teams.
6th game, Oct.25
Just as the game started, Parma got hold of the ball and Enrico Chiesa
successfully aimed it at the goal. This was just 41 seconds into the game.
Then in the 11th minute, Perugia's Milan Rapajc kicked in a goal to tie with Parma.
In the 29th minute, Christian Bucchi gave Perugia a game winning goal.
Perugia beat the powerhouse.
Hide, in this game, did aim straight at the goal once,
but Parma's goalkeeper caught the ball.
Hide had to leave Italy immediately after the game to play for the Japanese national team
against Egypt in a friendship match.
5th game, Oct.18
For the first time this season, Perugia won.
The team it faced was Venezia, another team that was promoted this season from Serie B.
In the first 44th minute, Perugia's Renato Olive used his head to mark the first and only
goal in the game.
Nakata, meanwhile, was trapped between Venice players, therefore, could not
move freely to support the victory of the game.
Former Brazilian national player Ze Maria played his first game with Perugia.
4th game, Oct.4
Nakata faced one of the toughest club teams in the world--Inter Milan.
It was without Brazilian striker Ronaldo and Roberto Bazzio of Italy.
Still, Inter proved to be a powerhouse.
In the first 11th minute, Samorano kicked in a goal.
Inter added another in the later half to finish the game 2 to 0.
Nakata aimed the ball towards the goal several times, but
it didn't quite get in there.
He did get to go through a new experience.
Nakata was given his first yellow card upon sliding into an opponent in attempt to steal the ball.
3rd game, Sept. 27
Perugia was back home to take on Lazio.
The game was interrupted a couple of times with tear gas.
The police was behind this to stop the fans of the 2 teams from further fighting.
Despite the mess, Nakata kicked in a goal 19 minutes into the 2nd half of the game.
The teams tied 2 to 2.
2nd game, Sept. 20
Nakata played his 2nd game with Perugia on Sept. 20 facing Sampdoria.
The game finished a 1 to 1 tie.
Nakata was unable to contribute as the point getter this time.
1st game, Sept. 13
Monetary issue was solved between Hidetoshi Nakata's J.League team Bellmare Hiratsuka and
Italy's Serie A team Perugia, after a couple of weeks of miscommunication.
Nakata was safely able to start the Serie A season on Sept. 13.
He kicked in 2 goals in the later half of the game against Juventus.
The first came in the 6th minute, the second in the 13th minute.
However, his team lost 3 to 4 at its homeground.
Kazu Miura, who played with Serie A's Genoa 4 years ago
as the first ever Japanese, scored only 1 goal during his one year stay.
So Nakata's potential is incomparably high.
Nakata leaves for Italy's Serie A
One of Japan's leading players, Hidetoshi Nakata left for Italy on July 22.
The night before, it was disclosed that 21-year old Nakata has agreed to play with Perugia--
the Italian club team which has been promoted to the Serie A level for the
coming season which kicks off in September.
Nakata held a press conference on the 22nd just before he hopped on the flight to Italy,
saying he was sorry he couldn't directly tell the fans about this decision.
The agreement is assumed to be 5 years for 6 billion lira.
President of Bellmare Hiratsuka admitted that 5 overseas club teams actually approached Nakata.
Nakata is only the second Japanese after Kazu Miura to play in the top Italian league.