Anrie Chase was born in Japan, grew up in the USA, played basketball for a while – and is now in the starting eleven of VfB Stuttgart. But how did this meteoric rise come about?
The provisional goal of Anrie Chase’s career path is nothing short of a miracle. The 20-year-old celebrated his debut in the starting eleven for VfB Stuttgart in the 5-0 DFB Cup victory against Preußen Münster – and played almost flawlessly for the full 90 minutes.
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The central defender had only celebrated his Bundesliga debut three days earlier with a 25-minute appearance in a 3-1 loss against SC Freiburg. And just 16 days earlier he had made his third division debut for the Swabians’ second team, which he led to promotion as a regular player in the Regionalliga.
But how exactly does the distinctive tousled head, about whom coach Sebastian Hoeneß said he had an “exciting career”, suddenly achieve such a meteoric rise?
Bundesliga: VfB Stuttgart with major defensive concerns
The truth is twofold. Admittedly, VfB has major personnel problems and Chase is certainly not the first or second choice. With Jeff Chabot, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Anthony Rouault and new signing Ameen Al-Dakhil, there are certainly still four central defenders missing who would be preferred over Chase. Under normal circumstances.
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But the football business is not that normal. After all, who would have thought in March 2004, when Chase was born in Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, that he would one day play football in Germany?
Nobody would have suspected it when the son of a Japanese mother and a US soldier of Jamaican descent emigrated to America at the age of three and, throughout his childhood and early adolescence, played basketball as well as football.
“He started with basketball and only switched to football quite late. He is a talented athlete and has now worked his way up,” Hoeneß recently described his protégé’s path.
The path only seemed clear when the Chase family returned to Japan, when little Anrie was 12. “Then I thought: ‘Football is fun’, so I came back to Japan and started seriously,” Chase once told the largest Japanese sports newspaper Nikkan Sports: “In Japan, everyone was good on their feet, and I was the worst in junior high school, so I couldn’t keep up with them.”
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Hoeneß praises VfB talent: “That’s where his strengths lie”
Reason enough to hone his skills. National player Maximilian Mittelstädt still notices this today: “Anrie is a player who works very hard. He is very professional. Before and after training, you only really see him in the weight room. He has a lot of mentality.”
The Japanese, who also has US citizenship, sees it the same way. “I don’t go out much, and when I’m not training or doing extra shifts, I concentrate completely on recovery,” Chase told the Stuttgarter ZeitungTraining, sleep, Netflix and daily video calls with his parents in Japan would fill his everyday life as a professional footballer.
That’s where Chase came to Germany from. At Shoshi High School, which Chase attended from the age of 15, the big leaps and the further course of his career were already clearer. The angular 1.88-meter defender was called up to Japan’s U20 and U23 teams – and developed the qualities that even Bundesliga coaches value today.
Hoeneß praised: “We will need his heading ability, that’s where he has his strengths and qualities. In terms of playing, he was concerned with the pace of the game, especially at the beginning, but now he is also at a decent level in terms of football. His core competencies are in defense, he is strong in heading and in tackles.”
Will Chase soon be back in the VfB starting eleven?
And so, at VfB Stuttgart, Anrie Chase’s global and certainly unpredictable career path seems to have reached its provisional goal.
Not only did Chase meet an old colleague from high school, Yuto Anzai, on the trip to Asia during preparation, but the next task is already waiting for him: the Bundesliga starting eleven! “The chances are very good. We currently have a healthy central defender, so everyone can work out what the chances are,” explained Hoeneß after the cup match against Münster.
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The game on Saturday (from 3.30 p.m. in SPORTS1-Liveticker) could therefore mutate into another premiere. Four days after his starting debut for VfB. And only 19 days after his third division debut.
