Saburo Kawabuchi, President of the Japan Football Association (JFA) said recently that the outspoken Nakata wasn't able to communicate with his team mates anymore, and the personality clash with several senior players finally led to his surprisingly early retirement at just 29 years old.

The JFA chief attributed the collapse of communication to the reserved nature of other Japanese players while extolled Nakata as a pioneer.

He complained that the other players were too quiet, and when Nakata expressed his ideas they "got upset".

Kawabuchi praised Nakata for giving everything he owned at the World Cup, and regretted that the wonderful player had been ignored to some extent.