Miura still hungry for goals after scoring at 49

Miura, who scored 55 goals in 89 appearances for Japan prior to his international retirement in 2000, is playing his 31st season as a professional and remains keen to prolong his career despite recent struggles with injury and poor form.

(Reuters)

"I'm genuinely happy. Things felt nice during training and I was sensing I could get one. The defeat is the disappointing part. I need to be scoring more, to be honest," Miura was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.

Miura also paid tribute to Major Leaguer Ichiro Suzuki, who last week raised his career hits to 4,257, passing Pete Rose's record total in professional baseball, saying that the 42-year-old has been an inspiration for him.

"He taught me how important it is to keep at it, building one thing on top of another. (Japanese second division football) may be a small stage, but the important thing is to have strong belief," Miura said.

The oldest goal scorer in the J.League first division is the Brazilian legend Zico, who scored at the age of 41 years, three months and 12 days.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)