It is a moment that every player will face sooner or later but when the time came to retire for Mana Iwabuchi she seemed, despite the tears at her farewell press conference, glad at heart and content with her decision.
A World Cup winner in 2011, Iwabuchi has had an illustrious club career, winning league titles in Japan and Germany before moving to England to play for Aston Villa and Arsenal before finishing with a loan spell at Tottenham this year.
Last Friday, though, she was in front of a full room of media representatives at the Adidas Japan head office in Tokyo to explain why she is…
