Marked for Matheus Thuler
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Katsuya Nagato: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vissel Kobe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Gotoku Sakai and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Vissel Kobe
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market28 Sep 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yuya Kuwasaki has his answer from Vissel Kobe; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Sho Honda chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Takuya Iwanami is on it.
Match26 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Vissel Kobe?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Ventforet Kofu? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market28 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matheus Thuler signs something — a contract at Vissel Kobe or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vissel Kobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Vissel Kobe did not have in the autumn.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Vissel Kobe, 3‑1 the final word against Gamba Osaka in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Sho Honda: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Diego gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Takahiro Ohgihara is on it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Katsuya Nagato
Nobody at Vissel Kobe is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Market21 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Yosuke Ideguchi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Takahiro Ohgihara delivers — 7.78
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Takahiro Ohgihara scored, was marked 7.78, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tetsushi Yamakawa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Yosuke Ideguchi at his very best
Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Vissel Kobe.
Match12 Sep 2026
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match12 Sep 2026
After 4 games, Vissel Kobe finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Kashima Antlers; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Kashima Antlers leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Matheus Thuler asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Vissel Kobe are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Gotoku Sakai makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Daiya Maekawa gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Daiya Maekawa is on it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Matheus Thuler knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vissel Kobe, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Matheus Thuler has moved up it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.