Marked for Eitaro Matsuda
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Aug 2026
Kashima Antlers go through and Sagan Tosu go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑3 against FC Tokyo, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Sagan Tosu
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sagan Tosu are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 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 Sagan Tosu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ryo Shiohama falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ryo Shiohama 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 win over Yokohama F. Marinos, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ryota Izumori: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Sagan Tosu sell a favourite for $720.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Fuchi Honda was one of the reasons people came, and $720.0K does not replace that by itself.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fuchi Honda has left for Gamba Osaka in a $720.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Sagan Tosu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kenta Nishizawa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad24 Aug 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 Sagan Tosu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Yoshiki Narahara has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Kenta Nishizawa
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Omiya Ardija, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad17 Aug 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 Sagan Tosu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Yasuki Kimoto falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Vykintas Slivka’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sagan Tosu.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Nothing got past Rio Hyon
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jun Nishikawa, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Kenshin Yuba at his very best
Marked 8.46. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sagan Tosu.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 28 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kenta Nishizawa and Sagan Tosu agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Sagan Tosu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kenta Nishizawa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market3 Aug 2026
No place for Jo in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jo has his answer from Sagan Tosu; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.