Marked for Ryoya Kimura
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Mar 2027
Whatever happens, Kashiwa Reysol do not lose
14 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Gaku Kamada breaks a bone — 69 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market29 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kashiwa Reysol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ryosuke Kojima 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ryoya Kimura is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tojiro Kubo 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Kashiwa Reysol make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kashiwa Reysol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.25, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match20 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Kashiwa Reysol did not have in the autumn.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shonan Bellmare have kept their man, and Kashiwa Reysol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market22 Feb 2027
“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.
Market22 Feb 2027
The offer from Jubilo Iwata for Kenta Matsumoto was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Akira Nakata signs on for the long haul
Kashiwa Reysol moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Akira Nakata, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ryosuke Kojima 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Koki Kumasaka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Yohei Takaoka out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kashiwa Reysol will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The knee: Gaku Kamada out for 30 days
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kashiwa Reysol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ryosuke Kojima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ryoya Kimura is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Yokohama F. Marinos have kept their man, and Kashiwa Reysol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yohei Takaoka, and the manager let it.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kaoru Hasebe has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Taiki Watanabe is in the works
Kashiwa Reysol have made the call to Yokohama F. Marinos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Yusuke Segawa out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kashiwa Reysol will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ryosuke Kojima 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Kashiwa Reysol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Koki Kumasaka 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market9 Nov 2026
He is 15, and nobody at Kashiwa Reysol signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Tomoaki Okubo
“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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Experience through the door at Kashiwa Reysol
Felipe Dias arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market9 Nov 2026
Yota Komi linked with a move away
The name of Yota Komi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Kashiwa Reysol say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Everton Galdino 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
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
68 days out for Yusuke Segawa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kashiwa Reysol will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ryosuke Kojima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ryoya Kimura is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Koki Kumasaka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Yohei Takaoka 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 Kashiwa Reysol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Oct 2026
Hayato Nakama is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kashiwa Reysol has been clear about where Hayato Nakama stands, which is more than many ever get.