Aleksandar Cavric 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Naomichi Ueda 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naomichi Ueda 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.
Kei Chinen 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.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Nagoya Grampus defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
11 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kashima Antlers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Yuta Higuchi 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.
A 1‑0 win over Vegalta Sendai, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kashima Antlers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandar Cavric 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Raúl Silva has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Kashima Antlers have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Albirex Niigata held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Kashima Antlers answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vladimir Loroña has just signed for Kashima Antlers, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kashima Antlers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kimito Nono 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
0‑3 to Kashiwa Reysol, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 25 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kimito Nono and Kashima Antlers agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kashima Antlers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Naomichi Ueda 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kashima Antlers can tell you which week it ends in.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kashima Antlers have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Maximiliano Salas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naomichi Ueda 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.
A 3‑1 win over Albirex Niigata, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Maximiliano Salas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naomichi Ueda 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.
“I watch every Kashima Antlers game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kashiwa Reysol runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
10 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sagan Tosu defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kashima Antlers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 26 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Naomichi Ueda 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Kimito Nono 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kashima Antlers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Kimito Nono 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.
Naomichi Ueda 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Kimito Nono 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.