Ryusei Sato

Goalkeeper - Wellington Phoenix
14 Oct 2026
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Ryusei Sato

9 Edition

The Urawa Reds Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Shoya Nakajima damages knee ligaments — 92 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 92 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

No mercy from Urawa Reds

Sagan Tosu will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Urawa Reds were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Thiago Santana scores twice — 8.59

Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Urawa Reds may not be able to give Matheus Savio what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matheus Savio wants continental football; whether Urawa Reds can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Urawa Reds

Takehiro Tomiyasu 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ryoma Watanabe at his very best

Marked 8.84. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Urawa Reds.

Squad

Samuel Gustafson 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Samuel Gustafson

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Gustafson, and the manager let it.

Loan watch

Ryusei Sato counts the days

“I watch every Urawa Reds game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Wellington Phoenix runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

In brief

Back issues
4 Edition

The Wellington Phoenix Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for James McGarry

104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wellington Phoenix lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Matt Sheridan hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wellington Phoenix can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Wellington Phoenix say no — this time

The offer from Auckland FC for Dan Edwards 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Wellington Phoenix

Bill Tuiloma 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.

Squad

Words at Wellington Phoenix training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sarpreet Singh 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.

Market

The Alby Kelly-Heald conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Perth Glory will make the call about Alby Kelly-Heald this week. Wellington Phoenix have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

In brief