The Avispa Fukuoka Herald
Match6 Sep 2031
The wait goes on for Avispa Fukuoka
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Daiki Matsuoka in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avispa Fukuoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Sep 2031
The goals have deserted Avispa Fukuoka
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Avispa Fukuoka can tell you which week it ends in.
Market8 Sep 2031
Ryosuke Yamanaka comes home
The shirt still fits. Ryosuke Yamanaka is back at Avispa Fukuoka, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Words at Avispa Fukuoka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yoichi Naganuma 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.
Match6 Sep 2031
Nagoya Grampus take the points off Avispa Fukuoka
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Wataru Endo runs at them all day
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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Renato Vidal stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Renato Vidal and Avispa Fukuoka agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
Matthias Simon faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Matthias Simon after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
- Squad 5 new faces, and Avispa Fukuoka are still learning each other
- The dugout Gota Yamaguchi gets it from the manager
- The dugout Shumpei Naruse knocks on the manager's door