The mood at Vegalta Sendai has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Ahmed Wahid 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Vegalta Sendai know it.
In brief
SquadAntoine Assaf falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Vegalta Sendai will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ahmed Wahid 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Vegalta Sendai know it.
In brief
SquadGonzalo Pineda falls out with a teammate over standards
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Vegalta Sendai scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vegalta Sendai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Words at Vegalta Sendai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Pineda 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.
Three points for Vegalta Sendai, 2‑1 the final word against Sagan Tosu in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Ahmed Wahid was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
23 goals and a season average of 7.83. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings24 Aug 2037
A brace, and Ahmed Wahid takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ahmed Wahid provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ahmed Wahid 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Vegalta Sendai know it.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ahmed Wahid 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vegalta Sendai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.60 — 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.
It needed Stiven Canizalez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Kashiwa Reysol, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Takumi Yasuno
The terracesThe press have found their man in Ahmed Wahid
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
28 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.
Ahmed Wahid 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.
Marked 9.28 — 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vegalta Sendai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vegalta Sendai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
7 goals in one match, Ahmed Wahid on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Vegalta Sendai and Sagan Tosu.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vegalta Sendai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ori Bardugo. 4‑3 against Ventforet Kofu, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Vegalta Sendai and Ventforet Kofu, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings11 May 2037
Ori Bardugo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.30. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vegalta Sendai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vegalta Sendai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vegalta Sendai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Urawa Reds kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Vegalta Sendai will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Marked 8.92 — 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vegalta Sendai are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Ahmed Wahid 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.
8.75. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Vissel Kobe held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Vegalta Sendai answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stiven Canizalez provided it, and the 9.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ori Bardugo and Vegalta Sendai agree another 4 years.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Vegalta Sendai and Jubilo Iwata in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vegalta Sendai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vegalta Sendai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vegalta Sendai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Feb 2037
15 academy players handed senior numbers at Vegalta Sendai
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Words at Vegalta Sendai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Wahid 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.