The Avispa Fukuoka Herald
Squad27 Feb 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shintaro Nago
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Avispa Fukuoka lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings27 Feb 2034
Up for the corner, and Fallou Fall delivers — 7.87
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Fallou Fall scored, was marked 7.87, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market27 Feb 2034
Emilio Herrera is on his way
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Avispa Fukuoka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom27 Feb 2034
16 academy players handed senior numbers at Avispa Fukuoka
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.
Squad27 Feb 2034
Daiki Sugioka 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.
Squad27 Feb 2034
Takumi Nagaishi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market27 Feb 2034
Avispa Fukuoka promote Koji Osako from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Koji Osako 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.
Market27 Feb 2034
One of our own: Daichi Honda joins the Avispa Fukuoka first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daichi Honda is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market27 Feb 2034
Avispa Fukuoka promote Kento Nakamura from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kento Nakamura 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.
In brief
- Squad Fallou Fall in a row with a teammate
- Boardroom Avispa Fukuoka board go back on their word
- Match Avispa Fukuoka and Ventforet Kofu take a point apiece