The Kashima Antlers Sentinel
Market30 Dec 2030
Marselino Ferdinan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kashima Antlers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Kashima Antlers
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuma Suzuki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Dec 2030
A falling-out at Kashima Antlers
Tsukasa Morishima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
Jeon Jin-Woo gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jeon Jin-Woo is on it.
Market30 Dec 2030
The Makoto Mitsuta question follows Kashima Antlers around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Makoto Mitsuta’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
Homare Tokuda knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kashima Antlers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
- The dugout The manager makes Tokuma Suzuki a promise
- Squad Yuma Suzuki is the talk of the training ground
- Boardroom The Kashima Antlers board choose calm
- Squad Welcome back, Junya Maeda