The Albirex Niigata Post
The terraces18 Mar 2030
The mood at Albirex Niigata 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.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
A brace, and Jin Okumura takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jin Okumura provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Tempers go at Albirex Niigata
Daisuke Yoshimitsu 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Jesús Vega wants to go home
“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 Albirex Niigata know it.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Matheus Moraes runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match16 Mar 2030
Albirex Niigata get the job done against Ventforet Kofu
A 3‑2 win over Ventforet Kofu, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Soya Fujiwara 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
No hiding place for Carlos Rodríguez
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Carlos Rodríguez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Yuta Miyahara in the eights
A performance of 8.47 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
- Player ratings Uriel Arteaga never got going
- Market Ko Soma leaves for nothing
- Market Bilal Mousa placed on the list