Koki Anzai

Left Back - Kashima Antlers
20 Sep 2026
Sunday
Process

Marked for Koki Anzai

7 Edition

The Kashima Antlers Sentinel

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Yuma Suzuki puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kashima Antlers, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A row about effort at Kashima Antlers

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Koki Machida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Rikuto Hirose beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

A bad afternoon for Kashima Antlers against Nagoya Grampus

1‑2 to Nagoya Grampus, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Kashima Antlers are still strangers to each other

7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Nagatomo Furuhashi to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Yuma Suzuki 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 Yuma Suzuki is on it.

The dugout

The form table has caught Koki Anzai

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

Market

The Naomichi Ueda story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Naomichi Ueda signs something — a contract at Kashima Antlers or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

Back issues
5 Edition

The Kashima Antlers Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Cup progress for Kashima Antlers

A 2‑1 win over Kashiwa Reysol, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Player ratings

Both of them Leo Ceara's — 9.30

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Kashima Antlers turn down Alverca for Leo Ceara

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Koki Anzai puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kashima Antlers, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Maccabi Tel Aviv join the queue for Yuma Suzuki

Add another name to the list: Maccabi Tel Aviv have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yuma Suzuki. The answer from Kashima Antlers has not changed — yet.

Squad

A row about effort at Kashima Antlers

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksandar Cavric was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Kashima Antlers against Vissel Kobe

0‑1 to Vissel Kobe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Match

The run is over for Kashima Antlers

4 matches without defeat, and then Vissel Kobe. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

The dugout

Nagatomo Furuhashi faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nagatomo Furuhashi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief