The Sanfrecce Hiroshima Gazette
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Mutsuki Kato runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Aug 2026
Sanfrecce Hiroshima say no — this time
The offer from Tobol for Sota Nakamura was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Keisuke Osako in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sanfrecce Hiroshima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Oufa Shobeir 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no ink between Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Sho Sasaki
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sanfrecce Hiroshima, another week without a signature from Sho Sasaki.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Hayao Kawabe is still paying for one afternoon at Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Match8 Aug 2026
Honours even between Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Kawasaki Frontale
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market10 Aug 2026
No place for Yusuke Chajima in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yusuke Chajima has his answer from Sanfrecce Hiroshima; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Tsukasa Shiotani
Nobody at Sanfrecce Hiroshima is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
In brief
- Market The Hayao Kawabe story refuses to die
- Player ratings Off the pace: Hayao Kawabe
- Player ratings Off the bench and decisive: Ryo Germain