Marked for Kosuke Yamazaki
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Kosuke Yamazaki: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jubilo Iwata have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Takashi Inui 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ryoga Sato was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ricardo Graca, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Takashi Inui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Jan Van Den Bergh 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ryo Hatsuse, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Yuya Kuwasaki has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Jubilo Iwata will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kosuke Yamazaki trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jubilo Iwata know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Jubilo Iwata's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Jubilo Iwata has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Takashi Inui 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yuya Kuwasaki, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Jubilo Iwata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rikiya Uehara is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad28 Sep 2026
11 new faces, and Jubilo Iwata are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Ko Matsubara
A mark of 7.48, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Aug 2026
Takuro Ezaki wins it after the whistle should have gone
117 minutes played. Takuro Ezaki found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Vissel Kobe went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Takuro Ezaki pops up at the right end — 7.90
7.90, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Takashi Inui 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ryoga Sato runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Kosuke Yamazaki
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jubilo Iwata are still strangers to each other
10 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.27 on the card, and the Jubilo Iwata support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
The fee is $580.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Gamba Osaka drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Takashi Inui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Jubilo Iwata have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Jubilo Iwata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rikiya Uehara is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.13. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jubilo Iwata, another week without a signature from Kenta Nemoto.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Yosuke Tomiyasu chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.