Marked for Seiji Kimura
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Jan 2029
Tomoya Miki 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 Avispa Fukuoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yutaka Michiwaki trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Takumi Nagaishi, and the manager let it.
Market1 Jan 2029
The name of Yota Maejima keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Avispa Fukuoka say nothing, which says plenty.
Market1 Jan 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Avispa Fukuoka would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Aug 2028
Urawa Reds come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Avispa Fukuoka did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Aug 2028
Yusuke Onishi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Avispa Fukuoka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Seiji Kimura and Avispa Fukuoka agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Tomoya Miki 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 Avispa Fukuoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
A performance of 9.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Kohei Okuno gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
A defender's afternoon for Yuji Kitajima
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Defensive actions: 35, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market19 Jun 2028
Ian Smith hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Avispa Fukuoka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Avispa Fukuoka may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Tsubasa Endoh
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tsubasa Endoh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avispa Fukuoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Tomoya Miki 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.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
A performance of 9.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Seiji Kimura gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match17 Jun 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Takumi Kamijima’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Avispa Fukuoka.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Jun 2028
No end in sight to Avispa Fukuoka's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Avispa Fukuoka has to find a result from somewhere.
Market12 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Ken Krolicki
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ken Krolicki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avispa Fukuoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Tomoya Miki 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 Avispa Fukuoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Jun 2028
0‑2 to Gamba Osaka, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“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.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Seiji Kimura 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 Avispa Fukuoka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Defensive actions: 36, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market24 Apr 2028
Only the photograph left for Tsubasa Endoh
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tsubasa Endoh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avispa Fukuoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match22 Apr 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Tomoya Miki 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.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Marked 9.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match22 Apr 2028
A 1‑0 win over Yokohama F. Marinos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Loan watch24 Apr 2028
Yuki Ueda wants to come home
“I did not go to Vissel Kobe to sit and watch. I want to come back to Avispa Fukuoka and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Masaya Tashiro, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Seiji Kimura asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Avispa Fukuoka may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market10 Apr 2028
Marvin Piñón has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Avispa Fukuoka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Tomoya Miki 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.
Match8 Apr 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Avispa Fukuoka did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Seiji Kimura
“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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Kazuki Fujita lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match8 Apr 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Albirex Niigata leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Mar 2028
12 matches without a win for Avispa Fukuoka
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Avispa Fukuoka are no longer polite ones.
Market13 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Marvin Piñón
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marvin Piñón will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avispa Fukuoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Mar 2028
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Tomoya Miki 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Seiji Kimura, and the manager let it.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match11 Mar 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Sagan Tosu leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market13 Mar 2028
The Tomoya Miki story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tomoya Miki signs something — a contract at Avispa Fukuoka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Mar 2028
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Seiji Kimura: 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.” Avispa Fukuoka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Shahab Zahedi and Avispa Fukuoka agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Tomoya Miki 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 Avispa Fukuoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match4 Mar 2028
FC Tokyo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market6 Mar 2028
The name of Shahab Zahedi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Avispa Fukuoka say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Marked 5.75, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Tomoya Miki 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“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.
Market17 Jan 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Avispa Fukuoka, another week without a signature from Kaoru Yamawaki.
Market17 Jan 2028
The Tomoya Miki story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tomoya Miki signs something — a contract at Avispa Fukuoka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Westerlo's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Westerlo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Habeeb Ogunneye: 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.” Westerlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market13 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Jason Denayer 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
Sint-Truiden left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Marked 8.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Seiji Kimura, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Dries Januzaj: 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.” Westerlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad27 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A performance of 9.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match25 Sep 2027
KV Kortrijk made Westerlo work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Seiji Kimura, and the manager let it.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Aug 2027
Oskar Annell decides it from twelve yards
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
A defender's afternoon for Seiji Kimura
Defensive actions: 41. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match25 Aug 2027
Cup progress for Westerlo
A 0‑0 win over Racing Genk, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match28 Aug 2027
7 matches without a win for Westerlo
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Westerlo are no longer polite ones.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 9.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 2027
Dries Januzaj hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jul 2027
Arzignano come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Westerlo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jason Denayer commits to Westerlo for another 2 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Jul 2027
The Fatihan Kâhya conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Lokeren will make the call about Fatihan Kâhya this week. Westerlo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Seiji Kimura, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 May 2027
Jason Denayer 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.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Westerlo, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Seiji Kimura
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Westerlo says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.