Kashima Antlers U18

Japanese J1 League U18
29 Aug 2026
Saturday
Process
4 Edition

The Kashima Antlers Sentinel

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Kashima Antlers march on in the cup

Vegalta Sendai are out and Kashima Antlers go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Cup progress for Kashima Antlers

A 6‑0 win over Vegalta Sendai, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

Cruel end for Vegalta Sendai as Kashima Antlers pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Kashima Antlers scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Transfer targets

Kota Tawaratsumida turns down Kashima Antlers

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FC Tokyo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Player ratings

Both of them Yuki Kakita's — 9.24

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.24, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Kashima Antlers say no — this time

The offer from KV Oostende for Yuma Suzuki 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.

Market

Homare Tokuda has said yes to Ventforet Kofu

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kashima Antlers have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Player ratings

A brace, and Yu Funabashi takes the afternoon — 8.48

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yu Funabashi provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Yuta Matsumura scores twice — 8.31

Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

In brief

Back issues
3 Edition

The Kashima Antlers Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Yuki Kakita leads the rout of Omiya Ardija

3‑0, and Yuki Kakita took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Kashima Antlers tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Market

Kashima Antlers turn down Moreirense 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.

Player ratings

Yuki Kakita scores twice — 9.08

Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Yuma Suzuki attracts admirers

The name of Yuma Suzuki has come up in conversations Kashima Antlers were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Transfer targets

Kashima Antlers baulk at the price for Takumu Kawamura

Sanfrecce Hiroshima wanted more than $3.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

A falling-out at Kashima Antlers

Naomichi Ueda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

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.

Market

Business is business: Gaku Shibasaki goes

Sanfrecce Hiroshima paid $150.0K and Kashima Antlers took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Transfer targets

Kashima Antlers rebuffed over Víctor Rojas

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Libertad have kept their man, and Kashima Antlers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

2 Edition

The Kashima Antlers Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

An offer of $1.5M for Takumu Kawamura

Kashima Antlers have gone to Sanfrecce Hiroshima with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets

Kashima Antlers make their move for Taiki Watanabe

$1.1M on the table at Yokohama F. Marinos. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Kein Sato

Kashima Antlers asked and FC Tokyo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Koki Machida stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Koki Machida and Kashima Antlers agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Kashima Antlers

Naomichi Ueda 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.

Market

Rikuto Hirose wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Kashima Antlers hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Tomoki Hayakawa

“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.

Match

Kashima Antlers come up short against FC Tokyo

FC Tokyo left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Market

One of our own: Hajime Soma joins the Kashima Antlers first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hajime Soma is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

1 Edition

The Kashima Antlers Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Kashima Antlers tear Shonan Bellmare apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Shonan Bellmare, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

A brace, and Leo Ceara takes the afternoon — 9.90

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leo Ceara provided it, and the 9.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Yuma Suzuki scores twice — 8.40

Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Yuma Suzuki raises the bar for Kashima Antlers

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Kashima Antlers heard it as anything else.

Squad

Leo Ceara signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leo Ceara and Kashima Antlers agree another 3 years.

Squad

Naomichi Ueda 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 Kashima Antlers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Koki Machida 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.

Match

Yuma Suzuki at the heart of a fast Kashima Antlers start

2 goals inside twenty minutes with Yuma Suzuki in the middle of it, and Shonan Bellmare unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Yu Funabashi

Marked 8.16 — 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.

In brief