Did you know?

Haneda Kenji played the first 7 years of his career at Kashima Antlers.While this might sound like a great start to a career in the J.league, especially considering this was a time when Kashima were one of the best teams in Japan, Haneda will not have fond memories of his time in Ibaraki. During these 7 years, he made just 19 league appearances for the club, mainly due to a horrific ankle injury that saw him sidelined for a whopping 3 and a half years. Kashima deserves a bit of credit for even keeping him on their books. After his recover, he never secured a spot in the first squad and moved to Cerezo where he managed to somewhat resurrect his career.

Although it would make for a nice story, I don't think Haneda deserves a place in the starting lineup tomorrow against Kashima following a rather lackluster appearance in the second half shambles against Yamagata. Still, I hope he gets a bit more playing time in the coming weeks.