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The story
On September 21, FC Tokyo announced that defender Yuto Nagatomo has been diagnosed with a “right knee anterior cruciate ligament injury.” The expected recovery time hasn’t been disclosed, but a long-term absence appears unavoidable. Given the severity of the injury at age 40, reactions poured in on 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ board as soon as the news broke — a mix of worry over the impact on the Japan national team (the Asian Cup and November’s match against Brazil), calls for him to retire at season’s end, and pushback that it’s too soon to talk retirement. Some discussion also centered on the gap between Nagatomo’s own description of a “tear” on social media and the club’s official wording of “injury.”
Sponichi
[September 21, 2026, 14:29]
FC Tokyo announced on the 21st that defender Yuto Nagatomo has been diagnosed with a “right knee anterior cruciate ligament injury.” Full recovery time hasn’t been disclosed, but he appears set to be forced into a long-term absence.
Source: sponichi.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Guess we'll be seeing the national team player on crutches now.
That's because the 'punishment game' for Endo was as brutal as Kazu's. (Kazu = Kazuyoshi Miura, the legendary striker still playing pro in his late 50s)
If you were gonna get hurt, could've done it before the World Cup.
Nagatomo: "This'll totally go viral, lol"
┐(´ー｀)┌ (shrug — riffing on Nagatomo's own viral "Bravo!" catchphrase from the 2018 World Cup)
Hope he's back in time for the next World Cup.
so he's set for life after retirement —
probably not much motivation left anyway.
Thanks for everything.
Mamma mia.
Filter's probably clogged.
It just says "injury," so it depends on severity — unlike a full tear, it might not be career-ending, but at his age, who knows.
Might actually be decent timing for a break, if he's aiming for the next World Cup.
Isn't he one of those Yoshimoto comedians?
Yeah
He's in a comedy duo called "Inu."
Different sport, but I've torn my ACL too — your performance genuinely drops like 20%.
The knee instability makes your lower body tense up for no reason, so your first step gets thrown off and you lose all your spring.
If it's just "injury" it might not be that bad, no?
Sounds more like a full-tear thing.
Not sure it heals on its own.
Of course it doesn't heal on its own, lol
There's a conservative approach that skips surgery on purpose, but that's usually for older patients.
Nagatomo's probably getting ligament reconstruction surgery — it's a pretty major operation, and rehab takes a while too.
I wouldn't want him climbing the ranks at the JFA either — honestly, I just want him to step away from soccer entirely and live his life as a TV personality or something.
This isn't like when you sprained your ankle, man, lol
That kind of theatrics is exactly why people don't like him, but he just doesn't get it.
"Injury" includes "tear" as a category.
Background and Key Points of Discussion
The severity of an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear is hard to gauge from news reports alone. FC Tokyo’s official statement uses the word “injury” without specifying whether it’s a partial or complete tear. Nagatomo himself, however, described it as a “tear” on social media, and this gap in wording became a talking point on the thread (>>138, >>141). Generally, a complete tear requires reconstructive surgery and can mean six months to a year of rehab before a return — and being 40 years old only clouds that outlook further. The thread’s discussion split largely into two camps: one focused on the practical worry over the national team, namely whether he’ll be fit for the upcoming Asian Cup and November’s match against Brazil; the other centered on Nagatomo’s own future, with some saying he should call it a career this season and others arguing it’s too early to assume retirement. A few replies also offered firsthand accounts of how severe this kind of injury can feel — not medical authority, but a useful gut-level perspective from people who’ve been through it.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “Shockwave hits FC Tokyo — DF Yuto Nagatomo suffers right knee ACL injury, tragedy on his 40th birthday, long-term absence unavoidable.”
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