Yes sure but KSC is still a good team and can be part of promoting battle. I know that the cup has his "own" rules like you say in Germany. EDIT : KSC is now down with 9 mens...another red card but they score 1-2 at the moment.
scores! 75.| TOOOOOOOOOR für den #KSC!!!!! @yammaada10 mit dem 1:0!!!#nurderksc #f95ksc— Karlsruher SC (@KarlsruherSC) March 4, 2016
So that guy is still alive and playing. Seems like he had a bumpy road so far this season, not playing 6 matches of the 12 so far, 3 of them not even being selected for bench. His position seems to be changing as well, one single start as AMF at the beginning, then the long break without match time, then apparently 3 matches as left winger, before now playing as a rather deeplying CMF for the second match in a row. Watching him play against Stuttgart atm he shows excellent positioning for build up connections, though I'm not sure he's contributing sufficiently to the defense whenever KSC loses the ball.
He's probably demotivated and marching towards 28 yr. If there was any chance to move higher than 2.Buli, it was after his first season...
The press articles I found on him didn't suggest him being demotivated. Seems like KSC was a mess especially at the beginning of the season, with the coach trying a lot of things not telling Yamada why he doesn't play or didn't even feature in the squad when that happened (saying stuff like the choice is between having more strikers or a dynamic midfielder on the bench, with the latter then being left out). But back then he was quoted working hard and patiently waiting for his chances while having encouragement and support by the other players. And fans appear to see him as a lucky charm. So to me it seems more like a club's low than his personal one.
It's possible, but last season he wasn't setting the league on fire either. A japanese player would usually say the "working hard" no matter what. Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting he slacks off obviously. I just think he knows that the clock is ticking.
Assist Yamada with a nice long ball across half the field. Unfortunately KSC proceeded to get 3 goals against and lose 1-3. He's playing the whole matches now and is (together with Stoppelkamp) the team's most consistent passer (though that tells more about the team than him, his accuracy being a little below 80%).
From the better-late-than-never dept.: KSC managed a nil-nil in Kaiserslautern yesterday, an important point with which they freed themselves of the relegation playoff rank by moving up to 15th. The ingredients are becoming usual: The opponent was dominating, with Yamada playing 88min in C/DMF as well as being the most consistent passer for KSC (35 passes, 80% accuracy).