FC Ryukyu nearly battled back for a draw this past Saturday at Nagasaki but their failure to at least earn a point has seen Ryukyu drop out of the top 11 for the first time all season. The loss also means that Ryukyu’s winless run on the road has now been extended to 9 matches in a row. Ryukyu are really making life difficult for themselves in the J2 with these road results as it is putting massive amounts of pressure on the team to take maximum points at home each week. Ryukyu will now enter a month with 6 fixtures spread across 2 competitions with an absolute “must win” match at home next week versus Tochigi.
The Match
Instead of breaking down each half as I normally would, I will instead focus on the match as a whole. FC Ryukyu controlled a majority of the possession throughout the game and ended the match with a total of 58%. Ryukyu dominated play for the first 25 minutes but the same wayward passing that led to turnovers against Kofu followed the team to Nagasaki. Kawai’s shot in the 21st minute nearly put Ryukyu up 1-0 but a costly turnover by Ryukyu led to a counter/corner kick for Nagasakai that saw a breakdown in communication and assignments by the Ryukyu defense on the rebound and allowed Nagasaki to take the early 1-0 lead. Ryukyu almost allowed the visitors to add to their lead in the 40th minute from a set piece but a fine piece of goal keeping by Carvajal sent the shot wide. At the end of the half Ryukyu had controlled the ball 61% of the time with 6 total shots but no goals to show for their efforts.
Nagasaki nearly doubled their lead straight away in the second half but Ryukyu would once again assert their dominance in the early possession battle. Ryukyu sent some decent crosses into the 6-yard box but all of them either nearly missed or went unanswered. Nagasaki then pounced on a Ryukyu turnover where Masutani was unlucky with his first touch, after a long ball pass from Nagasaki, that allowed the attacking Nagasaki player a ton of space down the left side. The Nagasaki player passed it off to a wide-open player across the top of the box whose shot deflected off of a diving Danny and into the net for a 2-0 lead. Nagasaki piled on further punishment 4 minutes later off yet another Ryukyu turnover as Nishioka failed to track the run of the Nagasaki player wide of him and allowed him a free run on net. Nagasaki scored on a play eerily reminiscent of the one against Kofu where Ishii came way off his line to cut down the angle only this time it was Danny coming out to stop the onrushing attacker. Nagasaki was up 3-0 with little more than 20 minutes of the match remaining.
FC Ryukyu were able to score two very nice goals near the end. One from Koji Suzuki and another from Uejo, our 2 leading goal scorers on the year but the early 3-0 lead proved too much to overcome for Ryukyu. Final Score Nagasaki 3-2 over Ryukyu.
Review of the FC Ryukyu Keys to Victory
1. Apply pressure from all angles to #33 Goya of Nagasaki. PASS. Ryukyu did a great job of limiting the best player for Nagasaki on the day. Goya had a couple of chances early but was largely invisible, outside of his foul that went uncalled, and Ryukyu did a good job handling this good player.
2. Do not over commit to the attack and leave our defenders exposed. PASS. It was not the commitment to the attack that did Ryukyu in, rather, see point #3.
3. Cut-down the turnovers and wayward passing. FAIL. Ryukyu committed no less than 15 turnovers of which 2 led directly to Nagasaki goals. They need to clean this up moving forward in order to capitalize on all the possession Ryukyu enjoy as well as earn some victories on the road.
4. Execute the counter attack to perfection. NO GRADE. Ryukyu enjoyed so much of the possession that rarely were they needing to sprint into a counter attack mode. With what little opportunities they did have, the possession usually ended in a corner kick but no goals came from the counter so its hard to give a failing or passing grade here.
Match Day Prediction
2-2: I was off by one goal and Ryukyu had plenty of early opportunities that could’ve made this a 3-3 score line.
Man of the Match
Wada came on in the 79th minute and provided a nice spark to the attack. It could be argued that Nagasaki were on cruise control at this point as they were up 3 goals with less than 10 minutes to go before Ryukyu netted their first goal but nonetheless, Wada put in a nice shift and was rewarded with 2 assists on the day. Koji Suzuki gets an honorable mention because his hold up play was superb and his league leading goal was great.
Match Day 20 Takeaways
1. As stated throughout this week’s entry, Ryukyu need to tighten up their passing. It is not that the passes Ryukyu are attempting could be considered “low percentage passes,” rather, they are missing our runners and setting opponents free into the counter.
2. Ryukyu needs to start beating teams around and below them in the table on the road. I have not reviewed all the J2 teams’ records on the road but I am sure Ryukyu owns one of the worst away records this season. Ryukyu will have a handful of remaining games against beatable opponents on the road this year and it is vital to this team’s success to earn maximum points against those teams. We are nearly at the halfway point of the season and Ryukyu will have to travel to 3 of the top 6 sides venues in the second half of the season.
3. Nishioka should’ve been subbed at halftime. Nishioka could’ve easily suffered a concussion on the collision he took in the 35th minute and had noticeable swelling near his left eye for the reminder of the match. The injury seemed to shake his confidence when making challenges in the air and may have played a factor in the 3rd and final goal for Nagasaki as he was unaware of the presence of the opposing player. It would be overly critical of me to judge a players performance in the second half after sustaining that injury so this is where I will leave this point.
4. It maybe time for some drastic lineup changes. I don’t think Ochi performed terribly at CAM but Uejo really looks up for it these days. Ryukyu attacked so much from the right side with Yu and Nishiokoa but their 2 goals came from the left. We will see how Higuchi reacts during the emperor’s cup with his lineup selection and that should tell us who is likely to feature this upcoming weekend.
5. FC Ryukyu have now surrendered 10 goals in the past 3 matches. They have scored 6 during that span and that usually may have been enough to earn a win or at the very least a draw. The defense is ceding goals at the rapid rate and they need to stop the bleeding soon.
Looking Ahead
Ryukyu now must travel on a shortened week to play an Emperor’s Cup match in Yamaguchi. They will then return home to face a struggling Tochigi squad who just lost to Ehime. This weekend’s fixture is a must win for both sides and Ryukyu are desperate to keep the 8-point buffer between them and the drop zone.
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