“Augean Task” Match Day 23 Preview: Mito Hollyhock vs. FC Ryukyu 7/21/2019

Weather Forecast: What did you expect? It seems the rainy season is either in full swing or just ending in mainland Japan so it will be another rainy, wet, terrible day to watch football. Thank goodness its on the road and not at home. Pack your towel, FC Ryukyu poncho and a change of clothes for your long commute back home if you plan on attending.

FC Ryukyu heads to the Ibaraki Prefecture this Sunday evening to take on 5^th placed Mito Hollyhock in what seems to be a logistical nightmare for any traveling FC Ryukyu fans. Thank you very much J. LEAGUE scheduler for this one (the last train to depart Mito for Tokyo leaves at 1800). In their first matchup this season, FC Ryukyu got the better of a strong Mito side 1-0 at home but the fortunes of both teams have changed since that evening in May. FC Ryukyu’s recent form has been below par seeing that they’ve only won once in their past 5 matches and are conceding almost 3 goals a match. Mito, has also seen their once formidable defense that started so strongly this season begin to develop several cracks. This could largely be attributed to the departure of CB ITO Makito to Yokohama F Marinos in June, and since then, Mito have conceded nearly the same amount of goals they did during their previous 18 matches.

The statistics paint a very bleak picture for FC Ryukyu but that seems to be the case most weeks outside of the teams directly below FC Ryukyu in the table. Mito have only lost once at home all season where they own an impressive 0.70 goals against average. FC Ryukyu’s road struggles are well documented and now that FC Ryukyu are conceding 2.00 goals on average on the road, this seems like a tall ask to get any sort of favorable outcome tomorrow night for FCR. FC Ryukyu faced a similar challenge when Mito visited them at home earlier this year but FC Ryukyu are a different side at home and they’ve only had one positive performance in their last 5 road matches.

Mito Hollyhock

Mito are coming off a win that was preceded by 3 straight draws and a loss. Mito couldn’t quite breakdown the strong defensive side in Yamagata and suffered a 1-0 loss. Mito followed that up with a disappointing draw at home to Yokohama FC after Yokohama went down to 10 men early in the match and then allowed Yokohama to equalize later in the match despite the advantage.

Mito then had games on the road versus Kyoto and Kanazawa in which they went up early, conceded two goals and then fought back to earn draws. They ended this 5-game stretch with a rather impressive performance at home against Nagasaki but nearly gifted the visitors a draw at the end by allowing Nagasaki a couple of close chances.

Mito still retains a lot of the same traits we saw at the beginning of the season that made them so successful. They don’t chase games despite being behind on the scoreboard and rely heavily on a stout defense to keep them in many of their matches. As mentioned earlier, the defense is developing cracks and can be gotten at with quality set pieces but for the most part, the 4-4-2 set up Mito employs will make life very difficult for FC Ryukyu. As we’ve seen throughout this season, FC Ryukyu lacks a bit of creativity to break down sides who use this formation.

FC Ryukyu

FC Ryukyu have won only once in the past 2 months and are really struggling to arrest their slide down the J2 table.  FC Ryukyu may not break out of this funk until later this month when they host JEF Chiba United at home on a Wednesday night because we can not assume that FC Ryukyu will gain any positive points on the road despite the quality of their opponent. We really need to see some signs of life from the boys over the next 2 weeks in their consecutive road games as it would prove massive for their hopes of staying in the J2 next season. Like many sides below them in the table that have a month with a nice stretch of favorable games, FC Ryukyu’s doesn’t occur until October and there are no guarantees that those opponents will be in the same form they are in now when we face them.

FC Ryukyu’s recent match against Okayama was very disappointing and FCR really struggled to create any opportunities up front. I believe they only had one shot on net, and that was the Uesato FK on the final play of stoppage time, but someone mentioned that DAZN said we had 2. Regardless, that is not what you expect from a team that strives to be on the attack and hunting for goals. The careless turnovers and lack of quality passing really deflated the FCR attack in the opponent’s half and FCR lacked creativity near the 18-yard box. Too many times it seemed as if the FCR midfielders would pull up and pass back instead of pressing the attack or trying to run past the defenders. I am not sure if that is attributed to fatigue, lack of speed or lack of anyone else in the attack making any runs or movements that would entice a pass from one of our players.

FC Ryukyu are at a point where an uplifting performance maybe the spark that ignites a nice run of games as well as put some distance between them and the bottom of the table. It is now 140 days and 9 matches since FC Ryukyu last won on the road.

Injuries

FC Ryukyu: Tokumoto-Still delaing with an MCL injury he picked up recovering from a soft tissue ankle injury. Another few weeks away from returning to the lineup.

Mito Hollyhock: Unknown, the website I usually use is now saying I am restricted from accessing that info and I am not sure where else to look.

Keys to an FC Ryukyu Victory

1. Only one. Someone has to step up, put this team on their back and have one of their best performances of the season to see out an FC Ryukyu victory. Koji Suzuki and Dany have done so much this year but what I am referring to is someone like Kawai, Yu, Kazama, Uejo, Tanaka, Wada or Uesato who just takes the game over. Someone needs to be aggressive in both the attack and defense, motivates the players around him by example so they will perform at their very best, is surgical with his passing to unlock the defense and is lethal in front of goal. If FC Ryukyu gets that type of Herculean performance out of someone tomorrow, we may very well see this side right the ship and get back on track. If we don’t, the beatings will most likely continue until moral improves.

Match Prediction

Mito 2-1. Impossible to predict positive FC Ryukyu outcomes on the road until something changes.

Conclusion

This game, as well as the remaining road matches for FC Ryukyu, comes down to every man doing their part to win their individual battles. Mito are not invincible and are possibly slowing down after their blazing start to the season. But at the same time, FC Ryukyu are struggling for form and are looking for someone to step up and lead them out of this dark period and back into the light. Who will that be?