Greetings, and welcome to the unofficial FC Ryukyu English blog for 2020. For those of you that are familiar with this blog, thank you for your patronage and for those that are just discovering this blog for the first time, welcome. I started the blog in 2019 in order to expose FC Ryukyu to a large non-Japanese speaking community here in Okinawa as well as abroad. I was initially frustrated with the lack of English content provided by the club’s website and wanted to generate interest for the team to the large expat community here on Okinawa and elsewhere in Japan. The end result was far greater than I expected as I was able to meet so many great people along the way who not only love FC Ryukyu, but love Japanese Football and Football altogether. It was a truly amazing ride in 2019 and I hope to continue this blog’s success in 2020.
Throughout 2019 I was able to meet many FC Ryukyu fans from all over the world as well as officials from the club. We traveled to away matches together, attended several events for the club outside of the match days and discussed how to gain exposure for the club. My only regret was I couldn’t speak Japanese as it would’ve made a much richer experience but I am so grateful for everyone that I met along the way. I was also able to gain a better understanding of football here in Japan, as well as abroad through so many great people on Twitter as well as the J-Talk & J-Talk Extra Time Podcast. Appearing on their podcast was one of the greatest moments I’ve ever had and if you do not follow them already, you really need too.
For those of you just tuning in, 2019 was a historic season for FC Ryukyu on several fronts. It was the first year that they would play in the J2 league after spending 5 season in the J3. It was also a year that saw the club achieve a historic moment in J Leauge Football. FC Ryukyu surpassed a 30 game unbeaten at home streak by Urawa to become the only club in the history of the J league to win/draw 36 consecutive games at home. There was some nervy, crazy and enjoyably moments during that streak and it was truly memorable. They almost made it to 37 but despite their 2-0 advantage over Ventforet Kofu just before halftime, they ultimately lost that match 5-2 and the streak came to a screeching halt.
FC Ryukyu’s 2019 campaign can best described as a roller-coaster ride of emotions for their fans. They began really hot by winning 4 in a row and drawing their next 2 to jump out to the table topping position with 14 points. They then struggled for points on the road as well as wins at home and began tumbling down the J2 table. They saw Koji Suzuki depart for Cerezo Osaka, but were reinforced by some key players in the summer transfer window. The most important being Shinji Ono. While Shinji didn’t score a goal for FC Ryukyu in 2019, no one can deny he drove up attendance levels over the remaining 2019 home matches for FC Ryukyu. They would eventually arrest their slide and settle for 14th place on 49 points. They broke out of their road form funk at the most crucial moment near the end of the season and pushed themselves into safety by October. However, this was a club that surrendered a league leading 81 goals and was only saved by some favorable results in addition to the teams below them faltering at critical moments.
So what do we have to look forward too in 2020? Uejo, Tokumoto, Masutani have departed to Fagiano Okayama and Nishioka has left for Ehime FC. FC Ryukyu have a very hard task of replacing their top two goal scorers from 2019 (Suzuki & Uejo) and will need to sure up the back line. They will also be dealing with injuries to key players to start the 2020 campaign as both Dany Carvajal (GK) and Torikai (RB) are recovering from off season ankle surgery.
Their off-season signings indicate a few things. First, Higuchi will continue to employ a 4-2-3-1 formation. Second, a majority of the signings are veteran players outside of a select few which means we have traded youth, or simply couldn’t afford them, for players that offer immediate returns on investment. Lee Yong Jick, a North Korean national team player will slot into the CB role along side Okasaki. Numato is a like for like replacement for Tokumoto at LB but he is five years older than Tokumoto. FC Ryukyu will also need to replace Torikai at RB while he recovers and that may come in the form of newly signed Felipe Tavares. An interesting prospect from Brazil that could either adapt quickly to life in the J2 and become a force to be reckoned with or turn into a role player for the club.
Up front the main question is who leads the line for Higuchi? Uehara scored some spectacular goals, at crucial moments for the club, but was never able to stay healthy for the whole campaign. Takuma Abe is looking to revive his career and I hope he can find that rich form down in the J2. But both players are over 30 years old and if injuries or poor form hit the club hard in 2020, we may see the infamous false-9 lineup that was made famous in La Liga so many years ago.
As far as the midfield is concerned, Higuchi has a major crisis selection on his hands as this is where a majority of talent resides for this club. But this is a good thing. Uesato and Shinji are likely to be the two CDM but its anybody’s guess who the remaining 3 midfielders will be. Kawai brings so much speed and developed into such a fine player in 2019 you wonder how he could be left out of the side. Tomidokoro is our FK specialist and then there are brothers Koya and Koki who are solid players. Tanaka maybe the teams come back player of the year and then we have the new signings and prospects. Koizumi is going to be a player some day but needs match day experience. Because he is a MF it maybe difficult on this club which is unfortunate. Yamaguchi from Bellmare and Motegi from Mito add the two crucial elements of speed and service to the FC Ryukyu attack both feature early on. As I said earlier, it is really hard to see how they all figure into the lineup in 2020.
Over the next few days I will release some entries that include a team preview, an early look at our 2020 schedule and areas of improvement I hope the club has addressed in 2020. Until then, enjoy the off season as the stress of playing in the J2 is merely a matter of days away.
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