Match Day 10 Review: (16) Tokyo Verdy vs (17) FC Ryukyu 8/8/20 #FC琉球

Intro

Apparently a week of training that was interrupted by the sudden CV-19 outbreak inside the squad did the team some good. Ryukyu traveled to Tokyo this past Saturday with little preparation and won a very cagey affair from a late Takuma Abe penalty kick to push their undefeated streak to 4.

1. Match Recap
2. Man of the Match
3. Review of the Keys to Victory
4. Match Prediction
5. Match Day 10 Takeaways
6. Round 10 in J2
7. Top Goals from Round 10
8. Conclusion

1. Match Recap

A back and forth affair with neither team producing much in the oppositions end.

2. Man of the Match

FC Ryukyu FWD Takuma Abe. You could make a case for Dany Carvajal as he kept a clean sheet but was aided by the fact that Verdy never really threatened the Ryukyu net. Tanaka was doing all the “little” things right on Saturday by creating and snuffing out attacks as well. But in the end it goes to Abe who once again showed his lethal finishing abilities, and mental resolve, after having his PK attempt delayed for 10 minutes before calmly sending the keeper in the wrong direction.

3. Review of the Keys to Victory

1. This game will likely be decided in the last 15 minutes. Likelihood 4: Think the highlights reinforce this point.

2. Attack the flanks with speed. Likelihood 4: I am going to say we did not do this consistently enough as there were only about 2, maybe 3 times, I saw Ryukyu try to set the edge by using speed to get past the Verdy defense.

4. Match Prediction

Went with a 2-2 draw and it ended 1-0 for Ryukyu. Gladly take the L with my prediction this round. 1W-2D-7L to date.

5. Match Day 10 Takeaways

The Good. FC Ryukyu looked very good in the build up play during this game and nearly took the lead on several occasions. Abe is so vital to our success that any missed time on his part will derail the teams momentum. Ikeda’s development into a quality player is coming along nicely and he will only continue to get better. Keita Tanaka has a relentless motor, was excellent in both the attack and defense, and gives 110% effort every single time he is out there. Finally, the 4-1-4-1 is working well and I see no need to change the set up until we get some healthy players back in training.

The Bad. While the game was a near even split between the two sides, many of our attacks simple petered out near the 18-yard box. Too often we would see Ryukyu attackers on the flanks pulling up to pass the ball back thus allowing Verdy to get defenders back into position. I understand that there are times when pulling back is warranted, but I’d like to see more aggressiveness from our players and try to push past the edge defenders. At the very least, there is the possibility of winning a corner. Even if you don’t, it is the same as turning the ball over to the opposition somewhere in their own half which is what we saw on Saturday.

The Ugly. Shohei Takahashi’s foul on Uehara on the penalty area was nothing more than a display of a lack of emotional maturity. Chances are that Uehara may have fouled Shohei, but that does not mean he is allowed to commit a dangerous act by kicking his studs into and across another player. Shohei was lucky to just receive a yellow and equally as ugly was the actions by the Verdy players after the blatant foul was confirmed by the referee and his staff. The match was delayed for a good 10 minutes and that is something that I have never seen outside of games with VAR.

6. Round 10 in J2

There was a lot to enjoy this round as there was goals galore and two come from behind victories with high score lines. In fact, there were a total of 33 goals scored this round. Finally, it was Tokushima Vortis who handed top seed V-Varen Nagasaki their first defeat of the season.

7. Top Goals from Round 10

8. Conclusion

The early season set backs and tough results that once created a lot of doubt have now turned into valuable lessons that FC Ryukyu are applying each week. It is not often that FC Ryukyu win low scoring games where they do not concede as they’ve only manged to win 17 out of the 215 J-League games since 2014 in this manner. That’s roughly less than 8% of all their games. On the other hand, Ryukyu have conceded 3 or more goals in a match 34 times, or 16% percent of the time. 14 of those lopsided score lines have occurred since Ryukyu entered the J2 and it would be a welcome sight to see them reduce the number of heavily conceded games to around 2-4 each year.

Up next for FC Ryukyu is Ventforet Kofu. A team that snapped the 36 game home unbeaten run in 2019 with a heavy 5-2 defeat. They also beat Ryukyu 2-0 on the last match day of 2019 to make their way into the J2 playoffs but FC Ryukyu had a patch work lineup in place after suffering numerous injuries at the end of 2019. Kofu have only lost once since the restart and they come to Okinawa sporting a 5 game winning streak. It will be another tough test for FC Ryukyu on Wednesday evening but one I am looking forward too.